Albert Blithe (June 25, 1923 – December 17, 1967) was an American career

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

who served as a private first class with

Easy Company E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the United States Army. The company was referred to as "Easy" after the radio call for "E" in the p ...

, 2nd Battalion,

506th Parachute Infantry Regiment The 506th Infantry Regiment, originally designated the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR) during World War II, is an airborne light infantry regiment of the United States Army. Currently a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regi ...

, in the 101st Airborne Division during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Blithe was portrayed in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' by

Marc Warren Marc Warren (born 20 March 1967) is an English actor, known for his British television roles. His roles have included Albert Blithe in '' Band of Brothers'', Danny Blue in '' Hustle'', Dougie Raymond in ''The Vice'', Dominic Foy in '' State ...

. His life story was featured in the 2010 book ''A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us''.

Youth

Blithe was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After completing 3 years of high school, he enlisted for the paratroopers on August 18, 1942, in his hometown.

Military service

World War II

Blithe trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, in August 1942 under Captain

Herbert Sobel Herbert Maxwell Sobel Sr. (26 January 1912 – 30 September 1987) was an American commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Sobel was portraye ...

. Blithe jumped with the rest of Easy Company into

occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

as part of the massive Airborne invasion; however, when he landed, he found himself lost. Blithe was joined by a number of other paratroopers who were also part of the mis-drops. They teamed up together and found the rest of Easy Company. As portrayed in ''Band of Brothers'' by

, Blithe was struck with a temporary case of hysterical blindness following the fierce fight to capture

Carentan Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was mer ...

. He recovered and was part of a patrol investigating a farmhouse a few days later, where he was shot in the collar bone by a sniper. He recovered from the wound and received a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

on June 25, 1944. Due to his wound, on October 1, 1944, he was sent home and never returned to the European Theater of Operations. As a result of his service in World War II and Korea, Blithe received the Silver Star, Bronze Star (with 2 oak leaf clusters). Blithe was released from the Army Hospital October 8, 1945, which has been verified by his discharge paperwork at the end of World War II. He attended the 1st annual reunion of the 101st Airborne Division Association. He returned to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and started a career with

Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

Korean War and afterward

Blithe also served in Korea with the

187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team The 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment (Rakkasans) is a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. , the 1st and 3rd battalions are the only active elements of the regiment; they are assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Divisio ...

where he was awarded a bronze and silver star for jumping behind enemy lines surrounded by a Chinese battalion.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfhcwvsUkBY&t=140s He was later assigned to the

Military Assistance Advisory Group Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) is a designation for United States military advisors sent to other countries to assist in the training of conventional armed forces and facilitate military aid. Although numerous MAAGs operated around ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. He never retired from military service.

Death

On December 10, 1967, while on active duty in Germany, Blithe felt nauseated when he returned from a weekend at

Bastogne Bastogne (; nl, Bastenaken, ; german: Bastnach/Bastenach; lb, Baaschtnech) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogn ...

, Belgium, where he had taken part in the ceremonies commemorating the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

. On December 11, 1967, Blithe was taken to the emergency room at

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Hospital, Germany, where he was admitted with a diagnosis of a

perforated ulcer A perforated ulcer is a condition in which an untreated ulcer has burned through the mucosal wall in a segment of the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., the stomach or colon) allowing gastric contents to leak into the abdominal cavity. Signs and symp ...

. He died in the intensive care unit on December 17 after surgery, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors. Albert Blithe is mistakenly claimed to have never recovered from his wounds, and to have died in 1948, during the final scene credit of episode 3 of ''Band of Brothers''.

References

Bibliography

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External links

ANC Explorer

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blithe, Albert 1923 births 1967 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Band of Brothers characters Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Deaths from peritonitis Deaths from kidney failure Military personnel from Philadelphia Recipients of the Silver Star United States Army soldiers