Because a lot of visitors of my website asked me about Alberth Blithe I contacted his son GORDON. With his help I made the next pages about his father.

Thank you Gordon.

Albert Blithe was born in Philadelphia (Pa) on June 25, 1923. He was raised by his Mother Emma Blithe who came from a family of missionaries that believed very much in God.
Before he joined the Army (left) he was crane operator for Westinghouse.

In 1942 he joined the army so he could get out of Pennsylvania for personal reasons. and became a paratrooper.(right at Toccoa)

He was wounded in Carentan France on his 21st birthday June 25, 1944.

He kept the bullet (r) from that wound in his right shoulder and would carry it his pocket. In the summer of 1967, Albert gave this bullet to his son Gordon. It was the last time that Gordon would see his father alive.

In one of the the Band of Brothers © episodes, Blithe is first struck with a temporary case of hysterical blindness and then severely wounded in the neck. Fellow Easy Company Currahee veterans had thought that Blithe did not recover from his neck wound and had died in Philadelphia, PA in 1948. After viewing the mini-series, relatives of Albert Blithe have come forward with information and documentation that Blithe was wounded in the right shoulder, recovered from his wounds, attended the 1st Annual Reunion of the 101st Airborne Division Association, and subsequently went on to have an outstanding Army career (including over 600 parachute jumps and a Military Advisory and Assistance Group assignment -MAAG- in Taiwan).
He was sent back to the States to heal from his wound in which he received a war time disability. He stayed out of the army for a year and went back to work for Westinghouse. He waved his war time disability and re-enlisted back into the army and became a paratrooper again. He was stationed at Fort Hood Texas for a while.

He married Kay (left) in 1957 and became the trooper of the month then trooper of the year at Fort Bragg N.C.

Not long after Gordon was born on Febr.26, 1959, Albert Blithe got a MAAG assignment in Taiwan. (Military Advisory and Assistance Group)

He also was in the Korean war . In his times in war he earned 3 Purple Hearts 3 Bronze Stars 1 Silver Star Army Occupation Medal and the War World 2 Victory Medal.

After he came back from the Korean War he got stationed at Fort Bragg N.C with the 82nd Airborne.

Albert and his wife, together with Gordon, lived in Ping Tung (Taiwan) for a few years. They came back to Fort Bragg N.C. where Albert was with the 82nd Airborne Division again.

Gordon remembers vividly that, when he was a young child, he asked his Father if he was scared when he was in the war. In silence he slowly shook his head yes. Gordon never again asked him if he was scared.

Gordon's mother told him many times that the war messed his mind up but he loved being a paratrooper more than anything else. His Father used say to Gordon many many times I'm a paratrooper that's my job. While in Taiwan he was the second American paratrooper to earn the Chinese master jump wings.

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Photos of WWII documents and WWII photos are courtesy Gordon Blithe ©.
"Band of Brothers" & all related marks & media are TM & © 2001 Dreamworks Television & HBO. This site is in no way affiliated with any entity involved in the production of this film. All opinions contained here in are not intended to infringe on any copyrights. For remarks or comments please mail me.

Peter van de Wal ©