Spc. Samuel Watts

U.S. Army

Company B, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment

IED, Operation Enduring Freedom

May 19, 2012

Soldiers from the 508th Military Police Battalion held a casing ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan after serving in Afghanistan on a 12 month deployment. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class David Wheeler, USFOR-A Public Affairs)

A Paratrooper assigned to 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division engage targets during a live fire exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 2, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt)

070306-A-2013C-015 Two snipers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, provide overwatch security for the locals during a Shura, or town meeting, in Dey Yak, Afghanistan. (photo by Pfc. Micah E. Clare)

Spc. Fred Rawcliffe, medic, 3rd Plt., Co.A., 1/508th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division, checks out the ears of an 11 month-old child during phase II of their operation in the Sangin Valley of southern Afghanistan May 8. (photo by Army Sgt. Tony J. Spain)

German Army Master Sergeant Erik Ernst, a jumpmaster with 4th company, 263 Airborne Battalion prepares send U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Donny Hagan, Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, out the door of a German Air Force C-160 filled with U.S. Army Paratroopers as they approach the drop zone during the 16th Annual Randy Oler Memorial Toy Drop, December 7, 2013, at Pope Field, N.C. U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Command (Airborne) in conjunction with U.S. Army Special Operations Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg and Allied Forces, is conducting Operation Toy Drop during the world's largest annual Combined-Joint airborne operations training and to support local families/charities in need with toys during the Holiday Season. (U.S. Army photo by Sergeant First Class Sean A. Foley)(Released)

Soldiers from the 508th Military Police Battalion held a casing ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan after serving in Afghanistan on a 12 month deployment. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class David Wheeler, USFOR-A Public Affairs)

A Paratrooper assigned to the Scout Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division acts a spotter for targets during a sniper qualification range at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 5, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt/Released)

Courtesyphoto080924 A Paratrooper of the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airbrone Division holds a rope for his fellow Paratrooper climbing a cliff face at Pilot Mountain State Park, N.C., Sept. 24 during an event hosted by Capt. (Ch.) Philip Kramer, the battalion chaplain, and David Coffield of the Fort Bragg Navigators Ministry. The event was held to enhance the spiritual fitness of the Paratroopers. (Courtesy photo by Capt. (Ch.) Philip Kramer)

A Paratrooper assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division performs security for a landing zone during an air assault mission at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 7, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt/Released)

Paratroopers from 1st battalion, 508th parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, assaulted an objective with aviation support from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, August 4. This training further enhanced the interoperability between the ground and aviation units. (U.S. Army Photo by SSG Christopher Freeman)

The skies over Maniago, Italy, are peppered with members of the airborne combat team from the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry out of Vicenza, Italy, as they conduct a training jump near Aviano Air Base in January. The jump was from an Air Force C-130 aircraft. (USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Jennifer C. Wallis) 010109-F-3820W-002.jpg

A Paratrooper from 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, attaches a pendant reach to a CH-47 Chinook assigned to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade during sling load and air assault operations, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, August 5. The CAB provided aviation support to the unit, enhancing the unit's capability and increasing interoperability between the two units. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Freeman/ 82nd CAB PAO)

Soldiers from the 508th Military Police Battalion held a casing ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan after serving in Afghanistan on a 12 month deployment. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class David Wheeler, USFOR-A Public Affairs)

top left background is my father

Robert J GASS first reunion he went to -1982-

They all jumped on D-Day

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter flies during an air assult mission supporting 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 7, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt/Released)

Soldiers of the 595th Military Police Company, 508th Military Police Battalion, participated in Riot Control Training during their Certification Training Exercise held on January 12-15, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Paratroopers from B Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division moves out on patrol into the Ghorak Valley of the Helmand Province in Southern Afghanistan during "Operation Achilles March 6. Photo by Spc. Matthew T. Littel, U.S. Army

A Paratrooper assigned to 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team disconnects sling load hoist attachments during a light vehicle sling load training exercise at Monroe pick-up zone on Fort Bragg, N.C., Dec. 1.

