Don Burgett, Airborne Author and Historian, 1925-2017
NRA’s American Rifleman has posted this:
In 1967, one man single-handedly established the narrative of U.S. Army airborne forces fighting in the European theater of World War II with the publication of a single book. Twenty-five years before Band of Brothers was first printed and 35 years before it was turned into an HBO mini-series, Donald R. Burgett’s Currahee!: A Screaming Eagle at Normandy (1967) described the experience of fighting the battle of Normandy as an American paratrooper—and it did so with a clarity and frankness that quickly made it a bestseller. The gritty, no-nonsense writing style of Currahee! brought the Battle of Normandy alive in a way that official histories never have—and it did this from the worm’s-eye view of a 19-year-old rifleman.
Those of us who were and are Currahee’s owe a huge debt to Don Burgett for making us most likely the best known regiment in the United States Army. May all of us in the Airborne Brotherhood pray that Don had an easy landing on his last jump into that great unknown.
All you Currahee’s, sound off:
Poetrooper, Bravo and Headquarters Companies, 2d Bn, 506th Airborne Infantry, 2004-2005 1964-1965.
Category: Blue Skies
Can a Brigade Signal guy who provided commo to Currahee’s check in?
Gotta re-read that book.
First, RIP to the gentleman author.
Second, am I reading Poe’s dates of service with the 506th correctly?
2004-2005? I thought Old Poe was one of the geezers here at TAH with service 50 years earlier than that.
Are those dates typos or are we being spot checked for reading comprehension here on this fine spring morning?
I, for one, am confused. Not that it takes a lot to confuse me, but am just trying to figure it out.
And as usual, my basic math skills are off by a factor of ten.
Should read “with service 40 years earlier than that.”, not 50 years.
Had a senior moment, CRS kicked in. Not enough caffeine yet.
Yeah, Yeah, I know. The maximum effective range of a lame-ass excuse is zero meters.
Claw, if you need any further proof that I’m one of the old geezers, I just provided it. I had been doing some financial stuff regarding investments made back during that 2004-05 period and had those years floating around in the empty space up there.
My actual dates were 1964-1965.
Jonn, any chance of you changing my blooper?
I kind of figured it was something like that.
Not trying to call you out or anything like that, but the dates just looked weird to me.
Never was a Currahee, but still a 101 guy, 71-74.
Fixed it.
Thanks, now do you have anything to cure Old Fart’s Disease?
There’s just the one cure, but nobody wants you to join Mr. Burgett in that one, at least for a long while, sir…
If you find that cure, would you let me know, too? Thanks!!!
Rest in Peace Warrior, Rest in Peace.
May God bless you and your family at
this difficult time.
RIP
Never served, but I vividly remember checking this book out from the Comanche Library when I was in my teens. Now, my son is 14 and I am the proud owner of a first print hardbound edition, which he and I have both (re)read.
CURRAHEE, Mr. Burgett. Thank you for all you did and documented.
Apparently he wrote 4 volumes Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, and Germany proper.
I’ll see which are available for my Kindle.
My Uncle gave me a dog-eared paperback copy of “Curahee!” when I was 12. I’m still impressed that I was able to get it at that age–not with myself, that is, but with Burgett’s writing, which was clear and accessible enough for a 7th-grader to understand without lacking any substance.
May he rest in well-earned peace. God bless him.
I wouldn’t swear to it but I believe those titles were collaborations with Stephen Ambrose. His first book was written by him alone.
Never read it. I did read “Those Devils In Baggy Pants” by Ross Carter, published in 1951.
“Ross Carter was a paratrooper with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in World War II. He survived combat in Sicily, Italy (Salerno, mountains of central Italy, Anzio), Netherlands (Operation Market Garden), the Battle of the Bulge and Germany. Only he and one other man (of the men who shipped-out to Europe with Ross in 1942), in his company, made it through to VE Day (Victory in Europe) on May 9, 1945.”
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/918419.Those_Devils_in_Baggy_Pants
Of course that was only the 82 AB Div.
Catch the thermals, Mr. Burgett.
YES! I don’t know why PH2, but suddenly it became hard to breathe and got dusty all of a sudden. Your comment coupled with the video really struck a chord.
I was a five jump chump. Nothing but respect for those who do it for a living and the WWII where ABN OPS were new and much more insanely dangerous than today.