Normandy, D-Day – Operation Overlord; June 6 1944

'Our job was to get the seaborne troops in without casualties. We were the first ones to go into combat on D-Day, and we knew that. All I wanted to do was get off that plane and start fighting.' Bill Guarnere

'We were overloaded with equipment. The ones that lost most were the ones who had those so-called 'leg bags'. All the planes were flying faster than they should have, and so the opening shock of the chute just tore the leg bag off a lot of the fellas.' Buck Taylor

Below: Boarding the plane with full packs

Above: D-Day+6; Members of Easy Company, 3rd Platoon, standing on a road leading into Carentan

Below: Sept 1944; Men of the 506th manoeuvre through a Dutch township

Holland, Operation Market Garden; September 17 1944

The plan was devised by the Allies in a bold move to capture bridges across the Rhine, in effect securing passage into Germany and thus quickening the march to Berlin. When Easy Company was briefed before the jump, they were told that if Market Garden became successful the war would be over by Christmas.

It would be the largest airborne fleet ever amassed, Their goal to protect the supply route the Allies heavily relied on - a 50-mile stretch of road between Eindhoven and Arnhem - which soon became known as 'Hell's Highway'.