551st Parachute Infantry Association

2 days ago

It's almost time for the 80th Anniversary of the Invasion of Southern France, and our third Association Invasion. The first was for the 40th Anniversary, organized and attended by many GOYAs themselves. All of these photos were taken by our Association Secretary, Eric Buchanan, during the 75th Anniversary, a trip of a lifetime. Add to that walking in the footsteps of our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, great grandfathers and so on, and it just doesn't get much better. The rooms filled up rather quickly this year; however, a few have fallen through due to some unforeseen circumstances resulting in some additional availabilities. If you would like to join us for the 80th a few rooms have opened up, along with packaged air travel. Just send us an email at info@551pib.us for additional details if interested, we would love to see you there. GOYA! ... See More from 551See Less from 551

551st Parachute Infantry Association

2 months ago

"The ties that grow between men who live savagely together, relentlessly communing with Death, are ties of great strength.”
– Ernie Pyle.

For a unit that finished their combat with an 83% casualty rate and was orphaned when their leader was KIA on the morning of their final battle at Rochelinval, there were many ties of great strength in the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion. Soldiers of combat units quickly become like another family...for a few; perhaps, those bonds were even deeper. At least two men of the 551st grew up as orphans, and were recognized by their brothers. One was KIA on November 4, 1944 in the Maritime Alps of France, Joseph Edgerly. The other ended up a POW just prior to Rochelinval, who shared a bunk with Joe Cicchinelli at Stalag IV B in eastern Germany for several months, Larry Poston. With it being World Orphan Week, founded by an organization called SOS Children’s Villages in 2005, we recognize these two heroes, and who better to speak on these heroes’ behalf than their own GOYA brothers-in-arms…SALUTE!!

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Larry Poston – THE STATIC LINE, November, 1982….

"The only GOYA, other than myself, in my town of Nashville is Larry Poston, Co “A”. LARRY and JOE CICCHINELLI were captured together in Belgium in Jan. 1945 and spent 4 months in a P.O.W. camp.
After the war, young LARRY went to college and obtained a degree in pharmacy. He has owned his own drugstore in West Nashville for many years and he’s one of the busiest and most popular men in that part of the city. But he takes time to stay in shape by running, jogging and doing push-ups – on one hand, 40 or more on two, and a cross-town run of 10 or 12 miles? Mighty good for a fellow who’s just a year on the low side of 60.
Something else I’d like you to know about LARRY, which I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me telling, except that he’s a pretty modest fellow: as a child, LARRY spent 10 years in an orphanage in Nashville, from age 3 to 13, and has many good friends and good memories from that experience. For the past several years he has served on the Board of that orphanage, and supports it generously with his time, talents and resources. LARRY has a fine family, and is highly respected by all who know him."

- Tom Waller, A Company,

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Joseph Edgerly - from interviews with Dan Morgan for the 551st’s unit history, The Left Corner Of My Heart.

SGT Emory Albritton, Company B Mortar Squad (story regards Furlough’s pups being thrown overboard on the 551st’s way to Panama. Furlough was the 551st’s mascot, a dachshund):

“Joe Edgerly was broken up over it. He shed some tears, and he wouldn’t believe that our own men had done it. That’s where the rumor started that the Navy had done it. Edgerly came to see me and asked about the pups, and I said that I had heard that Company A men had thrown them over. He said, ‘I can’t believe that anyone in this Battalion could have done that’.”

Later on, many men in the Battalion would have the impression that Joe Edgerly was the one who gave us Furlough, an impression that stemmed from his concern and affection for her. Joe was one of our outstanding athletes – boxer, track, weights, one-arm pushups, whatever. He was also a champion of the underdog, in the most realistic sense. He had a very rough start in life as a homeless youngster living on the streets of Boston, so his interest in underdogs had logical origins. He had taken Furlough under his care since she first came to the Battalion at Camp Patrick Henry, and the depth of his grief at the loss of her pups generated strong sympathy in all of us. A very good thing that whoever it was, the crew of the ship or the men of Company A, did not come face to face with Joseph Edgerly in the commission of their cowardly deed.

SGT Bill Hatcher, Company B communications (interview):

“Joe Edgerly was an unforgettable person. After all, how many of us would go AWOL to the front? Joe was almost a perfect physical specimen: very muscular, adventuresome, carefree and gung-ho. So when he got to Italy Joe went AWOL from the Battalion, I think while we were at Naples, before we went down to Sicily for training.

He was gone a few days, maybe four, and then came back to the Battalion. At this time he was not in Company B so I got to see him less frequently, but the next time I saw him he mentioned that he had done this and I asked him why. He said he just had to find out what combat was like. He had gone up to the 5th Army front. That would have been early June, 1944. To me, that is derring-do of the highest order.”

S/SGT Leo Urban, Hq Company Mortar Platoon (interview):

"We were up on the side of a mountain some miles from the town when I heard of Edgerly’s death. He was in Company C then…He was one of those adventuresome sorts that came along once in a great while. He would have been outstanding in the movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ “

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Photo of Edgerly was shared from The Left Corner of My Heart, his graveside photo was taken by Eric Buchanan during the 75th Anniversary of Operation Dragoon at the Rhone American Cemetery.

Photos of Larry Poston were shared from the Friends of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion Facebook page posted by Larry’s son, Andrew.

- eb ... See More from 551See Less from 551