David Kenyon Webster
Encyclopedia
Private First Class David Kenyon Webster (June 2, 1922 - September 9, 1961) was an American
soldier, journalist and author. During World War II
he was a private with Easy Company
, 2nd Battalion
, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division
. Webster was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Eion Bailey
.
, Watertown, Connecticut
, he volunteered for the elite paratrooper
s in 1943 before having a chance to finish his studies as an English literature major at Harvard University
.
with Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion, then requested a transfer to Easy Company and served in the Company until discharged in 1945.
From a wealthy and influential family, Webster could have arranged an officer's commission stateside, but he wanted to be a "grunt" and be able to see and document the war from a foxhole. By most accounts, he did not like what he saw and had great disdain for Germany's audacity in creating the war. As would any soldier, he found himself being forcibly changed by the shock and panic, awe and horror, insanity and instances of dread.
On D-Day
, Webster landed nearly alone and off-course in flooded fields behind Utah Beach
, and was wounded a few days later. He also jumped into the Netherlands
in Operation Market Garden
. Later in this campaign, he was wounded in the leg by machine gun fire during an attack in the no-man's land called "the Island," near Arnhem
, where the company was relocated after Operation Market Garden ended. He was fighting with Private Nicholas Fazio and witnessed his death shortly before he was wounded. Fazio had been of Italian descent and more importantly, of royal descent, and Webster never trusted him.
While recuperating back in England
, Webster missed the Battle of the Bulge
fighting and rejoined his unit in February 1945 after being formally released by the hospital. What he found was a decimated regiment, exhausted, weary and bitter over the loss of friends. Soon thereafter Easy Company discovered their first concentration camp firsthand, witnessing the walking and also the unburied dead of Memmingen
Concentration Camp. Later, Easy Company viewed firsthand the excesses of life style of the German high command. The contrast left an indelible imprint on Webster, generating a perplexing wonder that he could never resolve.
veterans who had fought in Normandy to be sent home. He returned to work as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News
and found great enjoyment sailing, studying oceanography and sea life. During those years he worked on his wartime memoirs and occasionally approaching magazines with an article from them but deferred any wholesale treatment of the war perhaps in favor of reflecting and trying to make sense of it.
He had a wife (Barbara), whom he married in 1951, and had three children. His interest in sharks led him to write a book on the subject entitled Myth and Maneater: The Story of the Shark. However, Webster's interest in sharks eventually led to his demise, as he was lost at sea off the coast of Santa Monica
in 1961.
Webster's wartime diary and thoughts remained unpublished except for a few short stories in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post.
Unable to see a salient theme for his greater wartime experience, publishers showed little interest in another memoir. However, Stephen Ambrose
, a tenured LSU
System professor (University of New Orleans) who had studied Webster's writings, was so impressed by the historical value of Webster's unpublished papers that the professor encouraged Webster's widow to submit the writing package to LSU Press. This she did and with Ambrose's foreword; a book was published by LSU in 1994.
Titled Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich, it presented Webster's first-hand account of life as an Airborne infantryman. His trained eye, honesty and writing skills helped give the book as well as the miniseries a color and tone not available in other G.I. diaries.
On September 9th, 1961, David was lost at sea off the coast of Santa Monica, California
. His cause of death was probable drowning as his body was never recovered.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soldier, journalist and author. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a private with Easy Company
E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment (United States)
Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is one of the most well-known companies in the United States Army. Their experiences in World War II are the subject of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers based on the book...
, 2nd Battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
. Webster was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Eion Bailey
Eion Bailey
Eion Francis Hamilton Bailey is an American actor, perhaps best known for appearing in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers as Pvt. David Kenyon Webster and in the films Fight Club, Center Stage, Mindhunters and Sexual Life...
.
Youth
Born in New York and educated at The Taft SchoolThe Taft School
The Taft School is a private, coeducational prep school located in Watertown, Connecticut, USA. The school was founded by Horace Dutton Taft in 1890. It has 570 students, about 470 of whom live on the campus. Taft is a member of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization...
, Watertown, Connecticut
Watertown, Connecticut
Watertown is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 21,661 at the 2000 census. The zip code for Watertown is 06795. It is a suburb of Waterbury. It borders the towns of Woodbury, Middlebury, Litchfield, Plymouth, Bethlehem, and Thomaston.-Founding History:More...
, he volunteered for the elite paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s in 1943 before having a chance to finish his studies as an English literature major at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Military service
Webster originally trained with Fox Company, jumped on D-DayD-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
with Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion, then requested a transfer to Easy Company and served in the Company until discharged in 1945.
From a wealthy and influential family, Webster could have arranged an officer's commission stateside, but he wanted to be a "grunt" and be able to see and document the war from a foxhole. By most accounts, he did not like what he saw and had great disdain for Germany's audacity in creating the war. As would any soldier, he found himself being forcibly changed by the shock and panic, awe and horror, insanity and instances of dread.
