Croteau, Wilbur David born 22-12 1921 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, 
to Wilbur Croteau, Sr and his wife Hazel M. born Gonyea. The last name Croteau is French, derived from the Latin word “crypta,” meaning “crypt.” Living in the town of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, the Croteaus were a small family of three until the arrival of his sister, Shirley Marie, on 14-12-1943. Wilbur attended school until he was about 15 years old. He dropped out after two years of high school, likely to help his family during the worst of the Great Depression.
Wilbur worked as a semiskilled routeman up until his move to Los Angeles, California where he was drafted.
Croteau grew up in the town of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, 
which was a huge contributor to the war effort. Nearly everyone, from women and children, to young men and elders, were willing to do their part. According to the St. Louis Park Historical Society, “on Valentine’s Day 1942, 737 men between ages 20 and 40 registered for duty at the Village Hall.” Citizens traded in their vehicles for bicycles to help conserve rubber. Local colleges offered courses to young women so they would be educated to fill the labor shortages that were left by the men who were shipped off overseas.
The beginning of America’s involvement in World War II affected the west coast the most. Californians not only played their part in the war by rationing and enlisting to go overseas, but they also had to be prepared if Japan were to launch another attack on the United States, after the attack on Pearl Harbor.. 
The San Francisco Bay area was transformed into a massive shipbuilding operation practically overnight. Thousands of mothers placed their children in daycares while they worked long days contributing to the creation of these massive battleships. Many of the historic ship building sites still remain in San Francisco to this day as a reminder of the great contributions the state made during one of the most significant wars the world has ever seen.
Wilbur David Croteau was drafted on 18-08-1942 and volunteered to join the paratroopers and the 101st Airborne Division, 
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 
“Easy Company”. The regiment was originally stationed at the famous Camp Toccoa, 
Georgia and was activated on 20-07-1942, nearly one month before Croteau’s enlistment. It was commanded by Colonel Robert Frederick Sink,
from North Carolina.
Colonel Sink trained the men of the 506th Infantry Regiment with one of the most difficult schedules of any American military unit serving in World War II. This regiment was made up of three battalions. Croteau belonged to 3rd Battalion, G Company. 
Between the three battalions, 7,000 soldiers were recruited and trained for 13 weeks. By the end of these excruciating weeks of ‘A’ stage training, only 2,000 of the strongest men remained. Wilbur was one of them. 
Members of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment played a very important role during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. In this parachute combat assault, known as Operation Albany, over 6,900 paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division landed inland five hours ahead of the D-Day landings. They descended into the southeast corner of the Cotentin Peninsula of France from more than 400 C-47 troop carrier planes. However, the landings were scattered outside of the intended area due to bad weather and ground anti-aircraft fire from the German ground troops.
Death and burial ground of Croteau, Wilbur David.
Croteau volunteered to be a pathfinder, and landed in one of the earliest waves on D-Day. Reports indicate that he landed just after midnight, west of Saint-Côme-du-Mont 
and faced intense enemy machine gun and anti-aircraft fire. Their job was to set up Landing Zone D and organize the men who would follow him. 
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was intended to be in battle for three days, but those three days turned into a painful 33 days. The paratroopers did not return to England for nearly a month due to the battle for Carentan. About 2,000 men from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into Normandy; 569 of these heroes were wounded, 183 were reported missing or considered POWs, and 231 were killed in action. However, Wilbur Croteau survived three days in battle, dying on 09-06-1944, age 22, in fighting around Saint-Côme-du-Mont. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his acts of heroism and achievement.
During Operation Market Garden, the American “Easy Company” paratroopers, who had been dropped at Son on 17-09-1944, advanced to Eindhoven, the webmaster birthtown and 16 years as hometown. The mission of the 506th regiment of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division was to take Eindhoven and immediately secure the four bridges over the River Dommel. “We can’t waste any time to kill Germans”. With these words, Colonel Sink, the commander of the 506th, made very clear there was no time to lose. After some German resistance on the Vlokhovenseweg and then the Woenselsestraat, the Americans were able to reach the bridges. But the liberation of Eindhoven also took its toll of the people of Eindhoven. Some resistance fighters were killed, including Adrianus Cornelis ” Adri” Luijkx, age 26 
who was shot in error by an American paratrooper. Easy Company 506 PIR stayed in Eindhoven untill september 19th.
Story of Marion J. Grodowski 
(the American soldier who shot Adri) shouted “Halt” to the man twice, but he completely ignored me.Then he made the motion for me to leave. At that moment he climbed into the window of a residence and I aimed my Thompson machine gun at him. I fired several times and the man fell back to the ground from the window. When I walked up to him I saw that it was not a German uniform and later it turned out to be a resistance fighter. I was heartbroken, but couldn’t understand why he ignored my orders.
Marion was a member of the distinguished Easy Company 101st Airborne Unit during WWII as a paratrooper arriving in Normandy by air. During his tour of duty Marion completed 43 mission jumps, being wounded in the air on three occasions. In Holland his entire squad was killed but him, ending his duty in Austria, in Adolf Hitler‘s 
Berghof building. 
. As a Sergeant he was decorated with 4 Bronze Stars 
and a Purple Heart. 
Marion J. Grodowski, age 91, a resident of 10B Road in Plymouth since 1935 has died of natural causes. His death occurred at 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday, 31-01-2012 in the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center – Plymouth Campus.
On September 19, the day after the liberation. The German air force surprises festive Eindhoven with a heavy bombardment, which costs the lives of 200 civilians. The city center is soon ablaze. One bomb felt on the house of my parents in the Biesterweg, where they lived with four children. The webmaster is born in 1946 in this street. See the story of the Biesterweg bombing where 44 people, 21 children died in a self digged trench taking a direct hit. 
Wilbur David Croteau is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Plot A, Row 4, Grave 44.
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