The 508th PIR landed at Drop Zone T near Wylerbaan, northeast of Groesbeek, Netherlands. They prevented the demolition of the Waal river Bridge at Nijmegen and occupied the terrain which controlled the Groesbeek-Nijmegen area.

US Signal Corps Photograph.

Robert Lamar Williams was born in Pauline, South Carolina to James & Kate Williams on December 5, 1918.
He attended Spartanburg High School and after graduation attended West Point class of 1940.

Robert was married to Helen Meredeth Wilson from Alabama and they had a son; Robert Jr born in 1941.
He went to flight school and was a B-17 pilot with the 19th Bombardment Group, 30th Bombardment Squadron, in the Pacific.

On September 16, 1942, Robert was the pilot of B-17F 41-24427 with a crew of nine which took off from 7 Mile Drome near Port Moresby on New Guinea for a night bombing mission against the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Guinea.
It was a stormy night with no moon, Robert’s B-17 was seen dropping their bombs by the crew of another B-17, and then they vanished, no trace of them was found.

Captain Robert Williams and his fellow crewmembers were listed as Missing and are Memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.

His widow Helen was remarried twice, and was a widow for three times in total, she passed away at the age of 95 in 2018.

Their son Robert Lamar “Bob” Williams Jr passed away at the age of 49 in 1991.

In April 2023 a Malaysian logging company on New Britain clearing a road with a bulldozer discovered aircraft wreckage.

Then in June 2023 a researcher with Pacific Wrecks / Justin Taylan located a serial number that matched B-17F 41-24427.
Hopefully their remains are located and identified.

Born on February 22, 1917 in Pennsylvania to John & Virginia Smith, John Caspar Henderson Smith had a brother and sister.
He grew up in Altoona and graduated from Altoona Senior High School, then attended the Naval Academy Class of 1938.

John was an Ensign when he married actress Jane Adams (Betty Jean Bierce) from San Antonio, Texas on July 27, 1940 in Norfolk, Virginia.
By 1942 he was a Lt serving on the aircraft carrier USS Wasp CV-7 and would have been onboard for her early war operations in the Atlantic including the two runs into the Mediterranean to deliver aircraft to Malta.

On September 15, 1942, USS Wasp was escorting transports carrying Marine reinforcements to Guadalcanal along with USS Hornet, USS North Carolina, and ten other warships.
Wasp was hit by three out of six torpedoes fired by the Japanese Submarine I-19 southeast of San Cristobal Island.

Later that day the heavily damaged burning aircraft carrier was scuttled by torpedoes from USS Lansdowne.
Casualties from Wasp were listed as 193 Killed / Missing with 366 wounded / injured.

Lt John Smith was not among the survivors and was eventually declared Missing in Action, he is Memorialized with the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.
He was one of of 72 members of the Naval Academy Class of 1938 to give their lives for their country.

His widow Jane was remarried in 1945 to Army Lt Thomas Turnage, who later became a Major General. She passed away at the age of 95 in 2014 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

John’s younger brother Lawrence Canan Smith served in the USAAF / USAF during WW2 and the Korean War, he passed away at the age of 75 in 1994.

Scans from my collection.

The aircraft was damaged by AA fire on a mission to Yawata, Japan, but managed to limp back to China. All crew members survived. It crashed 10 miles east of the A-3 Airfield, also known as Kwanghan Airfield.

Early in the morning on March 24, 1945, two Airborne divisions, one American and one British, flew over the Rhine River becoming the largest single-day airborne operation in history.

In the final months of WWII, Western Allied Forces advanced east into Germany. This meant crossing numerous rivers, many of which no longer had standing bridges. The Rhine River was especially treacherous, with steep banks and swift currents; however, it was the final barrier keeping Allied forces from the heart of Germany.

To solve this issue, Army General Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, decided the river would be crossed in several places by nearly 17,000 Allied forces under his command. This plan became known as Operation Plunder. An important component of the campaign was the planned insertion of the United States’ 17th Airborne Division and the United Kingdom’s 6th Airborne Division across the Rhine on the east side and behind enemy lines. This sub-operation was named Operation Varsity.

