Military History Question

[conductor]

One of my good friends from high school recently told me that her father, now deceased, was a member of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, during WW2. He landed at Omaha Beach at about 0830 on D-Day. My friend says that her father told her that he was in "E Company".

I have 2 questions:

(1) I think that "E" Company would have been in the 2nd Battalion of the 116th. Since a battalion is usually composed of 3 companies, A, B, and C companies would have been in the 1st battalion, and D, E, and F companies would have been in the 2nd battalion. Am I correct here? The reason I am questioning this is that I recently ran across an Army document that belonged to a guy who was in "A" Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry. If A Company was in the 3rd Battalion, that screws up my theory that "E" company was in the 2nd Battalion.

(2) Where is the best place to look for information on where "E" Company actually landed? I know where they were supposed to land, but as we all know, the landings at Omaha Beach were all screwed up, and virtually no one landed where he was supposed to.

My wife and I are going to visit the Normandy invasion beaches in September, and I want to take pictures and bring back some sand from that area of the beach where my friend's father landed.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give.

Information

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[gunner]

Hi,
found this map of omaha beach. The 116th landed on Easy Green. Look under the green arrow. Have a nice trip to the normandy and take good cloth with. There is often windy.

Regards,

Gunner

[Maury Krupp]

1) During WWII E Company would be in the 2d Bn - but not exactly for the reason you think

Prior to the late 1950s Army infantry regiments consisted of 12 companies in three battalions:

-1st Bn - A, B, C, D Co
-2d Bn - E, F, G, H Co
-3rd Bn - I, K, L, M Co

A, B, C, E, F, G, I, K, and L Co were rifle companies; D, H, and M Co were weapons companies.

In the early 1960s the Army reorganized under the Combat Arms Regimental System (later Army Regimental System) which created up to 12 separate battalions or companies linked to a historical regiment. Companies within a battalion were lettered starting with A. The result is multiple A Co in a single regiment: eg, A Co 1st Bn, A Co 2d Bn, A Co 3rd Bn, etc.

2) A web search for "D-Day" and "116th Infantry" will produce multiple hits.

Here's the D-Day After Action Report on E Co 116th Infantry: D-Day experiences - 29th Division, 116th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Headquarters Company (don't know why the link shows up as HQ Co it really takes you to E Co )

Maury

[conductor]

I've made a copy of the map, and will take it with me when I go to the beaches. I made a notation on the map that E Company landed about 1200 yards east of their designated landing area.

Thanks again for your help.

[Sunray]

"...virtually no one landed where he was supposed to..." The Canadians did. So did the Brits.

[conductor]

"...virtually no one landed where he was supposed to..." The Canadians did. So did the Brits.

Sunray...
Read my post again. What I said was, "...the landings at Omaha Beach were all screwed up, and virtually no one landed where he was supposed to." While the Brits and Canadians on Juno, Sword, and Gold beaches did an admirable job, I was talking about OMAHA Beach (read my post again). I didn't know that there were any Brits and Canadians that landed on Omaha Beach.