MSG Albert Blithe
June 25, 1923-December 17, 1967
"I'm a paratrooper . . . that's my job."
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PVT Albert Blithe was one of the Easy Company paratroopers featured in Episode 3 Carentan of the HBO Band of Brothers mini-series. In that episode, Blithe is first struck with a temporary case of hysterical blindness and then severely wounded in the neck. Fellow Easy Company Currahee veterans had thought that Blithe did not recover from his neck wound and had died in Philadelphia, PA in 1948. After viewing the mini-series, relatives of Albert Blithe have come forward with information and documentation that Blithe was wounded in the right shoulder, recovered from his wounds, attended the 1st Annual Reunion of the 101st Airborne Division Association, and subsequently went on to have an outstanding Army career (including over 600 parachute jumps and a MAAG assignment in Taiwan). Blithe died in 1967 while on active duty in Germany, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. Note that Blithe's Army Serial Number has not been blacked out in the documents on this web site for military service confirmation purposes. |
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Gordon, who has it hanging on his wall at home. (L-R): PFC Arthur A. Justice (B Co, 1-502nd PIR), unknown, PVT Justo
Correa (A Co, 1-506th PIR), |
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Albert Blithe was wounded in his
right shoulder on June 25, 1944, his 21st birthday. He kept the bullet from that wound and would carry it his pocket. In the summer of 1967, Albert gave this bullet to his son Gordon. It was the last time that Gordon would see his father alive. |
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4001st Army Support Unit, Fort Bliss, TX and his re-enlistment. |
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and detailing Blithe's paratrooper training with the 506th PIR |
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Five months after being awarded his Master Parachutist
Badge, SFC Albert Blithe was assigned to the Service Company The USS General Randall is probably best known as the troop ship that carried PVT Elvis Presley to Germany in 1958. |
| In 1958, MSG Albert Blithe was selected as Trooper
of the Year at Fort Bragg, NC. The front of his DA 638 Recommendation for Award lists the various medals awarded to Blithe when he was fighting with the 506th PIR in 1944. |
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| MSG Albert Blithe and his wife Kay celebrate
his being named 82nd Airborne Division 1958 Trooper of the Year at the NCO Club at Fort Bragg, NC. Kay had wanted to go out to the NCO Club and celebrate when Al was picked Trooper of the Month, but he had said, "No, if I get picked as Trooper of the Year, then that's when it's time to celebrate." |
| MSG Albert Blithe first retired from the U.S.
Army on July 5, 1963, with a "temporary disability," and lived in the US Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C. However, he once again returned to active duty on August 1, 1967, and was subsequently assigned to the 11th Quarter- master Company, 8th Supply and Transport Battalion in Germany. |
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informing Blithe's widow of her husband's death on December 17, 1967. |
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| This 1967 map of Arlington National Cemetery marks
the location of MSG Albert Blithe's grave: Section 31; Grave 7672. The circular area on the map just above and to the left of Blithe's gravesite contains the grave of President John F. Kennedy; just below and to the left of Blithe's grave- site on the map is the Memorial Gate/Memorial Entrance to the cemetery. |
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