Currahee!

by Donald R. Burgett

Performed by David Guion
Two cassettes, 2 hours

In June 1944, the Allies launched a massive amphibious invasion against the Nazi-held France. But under the cover of darkness, a new breed of fighting man leapt from airplanes through a bullet-stitched, tracer-lit sky to go behind German lines. These were the Screaming Eagles of the newly formed 101st Airbourne Division. Their job was to strike terror into the Nazi
defenders, delay reinforcements, and kill any enemy solders they met. In the next seven days, the men of the 101st fought some of the most ferocious close-quarter combat in all of World War II.

Now, Donald R. Burgett looks back at the nonstop, nightmarish fighting across body-strewn fields, over enemy-held hedgegrows, through blown out towns and devastated forests. This harrowing you-are-there chronicle captures the baptism by fire of a young Private Burgett, his comrades and a new air-mobile fighting force that would become a legend of war.

Unknown Binding

About the author

Donald R. Burgett was a writer and a former World War II paratrooper. He was among the Airborne troopers who landed in Normandy early on the morning of June 6, 1944 (D Day). He was a member of the 101st Airborne Division (United States), ("The Screaming Eagles"), and the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Burgett served in 'A' Company, 1st Battalion, 506th PIR as both a rifleman and a machine-gunner.

Burgett parachuted into Holland, his second combat jump, as part of Operation Market-Garden, and fought for 72 days behind the German lines. After just a few weeks rest, he was again sent into combat, this time at the Battle of the Bulge, where the 101st, along with Combat Command B of the U.S. 10th Armored Division (United States) and the all African American 969th Field Artillery Battalion successfully held out against nine German armored divisions during the siege of Bastogne. Burgett went on to fight through Operation Nordwind, on into Germany to the Ruhr Valley, the Rhineland, and Bavaria. While in action with the 101st, Burgett was wounded three times and had his M1 rifle shot out of his hands at least twice. He was one of only eleven men out of the original 200 in his company to survive from D-Day in Normandy to the war's end.

In addition to writing four books, he has also appeared in a number of History Channel specials on World War II.

Burgett's books are first-hand accounts of his time spent in the United States Army during World War II. Some were based on unpublished accounts he wrote immediately after the war, while others were compiled in later years.