Memorial 440th Troop Carrier Group

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lee VVolverton
Commander, 3 rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division - United States of America
October 5, 1914 - June 6, 1944

Before boarding the plane on D-Day Wolverton Iu this prayer to his men
God Almighty!
In a few hours we will fight the enemy.
We do not dread the battle.
We do not implore favors or indulgences but ask, if such is Your will
That You use us as Your instruments for the right and the return to peace in the world.
We neither wish to know nor ask what will be black fate. We only ask, if we must die, that tonight as men without complaint.
And assured that we have done our best for what we believe is right.
Oh God Protect our loved ones.
Be with us in battle, and with us now as we pray to You.
Near this spot, unable to defend himself, colonel Wolverton gave his life, hanging from his parachute in an apple tree without ever reaching the dark ground he had come to liberate.

The 3rd Battalion had the highest percentage of casualties of the 101st. Of 575 men who had jumped, 93 were killed and around 75 taken prisoner.
On the night of June 6, the commander of the 440th Troop Transport Group of the US Airforce
Colonel Frank X. Krebs
courageously led to their fate, Lieutenant-Colonel Wolverton and his fifteen men aboard his C-47 "Stoy Hora"
45 aircraft of the 440 th TCG took part in.the 3rd Battalion's parachuting mission.
The skill and courage of these pilots enabled one of the most precise parachute drops on the peninsula.
The 440th lost three aircraft with their crews on D-Day.
On June 7, the group successfully parachuted supplies of equipment, ammunition, food and medicine to airborne troops fighting fiercely to restore peace in Europe.
"From the battlefields of Normandy, across Europe and beyond the Rhine, they were unique among warriors: fighters without weapons" Randy Bils
To the memory of all these brave soldiers