Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Edward David Shames (June 13, 1922 – December 3, 2021) was a United States Army enlisted man and officer who later served in the U.S. Army Reserve. 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 opposin ...

, he was assigned to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment,

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

. Shames was Jewish and reported being deeply affected by his personal viewing of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's concentration camps. Shames was the last surviving officer and, following the death of Roderick G. Strohl in December 2019, oldest surviving member of the regiment's

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 ph ...

, 2nd

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

. He was survived only by Private First Class Bradford C. Freeman.

Early life

Shames was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in June 1922, to David and Sadie (Winer) Shames. Born in Latvia, David and Sadie were Russian Jewish immigrants who came to the United States in 1904, likely from Odessa."United States Census, 1930," database with images, ''FamilySearch'' (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CH18-LW2 : accessed 5 December 2021), Eddie Shames in household of Sadie Shames, Norfolk, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 71, sheet 3B, line 97, family 51, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2471; FHL microfilm 2,342,205. Edward was the youngest of four brothers and sisters. Their father, who owned a grocery store, died in 1927 when Edward was five.Airborne: The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company, Ch 1 Sadie's brother Ben Winer moved in to help raise the family. By age 18, Shames was married to 16-year-old Lillian Hoffman. In 1940, he lived with his in-laws, Sam and Gussie Hoffman. The couple later divorced. Shames married Ida Aframe in 1946.

Military service

World War II

Shames enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 25, 1942. He read about and applied for duty with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was sent to

Toccoa, Georgia Toccoa is a city in far Northeast Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia near the border with South Carolina. It is the county seat of Stephens County, Georgia, Stephens County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, located about from Athens, Geo ...

for training, starting as a private in I Company, 3rd Battalion of the 506th. In England, Shames was promoted to Operations Sergeant. He built the sand tables the airborne unit used in planning the airdrop into

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Shames made his first combat jump into Normandy on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

as part of

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

. On 13 June 1944, he received a battlefield commission to second lieutenant, although the formal commission was completed in England. He was the first NCO in the Third Battalion to receive such a commission in Normandy. He was transferred to Easy Company and took charge of its third platoon. Shames fought with Easy Company in

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

and volunteered for

Operation Pegasus Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on 22–23 October 1944, the Allied military forces, MI9, the British intelligence organization, ...

led by Frederick Heyliger. He was wounded once in his left leg during the campaigns. He then fought with the rest of E Company in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

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: Bastogne, ...

. In Foy, Shames and Paul Rogers knocked out a German tank with a bazooka.p.298, Alexander In Germany, he saw some of the concentration camps in which the Germans imprisoned and murdered Europe's Jews and, like many American soldiers, was deeply affected. During the exploration of Eagle's Nest, Shames found a supply of cognac labeled "for the Fuehrer's use only." He later used it to toast his oldest son's Bar Mitzvah.

Post-war

After World War II, Shames worked for the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

as an specialist on Middle East affairs from 1945 to 1982. He also served in the United States Army Reserve and retired as a colonel in 1973. He was married to Ida Aframe (b. April 9, 1922) from 1946 until she died on February 21, 2019. Shames died on December 3, 2021, at the age of 99 at his residence in

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

and he was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

. He was survived by two sons, four grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.

In popular culture

Shames was portrayed in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' by

Joseph May Joseph May is a British-born Canadian actor, who has appeared in television and film. He is best known for his role as Andy Button in the television series ''Episodes'', Paul who was the boyfriend of Sam Colloby, in ''Casualty'', Luke in ''I Live ...

. He also provided an audio interview for the documentary ''Greatest Events of World War 2: In Colour'' where he briefly described the

in the

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

References

;Sources * * * * * * * * *

External links

Edward Shames's page on US Airborne
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shames, Edward 1922 births 2021 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II People from Virginia Beach, Virginia Military personnel from Norfolk, Virginia Band of Brothers characters United States Army colonels Jewish American military personnel United States Army reservists 21st-century American Jews National Security Agency people