Following their epic combat in Normandy (the paratroopers were finally pulled out of the line on June 30, 1944, after being in virtually constant combat since their night drop in the early morning of June 6) the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division returned to battle on Sept. 17, 1944 as part of Field Marshal Montgomery's audacious plan to seize a Rhine River bridgehead and help bring the war against Germany to a swift conclusion. The plan was simple: A three airborne division air assault would secure key bridge sites along the sixty-mile road to the Rhine River town of Arnhem allowing the attacking British XXX Corps, spearhead across the river. Once across the Rhine, Monty's armies would be able to end-run the German forces in France and capture Berlin before the Nazis would be able to respond. The British field marshal named his bid to bring the war to a quick end Operation Market Garden. Historian Cornelius Ryan immortalized it with a different name: 'a bridge too far.' Operation Market Garden proved to be as impossible as it was audacious. Yet, the paratroopers of the 101st accomplished their mission, capturing and holding all of their assigned objectives. It was at a high cost, however as the Screaming Eagles battled the Nazis along what quickly became known as Hell's Highway for seventy-two days. Finally, in late November, the 101st was pulled out of line. In a harrowing first-person narrative of battle, The Road to Arnhem, Donald R. Burgett describes his experiences in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II, is considered a classic of combat literature. Donald R. Burgett is the author of Currahee!, a critically acclaimed memoir of the Normandy invasion, and Seven Roads to Hell, his epic account of the Battle of Bastogne and Beyond the Rhine that continues through Austria and Germany to the capture of Hitler's home in Berchtesgaden.
About the Author: I was borne, Donald R. Burgett, April 5, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan. My father was a Detroit Police Officer, Mother, a housewife and mother of three sons and one daughter. I dropped out of High School after the tenth grade to enlist in the military but was too young, I then worked as a carpenter. At the age of eighteen I volunteered for the paratroopers. I fought through the entire European Campaign; Normandy, Holland, Bastogne, Austria and Germany with A. Co. 506 PIR 101st Airborne. At the end of the war there were only eleven of the original two hundred men that started with Company A. I was awarded the Bronze star, two Purple Hearts the ETO Ribbon with two Bronze Invasion Arrowheads, and four campaign Stars, there U.S. Presidential Citations, The Combat Infantryman's Badge, Two Croix de Guerre of France, Two Croix de Guerre of Belgium, one Fourraguere of Belgium. One Orange Lanyard of Holland, a Victory in Europe Medal and an Army of occupation Medal. Most recently, the French Legion of Honor Medal in 2014. I was discharged as Sergeant, squad leader, paratrooper. 101st Airborne Division. I arrived home January 1, 1946, twenty years old. I could not vote, I could not sign a legal contract, I could not buy a beer. I was not old enough. I could not rest and bumped around the country working at many jobs. Returning to Michigan I met and married my wife, Twyla. We had five children and now have eleven grandchildren and 23 great grand children. Twyla and I moved into the Howell area in 1967 and built our home. I have written and published four well received books; Currahee!, Road to Arnhem, Seven Roads to Hell and Beyond the Rhine. As I now hold complete rights to my four titles, I am currently reprinting and making them available to the public. At eighty-nine years of age I am still working, readying my fifth book for publication.