Sometimes people wondering or asking me why i have so much interest in the 101st Airborne Division, also know as the 'Screaming Eagles', during the WW II time period.
And mostly before i can give an answer they already give one for me.
Starting by "It must be because you have seen the series of the 506th PIR Easy Company Band of Brothers or the movie Saving Private Ryan".
Yes i have seen the series and movie and yes i did like watching it. Only thing i have now (my own opinion) is that, to a lot of people, it seems as if the 101st is 506st Easy Company and that they did all the difficult and dirty war jobs. Which, of course, ain't true. The other Company's from the whole Division fought just as hard. Just think about the 502nd PIR who had to liberate Carentan from the Germans in Normandy. The road that they had to take and which leads to Carentan is now also know as Purple Heart lane.
But back to the question why i am interested in the 101st Airborne Division.
The answer has more to do with my mother.
My mother lived as a child in Schijndel during Operation Market Garden. She saw the planes with the para's and towing the Gliders fly over. She saw the para's jump out of the planes from a distance. And later she saw the first para's entering town asking her father, who was a "Veldwachter" (policeman) where the hospital was. Soon she also saw them leave town again because the para's were needed somewhere else which meant that the Germans returned. Later the familly left town because the British were close by and would soon liberate Schijndel. (When the British go for it they first start with a big bombardment).
This is also why my Flames of War army is based on the 101st Airborne Division.
The only thing i regret is that i painted my army in the Normandy style instead of the Market Garden style color.
Hein

Hi There,
ReplyDeleteNice story about the background of your interest in 101st Airborne.
Went a few posts back and looked very closely at your US Airborne Company and noticed how you have "Unit/Team" identifying text on the backside of the base, how did you do this?
Lost Commander
Hi
ReplyDeleteI made names tags in excel. Which i glued at the back of the bases.
If you click on the link and download the file you have an idea how it looks.
http://www.mediafire.com/?5jgmmjztmnh
Thanks a lot, were thinking a lot on how i would distinguish between my platoon/squads/sections.
ReplyDeleteSuper idea
your Airborne Company is great, hope my will end up just half as nice.