Parents : Lucille McCarty & Walter Jonathan TURNBULL

Siblings : Walter & Beulah Margaret

CEMTERY TEMPORARY of  Ste Mère Eglise #1 N°3584

Story of Cemetery Temporary 

Map of Normandy American Cemetery

Extracted from the Turnbull Clan website

Turner Turnbull III was the youngest of three children, born in Durant, Oklahoma in 1921. His mother, Lucille McCarty Turnbull, died when he was only five, and he was orphaned at about 15 when his father Walter J. Turnbull, Sr. died. Up to this point, he, his brother Walter Turnbull, Jr. and sister Beulah Margaret Turnbull had lived in Durant with their grandmother Adeline Dwight Turnbull, at the Turnbull ranch at Caddo and with their aunt Margaret McBee in Durant.

As half Choctaw, Turner was a member of one of the proudest of Choctaw families; his great grandparents, Turner B. Turnbull, Sr. and Angelico “Jerico” Perkins, walked the infamous Choctaw Trail of Tears. In 1914, young Turner’s father, Walter J. Turnbull, Sr., at age 28, was the youngest Choctaw Chief ever elected by popular vote, but was not allowed to serve. Federal rule stated that chiefs had to be at least 35 years of age. A well-educated and brilliant lawyer, Walter served two terms as District Attorney of Bryan County.

With the death of his father, Turner went to live with another aunt in Colorado, where he finished high school. It is also thought he and his brother attended Haskell Indian School in Kansas. He came back to Oklahoma to attend Bacone Indian School at Muskogee and while there enlisted in 1939 in the Oklahoma National Guard.

A year later, while still a student, he was inducted into the active military service with the 45th Division. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant after graduating from Officers’ Training (Candidate) School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 23. Oklahoma War Memorial.

First Lt. Turnbull was a paratrooper in the famous elite all-volunteer 82nd Airborne Division and served in the African, Sicilian, and Italian campaigns. The soldiers of the 82nd were a little older than the average GI and most were of better than average education. In the airborne invasion of Sicily, Turnbull’s plane crashed, probably shot down by friendly fire. In Sicily he sustained a life threatening abdominal gunshot wound and was hospitalized in England for four months. Awarded the Order of the Purple Heart for his wound, this alone could have been his ticket home, but he chose to rejoin his men for the D-Day invasion.

Under the cover of darkness, his 2nd Battalion/505th Regiment 82nd Airborne Division parachuted into France behind German lines very near Ste. Mere Eglise [just inland from Utah beach] about 1:45 a.m. on the morning of June 6, 1944, approximately four hours before the massive U.S. offensive on the beaches of Normandy. His regiment helped liberate the town and shut down the German communications center.

Because a major German assault was expected from the north, the 2nd Battalion was ordered to proceed to the hamlet of Neuville-au-plain, capture it, and set up a defensive line to protect the stronghold of Ste. Mere Eglise. Short on manpower, the battalion commanding officer Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort, trusting in Turnbull's reputation for military leadership, gave the Neuville-au-plain assignment to Turnbull and his small platoon of men.

First Lt. Turnbull was ordered to take his platoon of about 35 (other sources say 42) men to set up a perimeter about 2 miles from the drop. This was the main road to Utah Beach and the ones who owned the road would clearly be in a very superior strategic position at the most critical time of the invasion. Unbelievably, this small group successfully defended the road. They held the full regiment of the German l058th Grenadiers at bay for approximately eight long hours (the whole day well into the late afternoon).

At some point First Lt. Turnbull and ten of his men were crawling along a hedgerow, with Turnbull in the lead. They heard one of the many artillery shells coming but in their exposed position, there was no place to go but “flatten out.” In a thunderous explosion First Lt. Turnbull was killed by the deadly shrapnel. John Keegan, in his book, Six Armies In Normandy, observed that, “Turnbull belongs not only with the brave, but [is] among those who saved the invasion.”

S.L.A. Marshall, the European Theater of Operations historian states in his report that “By its all-day stand, the platoon had kept the Ste. Mere Eglise force from being hit simultaneously from north and south during the most critical hours of D-Day, and by providing this breathing space to the major defensive base of the Division, [the platoon] had helped immeasurably to stabilize the position of an entire (VII) Corps.”

Stephen Ambrose, in his book “D-Day June 6, 1944”, pointed out that Turnbull’s “heroic stand allowed the 3rd Battalion, 505 PIR and 2nd Battalion, 505 PIR, to concentrate on resisting an even stronger counterattack from the German 795th Regiment south of Ste. Mere Eglise. It was as big a counterattack as the Germans mounted on D-Day.” (Page 317).


