NEW MEMORIAL TO THE 508th PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT

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On Sunday 27th June a new memorial to the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment will be unvailed in Wollaton park ENGLAND to mark the Regiments stay in the park and Nottingham in 1944. The regiment were billited here in Tent City throughout there stay in England pre -Normandy and prior to Market Garden when the Regiment left for the last time.

 

Unfortunatly at this time it would appear no veterans of the Regiment are availble to attend the unvailing, I would guess this is a sign of the times. It may very well now be left to a few Living History groups to ensure the day is marked and the Regiment is not forgotton.

 

Regiment Headquarters was in Wollaton Park and below the great hall the Paratroopers called a Castle was Tent City.

 

Today the area is as it was in WWII.

 

It is here the First Allied Airborne Association will be walking in the footsteps of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

 

 

This shot is interesting, seen here are officers relaxing at the front of the hall and in the bottom right

are Female Officers in their pinks and Greens

 

This scetch illustrates the vast area that was home to the 508th prior to D-Day and on there return and just before

Operation Market Garden. Towering above tent city is the great hall.

 

In this war time shot taken only a short time before D-Day can be seen one of the tent city street, in the distance

on top of the hill can just be seen the out line of the Hall

 

Even the band (Bob) Lived in tents.

 

The streets are vacated as troopers of the 508th prepare for field training

 

This shot taken nearer to D-Day due to the re-enforced jump pants shows troops preparing containers.

 

Memorial with temp plaques attached

 

Below is the link to some remarkable home movie film taken by Capt W H Nation of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment while at Wollaton Park and during leave time in Nottingham and Derby.

 

To View you may have to down load Real Player to you PC, but it is simple to do, just follow the instructions.

 

The films give an excellent insight into the Americans just arrived in England and show some detail that may be lost is written articles. The vast majority of the film appears to have been shot soon after the 508th arrived in Nottingham; it is defiantly pre D-Day and either late March or early April in the first film. Notable is that the Officers and troopers wear no 82nd patches and they still at this time retain the Parachute Patch on their headdress.

 

The 508th were only ever “attached” to the 82nd although fought the entire war as part of the 82nd Airborne. It is assumed looking at later pictures that once attachment orders were received the 508th were authorised the wearing of the 82nd SSI and adopted at the same time the Red White and Blue Para glider patch worn throughout the Division.

 

The shots of Walloton Hall and surrounding park give a good indication of the vastness of the area. Unlike the 506th who’s area we have all visited, and where the Regiment is split throughout several villages, here we see the vast majority of a single Regiment billeted in one place.

 

Enjoy

 

William H. NATION, was drafted into the U.S. Army in January 1941 from Arlington, Texas, and was sent to Camp Bowie, Texas, for basic training and incorporation in the 36th Division. While he was serving with the 36th, he was chosen to attend Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in April 1942., and immediately after graduation in July of that year, volunteered for and was accepted into training to become a paratrooper. He was a member of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment and become a qualified parachutist on 14 August 1942. Bill was in the original cadre of officers that formed 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. in the fall of 1942, and he served in the Personnel Section of Service Company during that time. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 22 June 1943 and served as Regimental Adjudant (S-1) for the balance of his service in the 508th P.I.R.

 

Captain NATION was part of the stick which included Colonel Roy E. LINDQUIST, Regimental Commander of the 508th P.I.R., as they parachuted onto the soil of Normandy at 2:14 a.m., 6 June 1944, and landed in the swampy floodplain of the Merderet River east of Amfreville. He remained with the 508 throughout the Normandy campaign. On 17 September 1944, Captain NATION jumped with the 508 into Holland as part of Operation Market- Garden. Captain William NATION served throughtout the fall of that year and into the next, participating in the Battle of the Bulge.

 

In December 1944, the 82nd was sent in the Ardennes to stop a major German break- through. The 508th PIR took defensive position on the Salm River at Vielsalm and Salm- chateau. Captain NATION took part to the first phase of the Battle of the Bulge in Goronne and to the tactical withdrawal on the 24th of December 1944. On the 3rd of January 1945, the Allied armies counterattacked. The regiment remained in reserve until the 07th of January. this day, the 508th retook the Thier-du-Mont hill, the same hill they occupied before Christmas. Captain NATION undertook to carry out the evacuation of civilians in the villages coming under the control of the regiment..

 

On the 10th of January, the Red Devils were billeted for rest in Chevron. While in this village, Captain NATION wrote his last letter dated January 19, 1945. On the 21st, the 508 returned to the lines near the German border. Captain NATION was killed in action in the early morning hours of 31 January 45, while setting up a forward Command Post in Lanzerath-Losheim area.

 

His body was laid to rest in Henri-Chapelle Cemetery in Belgium.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/ar...r_feature.shtml