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Donald R. Burgett (born April 5, 1925) is a writer and former paratrooper. He was among the Airborne troopers who landed in Normandy early in the morning of D-Day. He was a member of the 101st Airborne Division, The Screaming Eagles, and the now famous 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, made notable by 'Easy Company' in the Band of Brothers mini-series. However, Burgett served in 'A' Company, 1st Battalion, 506th PIR as both a rifleman and a machine-gunner.

Burgett parachuted into Holland as part of Operation Market-Garden with the 1st Allied Airborne Army, fighting for 72 days behind enemy lines. With just a few weeks rest, he was sent into combat at the Battle of the Bulge, where the 101st, along with Combat Command B of the U.S. 10th Armored Division successfully held out against nine German armored divisions during the siege of Bastogne. He went on to fight through Operation Nordwind, on into Germany to the Ruhr Valley, the Rhineland, and Bavaria, where he helped capture Hitler's mountain retreat in southern Germany. While in action with the 101st, Burgett survived numerous battle wounds and had his M1 rifle shot out of his hands at least twice. He was one of only eleven men out of two hundred in his company to survive from D-Day Normandy all the way to the war's end

Burgett now lives in Howell, Michigan. Burgett has also done a number of History Channel specials on World War II.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Donald Burgett", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0