 

82^nd AIRBORNE DIVISION - ALL AMERICAN

Activated/Activé	Normandy/Normandie
25 Mar 1942	Days of Combat/Jour de Combat  422
	Casualties/Victimes  9 073
Entered Combat/Entré au combat
9 Jul 1943 at Sicily
Commanding Generals/Commandants généraux Maj. Gen. Omar Bradley (Mar 42 - Jun 42) Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway (Jun 42 - Aug 44) Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin (Aug 44 - Mar 48)	Campaigns/Campagnes Sicily (9 Jul - 17 Aug 43) Naples-Foggia (9 Sep 43 - 21 Jan 44) Rome-Arno (22 Jan 44 - 9 Sep 44) Normandy (6 Jun 44 - 24 Jul 44) Rhineland (15 Sep 44 - 21 Mar 45) Ardennes-Alsace (16 Dec 44 - 25 Jan 45) Central Europe (22 Mar 45 - 11 May 45)
CARTE DE CAMPAGNE DU THÉÂTRE MÉDITERRANÉEN CAMPAIGN MAP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER
PLAN DE ROUTE DE LA CAMPAGNE - CAMPAIGN ROUTE MAP
DIVISION CHRONICLE The 82d Airborne Division landed at Casablanca, 10 May 1943, and trained. Elements first saw combat in Sicily, when the 505th RCT and part of the 504th dropped behind enemy lines, 9-10 July 1943, at Gela. The remainder of the 504th RCT dropped, 11-12 July 1943, also near Gela, after running friendly naval and ground force fire. Scattered elements formed and fought as ground troops. The elements were flown back to Tunisia for reequipment and returned to Sicily to take off for drop landings on the Salerno beachhead. The 504th Parachute Infantry dropped, 13 September 1943, and the 505th the following night; the 325th landed by boat. These elements bolstered Salerno defenses and fought their way into Naples, 1 October 1943. After a period of occupation duty (and combat for some elements in the Volturno Valley and Anzio beachhead), the Division moved to Ireland, November 1943, and later to England, February 1944, for additional training. Moving in by glider and parachute, troops of the 82d dropped behind enemy lines in Normandy on D-day, 6 June 1944, before ground troops hit the beaches. Cutting off enemy reinforcements, the Division fought its way from Carentan to St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte, fighting 33 days without relief. Relieved on 8 July, it returned to England for refitting. On 17 September, it was dropped at Nijmegen, 50 miles behind enemy lines, and captured the Nijmegen bridge, 20 September, permitting relief of British paratroops by the British 2d Army. After heavy fighting in Holland, the Division was relieved 11 November and rested in France. It was returned to combat, 18 December 1944, to stem the von Rundstedt offensive, blunting the northern salient of the Bulge. It punched through the Siegfried Line in early February 1945, and crossed the Roer, 17 February. Training with new equipment in March, the Division returned to combat, 4 April, patrolling along the Rhine, securing the Koln area, later moving across the Elbe, 30 April, into the Mecklenburg Plain, where, 2 May 1945, the German 21st Army surrendered.	CHRONIQUE DE DIVISION La 82ème division aéroportée a atterri à Casablanca le 10 mai 1943 et s'est entraînée. Les éléments ont d'abord été combattus en Sicile, lorsque le 505ème RCT et une partie du 504ème ont été largués derrière les lignes ennemies, du 9 au 10 juillet 1943, à Gela. Le reste de la 504ème RCT est tombé, du 11 au 12 juillet 1943, également près de Gela, après des tirs amicaux contre des forces navales et terrestres. Des éléments épars se sont formés et se sont battus en tant que troupes au sol. Les éléments ont été rapatriés en Tunisie pour le rééquipement et sont retournés en Sicile pour décoller pour atterrir sur la tête de pont de Salerne. Le 504th Infantry Parachute Infantry est tombé le 13 septembre 1943 et le 505ème le lendemain soir; la 325ème atterrit en bateau. Ces éléments ont renforcé les défenses de Salerno et se sont introduits à Naples, le 1er octobre 1943. Après une période d'occupation (et de combat pour certains éléments dans la vallée de Volturno et la tête de pont d'Anzio), la division s'est installée en Irlande en novembre 1943 , Février 1944, pour une formation supplémentaire. Se déplaçant en planeur et en parachute, les troupes du 82d tombèrent derrière les lignes ennemies en Normandie le 6 juin 1944, avant que les troupes terrestres ne frappent les plages. En coupant les renforts ennemis, la Division se fraya un chemin de Carentan à Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, combattant 33 jours sans soulagement. Soulagé le 8 juillet, il est retourné en Angleterre pour y être réaménagé. Le 17 septembre, il a été largué à Nimègue, à 50 milles derrière les lignes ennemies, et a capturé le pont de Nimègue, le 20 septembre, permettant ainsi à la 2 e armée britannique de soulager les parachutistes britanniques. Après de violents combats en Hollande, la division est soulagée le 11 novembre et se repose en France. Il fut remis au combat le 18 décembre 1944 pour endiguer l’offensive de von Rundstedt, assourdissant le saillant septentrional des Ardennes. Il a percuté la ligne Siegfried au début de février 1945 et a traversé la Roer le 17 février. S'entraînant avec de nouveaux équipements en mars, la Division est revenue au combat le 4 avril, patrouillant le long du Rhin, sécurisant la région de Koln, traversant ensuite l'Elbe le 30 avril dans la plaine de Mecklenburg où, le 2 mai 1945 s'est rendu.