By the evening of June 6th, Lt. Col. Robert Cole of 3rd Battalion, 502nd P.I.R. had gathered together a force of around 250 men from those who had dropped in Normandy during that day of days. This force was soon to be used in heavy combat during the attack on Carentan. The German garrison in the town, numbering little more than a regiment itself was determined to give no ground without a fight. The N13 approaches the town along a causeway and passes over 4 river bridges; Jourdan, Douve, Le Groult and Madeleine. On June 11th 1944 this causeway was the scene of intense courage and sacrifice.

Lt. Col. Cole and the men of 502nd were pinned down for over an hour by intense MG fire and accurate mortar fire from an emplaced enemy from 150 yards to their front. The next action earned Cole a Medal of Honour and his place in history. It also meant that one John L. Davis, a Corporal from Baltimore as well as many others that day went into action for the last time.

Lt. Col. Cole issued the order to fix bayonets! He then got up, pistol in hand and ignoring the enemy MG fire encouraged the men about him to charge the positions. Gathering up a fallen comrades rifle and bayonet he led the charge across the open ground and thereby the bridgehead over the Douve river and it's tributaries was established. The causeway became known as Purple Heart lane, and Cole's act, the cabbage-patch fight (in 1944 the enemy occupied a cabbage patch, no trace of which is left today).

Corporal Davis was just one of those who earned a Purple Heart that day. A long way from the peaceful English village he left in June 1944. We dedicate these pages to the memory and to the sacrifice of those young soldiers who passed through Aldbourne on their way into history.

As yet we have no further information on the John L. Davis from Ohio. He has the peculiar honour of not only sharing his name with a comrade in another Airborne unit, but sadly his date of death. Both soldiers died the same day. Did they ever meet and joke over their shared name? Did they fight alongside each other? Today John L. Davis from Ohio lies at rest in America. His namesake from Maryland lies with his fellow soldiers in Colleville sur Mer, Normandy.

Left: Howard M. Williams, A.S.N. 37526221. Was born in 1925 and enlisted at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas on 18th May 1943. We believe him to be a member of Baker Company 506th P.I.R. Somehow Howard left one of his tags and chain in Aldbourne during the war.

Above: How some paratrooper of the 502nd must have cursed when his rifle jammed because of a failed cartridge! The previous 30 cal round has been expended, but part of the cartridge has remained in the breech, the next round has then jammed into the "sleeve" left by the former. Garand Guru Scott Duff of USA has witnessed similar cartridge failures on the ranges. So a manufacturer fault. Such a problem in Normandy would have caused much consternation!