PFC Donald Clifton Ross
I/HQ, 3rd BN, Aug 42-Sep 45
POW Jun 44-Apr 45

Publicity photo of PFC Donald C. Ross, taken in England just prior to D-Day, possibly as part of events staged at Exeter Airfield on the afternoon of June 5, 1944 for filming by the Signal Corps

Donald Ross trained in I Company, 3rd BN, 506th PIR at Camp Toccoa and Fort Benning. He was reassigned to HQ, 3rd BN, at Camp Mackall when he became the HQ, 3rd BN bugler. At the same time 3rd Battalion Commander LTC Robert L. Wolverton made Donald the company bugler, LTC Wolverton also designated Donald as his personal "bodyguard." However, a TO did not exist for either position, so Donald effectively "did not exist."

PFC Ross jumped as a member of D-Day Stick#2, but was shot coming down, and landed in a German command post. He was taken prisoner, was with George Rosie as a POW, eventually escaped, and fought with Czech resistance fighters until the Allies found him.

Sharon discovered this photo of her father at the Airborne Museum in Sainte Mere Eglise on a 2000 trip to Normandy. The museum gave her a medal to give to Donald Ross with their thanks when she returned home. Sharon worked with her father during the last few months of his life so that she could write a book about his experiences during WWII.

PFC Donald C. Ross (in the paratrooper cap) after
he was liberated from a German POW camp, but
before he was shipped back to the States.

Written on back of photo:
T/5 Anne F. Dietrich A312634
Signal Section Hq. Com 2
European T of Opns
APO 887 %Pm N.Y.
Paris, June 1945
Which of the women is Anne Dietrich is unknown,
as are the names of the others in the photo.