101st Airborne Division

....... "The soldier is the army."

................................. ......General George S. Patton

 
 
Unit History
    501st PIR
    502nd PIR
    506th PIR 
    327th GIR
    401st GIR
    326th AEB
    377th PFAB
    463rd PFAB
    321st GFAB
    907th GFAB
    81st AAA
    326th Med Co
    426th QM Co 
 
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Major William E Barfield Commanding Officer 326th Airborne Medical Company
Major William E Barfield CO 326th Med Co




Distinguished Service Cross(DSC) Recipient
Pvt George A Whitfield



Bronze Star Recipient
Pfc Robert H Breth
Capt Jacob Pearl
1/Lt George V Evans
1/Lt Everett C Vogt





The 326th Medical Company - 101st Airborne Division
Unit History


he 326th Medical Company was initially constituted 23 July 1918 as the 326th Sanitary Train, an element of the 101st Division, National Army.  It was demobilized 11 December 1918, then reconstituted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 24 June 1921 as the 326th Medical Regiment, again as part of the 101st Division but allotted to the organized reserves.

On 30 January 1942, the Regiment was redesignated the 326th Medical Battalion, 101st Division.  On 15 August 1942, the battalion was withdrawn from the organized reserve and allotted to the army of the United States, with the current reorganization and redesignation as the 326th Airborne Medical Company.

The unit was activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, as element of the newly organized 101st Airborne Division and deployed with the division in 1943, in preparation for the invasion of Europe in 1944.

The 326th Airborne Medical Company was the organic medical unit that supported the 101st Airborne Division during its operations in World War II.  As the size and structure of the airborne division changed during the war, the airborne medical company grew from a strength of  20 officers and 195 enlisted men in September 1942 to 27 officers and 273 enlisted men in December 1944.  The company was organized into a company headquarters, several service sections, and three platoons which carried out the same functions as the clearing and collecting companies in the medical battalion of an infantry division.  Each platoon had litter bearer, ambulance, and treatment sections and supported one of the division's parachute or glider infantry regiments during operations.

On 18 December 1944, the Division was hastily transported to Bastogne, Belgium, to help stop the German Ardennes Offensive, " The Battle of the Bulge". On 19 December 1944, 18 officers and 125 Enlisted Men of the Division Clearing Company were captured by elements of the German 1st SS Panzer. Even with this loss the 326th provided medical support throughout the division's magnificent defense of Bastogne against four German Divisions and elements of three others.

Afterward, the 326th supported the division during the remainder of the conflict in Europe, until it was deactivated on 30 November 1945 at Auxerre, France.


(* For a comprehensive history of the 326th Airborne Medical Company see WW 2 Medical Research Center )
books
R E L A T E D   B O O K S

Ambrose, Stephen E D-DAY June 6,1944: The Climatic Battle of WW II. 6/93, Simon & Shuster ISBN: 0671673343
Ambrose, Stephen E Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. Simon & Schuster, (June 2001) 336 p. ISBN: 0-743-21638-5
Ambrose, Stephen E Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945. Simon & Schuster, (Nov 1997) 528 p. ISBN: 0-684-81525-7
Badsey, Stephen & Chandler, David G (Editor)  Arnhem 1944: Operation "Market Garden" (Campaign No.24) 1993 96p. ISBN: 1855323028
Bando, Mark A  Avenging Eagles: Forbidden tales of the 101st Airborne in World War 2. Bando Publishing, (2006) 183 p. ISBN: 0977911705
Bando, Mark A  101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles at Normandy. Zenith Press, (Apr 2001) 156 p. ISBN: 0760308551
Bando, Mark A  Vanguard of the Crusade: The US 101st Airborne Division in WW II. The Aberjona Press, (June 2003) 320 p. ISBN: 0971765006
Black, Wallace B.& Blashfield, Jean F. Battle of the Bulge (World War II 50th Anniversary Series). Crestwood House, 48 pp May,1993 ISBN: 0896865681
Bowen, Robert Fighting With the Screaming Eagles: With the 101st Airborne from Normandy to Bastogne. Greenhill Books/Lionel Leventhal, (Sept 2001) 256 p. ISBN: 1853674656
Breuer, William B Geronimo! American Paratroopers in WWII. New York: St. Martin Press, (1989) 621 p.
ISBN: 0-312-03350-8

Breuer, William B Unexplained Mysteries of World War II. John Wiley & Sons, Sept 1998 256 p. ISBN:0471291072
Burgett, Donald R Currahee!. Presidio Press, (Sept 1999) 256 p. ISBN: 0-891-41681-1
D'Este, Carlo  Patton: A Genius for War 1024 pp ISBN: 0060927623
De Trez, Michel  American Warriors: Pictorial History of the American Paratroopers Prior to Normandy  July, 1998, D-Day Pub, 212 p. ISBN: 2960017609
De Trez, Michel  Cpl Forrest Guth: E Company 506 PIR 101st Airborne Division (WW II American Paratroopers Portrait Series)  March, 2002, D-Day Pub, 56 p. ISBN: 296001765X
De Trez, Michel  Orange is the Color of the Day: Pictorial History of the American Paratroopers in the Invasion of Holland April, 2004, D-Day Pub, 506 p. ISBN: 2960017633
De Trez, Michel  At the Point of No Return : Pictorial History of the American Paratroopers in the Invasion of Normandy 7/98, D-Day Pub, 200 p. ISBN: 2960017617
Devlin, Gerard S  Paratrooper! St Martin's Press, (P) c1976 ISBN: 0312596529
Gavin, James M.  On to Berlin : Battles of an Airborne Commander, 1943-1946 ISBN: 0670525170
Golden, Lewis Echoes From Arnhem Penguin ISBN: 0718305213
MacDonald, Charles B  A Time For Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge Wm Morrow & Co (P), 720 p. ISBN: 068151574
McKenzie, John  On Time, On Target Novato, CA: Presidio, May 15,2000. 304 p. ISBN: 089 141 714 1
Ryan, Cornelius  A Bridge Too Far 670p. ISBN: 0684803305
Webster, David Kenyon Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D- Day and the Fall of the Third Reich 352p. ISBN: 0385336497


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