Maj. Gen. David N. Blackledge, commanding general of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), leads the paratroopers of Task Force Normandy into St. Mere-Eglise behind three veterans of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment who parachuted on June 5 and 6, 1944 and fought in the area. Task Force Normandy is made up of U.S., U.K., French, and German paratroopers combined to celebrate the 67th Anniversary of the D-Day operations. (U.S. Army photo by Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund)

Soldiers of the 595th Military Police Company, 508th Military Police Battalion, participated in Riot Control Training during their Certification Training Exercise held on January 12-15, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

photo by Dawn Elizabeth Pandoliano/Paraglide

Sgt. Sheree Vannoy, HHC 508th Special Troops Brigade, left, and Sgt. Sarah Kinsey, with C Company, 782 Brigade Support Battalion, right, demonstrate the correct way to put on the jump harness with DeeDee Clark, center, one of the spouses participating in the Military Spouses Day Conference.

Bravo Company of 1st Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment conducting live fire training with Nato allies at range PL1 in Estonia today 11 May 2021. (U.S. Army Photo by: Staff Sgt. Dustin Miller)

LTC Zane Jones, CDR, 508th MP Bn, 42d MP Bde, Ft Lewis, WA (our Military Police Customs successor unit) presenting Diane and I with our 42d MP Bde Challenge Coins

Spc. Sean M. Noel, an infantryman from Company C, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne Division, practices launching the Raven Unmanned Aerial Vehicle from a moving vehicle. Noel was assisted by Cpl. Erick J. Rodas, a light-wheel vehicle mechanic, who is also the Raven Master Trainer for the 173rd Airborne Brigade. photo by 2nd Lt. Monika Comeaux/173rd Brigade Support Battalion

071018 UNPUBLISHED, horizontal, launch, UAV, training

Soldiers from the 508th Military Police Battalion held a casing ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan after serving in Afghanistan on a 12 month deployment. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class David Wheeler, USFOR-A Public Affairs)

Paratroopers assigned to 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, move from the wood line to load onto a UH-60 black hawk assigned to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, during a training exercise part of Operation Red Fury which the Paratroopers will be infil to their objective. The training helped to increase the unit’s interoperability between the ground and aviation units. (U.S. Army Photo by Capt. Adan Cazarez)

A Paratrooper assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division moves through a breached wire obstacle during a live-fire exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 7, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewit/Released)

Sky Soldiers of the 1-508th/173rd ABCT returned to Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy and were welcomed home by Family and friends Feb. 11. Learn more about events and activities in Vicenza on www.usag.vicenza.army.mil or www.facebook.com/USAGVicenza.Photo by Grant Sattler, USAG Vicenza PAO.

Aerial view of Winkton Airfield from 1946, the airfield having closed in July 1944. The outlines of the pierced steel planking perimeter track are still evident on the land, with it being returned to agricultural use. Source: Royal Ordinance Survey. Crown Copyright expired in 1996, 50 years after the photograph taken.

Royal Air Force Winkton or more simply RAF Winkton is a former Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground previously in Hampshire but now, due to County boundary changes, in Dorset, England. The airfield is located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Christchurch; and is named after the nearby hamlet of Winkton.

Although complete by September 1943 Winkton opened in March 1944 with Sommerfeld Mesh runways and pierced steel planking perimeter tracks, and was the prototype for the type of temporary Advanced Landing Ground type airfield that would be built in France after D-Day, when the need for advanced landing fields would become urgent as the Allied forces moved east across France and Germany. It was used by British and the United States Army Air Forces. It was closed in July 1944, when the mesh runways were lifted for use on the Continent, and immediately returned to agriculture.

Today the airfield is a mixture of agricultural fields with no recognizable remains.

