 |
| Pfc. Nalty Keen was killed on D-Day. His united liberated the first France town -- Sainte Mere Eglise. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50060266 https://d-daybattletours.co.uk/where-we-go-and-what-we-do/american-airborne-landings/ http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/82nd-airborne-at-sainte-mere-eglise/ |
Nalty R. Keen never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on December 6, 1917 in Mississippi. His parents Ernest and Martha were also both born in Mississippi. His father worked as a farmer. Nalty had an older brother and sister. By 1940 Nalty had completed four years of high school and was working on the family farm.
He enlisted in the army on December 6, 1940, his twenty-third birthday. He eventually became a private first class in the Headquarter Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. The 82nd AD was created in March 1942. It was the first airborne division sent overseas. It's first airdrop was in Sicily in July 1943. Two months later Pfc. Keen's 505th PIR airdropped at Salerno. In early 1944 it moved to England to prepare for the invasion of France.
Late in the evening of June 5, 1944, the men from the 505th PIR boarded 117 C-47 Skytrains for the flight to Normandy. Just before 2:00 am on June 6, 1944 Pfc. Keen jump out of his C-47 Skytrain and landed near Sainte Mere Eglise. The skill of the 505th PIR pathfinders resulted in 75 percent of its men landing in their drop zones. It successfully captured Sainte Mere Eglise, the first town liberated in France.
Pfc. Keen was killed before D-Day ended. I was not able to determine any more details. On D-Day and the week that followed 212 men from the 505th PIR were killed or died of their wounds.
His grave is at Rose Hill Cemetery in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
No comments:
Post a Comment