Glider soldiers

Hello my name is Phil, I am seeking information about my grandfather Robert Keenan from Queens New York. He died in 1977 and I want to find out more about his service in WWII. All that I know was that he landed in Normandy on D-Day in a glider. UnfortunatelyI doo not have any paper work on him. I want to find out about his division and their movements through WWII. If you can provide any information it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

Phil,
Welcome to the forum....regret my knowledge of American airborne operations is sketchy...obviously the 82 and 101 landed in Normandy on the morning of D-Day and I suspect some gliders (Wacos) would have bought their 'heavy equipment' in....so where to start?
I would suggest you need to find out his unit first....do you have any service records, medals etc????

 

There is the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division that dropped in Normandy. And the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 101st.

 

Welcome, Prgking!

Have you looked for his service record yet? Military Personnel Records, SF-180

 

Phil

Welcome!

I believe this is your grandfather's Enlistment Record. I'll write more later about the glider troops in Normandy.

Steve W.

 

OK, as promised. A great source, which will give you an excellent overview, is Dr John C Warren's Airborne Operations in World War II European Theater. Pages 66-79 cover the Normandy glider missions. Books covering the role of combat gliders, such as Gerard M Devlin's Silent Wings, make great use of Dr Warren's paper, so that's why I pointed you to the main source.

Hopethis helps.

Steve W.