101st Airborne Division paratroopers – Serial 16
Dakota C-47 42-100905 crash
Operation Neptune – D-Day – Battle of Normandy
Composition of the American Douglas C-47 Dakota “Donna Mae” aircraft registered 42-100905 (chalk 15) piloted by 1st Lieutenant Ray B. Pullen and belonging to the 440th Troop Carrier Group, 50th Troop Carrier Wing, 9th Troop Carrier Command, shot down by German air defense on June 6, 1944 above Magneville in Normandy while carrying paratroopers belonging to the 1st platoon of I Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Division, 101st Airborne Division.
It crashes before 1:40 in Magneville, near the locality Le Férage, south of the village.
The 4 crew members and the 18 parachutists died in the crash.
On July 13, the bodies of the victims are transferred to the US military cemetery of Blosville. Today, 6 of the 18 paratroopers are buried in the Colleville-sur-Mer cemetery where most American soldiers killed in action in Normandy were buried. Lieutenant Gerald V. Howard Jr. rests in the Neupré War Cemetery in Belgium.
Crew
Pilot: 1st Lt Ray B. Pullen
Co-pilot: 2nd Lt John M. Greeley
Navigator: S/Sgt Finney W.Gordon
Radio operator: S/Sgt Sidney H. Saltzman
Paratroopers (I Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division)
1st Lt Gerald V. Howard Jr.
Sgt Robert L. Todd
T/4 John E. Bray, Jr.
Cpl Donald E. Bignall
Cpl Marvin M. Stallings
T/5 Orville Vanderpool
Pfc Gilbert Amabisco
Pfc Richard L. Calhoon
Pfc Warren K. Carney
Pfc John J. Kittia
Pfc William E. Olson
Pvt James J. Farrell
Pvt Frederick P. Smith
Pvt Paul J. Weber
Pvt Howard Phillips
Pvt Glen L. Weirich
Pvt Clarence M. Wright
Pvt John A. Wright
