A UNIFORM ITEM-THE FOURRAGERE

Every soldier who serves in the 82d Airborne Division wears a fourragere.?Very few really know why and even less fully understand. Let me explain.

As a brand new 2d Lieutenant in 1965, I arrived on Gruber Road to join B 2-505 of the 505 PIR.?I knew it was a proud unit with a great history-one of the reasons I chose to go Airborne and join the Division.?If I was to be Infantry, I wanted to be with the best.?One of my first requirements was to visit the Supply Sergeant and get my basic equipment which included two uniform items, a blue infantry cord and the green and red braided fourragere awarded to the Division after Normandy.?Both were wrapped in a simple plastic bag by the manufacturer.?I dutifully went home and put them both on my Class A Green dress uniform-the fourragere on the left shoulder with the brass tip touching my jacket pocket.

After, I was introduced to the several Platoon Sergeants, all were WW II vets.?Two were from the 82d and one was from the Wehrmacht.?He joined the postwar 82d when it was in Germany on a rotation.?He had similar background compatriots in the Anti-Tank platoon sergeant and the Supply Sergeant-the man that had issued my equipment and was fastidious in filling out the forms and making me sign for the issued material. At the time I thought it how interesting that the previous foes were now all together in the same unit and all engaged in trying to teach me how to be an officer.

I thought nothing of this until the next Saturday when we had our usual half day inspection-everyone in Class A uniforms.?I arrived on the company steps in my spit shined jump boots, polished brass and green leadership tabs.?I had not done anything with the brass tip of the fourragere other than take it out of the wrapping.?It still had a semi-shiny brass appearance through the factory protective coating and I thought nothing of it-just another part of a not very impressive uniform of an officer with less than six months service.

Waiting inside were all the NCO’s, getting ready to move to their respective elements in the billets.?Immediately, as if rehearsed, the two WW II 82d NCO’s closed in on me at the door.?One expertly unbuttoned my shoulder tab, removed the fourragere and passed it to the other NCO.?He disappeared down the hall with my cord in hand while the other propelled me through the 1Sgt’s door and told me to wait there.?I was perplexed, but obedient.?They had been very solicitous of me and gone out of their way to educate me and insure I was a success in front of the troops.?I knew something was amiss, but I wasn’t bright enough at the time to know what and too surprised to ask.

Shortly, both NCOs walked in the room.?As I stood up, still somewhat confused, they both attached the fourragere to my left shoulder, straightened up the cord, “Airborne Sir.?You are ready to go.”?Before I could say anything else, one looked at me and spoke.?“Sir, Note the brass tip to our fourrageres.?We won this in Normandy and we know what it cost-a lot of men who can’t be here in this formation.?Every 82d vet in this division has a brass tip as shiny as it can be made.?We know what it cost to get it and we want to make sure you look like you ought to command this outfit.?Go out and bring the unit to Attention.”

That Sunday I went home and did some research on the 82d at Normandy and its casualties.?When the 82d returned to the UK in July 1944, it calculated its losses.??

Total Division strength in Normandy including the 325 and Sea Tail.??11,770

KIA???????????????????????????????????????????????????????1,142

WIA???????????????????????????????????????????????????????2,373

MIA/POW???????????????????????????????????????????????????840

SICK/EVACUATED??????????????????????????????????????????1,801

?TOTAL CASUALTIES????????????????????????6,156 or 72% of deployed.

This was a very expensive uniform item and deserved the best of care.?The NCOs were ensuring that both the cost and the symbolism remained well past their retirement.

Much later, well after my own retirement, Maurice Renaud, the youngest son of the wartime Mayor of St Mere Eglise took me aside during the 67th Anniversary and showed me a yellowed typewritten page he had found in his fathers’ materials.?It was a letter from the mayor, his father, to Gen DeGaulle in September of 1944.??I reproduce it below.

SUBJECT; Letter to the government of General de Gaulle?english translation by Maurice Renaud

>?>???SETEMBER 1944??LETTER FROM THE MAYOR OF SAINTE MERE EGLISE , Mr. ALEXANDRE RENAUD

???????to?MONSIEUR LE COMMISSAIRE DU GOUVERNEMENT DU GENERAL DE GAULLE

?Subject?REQUEST FOR A FRENCH ' CITATION ' FOR THE 2?US?AIRBORNE BATAILLONS WHICH LANDED IN

???????SAINTE MERE EGLISE ON JUNE 6TH 1944.

