506^th Parachute Infantry Regiment

The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment entered combat with the 101st Airborne Division on June 6, 1944. Its early Normandy mission drew it toward the southern flank of the Utah lodgment. On June 7 the regiment, minus 3rd Battalion, moved from Culoville toward the Douve but was stopped near St. Come-du-Mont; on June 8 it forced German troops from that town as the division began the battle for Carentan. When the 502nd was exhausted on the causeway, the 506th took over the right wing of the final assault. Before dawn on June 12 it advanced to Hill 30, sent 2nd Battalion into Carentan, and met the 327th Glider Infantry in the town. On June 13 the regiment absorbed the German counterattack southwest of Carentan before the 502nd passed through and restored the line.

In Operation Market-Garden, the 506th jumped near Zon on September 17. Its first objective, the Wilhelmina Canal bridge south of Zon, was destroyed just as the regiment closed on it, forcing an improvised crossing and delaying contact with the British column. On September 18 the regiment cleared Eindhoven, secured bridges inside the city, and opened the southern end of the division corridor. When German forces cut Hell's Highway, the 506th moved north, helped defend Uden and Veghel, reopened the Veghel-Uden highway on September 23, and joined the September 25 squeeze on the Koevering roadblock.

The regiment reached Bastogne during the Ardennes crisis and held the northern perimeter near Foy and the Bourcy-Bastogne rail line. Its 1st Battalion fought the costly Noville action with Team Desobry, delaying German armor north of Bastogne. In January 1945 the regiment attacked through Recogne, Bois Jacques, Foy, Noville, and Rachamps as the salient contracted, then served on the Moder and in Germany.