As the ‘All American’ Division, the 82nd Infantry Division fought on the Western Front in WW1, and then pioneered large-scale airborne operations in Sicily, Normandy and beyond during WW2. The Division also deployed brigades to Vietnam and fought in Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Their battles show the challenges and opportunities of parachute assaults, dispersed landings and rapid regrouping.
September 2025, Nijmegen, Netherlands. I am standing at the site on the Waal River, where Major Julian Cook led the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504 PIR) of the US 82nd Airborne Division in a dramatic assault river crossing to seize the northern end of the Waal Road Bridge at Nijmegen.
In the early hours of D-Day, 6 June 1944, 13,200 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed behind Utah Beach to secure the beach landing sites and prevent German interference. A few hours later, the US 4th Infantry Division stormed ashore on Utah Beach. The amphibious forces landed about 2,000 yards south of their intended site, but rapidly secured the beachhead and moved inland to link-up with the paratroopers. By the end of D-Day, more than 21,000 troops were ashore at Utah Beach.
As a former 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, the town of Sainte-Mere Eglise in the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy holds a special place for me. In the early hours of 6 June 1944, ahead of the Normandy Beach landings, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted into this area. The 82nd was to seize the crossings over the Merderet River and the major road junction at Sainte-Mere Eglise, while the 101st was to seize key towns and the four beach exits in support of the landings at Utah Beach.
The final act of Steven Spielberg’s 1998 movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’ is set in the fictional French town of Ramelles, as a mixed group of paratroopers defends a bridge over the Merderet River against German armoured counter-attacks. That scene is based on real events that happened right here at La Fiere Bridge. I was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division 1996-99, so this place is somewhat of a pilgrimage for me.