101st Airborne Visits France For D-Day Anniversary

Eighty-five Soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), including many from the world-famous 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment highlighted in the book and TV show "Band of Brothers," are in Normandy, France this week to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the WWII Allied invasion of Normandy, commonly known as D-Day. The "Screaming Eagle" Soldiers will participate in a wide range of parades, ceremonies, and military and government events.

The 101st Airborne Division was activated on August 16, 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Its first commanding general, Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, noted that the division had no history, but that it had a “Rendezvous with Destiny,” and that the new division would be habitually called into action when the need was “immediate and extreme.” Throughout its 77-year history, the division has amassed a proud record, in both war and peace, unmatched by any other unit.

Following its activation and initial training in the United States, the division embarked for the European theater of operations in September, 1943 where it continued training in England. During the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the “Screaming Eagles” parachuted into the Contentin Peninsula, becoming the first Allied Soldiers to set foot onto occupied France. There, they were charged with clearing the way for the 4th Infantry Division’s landing on Utah beach, eventually linking the Utah and Omaha beachheads and liberating the city of Carentan. After a month of fighting, the division returned to England for future operations.

They were continually called upon during critical WWII battles such as Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the liberation of the Landsberg concentration camp and Hitler’s mountaintop retreat in Bertchtesgaden.

Seventy-five years after D-Day, the 101st continues to stand together with European allies and partners in maintaining a Europe that is whole, free, prosperous, and at peace. This is most recently seen in our current deployment as “Task Force Carentan” – 101st Airborne Division Soldiers working to advise and assist the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the continued development of the Yavoriv Combat Training Center in western Ukraine. This initiative, known as the Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine (JMTG-U), has been ongoing since 2015 and seeks to contribute to Ukraine’s internal defense capabilities and training capacity