Dike, Norman Staunton, Jr., born 19-05-1918, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of the New York State Supreme Court judge, Norman Staunton Dike Sr.
Norman was a 1937 graduate of St. Paul’s School and a 1941 graduate of Brown University. Norman studied at Yale Law School
prior to June 1942 but did not graduate at that time.
Dike became a lieutenant in the US Army some time before 25-05-1942. In England immediately before the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment , Easy Company,
departed for the D-Day
marshaling areas, Lieutenant Dike was listed as the regimental S-2 (intelligence officer) (several other officers were specified as being either first or second lieutenants but Dike was only listed as a lieutenant). Norman Dike here on the left with1LT William Schable, 2LT Peter Baranoski, 1LT Eugene Dance, and 1LT Edward Halley.
Dike was transferred from Division HQ to Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division under command of General Maxwell Taylor
in the first week of November 1944, becoming Company Commander. During the assault on Foy, Dike had ordered a platoon to go on a flanking mission around the rear of the town. During their charge, he ordered them to take cover. His subordinates informed him they were going to get killed because they were sitting ducks. At the same time, Captain Richard “Dick” Winters,
former commander of Easy Company and the Battalion executive officer, tried radioing him to tell him the same thing. Having no idea how to control the situation, Dike froze. Carwood “The Man” Lipton,
at that time the company’s first sergeant, later put it: “He fell apart.” He was relieved during fighting at Foy by First Lieutenant Ronald Charles Speirs
under orders from Captain Winters, then moved on to become an aide to Maxwell Taylor, 101st Airborne Division. Lieutenant Speirs survived the war and died 11-04-2007, age 86, in Saint Marie, Valley County, Montana, USA
Dike was awarded a Bronze Star for his action at Uden, Holland, with the 101st Airborne Division between 23 and 25 September 1944, in which he “organized and led scattered groups of parachutists in the successful defense of an important road junction on the vital Einhoven (sic)-Arnhem Supply Route against superior and repeated attacks, while completely surrounded.”

Dike was awarded a second Bronze Star for his action at Bastogne, in which “he personally removed from an exposed position, in full enemy view, three wounded members of his company, while under intense small arms fire” on 03-01-1945. He then moved on to become an aide to Maxwell Taylor, 101st Airborne Division.
In his autobiography (Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Richard Winters), Winters spoke in unflattering detail about Dike. Likewise, in Brothers in Battle—Best of Friends, William “Wild Bill” Guarnere
and Edward “Babe” Heffron
do not refer to him favorably. Dike was a poor soldier and leader and was often unavailable during combat; these traits earned him the pejorative nickname of “Foxhole Norman” among the members of Easy Company. Guarnere lost his right leg in Bastogne, helpng his friend who also lost a leg as he also steps on a landmine.
After World War II, Dike remained in the Army Active Reserve and served during the Korean War, eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1957.
Dike received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1947. He became a member of the New York Bar in 1949 and the District of Columbia Bar in 1954. From 1950–1953, he was a U.S. Commissioner in Japan. He also worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1951–1953. He practiced law in New York City and in Washington, DC. In 1960, he became a permanent resident of Switzerland. He was an officer of the U.S. Uranium Company, United Western Minerals Company and other oil and mining interests in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
Death and burial ground of Dike, Norman Staunton, Jr. “Foxhole Norman”.



Norman died in Rolle, Switzerland, on 23-06-1989, age 71 and is buried at West Thompson Cemetery Thompson, Windham County, Connecticut, VS.


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