The World War II Photo of the Week
for 7 March 2005
This Stick is Heading Home ...
A partial stick of 101st Airborne Division paratroopers pictured at Auxerre, France on September 14, 1945, where they had been training for the invasion of Japan. They had arrived there from Germany on August 1, but the Japanese had surrendered only two weeks later, making the 101st's redeployment unnecessary. On display are both the Screaming Eagle patch and an example of hand-stenciled sergeant's stripes (third trooper from right, in front). The 101st was deactivated at Auxerre on November 30, 1945. From a personal photo collection; the hand-written notation on the reverse indicates that the men pictured were part of a stick that jumped together around Eindhoven, Holland a year before (September 17, 1944) during Operation Market-Garden.
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