?Monsieur le Commissaire,

??MONDAY JUNE 5TH ,AROUND 23H30, IN THE THUNDERING NOISE OF LARGE AIRCRAFT FLYING AT LOW ALTITUDE, IN THE LIGHT OF A HOUSE FIRE,THE AMERICAN PARATROOPERS LANDED IN SAINTE MERE EGLISE.

????THEY WERE THE FIRST ALLIED TROOPS TO SET A FOOT ON THE SOIL OF OUR ENSLAVED COUNTRY. THEY MAINLY BELONGED TO 2 BATTALIONS,THE 2ND AND THE 3RD OF THE 505TH P.I.R OF THE 82ND A.D. UNDER THE COMMAND OF?LT COLONEL BENJAMIN VANDERVOORT AND LT COL C. KRAUSE.

???UPON THEIR LANDING, THEY WERE MACHINE GUNNED BY A GROUP OF FLAK SOLDIERS WHO CAMPED IN A PARK LOCATED NEAR THE CITY SQUARE.?AT DAWN THESE FLAK SOLDIERS, UNDER THE COMMAND OF KOLLER STAICHT,WERE PUSHED OUT OF THE TOWN AND

?SETTLED IN THE VILLAGE OF FAUVILLE,SOUTH OF SAINTE MERE EGLISE.

???THE FIRST NIGHT THESE 2 BATAILLONS SUFFERED HEAVY CASUALTIES. THEN IT BECAME EVEN WORSE.?DISTANT FROM UTAH BEACH BY MORE THAN 8 KILOMETERS, THEY WERE COMPLETELY SURRENDERED BY GERMAN UNITS.

???TO THE SOUTH IN FAUVILLE,TO THE NORTH IN NEUVILLE AU PLAIN WITH 2 BATAILLONS OF THE 91??AIRLANDING DIVISION WELL EQUIPPED WITH CANNONS AND TANKS,TO THE EAST ,IN DIRECTION OF THE SEA, BY 2 COMPANIES OF FANATICAL GEORGIANS WHO WILL FIGHT TO THE LAST MAN.?THESE 2 BATTALIONS SUCCEEDED RESISTED?ALONE WITH THEIR GUNS, 2 HEAVY MACHINE GUNS AND 2 SMALL CANNONS LATER DELIVERED BY GLIDERS.

???THESE AMERICAN PARATROOPERS ( I WAS ABLE TO OBSERVE THEM CLOSELY DURING THE BATTLE ) WERE VERY QUIET AND SELF CONTROLLED AS IF THEY WERE DOING?MANEUVERS. THEY WALKED QUIETLY CLOSE?TO THE WALLS OF THE HOUSES,?SMOKING OR CHEWING THEIR GUM?UNDER THE CONSTANT SHELLING OF GERMAN GUNS LOCATED IN AZEVILLE AND SAINT MARTIN DE?VARREVILLE

??IN THE EVENING OF JUNE 6TH, FROM THE DITCH WHERE I TOOK REFUGE WITH MY FAMILY,?I SENSED THAT THE FRONT LINE WAS GETTING CLOSER TO US. THE 2 GERMAN BATTALLIONS AND THE TROOPS OF CAPTAIN KELLER ATTACKED.?ALL THE NIGHT OF JUNE 6TH THE BATTLE WAS FEROCIOUS. THE GERMANS GOT VERY CLOSE TO THE NORTHERN ENTRANCE OF THE TOWN. THE PARATROOPERS WERE FIGHTING WITH THEIR KNIVES. ONE PARATROOPER I TALKED TO TOLD ME ; " WE WILL ATTACK .REINFORCEMENTS FROM THE SEA WILL GET HERE AROUND 06H00.EVERYTHING IS OK”.?THAT WAS NOT TO HAPPEN. .THIS SAME EVENING THEY WERE STILL WAITING FOR THE REINFORCEMENTS FROM UTAH BEACH . ONE SOLDIER TOLD ME??' THERE IS SOME DELAY.THE SEA IS VERY ROUGH ' AND AS THE WOMEN WERE CRYING AND SAYING?' PLEASE DON’T ABANDON US ' HE REPLIED WITH A LARGE SMILE,?' WE NEVER GIVE UP,WE WILL RATHER DIE HERE '