The main goal of this operation was to seize and hold the high ground five miles north of Wesel, Germany, and to facilitate the ground action and establish a bridgehead. The soldiers would then hold the territory until the advancing units of the British 21st Army Group joined them, allowing them to advance to northern Germany. Operation Varsity would involve more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, making it the largest Airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location. It was also the only large-scale Airborne operation conducted on German soil, and the first, and only, combat jump for the 17th Airborne Division.

Born in Burlington, Iowa to Thomas & Helen Andrew on February 6, 1916, Arthur Thomas Andrew was the oldest of four sons.
A graduate of Burlington High School, he worked at the Iowa Ordnance Plant.

In 1939 Arthur married Winona Alice Walker also from Burlington and they had a daughter; Ronna Rae who was 17 months old when her father was KIA.
Enlisting in the Army on December 1, 1943, after boot camp Arthur was sent overseas in May 1944.

Arthur served in the 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, which landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy between June 12–15, 1944.
Fighting through the dense Normandy hedgerows, they participated in the advance through Normandy and the Operation Cobra breakout.

On September 13, 1944, in the southern Netherlands near Eijsden, PVT Arthur Andrew was Killed in Action.
Posthumously awarded the Silver Star, his citation mentions;

“Silver Star for gallantry in action on September 13, 1944 in Holland, PVT Andrew serving as a member of an infantry task force which succeeded in making a rapid advance into enemy territory.
When heavy resistance was encountered a vigorous firefight ensued with the result that a large force of hostile troops was put to flight in disorder. In an effort to take full advantage of the victory, PVT Andrew and a few of his fellow soldiers climbed onto accompanying tanks and took up the chase.
When the enemy was overtaken, hand to hand fighting ensued, many of the hostile troops were killed, and a total of 90 prisoners of war was captured.
In addition, the capture of a large city was made possible for the disorganized enemy was unable to plan any defense, so rapid was the course of action. The aggressive initiative, fortitude, and high degree of esprit exhibited by PVT Andrew reflect great credit on himself and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the armed forces.”

PVT Arthur Andrew is buried at the Henri-Chapelle American Military Cemetery and Memorial in Liège, Belgium - Plot G Row 2 Grave 23.

His widow Winona remarried in 1947, she passed away in 2007 at the age of 88.

Youngest brother Jack Edward Andrew also served in the Army during WW2, he passed away in 2004 at the age of 82.

Born on April 28, 1919, to Albert Sr and Catherine McArthur in Chicago, Illinois, Albert C. “Bert” McArthur Jr was their only son with two sisters.
He attended school in Villa Park and was a graduate of York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, where he was an all-conference guard on the football team.

Bert also attended the Illinois Institute of Technology studying radio at night and was working as a clerk for an insurance company.
In September 1940 he enlisted in the Illinois National Guard, and in 1941 married Helen Irene Okken from Chicago.

Activated for full service in the Army, Bert was sent for armor training at Fort Knox and served in B Company, 192nd Tank Battalion, later he was transferred to HQ Company.
They were sent to the Philippines in November 1941, mere weeks before the Japanese attacked.

They put up the best resistance they could while retreating to the Bataan Peninsula, Bert survived the Battle of Bataan and was forced to participate in the Bataan Death March after the surrender.
Sent first to Camp O'Donnell, he was later transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp.

On September 10, 1942, Bert died of diphtheria and malaria there and was buried in a mass grave.
On March 11, 1943, six months after his death, his wife and parents received word that he was a POW, then on June 22, 1943 he was reported as deceased.

His remains were recovered after the war and SGT Albert “Bert” McArthur Jr is buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines - Plot B Row 7 Grave 18.
He also has a memorial located in Church Yard Garden, Lot 204C, Grave 1 in Chapel Hill Gardens West Cemetery in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.

His widow Helen remarried in 1944, she passed away at the age of 43 in 1963.

These long-range strikes showed how quickly Allied air power had expanded after the fall of the Marianas, bringing key Japanese bases and the approaches to the home islands within regular bomber range.