Hi, I'm looking for the glider manifest of glider nbr 42-46521 of serial #28 - Mission Detroit. As far as I can find out, the father of my aunt, Colonel Ralph 'Doc' Eaton, was supposed to be on that glider? They landed in LZ C of the 101st. iso LZ O. He was transported to a field hospital and later evacuated. So far I can only find the names of the pilot & co-pilot + the loading manifests... but not the passengers. Can somebody help me confirm he was on this (or other) glider? Thanks, Bart
Hi Bart, I would love to be able to answer your questions, but there are so few details about passengers either on the manifests of paratroopers who jumped from any identified C-47 on D-Day, and what soldiers were on board any particular glider that landed on D-Day. Flight manifests for any of these flights are incredibly hard to track down and some researchers have come to the conclusion that they can no longer be found... Usually if one exists, it is because a pilot personally kept a copy of it. Mission Detroit was the only group of gliders to land in LZ 'O', which just earlier served as paratrooper drop zone DZ 'O'. This area was just northwest of Sainte-mere-Eglise, with a planned CP at a farm also NW of Sainte-mere-Eglise. Like I said earlier, glider manifests were hard to locate, so I don't know where you got the information that he was on Glider chalk 1, and that it was serial # 42-46521. Attached you will find a copy of the glider manifest for the 82nd Airborne, and serial #28 is the first one listed in the top left corner. If I was to guess, I would think being a high ranked officer as Chief of Staff, that he was in a glider that landed with a jeep and was one of the soldiers marked as evacuated after landing. The field hospital for the men at this time would have been the same farm that was intended to be their CP. (There is a typo on the serial number of the glider in the images sent, it should begin 43- ). If you think he landed in LZ 'C' the that would put him in the 101st division are at Hiesville, and that field hospital would have been at Chateau Colombieres just north of Hiesville. Any original field hospital, and general hospital records would also be very difficult to find. I hope this information help you, but I am sorry there is not more. Respectfully, John Szweda
Hi John, Thanks for your reply and documents Yes, indeed not everything has been archived and is retraceable. Here is my analysis of the situation of Colonel Ralph Eaton during that night (5 on 6 June): 1) Colonel Eaton took the seat in the glider of General Ridgway at the last moment (General Ridgway jumped with Force "A" of BG J. Gavin). (I can't find back the reference document for this part - but hereunder you can also find an extract the story from a newsletter from West Point I think?): [A last minute change because on the night before D-Day, Col. Ralph 'Doc' Eaton and General Ridgway disagreed. Eaton explained that Ridgway wanted to sit in the front seat of the lead glider. "No," Eaton said, "that’s my seat." He convinced him that the first night glider landing in history was no place for experiment, so Eaton rode in front and Ridgway jumped.] 2) On the glider Col. Eaton took, there was also the driver of General Ridgway: Sgt Frank Farmer. Hereunder you can find his account. Strangely enough there was no jeep on the glider. 3) here is the account of Col. Eaton concerning the glider crashing from a questionnaire from Cornelius Ryan (for his book The Longest Day): 4) So after he was wounded he was taken to an Aid Station (from Col. Sink). + General Taylor from the 101st. My analysis: - General Ridgway always wanted to be as close to the frontlines as possible. He would have taken the first glider in. Seen that Col. Eaton had taken "his" seat, that would mean that he would be on the first glider of Serial #28. - That would be glider 42-46521 (with pilot Lt. Evans). We know: - Col. Eaton was on serial #28 - The glider transported the HQ 82nd A/B Div. - The glider was damaged - There was at least 1 person evacuated, no dead or missing - There was no jeep on the glider (e.g. account of Sgt. Farmer) - The glider landed in LZ "C" (far away from their LZ "O") => This makes me think that Col. Eaton was on glider 42-46521, because it was damaged, had no KIA or missing, landed 9 miles from LZ. The other potential gliders have no evacuated persons (42-74320), have missing persons (34-41831), or landed too close to the LZ (42-46572). What do you think ? Kind regards, Bart
Hi Bart, I'm not sure what Waco glider he would have been in, and now that you say he was in a glider with a 57mm gun, that complicated things even more... The glider manifest doesn't show a gun being on a glider with the HQ section, or even HQ signal company. If he for sure had a 57mm gun on board then maybe he landed within an artillery glider. But then this also brings up something else. We know Waco gliders had weight restrictions, and what you notice also from the manifest is that any Waco glider that carried either a jeep, trailer, or 57mm gun, was not going to be able to carry more than 4 soldiers in back. You can see if a Waco did not have any equipment on board, it could carry a full load of 13 glider infantry. Each Waco had a pilot and co-pilot, so it is unlikely Eaton sat in the co-pilot position and it is said he sat next to Farmer anyway. There would be very little room on the floor with any jeep, trailer, or 57mm gun on board, but not impossible for him to place himself on the floor. Maybe the gun load shifted upon landing causing more injury to him. John
John and Bart, The antitank guns of the 80th Airborne Antiaircraft (Antitank) Battalion arrived at 4:00 a.m. on June 6 and Eaton would have been on a glider carrying division headquarters staff personnel. I hope this helps. Phil Nordyke
Hi Phil, Thanks for that detail. Eaton should indeed have been on a glider with HQ 80th A/B Div. Taken that into account that Eaton landed outside his LZ, there are 4 possible gliders (in yellow) that could match. The last one on the list (42-74058) only had 1 passenger, was evacuated and had a jeep (unserviceable). 42-74320 and 42-79194 were damaged, but had no KIA, Evac or Missing. My best guess is the 42-46521 glider which landed 9 miles outside the LZ with 13 personnel, 2 Evac (Eaton & Co-pilot) As told in the accounts, Eaton landed near LZ "C" from the 101st. I identified the 4 gliders (circled in black + red arrow) of Detroit mission which landed near LZ "C", corresponding to the nbr of gliders with the longest distance from their original LZ "O". I also found the time schedule, placing the Detroit mission (last line on the schedule) arriving at 0407. All this makes me think that the glider Eaton was on is the 42-46521. What do you think? Thanks, Bart
Bart, I believe he would have been on the first glider 42-74320, the lead glider, as he indicated in his written accounts. Five miles from LZ O would be closer to LZ W than nine miles away. You can’t always take everything on an after-action report. Just because the chart doesn’t show anyone evacuated, does not mean that was the case. Everything was manual and sometimes being able to get information was difficult. Phil
Phil, Indeed, the chaos of war, mistakes, missing info, memory gaps,... all influence the reports or accounts. Another document (see below) shows the 437th Troop Carrier Group setup with glider 42-46521 as the lead glider. This makes me think again that this was the glider Eaton was on? Bart