PFC Raymond E. DeMonge
Today we honor and remember PFC Raymond E. DeMonge of the 101st Airborne Division.
Private First Class (PFC) Raymond Eugene DeMonge of the 101st Signal Company (Sig Co), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Fayetteville, Brown County, Ohio, to William E. and Ella M. (Gardner) DeMonge on May 27, 1920. He had two brothers, Carl E. and John F., and two sisters, Edith and Ethel Marie DeMonge. Edith died in infancy.
Raymond married Faye Louise Black in Mason, Kentucky, on March 19, 1943.
Raymond DeMonge enlisted at Fort Thomas, Newport Kentucky, on March 31, 1942, and would be assigned to the 101st Signal Company. After finishing his stateside training with the company, he sailed to England in September 1943, docking with the SS Ericsson at Liverpool on October 18, 1943. He was first housed at the local racetrack stables of Newbury, Berkshire, until January 1944, when the company replaced the 326th Medical Company’s housing at Donnington Castle, also located in Newbury.
SSGT William Harrison, an assistant radio section chief, was in the tail section of the glider, preparing to detach it for quick unloading when the glider cut loose. What happened is still a partial mystery!
The plywood glider cut loose from its tow plane just before dusk near Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Normandy. The glider overshot the intended landing zone and crashed into a grove of trees before smashing upon the hedgerow. Neither the pilot nor co-pilot survived the impact.
“There was a crash and almost the same instant everything went black,” Harrison recalls. When he came to, feeling that something weighing tons was pressing on his head, he heard PVT Lester F. Gunderson, from Chicago, Illinois, a buddy riding in the center compartment, yelling, “Harrison, where are you?” It didn't take long for uninjured comrades to pull the debris, including bicycles with which he had become entangled, away from him.
Another trooper who was in the same glider, CPL Milton S. Reese of the 101st Signal Company, also recalls the crash and was able to fill in a lot of the details.
“PFC Raymond DeMonge, who sat next to me, had a premonition of death, predicting during the channel flight that he would not come out of the landing alive. A few moments after the tow plane cut the glider loose, the co-pilot leaned back to yell, ‘Tighten your belts. We’re going to crash.’ Pieces of the glider wings began to explode and fly by the window, and then I felt [the glider] was turning over and over and over.”
Unconscious for only a few seconds, Reese came to and began wondering if he could get up. Despite having a badly broken ankle, he discovered he was able to move. But he was also worried because PVT [Eugene O.] Hart on the far side of the plane, fell back helplessly each time he started to get to his feet. Upon investigating, CPL Reese found PVT Hart couldn't get up because his safety belt was caught in the splintered plywood frame. Reese said the incident struck him as being so funny, he laughed the hardest he had in his entire life.
CPL Reese recalled seeing the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot, thrown clear of the wreckage, and of five members of the outfit, including those of PFC DeMonge and TEC5 Robert W. McCullum. “Only two men were able to walk away from the crash,” he added.
Several other men aboard the glider were either lightly injured, seriously injured, or seriously wounded. Only the pilot, co-pilot, TEC5 Robert W. McCullum, and PFC Raymond DeMonge perished with their glider on June 6, 1944.
Another two Screaming Eagles had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅 🦅
PFC Raymond DeMonge rests eternally at the Saint Patricks Cemetery in his hometown, Fayetteville. May he rest in peace.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Raymond.
Lest we forget. 🇺🇸
Sources
George Koskimaki Files (Courtesy Felipe Jirkal)