RICHARD "RED" WRIGHT

Richard 'RED ' Wright was a ‘pathfinder’ for the company, meaning that he was dropped into Normandy BEFORE D-Day to study the land and enemy positions, in preparation for what would come. Not an easy job. The other pathfinder was Carl Fenstermaker. Richard is an extremely articulate man, at the time this photo was taken, he was praising Herbert Sobel for his uncompromising stance regarding discipline and, as I did, gave credit to Sobel for the unmatched training he provided the men. He stated that although his methods were extreme at times, they challenged the men to their limits and made them the outstanding soldiers they were.

As known a lot of men were dropped inacurate and a lot of Easy Company men were dropped about 15 miles from the DZ. Richard and Carl came down in the Channel after their plane was hit. They were picked up by H.M.S. Tartar and transferred to Air Sea Rescue, and taken to England.
Richard Wright was one of two men in the 506th eligible to wear three stars on their jump wings. The other one was Nixon. Both jumped into Normandy, Holland and during Operation Varsity. Nixon was Nixon the only E-Company member that was selected for one night by Gen. Taylor to jump with the 17th as an observer for the 101st. The plane was hit and Nixon with three other men made it out before it crashed.
Operatie Varsity was the largest airborne operation of all time (the 17th plus the British 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions : March 24, 1945)

Text from the book Band of Brothers with permission of the author

Richard passed away September 5, 2004