Albert Blithe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Albert Blithe
25 June 1923 to 17 December 1967
Master Sergeant Albert Blithe after receiving the Paratrooper of the Year Award
Place of death	Wiesbaden, Germany
Allegiance	United States
Years of service	1942 to 1967
Rank	Master Sergent
Unit	101st Airborne
Battles/wars	World War II * Operation Overlord Korean War
Awards	Silver Star Bronze Star (3) Purple Heart (3) Army of Occupation Medal CIB

Albert Blithe, (25 June 1923 - 17 December 1967), was a World War II paratrooper with the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was featured in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers as one of the Easy Company paratroopers featured in the third episode "Carentan", played by British actor Marc Warren.

Blithe jumped with the rest of Easy Company into occupied France as part of the massive Airborne invasion; however, when he landed, he found himself alone in a part of France that he did not recognize. After an unknown period of time, Blithe was joined by a number of other paratroopers who were also part of the misdrops. They teamed up together and went to St. Marcouf, where they found the rest of Easy Company.

As portrayed in Band of Brothers, Blithe was struck with a temporary case of hysterical blindness following the fierce fight to capture Carentan. He recovered and was part of a patrol investigating a farmhouse a few days later. Unfortunately, he was shot by a sniper in the right shoulder. Albert received a Purple Heart on June 25th, 1944. Fellow Easy Company Currahee veterans interviewed while writing the mini-series Band of Brothers had thought that Blithe did not recover from his wound, which they mistakenly recalled as a neck wound, and had died in Philadelphia in 1948. After viewing the mini-series, the Blithe family publicly corrected this historical error.

However, he did recover from his wound and attended the 1st Annual Reunion of the 101st Airborne Division Association. Blithe was released from the Army Hospital October 8th, 1945. He returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and started a career with Westinghouse Electric.

Before his military career ended in 1967, Albert Blithe had achieved the rank of Master Sergeant and had fought in the Korean War, completed over 600 parachute jumps, and was given a MAAG assignment in Taiwan. He married and had two children, a son and daughter.

Blithe died December 17th, 1967 from kidney failure while on active duty in Germany at Wiesbaden Air Force Hospital. A week before, he had attended a weekend at Bastogne, Belgium commemorating the Battle of the Bulge, from which he had returned feeling unwell. After a memorial service conducted by Chaplain (Major) Thomas F DesChamps, Blithe was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on December 28.