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Date: Saturday, 13 May 1944
Place: Ramsbury, Wiltshire, England
Photographer: Joseph Pangerl
Practice jumps by the Allied paratroopers were common in the months preceding D-Day; this night jump on Douglas C-47 aircraft was made on 13 May 1944. The troopers pictured are members of Headquarters 3.Company / 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (3/502 PIR). From left to right, on the left side of aisle: Captain Edward “Poop” Barrett (S-3 of 3/502), Dell Winslow, Sergeant 1st Class Harwell Cooper, two unknown, Joe Lofthouse, and Bill Cady. Standing at the end of the aisle: unknown and George J. Schwaderer. On the right side of aisle, from right to left: Lieutenant Corey Shepard, Fitzgerald, “Eddie” Edwards, Virgil Thornton, two unknown, Kenneth Cordry, and unknown. The Allies are aware that the greatest weakness of the airborne units lies in their lack of firepower. Equipped with small arms, they are not theoretically capable of fighting against an opponent with heavy armored vehicles. Thus, airborne units are to receive the support of gliders troops: the latter are armed with anti-tank guns, Jeep light vehicles and heavy machine guns, equipment for sappers. Signal Corps via Joseph Pangerl.
Another view taken in the same plane, same jump, with Dell Winslow (3/502 Battalion clerk) standing in foreground. This night exercise resulted in many jump- landing injuries that cost the 101st Airborne more than one hundred troopers who would have dropped into Normandy but had to be put out of the lineup. H/502 jumped over the town of Ramsbury, England, and some troopers landed on rooftops or on the hard cobblestone streets!
Source :
"101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles in World War II" by Mark Bando
https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/d-day/air-operations/usa
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