I was born on Halloween, 1921, in the small Central California town of Manteca. In my teens, I found work as a cowboy for a short time, but at the age of 19 I was fortunate to secure a job as a machinists helper with Southern Pacific Railroad. A year and a half later, Pear Harbor was attacked and the whole country changed. Not long after, I was drafted.
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| Larwin J. Lopes |
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On September 14th, 1942, I reported to a meeting spot in Stockton California where a few other draftees and I were put on a bus and driven to Fort Ord in Monterey. When we arrived at the fort, we were give a few choices of where in the US Army we would like to serve. Being an adventurer at heart, I decided to volunteer for a daring new part of the Army called the Airborne. Although jumping out of airplanes sounded adventurous to me, nobody else from my bus seemed to share my feelings.
I was assigned a temporary bunk in a two story barracks while waiting for other airborne inductees from Central California to arrive. I had no idea what would happen next, but Iended up spending a few nights alone in the barracks. Finally others started to show up and as soon as there were 13 or 14 of us, we were taken to the train station. When the train arrived, we all boarded a single coach car and were soon on our way to basic training at an army camp in Georgia. I made several new friends on the trip, and some of the guys like Walter Ellgood, Gerald Lorraine, Simon Scott, and Frank Mullesch, would even end up in the same company as me.
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After a few long days traveling, we arrived at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. This was to become our home for the next two and a half months. As soon as we arrived, our group was assigned to “Cow Company”, a temporary company (actually designated “W” company) and put in a tent city in a field outside the regular barracks. It rained for several days, and due to the terrain, the rainwater rushed like a river on the ground through our tents. The ground got extremely muddy everywhere, but in my tent, it was so bad that my cot even sank several inches into the soil.
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| Toccoa barracks |
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Eventually we were placed in real barracks and split up into various companies of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under the command of Col. Robert F. Sink.
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A couple of the guys and I were assigned to the 506th Service Company. We were not given any choice of our assignments, although in my case, my selection may have been a result of the previous job experience with Southern Pacific Railroad. More specifically, I was assigned to the transportation section and was told that I would become a driver. Other guys from the train were sent to infantry companies.
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My time was soon filled with long days of intense physical training. The program we followed was designed to seperate the weak from the strong in an effort to guarantee that only the best made it into battle with the airborne.
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| Larry at the Toccoa motorpool |
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Even though Service Company was not an infantry company, we went through much of the same training as everyone else. We ran the obstacle course, performed the calisthenics, did the long marches, made the six mile runs up and down Mount Currahee, had basic weapons training, and we jumped from the drop tower. The physical training was so intense, that soon the 506th PIR as a whole was to become one of the most physically fit units in the entire US Army.
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As the infantry units would have overnight battle training exercises, called “problems”, I would participate as well, but mostly in a support capacity, not as a front-line soldier. On some of the long marches however, I was fortunate enough to already be in my assigned position as a jeep driver and would drive the commander of Service Company along to his destinations.
In early December of 1942, the 506th PIR left Camp Toccoa for Fort Benning, Georgia to begin their jump training. On our way, we even set a new marching record in an effort to show up the Japanese and their recent record-breaking march. Within the first few days at Fort Benning, we realized the fruits of our intense physical training program back at Toccoa when we saw how the men running the jump school had trouble keeping up with us. But whatever pride we may have shown about our physical stature was soon replaced by the nervousness of getting ready to jump out of an airplane for the very first time.
Within a few weeks the regiment was done with the exercises and jumping from towers. We were ready for the real thing, and we got it. 5 jumps and we would earn our wings, and soon I had mine. Silver, shiny, and proudly pinned to my left breast. Col. Sink congratulated us and then warned us to behave as he gave us our first real furlough.
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After we returned from our well-earned furlough, the regiment was put on trains and moved to Camp Mackall, North Carolina. Here we would enjoy new barracks, a big mess hall, more training, and multiple day “problems”. But life was easier here then at Toccoa or Benning. Weekend passes we given regularly, good-natured competition between companies or platoons was constant, and our tactical skills as soldiers were perfected. We even had our first division maneuvers on March 31st.