While under USAAF control, Winkton was known as USAAF Station AAF-414 for security reasons, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its Station-ID was "WT", Radio-Callsign "Drainsink". RAF Winkton saw the arrival of the USAAF 404th Fighter Group on 4 April 1944, the group arriving from Myrtle Beach AAF, South Carolina. The 404th had the following operational squadrons:

506th Fighter Squadron (4K)

507th Fighter Squadron (Y8)

508th Fighter Squadron (7J)

The 404th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 84th Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. It flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. On 6 July the 404th moved across the Channel to its Advanced Landing Ground at Chippelle (ALG A-5), France. With the Americans moving to France, Winkton airfield was closed down and returned to agricultural use in July 1944. In January 1945, the airfield was officially closed. Today, the land is unrecognizable as a former airfield, and can only be located by comparing the road network on aerial photographs taken when the airfield was active to the current network. In 2009, there exists a private grass runway owned by Mr.I.C.Reid, who hangars his Tiger Moth biplane there.

Soldiers of the 595th Military Police Company, 508th Military Police Battalion, participated in Riot Control Training during their Certification Training Exercise held on January 12-15, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

A Paratrooper assigned to 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division engage targets with a machine gun during a live fire exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 2, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt)

Pvt. Matthew Reed, Company A, 508th Special Troops Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, keeps his eye on the cargo container while helping Pvt. Walter Ciucevich (not pictured) align the lift of a rough terrain container handler to the container during their RTCH training Nov. 20.

photo by Lucille Anne Newman/Paraglide

Aerial view of Winkton Airfield from January 1947, the airfield having closed in July 1944. The outlines of the pierced steel planking perimeter track are still evident on the land, with it being returned to agricultural use. Source: Royal Ordinance Survey. Crown Copyright expired in 1997, 50 years after the photograph taken.

In late 1942 farmers of the land between Sopley, Winkton and Bransgore were visited by reconnaissance surveyors of the Air Ministry. Land from Sopley Farm, Parsonage Farm, and both lower and upper or higher Clockhouse Farms would be lost to the war effort. In the summer of 1943 4768 Flight of 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron RAF arrived to prepare the land to accommodate an advanced landing ground. The airfield was ready for September 1943. In January an advance party arrived from the United States Army’s Ninth Airforce to prepare the facilities required for the 1000 Airmen and seventy-five P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft of the 404th Fighter Group. The party included American Airfield Engineers and Ninth Airforce Service Corps personnel. The engineers reinforced the two mile-long runways with pieced steel planking and the corners of intersections between taxiways with tar reinforced burlap. The Service Corps constructed the camp facilities. The airfield was known to the USAAF as Station 414.

In early April 1944 the 404th Fighter Group personnel arrived from Christchurch railway station by truck and by mid-April their aircraft had started to arrive. Following intensive training and preparation the 404th went operational on May 1st. The three squadrons in the Group (506th, 507th and 508th Fighter Squadron) flew dive bombing, armed reconnaissance and escort missions over occupied Europe. On D Day 6th of June the whole group flew four beach protection patrols over the invasion fleet and beaches, the first at dawn, the last in the late evening. The 404th continued to fly an intensive programme of operations from Winkton until early July 1944 when they moved to Normandy. Winkton airfield closed and was returned to agriculture in August 1944.

Soldiers from the 508th Military Police Battalion held a casing ceremony at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan after serving in Afghanistan on a 12 month deployment. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class David Wheeler, USFOR-A Public Affairs)

Bravo Company of 1st Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment conducting live fire training with Nato allies at range PL1 in Estonia today 11 May 2021. (U.S. Army Photo by: Staff Sgt. Dustin Miller)

Soldiers of the 595th Military Police Company, 508th Military Police Battalion, participated in Riot Control Training during their Certification Training Exercise held on January 12-15, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

International Security Assistance Force Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall went on patrol and visited with Soldiers from the 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in and around Kandahar City on June 28, 2010 during his battlefield circulation.

(Photo by U.S. Army SFC Matthew Chlosta, ISAF PAO)