Donald Jakeway
Service Information
Branch of Service: Army
Unit: 82nd Airborne - 508th Parachute Infantry
Theater of Operation: European
Enlisted / Commissioned: Jan 10, 1944
Discharged: Aug 10, 1945
Honored By: The Eisenhower Foundation
Biography
Jakeway jumped with the Army 82nd Airborne’s 508th Parachute infantry into Normandy 15 minutes after midnight on June 6, 1944. Storms of flak rocketed through the sky around Jakeway as he parachuted down. He landed in a tree in a churchyard. It took him 10 days to reunite with his company, during which time he traveled with the British and another US company. Jakeway fought through Normandy for 37 days, until a sniper bullet struck him in the chest on Jan. 31 1945. He recovered in an English hospital and was sent home. “Courteous of The Columbus Dispatch”
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