I believe Carl L. Fenstermaker(Dutch) E Company is in this picture. I think he was the only PF who jumped on D-Day from Easy Company 506th. I know some of the 101st troopers jumped at Bastogne. I also believe that Pfc. Fenstermaker was one of them. Did the 101st leave their Pathfinders behind for this mission? In Forrest Guth's book he mentions that Dutch was one of the very few paratroopers who jumped at Bastogne. Can anyone ID him in the photo. It did not come out very well in my scan.

I had no idea there were PF's in the 101st...

Do you have any links with any more info on that? Or is it all in books?

Verzijl,

Actually I don't know of any one book in particular about PF's. One of my friends is working on one now.

I checked out a list I have and it does also have a Cpl. Richard Wright as also jumping with Plane 4. He is listed as Easy Company. So he would also be in the picture above.

I guess this plane 4 crashed into the English Channel and they were picked up and returned to England.

That's right, Jim.

Richard Wright's job was to land first on D-day and set up the Eureka machine to guide the other C-47's in to the proper drop zones. Wright never made it. His plane was shot down over the Channel, and he and the 23 other men aboard were picked up by the British Navy, treated as suspected spies, taken back to England and put in prison for three days until things could be sorted out. Even with their dog tags, nobody was taking any chances.

Coincidentally I just read this today in WWII magazine.

Mark

Vat,

Very cool I'll have to grab that. Do they have this picture of the stick? Does it Id all in the photo.

JIm

Great shot and story.

I wonder how many of these guys are still alive?

No, it doesn't have this picture. The story was told on Ambrose's first encounter with the Easy men in 1988 in New Orleans, as the magazine describes.
I am curious to know whether Roy Cobb was on this stick as well, because in the Carentan episode he tells that he never made it to jump on D-day.

Mark

Roy Cobb was in the same plane as Lieutenant Welsh, George Luz, Mike Ranney and Robert Rader to name a few.
He didn't make the jump on D-Day because he was shot in the plane, and wasn't able to stand up anymore.

All the best,

Morgy

Mark,

This Pathfinder Stick was tasked with arriving 10-20 minutes before the main drop. Cobb is not listed as one of the troopers in the stick. Only two Easy Company guys were aboard.

After they landed they would have tried to link up with the Easy Company.

Jim

Hi all--

I'm not sure if you aleady know this but Richard "Red" Wright is second from the left in the picture. Sitting, fourth from the left, is co-pilot Hal Sperber. Tom Potter, the son of an E. Co. vet, has a website which chronicles the entire D-day episode concerning Wright's pathfinder plane. It is

Brave Men of World War II

I'm interviewing Mr. Wright and going through some of his photos and ephemera from his days in Easy and pathfinders. I will be happy to try and answer more questions.

Ray

Bonovox, that would be great. Thank you for sharing this information.
I'm sure lots of people have interesting questions for Mr. Wright, so please keep checking, I'm sure lots questions will emerge..

BUMP for a really good thread...

FYI E Company man and 506th Pathfinder Carl Fenstermaker is standing fifth from the left.
R/
Mooch

What ever became of Roy Cobb?

He was busted for fighting (or attempting to) with either Peacock or Foley.