WWII Veteran - Member and hero of the Greatest Generation Mr. Robert Daniel Shields died at home in Tappan, NY on January 17, 2010 after a long illness. He was 89 at the time of his death and was surrounded by those he loved and those who loved him. On the Eve of the Normandy Invasion, the 5th of June 1944, then SSG Shields, a pathfinder, parachuted into St. Mere Eglise, France behind German lines. The plane was struck by enemy fire and his group jumped at an extremely low altitude. SSG Shields' parachute got caught on the roof gable of a French house and he was forced to cut his way out of the parachute harness. A quick dash into another French house almost led to his capture as German soldiers questioned the occupants of the house and they pointed in the direction of SSG Shields and yelled "Americana". SSG Shields jumped through a window and as he stumbled away from the building, he landed in a German observation post where he was forced to kill an enemy soldier. With the help of his comrades in HHC, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, the observation post was eliminated. During the ferocious combat in and around Chef Du Pont, SSG Shields was captured, beaten and then escaped to rejoin his comrades. On September 17th, 1944 he again parachuted into combat, this time in Holland as part of Operation Market Garden, sometimes referred to as "The Bridge Too Far". In the fierce fighting around the Neijmegan Bridge he was again wounded. Upon recovery from his wounds he rejoined his unit in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge where he received a Battlefield Commission to Lieutenant. In this fighting, his unit was sent to the relief of the surrounded 101st Airborne Division. His brother George, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division was with the surrounded unit and was wounded in the Battle. Mr. Shields was awarded numerous military decorations including: two Bronze Stars with "V" device for valor, the Purple Heart, Combat Infantry Badge and Senior Army Parachute wings with two combat stars. Upon cessation of hostilities, Lieutenant Shields was assigned to General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Honor Guard and upon return to Sparkill, NY in January 1946, he became an Army Reservist assigned to Company A, an engineer company in the 860th Aviation Engineer Battalion where he continued to serve for 16 years.

Editor's note: I don't blog often anymore, and comments are closed. Thanks for stopping by. Consider making a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project in Robert Shields' name.