By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (12.239.86.117) on Sunday, February 17, 2002 - 03:06 pm:

Officials laud resident who fought with Easy Company

By Jamie Kelly, Staff writer November 14, 2001


A local man who was part of a World War II military unit now being portrayed in a cable-TV miniseries was honored on Monday for his military service.
Penn Hills resident Jack Foley was a member of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne - the Army unit memorialized by Stephen Am-brose in his book, Band of Brothers, which HBO has turned into a popular miniseries.

Easy Company was involved in a D-Day parachute drop, the liberation of Holland, the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest."


Foley joined East Company as a second lieutenant near the end of the campaign in Holland. Assistant leader of the company's 2nd Platoon.


He later was promoted to 1st Platoon leader while the unit was in Belgium.


The local man was unable to attend a Sept. 24 ceremony in Washington, D.C., that honored all of Easy Company.


So on Monday, a number of elected officials came to Penn Hills to honor him.


U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle presented Foley with a plaque from the U.S. House of Representatives that the veteran would have received at the Sept. 24 event.


The plaque, designed by the U.S. Postal service, features a reissued Normandy Invasion stamp and a stamp honoring veterans.


Joining Doyle in honoring Foley were state Rep. Tony DeLuca, who brought a citation from the state House; Mayor William DeSantis, who presented a citation from the municipality; and Sharon Price, a member of state Sen. Jay Costa's staff.


Foley's path toward membership in Easy Company began when was an ROTC member and was put on active duty during his senior year.


By June 1944, he was in an advanced infantry training course,.


After D-Day - the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 - Foley chose to enroll in Air-borne school at Fort Benning, Ga.


Foley decided to become a paratrooper so he would have some skills to offer as a replacement officer.


"I didn't want to be green going in there," he said.


The local resident also viewed Army paratroopers as exciting, daring and tough, and he liked the extra pay such soldiers received, too.


After returning home from World War II, Foley moved to Penn Hills in 1951. He worked in Alcoa's advertising department until his retirement.


On Monday, Foley heard the visiting officials express gratitude for his military service and the sacrifices made by all veterans.


Foley thanked all who spoke for what he called their many kind words and expressed his pride in being a veteran, saying all veterans deserve the nation's support and recognition.

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