On June 10th the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was attached to the 101st airborne division. Later that same month we participated in large maneuvers in Tennessee before heading to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
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| A group photo taken of the Transportation Section of Service Company 506th at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina on August 22, 1943. Larry is standing in the back row, ninth from the left. Picture is courtesy of Larry, Wilma, and Gary Lopes. |
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At the end of August, the regiment moved to Camp Shanks, New York for a short stay before heading to Europe. On September 6th, 1943, our entire regiment boarded the troop ship HMS Samaria and set sail for somewhere in Europe. Nine days later, on the 15th of September, the Samaria arrived at Liverpool, England.
From the ship the various companies of the 506th were assigned to different waiting trucks to be transported to their new pre-invasion homes. The regiment was spread out around the county of Wiltshire. It was billeted in homes, in stables, in manors, or in niessen huts in and around the local villages. The various companies and units were placed strategically so as to take advantage of the available facilities, but also to disrupt the local people as little as possible.
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| Froxfield, home of the 506th Svc. Co. |
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| Stables at Froxfield Manor Farm |
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The 506th Service Company was billeted at Froxfield, a small village south of Ramsbury. The enlisted men stayed in the stables of Manor Farm. A garage and other necessary facilities were set up at this location. By this time I had been promoted to the rank of T/5.
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Soon after arrival in England, I was attached to the 1st battalion of the regiment. I was still technically part of 506th Service Company, but I had now been assigned as the jeep driver for the 1st Battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel William L. Turner.
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As a result of my new assignment, I was moved to a building in the center of the village of Ramsbury with the 1st Battalion HQ Company. This kept me close to LTC Turner who was staying down the road at Ramsbury Manor (unconfirmed location).
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| Enemy weapons training at 1/506th HQ |
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| Former 1/506th HQ |
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LTC Turner had a reputation for being a strict, by-the-book commander. Behind his back, many of his battalion knew him by his unofficial nickname of “Snuffy”, after a popular, big-nosed comic strip character of the time.
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I considered Col. Turner to be a fair man. For example, when 1st battalion was out on night “problems” (maneuvers), LTC Turner would have me drive him to the command post, but would then cut me loose and tell me what time I should return. This worked out great for me because I would then drive over to Froxfield to visit my English girlfriend.
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One night I returned from a visit to my girlfriends and was late picking up LTC Turner at the end of a "problem". When the Colonel gruffly inquired as to my whereabouts, I simply stated that I had gotten lost. The Colonel knew this was a lie since I was an expert at reading maps, yet he said no more about it.
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The next few months were filled with more training, football games, exhibition jumps, and lots of weekend passes that were spent in the local towns or as far away as London. But soon it was time to go to war. The regiment was packed up on trucks, just as if we were headed out for another field “problem”, but instead we were taken to high security “marshalling” areas. Only authorized personnel came in, and nobody went out.
There we were briefed on the invasion that was to begin in a few days. The target was the Normandy coast of France. I would jump in with the rest of the 1st Battalion and someone else would bring my jeep over by boat. Soon it was the evening of June 5th and 1st Battalion was at Upottery Field boarding C-47 transport planes belonging to the 439th Troop Carrier Group. I was in one of the forty-five planes that comprised serial number 11 of the 101st airborne part of the invasion. The invasion had originally been scheduled for the previous night, but after boarding their planes, it was postponed due to the weather.
A little before midnight the planes began to take off and get into formation above the airfield. Due to the war, double daylight savings time was in effect in England, so it was actually just before 10:00 PM for the locals of the Normandy coast, or 11:00 PM for the German occupying forces in the same place. The planes carrying 1/506th were soon in the air and the entire formation was headed for drop zone “C” near the town of Hiesville. This was one of 3 drop zones assigned to the 101st airborne division. The 82nd Airborne was also participating in the invasion, but their drop zones were much further west on the Cherbourg peninsula than those of the 101st.
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| Click On The Eagle For Page #2 |
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