Frank van Lunteren - Birth of a Regiment: The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Sicily and Salerno

A meticulously researched history of one of the US Armys greatest regiments. Birth of a Regiment incorporates many sources not previously available to historians studying the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment and adds impressive new insights to previous accounts of the early years of the Devils in Baggy Pants.

General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former commander of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (19951997), as well as of the 101st Airborne Division, the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition and US Forces in Afghanistan

The 504th PIR was a singularly competent Airborne combat force. From North Africa to the concentration camps, its reputation was second to none. Slogging through the Italian mountains to performing seemingly impossible tasks in Holland to repelling repeated armored attacks in the Bulge, its extraordinary leadership from Col Tucker to the most junior enlisted, provided the 82nd Airborne the tip of its bayonet. The extraordinary work performed by Frank van Lunteren is worthy of their accomplishments. To understand the Why of the regiments greatness, the author places you inside the unit where the singular ethos of the regiment is born, nurtured and matured into an extraordinary tool for good. Generals Ridgway and Gavin recognized the exceptional quality of the unit and gave it the toughest jobs with uniformly uncommon results. If you wish to learn how good units are made that transcends time, this book will be an excellent guide.

Col (Ret) Keith Nightingale, author of Just Another Day and Phoenix Rising

This book is long overdue and could not have been written any better. Frank van Lunteren masterfully balances the historical and personal sides of the compelling history of the 504 PIR in World War II. Get to know dozens of 504 veterans personally. Extensive interviews are included, along with letters, photos, and memoirs. This book added new insights and eyewitness accounts I had not seen before. You are not just reading about the birth of a regiment, but also about the birth of the American Paratrooper and the legendary accomplishments of many who served.

Phil Rosenkrantz, Author of Letters from Uncle Dave: The 73-year Journey to Find a Missing-In-Action World War II Paratrooper

A KNOX PRESS BOOK

An Imprint of Permuted Press

ISBN: 978-1-63758-380-7

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-63758-381-4

Birth of a Regiment:

The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Sicily and Salerno

2022 by Frank van Lunteren

All Rights Reserved

Interior maps by Carl Mauro, Jr.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Permuted Press, LLC

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Published in the United States of America

Dedicated to all the officers and men who served in the 504th Regimental Combat Team in World War II. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;

As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,

To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen (1914)

I am in Africa but cant say where.

Pfc. Edwin E. Decker, B Company in a letter to his parents, May 18, 1943

When I jumped I was one of the first to put foot on enemy territory, quite an adventure.

Sgt. Robert G. Dew, I Company in a letter to his parents, August 6, 1943

We were advised that we would not receive any anti-aircraft fire along the Sicilian coast.

2nd Lt. Delor M. Perow, C Company 307th Airborne Engineers Battalion

Stories of what their isolated units accomplished are almost unbelievable.

John Thompson on the 504th PIR, Chicago Tribune, July 27, 1943

Altavilla and 424 were part of their warrior saga written in their blood and sweat.

Seymour Korman, Chicago Tribune, September 19, 1943

In July 2014, my first book, The Battle of the Bridges: The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Operation Market Garden , was published. It was the first of five volumes that cover the World War II (WWII) service record of an entire parachute infantry regiment (PIR). Never before has such a detailed history about a regiment been written. This book is the first part of the series. Back in August 2007, when I Company veteran Francis X. Keefe asked me to write down the saga of the 504th, I could have never realized what a colossal task I would undertake. I am glad he pushed me over the years to complete it.

It has been my aim to devote as equally as possible the amount of data on each of the campaigns. You will read about the different replacement groups; from which pools were they created? When were they sent overseas? What it is like to arrive at a frontline position and be placed in an outpost? How did these paratroopers respond to their first battle? The story of this book ends in Naples and continues in the earlier published book, Spearhead of the Fifth Army.

I got to know Cooper Beverley-Meise in June 2014, and we have corresponded ever since. Her uncle, Garland Cooper, was killed at Den Heuvel farm (see The Battle of the Bridges) and Cooper helped me obtain several newspaper clippings that I tracked down online. She also encouraged me along the writing process and helped me search for information on several troopers. Together, we organized a large 504th PIR WWII Veterans and Family Reunion in Fort Bragg.

Mike Bigalke shared various reports linked to the early regimental campaigns and the 3rd Battalion cadre photo. Italian historian Federico Peyrani, the unit historian of Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 504, answered several questions by email.

I traced the last surviving officer from the activation cadre, Brigadier General (Ret.) Henry Hank J. Muller, Jr., in January 2017. Muller was the original personnel officer, and despite his high age of 99 years, he had a remarkably clear memory of those early days in May, June, and July 1942. He would eventually rise during WWII to be 11th Airborne Division Intelligence officer and planner of the famed Los Baos Raid. Muller died on January 31, 2022 at age 104.

Many people contributed material and valuable information in the form of recollections, diaries, letters, photographs, and other documents. First of all, I would like to thank Kim, Shannon, and Steve Mandle, children of the late William D. Mandle, for allowing me to use numerous photographs from their late fathers collection. Walt Ranta made several rosters and photos of his late father Arne Ranta available. Allen Schoppe and Dennis Kennedy donated unique rosters, correspondence, and photographs from their collections. Peggy Shelly kindly assisted in obtaining copies of questionnaires from the United States Army Military History Institute. Tammy Horton of the Maxwell Air Force Base Archives provided the escape and evasion reports of several paratroopers.

Marcia Ray generously shared a wealth of information on B Company veterans, including her late father, Edwin Decker. Rosie McNaughton supplied letters and photos of her late father Henry Paquet, killed near Altavilla. Pete Puhalla did the same for his uncle Frank A. Puhalla, killed on Hill 424. Travis Smith shared the privately printed memoir of his father, Captain Elbert Frank Smith. Linda Brown retyped the wartime letters of her father, Sergeant Gordon Gould.