The Oglethorpe University community gathered Nov. 14 to commemorate Veterans Day by dedicating a marker on campus to the members of “E” Easy Company of the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division who visited the Oglethorpe campus in 1942.
The story of Easy Company was told in Stephen Ambrose’s best-selling book “Band of Brothers,” which was later turned into an HBO miniseries by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Easy Company’s connection to Oglethorpe was researched and confirmed by Oglethorpe alumna Deborah Allen Kitchin ’80, who made a generous financial contribution to have the granite marker produced.
“We are grateful to Deborah and her family,” said Kathryn McClymond, president of Oglethorpe University. “Her relentless and persistent efforts to fact-check the story of Easy Company’s march to Atlanta and overnight stay on our campus led to this event, and her generous contribution allowed us to place a marker to commemorate this special connection Oglethorpe has with World War II.”
The story of Easy Company has deep roots in Georgia. Shortly after completing their basic training in December 1942 at Camp Toccoa, the 506th was preparing to relocate to what was then Fort Benning, Georgia, for their parachute training. The regiment was led by a Col. Sink, who had read a Reader’s Digest story about a Japanese Army unit that had broken the world record for marching by traveling about 100 miles in only a few days.
Sink believed his men, including those of Easy Company, could do better. He ordered the entire 2nd Battalion and its commander, Maj. Robert L. Strayer, to do the 115-mile march south to Atlanta. They arrived in 75 hours, and as a part of this march, a group of soldiers in the battalion stayed on the shores of Silver Lake, when Silver Lake was part of the Oglethorpe campus.
Easy Company went on to parachute behind enemy lines in the early hours of D-Day in support of the landings at Utah Beach. They participated in the liberation of the French town of Carentan and again parachuted into action during Operation Market Garden.
They also liberated a concentration camp and were the first to enter Hitler’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden, Germany.
The dedication ceremony was preceded by a reception and lecture in the library atrium in Lowry Hall by amateur World War II historian Ben Wax, Jr. His presentation, titled “Heroes Tribute: Remembering Those Who Served,” centered on the combat experience of his father, Capt. Ben Wax Sr., who served in the 101st Airborne Division, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Wax provided details on his father’s service in World War II. Last year, Wax traveled to France where he retraced his father’s footsteps and learned more about his experiences fighting to liberate France.