On D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, Webster landed nearly alone and off-course in flooded fields behind Utah Beach
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...
, and was wounded a few days later. He also jumped into the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
. Later in this campaign, he was wounded in the leg by machine gun fire during an attack in the no-man's land called "the Island," near Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, where the company was relocated after Operation Market Garden ended. He was fighting with Private Nicholas Fazio and witnessed his death shortly before he was wounded. Fazio had been of Italian descent and more importantly, of royal descent, and Webster never trusted him.
While recuperating back in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Webster missed the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
fighting and rejoined his unit in February 1945 after being formally released by the hospital. What he found was a decimated regiment, exhausted, weary and bitter over the loss of friends. Soon thereafter Easy Company discovered their first concentration camp firsthand, witnessing the walking and also the unburied dead of Memmingen
Memmingen
Memmingen is a town in the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia in Germany. It is the central economic, educational and administrative centre in the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-Württemberg border...
Concentration Camp. Later, Easy Company viewed firsthand the excesses of life style of the German high command. The contrast left an indelible imprint on Webster, generating a perplexing wonder that he could never resolve.
Awards and decorations
His list of authorized medals and decorations are:
Bronze StarBronze Star MedalThe Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
Purple HeartPurple HeartThe Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
with one oak leaf clusterOak leaf clusterAn oak leaf cluster is a common device which is placed on U.S. Army and Air Force awards and decorations to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration. The number of oak leaf clusters typically indicates the number of subsequent awards of the decoration...
Good Conduct MedalGood Conduct MedalThe Good Conduct Medal is one of the oldest military awards of the United States military. The Navy Good Conduct Medal was first issued in 1869, followed by a Marine version in 1896. The Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal was issued in 1923 and the Army Good Conduct Medal in 1941. The Air Force was...
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign MedalEuropean-African-Middle Eastern Campaign MedalThe European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
with Arrowhead and 4 service stars
World War II Victory MedalWorld War II Victory MedalThe World War II Victory Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945. The decoration commemorates military service during World War II and is awarded to any member of the United States military, including members of the armed forces of...
Army of Occupation MedalArmy of Occupation MedalThe Army of Occupation Medal is a military award of the United States military which was established by the United States War Department on 5 April 1946. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to recognize those who had performed occupation service in either Germany or Japan...
Presidential Unit CitationPresidential Unit Citation (US)The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941...
with one Oak Leaf ClusterOak leaf clusterAn oak leaf cluster is a common device which is placed on U.S. Army and Air Force awards and decorations to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration. The number of oak leaf clusters typically indicates the number of subsequent awards of the decoration...
Combat Infantryman BadgeCombat Infantryman BadgeThe Combat Infantryman Badge is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers holding colonel rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size...
Parachutist BadgeParachutist Badge (United States)The Parachutist Badge, also commonly referred to as "Jump Wings" or "Snow Cone", is a military badge of the United States Armed Forces awarded to members of the United States Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy...
with 2 jump stars
Later years
He was the last of the surviving ToccoaCamp Toccoa
Camp Toccoa was a United States Army paratrooper training camp during World War II west of Toccoa, Georgia. It was first planned in 1938, constructed by the Georgia National Guard and the Works Projects Administration beginning 17 January 1940, and was dedicated 14 December 1940. The U.S. Army...
veterans who had fought in Normandy to be sent home. He returned to work as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
and found great enjoyment sailing, studying oceanography and sea life. During those years he worked on his wartime memoirs and occasionally approaching magazines with an article from them but deferred any wholesale treatment of the war perhaps in favor of reflecting and trying to make sense of it.
He had a wife (Barbara), whom he married in 1951, and had three children. His interest in sharks led him to write a book on the subject entitled Myth and Maneater: The Story of the Shark. However, Webster's interest in sharks eventually led to his demise, as he was lost at sea off the coast of Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
in 1961.
Webster's wartime diary and thoughts remained unpublished except for a few short stories in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post.
Unable to see a salient theme for his greater wartime experience, publishers showed little interest in another memoir. However, Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history...
, a tenured LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
System professor (University of New Orleans) who had studied Webster's writings, was so impressed by the historical value of Webster's unpublished papers that the professor encouraged Webster's widow to submit the writing package to LSU Press. This she did and with Ambrose's foreword; a book was published by LSU in 1994.
Titled Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich, it presented Webster's first-hand account of life as an Airborne infantryman. His trained eye, honesty and writing skills helped give the book as well as the miniseries a color and tone not available in other G.I. diaries.
On September 9th, 1961, David was lost at sea off the coast of Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. His cause of death was probable drowning as his body was never recovered.