06/16/2022
Hero Alert
🇺🇲WWII uncovered: D-Day 2022: Veterans of D-Day: George Luz of Easy Company♠️
Private First Class George Luz, of Rhode Island, registered for service in the US Army on August 25, 1942. He was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division at Camp Toccoa. George trained as a radioman.
"On June 6, 1944, Luz entered one of hundreds airplanes, fully packed and ready to jump into Normandy. He was on Lt. Harry Welsh's plane. He was carrying a radio and batteries and had been unable to get into the plane until a few men of the Air Corps pushed him in. Once inside he turned to Welsh to say that he's fifth man in the stick, and he'll never make it to the door. Welsh had told him to change places with Pvt. Cobb. When the German artillery flak started Cobb called out "I'm hit". He couldn't jump. Luz later remembered "We wanted to get out of there so damn bad." Luz kicked his leg bag containing the radio and other equipment out of the door and leaped into the night. When George landed, he was alone and was unable to locate any of his group. He was ducking behind a hedgerow for cover, looking up and seeing fellow paratroopers shot by tracer rounds.He later managed to regroup with his company the next day.'
'George Luz saw action in Carentan. Not even a month later Luz and his brothers jumped into Holland during Operation Market Garden. Easy Company participated in the Battle of the Bulge, where Luz lost several friends to German artillery, such as Alex Penkala and Warren Muck. Luz was well known for his larger than life sense of humor and talent in the art of impersonation, both of which earned George the title of "the funniest man in Easy Company.".(Ambrose, Brotherton, Ancestry Database)
After the war George returned to Rhode Island and married Delvina Ann Rodgers. He worked as a maintenance consultant and was killed in an industrial accident on October 15, 1998.
More than 1600 people assembled in remembrance at George Luz's funeral at the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island. He was 77 years old at the time of his death. Lest We Forget.
George Luz was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Rick Gomez and his story was featured in the 2009 books "We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers " by Marcus Brotherton and "Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne.." by Stephen Ambrose.
Original description and photo sourced by US Army, Ancestry Database, We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers " by Marcus Brotherton and Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne by Stephen Ambrose. Fair Use Photos