PFC Elmar L. Telstad Jr.
Source: Family Search (c/o Coach Singleton)
Private First Class (PFC) Elmar Leroy Telstad Jr. of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), was born in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, to Elmar R. and Mary Ann (Bigham) Telstad on November 11, 1924. Elmar was their youngest child. He had one brother, Ralph, and three sisters, Lucille C., Luella M., and Lois R. Telstad.
His brother Ralph served with the 32nd Infantry Division “Les Terribles” in the South Pacific for nearly three years during WWII.
Elmar registered for the draft in Wisconsin on February 16, 1942. Before joining the service, he had worked for Reynolds Transfer Co. He was also once a carrier for the Wisconsin State Journal.
He entered the service on April 13, 1943, and completed basic training at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, from April to August 1943. He then received paratrooper training at Fort Benning, Georgia, from August to November 1943. He joined Easy Company while they were training in England in December 1943.
PFC Telstad was part of LT Thomas Meehan’s stick, Easy Company’s commander, on the C-47A, numbered #42-93095.
The missing air crew report states that the formation entered an overcast sky, and upon reappearing, the Dakota carrying Meehan and his men was no longer visible. While flying over Normandy, the plane was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and caught fire near the rear of the C-47. As the fire spread forward toward the cockpit, the paratroopers on board were unable to jump because the plane's altitude was too low for their parachutes to open. The pilot apparently tried to make a landing somewhere between Beuzeville au Plain and Haut Fornel, but the plane exploded against a hedgerow. The crew and all the paratroopers aboard were killed instantly.
Another seventeen Screaming Eagles had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
Source: Find a Grave (c/o M. Huff)
PFC Telstad’s family learned of his death on November 11, 1944, the day Elmar’s teenage years would have ended, and he would have turned 20.
Since it was impossible to identify which paratroopers perished in the crash individually, their remains were initially buried together in one grave at the St. Martin Cemetery. Later, the remains of the men were reburied at Sainte-Mère-Église #2 in 1945. In 1947, their remains were exhumed and carefully examined in an attempt to identify them individually. The examination revealed that the remains consisted of 21 individuals, but due to their fragmented condition, all efforts to establish individual identities were unsuccessful. Only the pilot of the plane was identified separately, and he was buried at a different cemetery than the other crash victims.
In 1950, they were again disinterred for reburial, this time in the USA, at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri, which took place on March 27, 1951.
PFC Telstad died on D-Day at age 19. May he rest in peace. 🇺🇸
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Elmar.
Sources:
Family Search
IDPF