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82nd
Airborne Paratrooper
by
Randy Colvin
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82nd Airborne Paratrooper |
This is the DML 101st Airborne figure in 120mm. I converted it to 82nd
because of the time I spent with that unit between July 1992 and October 1995.
Being a modeler, a historian and a paratrooper in the 82nd is like baseball, hot
dogs and apple pie.
 To
convert this figure to 82nd was simple.
All I added was a Verlinden US M1 steel helmet, an 82nd patch, and a
new head. The DML figure came with a head that had a Mohawk haircut which
the 101st made famous during D-Day however many 82nd troops did the same
thing because the Germans believed that all US paratroopers were Indians.
In reality, however, no paratrooper walks around in battle without a
helmet. I'm kind of a novice when it comes to figure building but I'm
getting better.
Except for adding the other pieces mentioned above the rest of the kit
is straight out of the box.
The base the figure stands on also has a severed German arm grasping an
Iron Cross and a ribbon. The saying on the front of the base is on the
walls of the 82nd Airborne Division Headquarters. It is in large 10"
letters and is supposedly a quote from a paratrooper during the Battle of
the Bulge. The figure represents a Sergeant from Alpha Company, 2nd
Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division on 6
June 1944, this was the same unit I was with during my tour at Ft. Bragg,
NC. |
 I
recently completed a five year tour of duty in Germany but before I left I
had to see Normandy. It was an eight hour drive from Mannheim, Germany to
the beaches of Normandy. Myself and three other NCO's from my unit planned
this trip several weeks in advance and we bought maps of France and a few
books, mainly "D-Day" by Stephen E. Ambrose who has written
several books on the battle for Normandy. We planned to leave in the
morning during a four day weekend but we couldn't wait and decided to
leave at nine p.m. the night before and we arrived at Omaha Beach at 5 in
the morning.
We parked, grabbed flash lights and hit the beach. It was still dark
and we found several bunkers lines that began almost next to where we
parked and we headed down hill to the sand. We stayed there until about 11
a.m. going down the beach a little bit and then back up the hill to the US
cemetery where Steven Speilberg began his movie "Saving Private
Ryan".
During the next few days we visited Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, St. Mere-Eglise,
Pointe-du-Hoc, a German cemetery and parts of Sword, Gold and Juno
beaches. The one sight we wanted to get to but ran out of time was Pegasus
Bridge were it all started. |
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image full size.
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Model, Text and Images Copyright © 2000 by
Randy Colvin
Page Created 28 October, 2000
Last Updated 26 July, 2007
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