World War II veteran visits the last of the airborne 501st

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, UNITED STATES

11.10.2015

Story by Sgt. Brian Ragin 

United States Army Alaska

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - An audience of attentive paratroopers with the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment laughed as Vincent Speranza, a former paratrooper of their battalion shared his experience in Bastogne, Belgium, during the time he served in the Army approximately 70 years ago Nov. 6, 2015.

“Boys, I’m proud to be with you,” Speranza said. “You’re the remnants of my original 501 regiment from World War II and there’s nobody else like you.”

Speranza held the paratroopers attention for more than an hour over lunch at the Wilderness Dining Facility.

“It’s pretty amazing, a lot of guys in the Army have different levels of Combat experience,” said Capt. Eric Richards, a paratrooper with the 501st. “But I don’t think we have seen anything of the level of experience a World War II veteran.”

Speranza, 90, who fought with the 501st in The Battle of the Bulge at Bastogne, Belgium, was the unit’s guest of honor for a two-day area of operation tour, at this year’s regimental ball, and in Anchorage’s first Veteran’s Day parade Nov. 7, 2015. This was Speranza’s second visit to JBER, his first visit was in 2013.

“To have Mr. Speranza to come here and explain what a 19-year-old private in the [1940s] blows the minds of the soldiers who have had combat experience and especially soldiers who have not had those experiences yet,” Richards explained.

Speranza was a paratrooper assigned to H Company, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during the siege of Bastogne in December 1944. While there, from the snow covered ground at his fighting position, Speranza engaged in his first firefight against German forces.

“Most of us in World War II were young kids, you know, 18 or 19 years old,” Speranza said. ”Most of us were nice innocent kids. We didn’t stay innocent very long once we got in the army. Combat does something to you, but if you survive it, you’re a better man.”

Since then, the Army’s units have undergone many changes including transitioning the 101st Airborne Division into a unit specializing in helicopter operations. The 1st Battalion of the 501st moved to Alaska, and it is the last of the regiment still on jump status. The 1-501st is now a part of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division.

“We got to show him our modern equipment during his visit,” said 1st Sgt. Matthew S. Delisle, Hatchet Company, 501st first sergeant. ”The equipment we use now compared to then is like night and day, I can’t even imagine trying to go to a foreign country with one pair of socks and no winter coat. Still, you can hear that our views on war from then and now are not that different; we have the same thought process.“

Speranza answered 501st paratroopers’ questions and commented on the regiment’s performance since the mid-1940s, including combat tours in the Vietnam War, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“You’re in a proud outfit, a great outfit,” Speranza said. “One of the reasons old men like me are still proud to wear the uniform and declare that we’re part of the 501 is that the 501 has never let us down.”

• Date Taken: 11.10.2015
• Date Posted: 11.10.2015 23:15
• Story ID: 181661
• Location: JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US