Albert Blithe

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Albert Blithe
187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team
Battles/warsWorld War II
  • Battle of Normandy
Korean War
AwardsSilver Star
Bronze Star Medal (3)
Purple Heart (3)[1]
RelationsKay Blithe (wife) Gordon Blithe (son)

Albert Blithe (June 25, 1923 – December 17, 1967)

506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. He served again with the Airborne during the Korean War and was twice decorated for gallantry. He eventually rose to the rank of Master Sergeant in the Army. His life story was featured in the 2010 book A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us by Marcus Brotherton.[4]

Youth

Blithe was born and raised in

high school, he enlisted for the paratroopers on August 18, 1942, in his hometown.[5]

Military service

World War II

Blithe trained at

occupied France
as part of the massive Airborne invasion; however, when he landed, he found himself lost. Blithe was joined by a number of other paratroopers who were also part of the mis-drops. They teamed up together and found the rest of Easy Company.

As portrayed in Band of Brothers by Marc Warren, Blithe was struck with a temporary case of hysterical blindness following the fierce fight to capture Carentan.[6] He recovered and was part of a patrol investigating a farmhouse a few days later, where he was shot in the collar bone by a sniper. He recovered from the wound[7] and was awarded a Purple Heart on June 25, 1944. The series inaccurately states that he never recovered from the wounds he received, and died in 1948.[8]

Due to his wound, on October 1, 1944, he was sent home and never returned to the European Theater of Operations.[2]

Blithe was released from the Army Hospital October 8, 1945, which has been verified by his discharge paperwork at the end of World War II. He attended the first annual reunion of the

Westinghouse Electric.[citation needed
]

Korean War and afterward

Blithe also served in Korea with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team where he was awarded a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for jumping behind enemy lines surrounded by a Chinese battalion.[9] He was later assigned to the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan. He never retired from military service.[citation needed]

Death

On December 10, 1967, while on active duty in Germany, Blithe felt

nauseated when he returned from a weekend at Bastogne, Belgium, where he had taken part in the ceremonies commemorating the Battle of the Bulge. On December 11, 1967, Blithe was taken to the emergency department at Wiesbaden Hospital, Germany, where he was admitted with a diagnosis of a perforated ulcer. He died in the intensive care unit on December 17 after surgery, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors
.

In popular culture

Blithe was portrayed by actor

Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (1992)". The Blithe family later refuted this which led to corrections in the subsequent editions of that same book.[10]
The series, and resulting DVDs or Blu-Ray discs do not have these changes, and still present the false death claim.

References

  1. ^ Blithe's DA-638 Recommendation for Award lists the Silver Star, 3 Bronze Stars, and 3 Purple Hearts.
  2. ^ a b Blithe G., Albert (October 24, 2007). "MSG Albert Blithe". Currahee. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
  3. ^ "RootsWeb: Database Index". ancestry.com. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  4. ISBN 978-1-5247-4580-6
    .
  5. ^ a b "NARA – AAD – Display Full Records – Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 – 1946 (Enlistment Records)". archives.gov. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  6. ^ Ambrose, p. 98
  7. ^ Ambrose, p. 103
  8. ^ Emily Todd VanDerWerff (April 16, 2014). "Band Of Brothers: "Carentan"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  9. ^ "Maj. Dick Winters on Albert Blithe SURVIVING World War II (Band of Brothers)" – via www.youtube.com.
  10. ^ McCormick, Colin; Shaw-Williams, Hannah (June 5, 2021). "How Band Of Brothers Changed Blithe's Death (What Really Happened)". ScreenRant. Retrieved November 2, 2023.

Bibliography

External links
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