Turner Brashears Turnbull III (1921 - 1944)

Born 30 Oct 1921 in Durant, Bryan County, Oklahoma, USA

Ancestors

Died 7 Jun 1944 at age 22 in Caen, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France

Biography

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.

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.”

Sources

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 12 August 2019), memorial page for 1Lt Turner Brashears Turnbull, III (30 Oct 1921–7 Jun 1944), Find A Grave Memorial no. 56650927, citing Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France ; Maintained by CWGC/ABMC (contributor 6) .