Information Panel Honoring US Aviators Dakota C47 42-23638

Panel commemorating the crash of a Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft near this location on the night of June 5-6, 1944. The aircraft was piloted by 1st Lieutenant William Hitztaler assisted by four crew members, who had taken off from the airfield shortly before midnight Barkston Heath. After crossing the west coast of the Cotentin at Cap du Rozel, at about 2:20 a.m., the aircraft crossed cloud masses and suffered anti-aircraft fire killing the radio operator, Staff Sergeant Orlo Montgomery, and a paratrooper, Private Charles Stout. The aircraft became uncontrollable and crashed. In the following days most of the soldiers were killed or captured, some were hidden by the population.

Memorial 82nd US Airborne Division
Monument in memory of the American paratroopers of the 82nd US Airborne Division, whose plane crashed on the night of 5 to 6 June 1944. The Douglas C-47 Skytrain n°42-23638 was part of Serial 24, a formation of thirty-six aircraft of the 61st Troop Carrier Group. The plane was carrying a stick of American paratroopers from Company F of the 2nd Battalion of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
The memorial was inaugurated on June 7, 1999, during the 55th anniversary, in the presence of three veterans of the 507th PIR, including Walter Heisler.
In 2008, the piece of an airplane wing was found in a shed in the hamlet of Rouville, near where the plane had crashed; long searches of historical associations confirmed that it was indeed Walter Heisler's.

Plate 1st Lieutenant Walter Heisler
On the night of June 5-6, 1944, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain plane, carrying a stick - group - paratroopers of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was hit by the Flak and crashed near Négreville, after the survivors had killed the plane. can leave. The paratroopers were scattered far from their Drop Zone. Among them, 1st Lieutenant Walter Chris Heisler, he found himself completely isolated after his night landing; he tried to find his men, but was captured by the Germans two days later. He ended the war in a prison camp in Germany before being released in 1945.

Walter Heisler first returned to Normandy in 1999 with his comrade Carl Letson. Walter Heisler was made an honorary citizen of the municipality in 2007; next to the plaque, a historical panel tells this page of history in detail. Walter Heisler died on June 6, 2010 at the age of ninety-four.

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Source

• Text: Rudi Triki
• Photos: Rudi Triki