??A WITNESS TOLD ME THAT HE SAW SOME PARATROOPERS RIDING HORSES AT FULL SPEED TO RUSH TO THE DEFENSE OF A THREATENED PART OF THE TOWN.?AFTER THE BATTLE SEVERAL?HORSES WERE DEAD IN THE CENTER OF THE TOWN.?BEFORE THE TROOPS ARRIVED FROM THE SEA, THE PARATROOPERS WERE RUNNING OUT OF AMMUNITION. THEY TOLD ME

?' WE CAN ONLY USE OUR GUNS WHEN WE ARE VERY CLOSE TO THE TARGET AND WE CANNOT WASTE AMMUNITION.?AFTER THAT, OUR ONLY DEFENSE WILL BE?BAYONETS AND KNIVES. '

??48 HOURS AFTER THEIR LANDING THE AIRBORNE MEN HAD ACHIEVED A FANTASTIC SUCCESS. THOSE 2 AIRBORNE BATTALONS HAD DESTROYED THE GERMAN TROOPS;?IN THE NORTH 2 BATTALIONS, IN THE SOUTH ONE BATTALION AND ONE FLAK GROUP ,IN THE EAST 2 COMPANIES OF GEORGIANS WHO FOUGHT TO DEATH SHELTERED IN THE CASTLE OF BEUZEVILLE AU PLAIN.

THEY ALSO DESTROYED EIGHT TANKS.

????THE PARATROOPERS SUFFERED VERY HEAVY CASUALTIES. DURING ALL THAT TIME,THE BATTALION MEDIC, CAPTAIN LYLE B. PUTMAN, WAS TAKING CARE OF OUR CIVILIAN WOUNDED AS IF THEY WERE AMERICAN SOLDIERS.

????SO I AM ASKING YOU,MONSIEUR LE COMMISSAIRE DU GOUVERNEMENT,IF IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO SOLICIT GENERAL DE GAULLE, WHO KNOWS WHAT BRAVERY MEANS, TO GIVE TO THESE TOUGH SOLDIERS WHO WERE THE FIRST TO HAVE DEFEATED THE GERMANS ON FRENCH SOIL, A CITATION WHICH GIVES THEM THE RIGHT TO WEAR ON THEIR UNIFORM THE FRENCH FOURRAGERE.

???I BELIEVE THAT THEIR SACRIFICE WILL FEEL LIGHTER TO THEM IF THEY GET THE RIGHT TO PUT ON THEIR REGIMENTAL FLAG THIS SIGN OF THE FRENCH GRATITUDE.

??IN THEIR COMING BATTLES,?THESE PARATROOPERS?WILL FIGHT WITH EVEN MORE BRAVERY, PROUD TO BE THE AIRBORNE TROOPS WHICH FRANCE HAS DISTINGUISHED AS?

????' BRAVEST AMONG THE BRAVES '

?????Signed??MR ALEXANDRE RENAUD

To this point, I had no idea as to the origin of the fourragere, but here it was. General de Gaulle approved and the citation with fourragere was granted to the 505th.?This was not a request made on emotion or to curry favor.?The mayor had a skilled experienced eye and judgment for combat worthiness.?He was a WW I veteran of the Battles of Verdun, Ypres and Chemin Des Dames and other engagements.?He commanded a machine gun platoon and finished the war as a prisoner of the Germans.?His narrative above was written with a war-weathered eye which makes it all the more noteworthy.?At the time the letter was written, St Mere Eglise had the largest military cemetery in the world with more than 35,000 soldiers interred.?It was not until 1948 that the bodies were re-interred either at Omaha Beach or sent home to families.??

Of note is that the mayor’s wife sent hundreds of photographs of individual graves to grieving families.?She accompanied each with a personal letter written on an ancient typewriter at the kitchen table.?One of Maurice’s earliest memories is that of his mother bent over the table at night, often with a candle, two finger typing the letters.?While the electrical infrastructure of Normandy had to be replaced, the spirit of its people always burned brightly.

All his and much more was and is reflected by the brass tip of the fourragere.?Today, it hangs on my uniform in the closet with the tip wrapped in cotton and sealed in plastic.?It will be displayed once more the last time it will ever be worn.

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