PFC Otis B. Cady
Today we honor and remember PFC Otis B. Cady of the 101st Airborne Division.
Private First Class (PFC) Otis Blaine Cady of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Mason, Ingham County, Michigan, to Dorr L. and Mamie C. (Clark) Cady on July 7, 1918. Otis had four brothers, Robert C., Donald S., Claude W., and Bernard J. Cady.Â
His brothers Bernard and Robert served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Bernard served as a torpedoman on a Patrol Torpedo boat in the Philippines. Robert was one of the survivors of the U.S.S. Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that was lost during the Battle of Midway (4–7 June 1942). Robert would later continue to serve during the Korean and Vietnam War.
Otis Cady graduated from Mason High School in 1940. His enlistment record is not available, but he registered for the draft on June 30, 1942. After his induction, he received his training at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He left for England on the S.S. Samaria from New York Harbor on September 5, 1943, arriving in Liverpool Harbor ten days later.
PFC Cady would fight some of the toughest battles with Charlie Company in Normandy and the Netherlands, only to meet his fate during the Battle of the Bulge.
On the evening of January 3, 1945, the 1st Battalion of the 327th took over the positions of 1st Battalion, 502nd PIR at Champs, Belgium. Without being able to see the ground they were to defend by daylight, these glidermen had to establish their positions in the dark, cold night while it snowed fitfully.
At 0400, while it was still dark, the Germans started a preparatory artillery bombardment which pounded the glidermen. At approximately 0530, the enemy launched one of the heaviest coordinated attacks in the Battle of the Bulge and these men found themselves in the thick of the fight.
Charlie Company lost 30 men on January 4, 1945. Many were replacements who had joined the company just four days before, but among them was also the old-timer PFC Otis Cady.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
PFC Cady rests eternally at Maple Grove Cemetery in Mason, Ingham, Michigan. May he rest in peace.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Otis.
Lest we forget. 🇺🇸
Sources
Rendezvous with Destiny by Rapport and Norwood