Sue Urda

Sue Urda’s brother, James K. Schell, was a machine gunner in Company I, 507^th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82^nd Airborne Division. He wrote an essay for a college English I course entitled “My Greatest Experience,” in which he describes the role he played in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6^th, 1944. He tells in great detail of the atmosphere around the troops as the invasion loomed, and he elaborates on the events of the invasion itself. He parachuted out of a plane in the early hours of the morning on June 6^th, landing in the shoulder-deep water and knee-deep mud of the flooded Merderet River. He had to cut himself out of his parachute and trek to a nearby location to meet up with other “troopers.” They then “cut communication wires and started fighting almost immediately.” He concludes his essay by telling of how fortunate he is to have come through the battles that he did, and that the operation in Normandy was the toughest experience of his life. When he was in England, he played on a football team, where he came across another boy from his hometown simply by chance during a match. After the war, he returned to Pennsylvania where he owned a lumber company. He attended Muhlenberg College on a football scholarship. He died at age 56 of cancer.