SigEps at Normandy on D-Day

American Normandy Cemetery

Brothers,

With today being the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy - Operation Overlord or more commonly known as D-Day, the SigEp Patriots Project (SPP) thought it important to honor some of our brave brothers who served on that historic day.

If you ever get the chance to visit Normandy, do it! It is an incredibly moving experience.

It’s estimated that over 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50 mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France 70 years ago today. While it is officially known that 4,413 U.S. service members were killed on D-Day, miraculously, all of the brothers mentioned here survived the hostile actions that took place that day.

101st Airborne

Brothers serving with the 101st Airborne Division were likely the first SigEp Patriots to touch down in Normandy, France on D-Day. The Division jumped over the course of about an hour from 0048 (or 12:48am) to 0140 (1:40am).

In an interview published in September 1944, DE Alpha Brother (Class of 1943) Staff Sergeant Robert A. Shurter, Jr., U.S. Army is quoted as saying, “Our Company jumped at 1:17 a.m., five hours before the actual invasion started.” His stick (Number 61) was spread out over about 6.5 kilometers from St. Mere Eglise northeast to where he landed just above Ravenoville. “We all knew our mission. Roads leading to the beach had to be cleared of known machine gun nests, pill boxes, and 88’s and we had to secure the high ground in the area to cover the seaborn infantry.” Brother Shurter was 23 years when he earned his Combat Infantry Badge on D-Day while serving as Operations Sergeant in Dog Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Division, 101st Airborne Division.


One of the variations of the interview mentioned that a group of men, including Robert, decided to head toward Pouppeville, where he may have run in to
Brother Anthony McAuliffe. In the Spring of 1945, according to Volume 42, Number 4 of the SigEp Journal, “Robert Shurter, Delaware Alpha, '43,

Brother Anthony McAuliffe

paratrooper; awarded the Bronze Star for gallant action in Normandy, by SigEp brother Major General Anthony C. McAuliffe, West Virginia Beta, after two and a half years in the service.”

Brother Shurter would go on to become First Sergeant of Dog Company, parachute in to Holland with the 101st as part of Operation Market Garden, and later was appointed Sergeant Major of the 506th.

Although he had no formal Army instruction in parachuting, World War I Veteran and WV Beta Brother Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, U.S. Army also parachuted into Normandy with the 101st Airborne Division on D-Day as commander of the Artillery Division.