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On June 7, 1944, a day after their scattered jump into Normandy, paratroopers of Easy Company, 506th P.I.R., 101st Airborne, pause in the newly liberated French village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. In their odyssey to rejoin Easy Company, the men have traveled the enemy-occupied countryside, stopping only to fight skirmishes at medieval farms and hedgerows. Now, safely within the friendly lines behind Utah Beach, they relax by a memorial to the dead of World War I to reflect on where they’ve come and to prepare for where they’re headed.
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OPEN EDITION
Non-limited, unnumbered, signed by an Easy Company D-Day paratrooper: Ed Tipper OR J.B. Stokes (select version below). Includes a certificate of authenticity.
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J.B. STOKES
Born in Leonard, Texas, J.B. Stokes was drafted into the Army and volunteered for the elite paratroopers. He joined Easy Company at Fort Bragg and was assigned to the 2nd Platoon. Prior to D-Day, Stokes injured his elbow in hand-to-hand combat training and was hospitalized but went AWOL in order to make the jump with his company. For the “Night of Nights,” J.B. jumped in Lt. Buck Compton’s Stick 70 on the outskirts of Ste. Mere Eglise. He would fight throughout Normandy, Holland, the siege of Bastogne, and beyond. By the war’s end, J.B. would wear the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and would be the Platoon Sergeant for the 2nd Platoon.
ED TIPPER
Ed was born August 3, l921, in Detroit. When Pearl Harbor was bombed and war declared, Ed tried to enlist in the Marines, but was rejected because his teeth did not bite together perfectly. Instead, Ed enlisted in the Army Paratroops and in August l942 became a founding member of Easy Company as it was formed in Toccoa, Georgia. Ed jumped with Easy Company into Normandy on D-Day. Ed fought a short, but intensive war before he was badly wounded by mortar fire in the battle for Carentan, France. Ed spent a year in Army hospitals and recovered almost completely except for his destroyed right eye. After the war, Ed graduated from University of Michigan in l949 then spent more than 30 years teaching high school in Iowa and Colorado. In his spare time, Ed bought, renovated, and operated apartment buildings, before retiring in l979.
