Cpl Edmund J. Greenwood

Cpl. Edmund J. Greenwood from LaValle was killed in action on June 16, 1944 while taking part in the invasion of German occupied territory in France, 10 days following D-Day. Cpl. Greenwood was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division and entered service on March 24, 1942. He left his job at Kingery and Doering garage in LaValle and ended up in Camp Clairbourne, Louisina were the 82nd Infanrty Division was redesignated the 82nd Airborne Division, the Army's first airborne division. The Division was under the command of Major General Omar Bradley. In April 1943, the paratroopers to North Africa to participate in the invasion of Italy. The Division's first two combat operations were parachute assaults into Sicily on July 9 and Salerno on September 13. The 82nd then moved to the United Kingdom in November 1943 to prepare for


the liberation of Europe. With two combat assaults under its belt, the 82nd Airborne Division was now ready for the most ambitious airborne operation of the war so far, the invasion of Normandy. On June 5th and 6th, these paratroopers, along with parachute artillery elements, and the 319th and 320th, boarded hundreds of transport planes and gliders to begin history's 2nd largest airborne assault (the biggest being Operation Market Garden which took place in August in the Netherlands).
The 82nd Airborne Division spent the next 33 days in bloody combat without relief or replacement, leading the Allied advance west across the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. Every mission was accomplished and no gained ground was relinquished as the Army fought its way towards Berlin. During this assault, there were 5,245 troops killed, wounded or gone missing. It was during this phase of combat that Cpl. Greenwood was killed in action at the age of 36 years. In honor of Cpl. Edmund Greenwood, the Reedsburg Post of the VFW added his name to the Post name along with Roy Thurber. The Post is known as the Thurber-Greenwood Post.