The 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment entered combat with the 101st Airborne Division in the Normandy drop on June 6, 1944. After the division secured exits behind Utah Beach and shifted south toward Carentan, the regiment received the most exposed part of the town's western envelopment. On June 10, 3rd Battalion advanced single file over the raised causeway northwest of Carentan, crossed damaged bridges under machine-gun and mortar fire, and fought through the farmhouse and hedgerow defenses beyond the Madeleine River. On June 11, 1st Battalion joined the battered assault force under fire, while 2nd Battalion took over the line that night. The regiment was too depleted to continue the final assault, but after German forces counterattacked on June 13, the 502nd passed through the 506th on the northern side of the division counterattack and helped restore the defensive line beyond Carentan.
On September 17, 1944, the 502nd jumped into Holland during Operation Market-Garden. It secured drop and landing zones between Zon and St. Oedenrode, took St. Oedenrode and its Dommel River bridge, and sent a reinforced company toward the Wilhelmina Canal bridges near Best. During the long defense of Hell's Highway it operated around St. Oedenrode, Schijndel, and Koevering. When German troops cut the road between St. Oedenrode and Veghel, two companies raced toward Koevering, and a reinforced battalion joined the September 25 effort to close the break.
The regiment moved to Bastogne in December and held the northwestern perimeter during the siege. Its sector included Champs and the approaches toward Longchamps and Hemroulle, where it fought German infantry and tanks on Christmas Day as the division and attached tank destroyers broke up the penetration. After Bastogne was relieved, the 502nd remained in the Ardennes fight before moving to the Moder River line and later into Germany with the 101st Airborne Division.
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