The 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division was ordered into active military service on 15 August 1942 at Camp Claiborne, LA, completed training at Fort Bragg, NC, and shipped to England on 5 September 1943 aboard the British steamer Strathnaver. Breaking down enroute, they spent 30 days in St. John’s Harbor, Nova Scotia, waiting for an American flagged vessel, the John S. Ericsson, to carry them to England, resulting in many of the men qualifying for the American Theater Campaign ribbon, awarded for, among other things, “Outside the Continental United States in a passenger status or on temporary duty (TDY) for 30 consecutive days or 60 days nonconsecutive.”
The 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division was ordered into active military service on 15 August 1942 at Camp Claiborne, LA, formed from a cadre of the 327th Infantry, and completed training with the Division at Fort Bragg, NC. Specialized glider training was delivered at Laurinburg-Maxton AFB in North Carolina. Moving by rail to Camp Shanks, NY, they were shipped to England on 5 September 1943 (see above).
On D-Day, 6 June 1944, following months of extensive preparation and intense training in England, the 1/401 landed on Utah beach as a part of Operation Overlord, on the afternoon of June 6, disembarking from LCI(L) #3 into L:CVPs for the trip ashore. Despite suffering many casualties in the weeks following D-Day, the 1/401 accomplished its mission and returned to England on 13 July 1944. 327 / 401 were key in the capture of Carentan, securing the invasion lodgement area, as well as being first to link up with Omaha Beach at Isigny. The casualties incurred in the glider operations resulted in a pay increase for the Glidermen, the Army having realized that there were indeed increased risks associated with being a Gliderman.
On 18 September 1944, the 1/401 landed in Holland by glider as part of Operation Market-Garden. It soon moved to seize and defend a portion of highway between Eindhoven and St. Oedenrode to enable the British armored units advance on Arnhem. 1/401 saw its heaviest fighting of the campaign during the Battle of Opheusden from 6 October to 14 October 1944, and continued to battle German forces in the area until relieved from combat in order to rest and refit. They along with the rest of the Division had stayed on the frontline for 72 days defending “The Island”, across the lower Rhine from Germany. The battalion then moved to Mourmelon le Grand, France in late November.
In December 1944, the battalion was ordered into Belgium to participate in what would ultimately become its bloodiest two months of combat fighting the Battle of the Bulge. Shortly after its arrival at the vital crossroads city of Bastogne, Belgium on 19 December 1944, the entire 101st Airborne Division was surrounded by elements of the German 5th and 7th Panzer Armies but continued to hold out receiving supplies via air drops and glider landings until the encirclement was broken on 26 December. Holding 50% of the Bastogne perimeter, the 327/401 held off desperate German attempts to penetrate into the heart of Bastogne. For its valiant actions in the defense of Bastogne, the 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment was awarded it first Presidential Unit Citation.
In February 1945, the 1/401 was relieved and returned to Camp Mourmelon for refitting. On 1 March 1945, the unit was disbanded and on 6 April 1945 was reconstituted as the 3rd Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment. The redesignation was a change in name only, as the battalion had already fought across Europe with the 327th as an attached third battalion. The newly reconstituted 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment saw action in April and early May during its final campaigns in the Rhine and Ruhr areas of Germany. On 8 May 1945, the war ended with the battalion in the vicinity of Hitler’s famous “Eagle’s Nest.” It was later deactivated at Auxerre, France on 30 November 1945.
