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LOT 1320
Historic Grouping of Artifacts and Documents for Pathfinder Frank Lillyman,
“First Man In” for the 101st Airborne in Normandy on D-Day - Conceived and
assembled following lessons learned on earlier Allied air drops, the Pathfinder units of
United States Army served as the tip of the spearhead of American forces. Selected from
among the ranks of the airborne infantry, Pathfinders were trained on an array of signal
and guidance devices, with which they could go into an intended drop zone ahead of the
main airborne body to act as guides for the larger grouping of planes and gliders. This
job, to be blunt, was exceptionally dangerous; between when they dropped and when
the rest of the unit made it in, they were alone in very hostile territory, and they were
expected to actively seek and destroy enemies who presented a threat to the drop zone.
On the evening of June 5th, 1944, Captain Frank Lillyman was the overall commander
of the 101st Airborne’s Pathfinders, as well as the field leader of one of the Pathfinder
elements, when the word came that the invasion was on; D-Day was happening, and it
was time to gear up and roll out. Loading up on a C-47 with 17 men, a significant amount
of leg pain from a training injury he had hidden so he wouldn’t be pulled off the mission,
and a cigar that had become both a signature and a good luck charm since his first jump,
Lillyman was heading for Drop Zone A behind Utah Beach, destination of the 502nd