Finished George Koskimaki's book on the 101st's jump into Normandy and took away two main lessons
Jumping out of an airplane at night is an excellent way to break or sprain your foot, ankle, leg, pelvis, and/or spine
All that lovingly and meticulously packed field gear and combat equipment would be shed immediately upon contact or promise of contact with the enemy, if it wasn't already lost in the jump. G.I.s would tell themselves they would return to pick up that equipment, and then never saw it again.
#ww2#wwii#101st airborne#d-day#I used to feel self-conscious re-enacting without the full 'battle rattle'#because one feels that the crowd deserves to see something#but we would always drop virtually all our shit the first opportunity we saw#now i've come to learn that was actually one of the most historically accurate things we did!
