Randleman, Denver “Bull”.

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Randleman, Denver Bull.
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Randleman, Denver “Bull”, born 20-11-1920 in Rector, Arkansas, dropping out of high school during his junior year, and during the Great Depression,  he went to Michigan and found work there. He enlisted in the US Airborne Infantry in August 1942 and was assigned to Easy Company  Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment  of the 101st Airborne Division  under command of Major General William Carey “Bill” Lee,

   as a rifleman in 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon. He earned the nickname “Bull” due to his large statue. He went through Basic Training at Camp Tocca , Georgia under the harsh leadership of Captain Herbert Sobel  Sobel was despised by his soldiers for being petty and vindictive. Lieutenant Thomas Meehan replaced Sobel, and was one of several officers (including Richard “Dick” Winters  to succeed him in that post before the end of the war. Herbert Sobel, died on 30-09-1987, aged 75, due to malnutrition in Waukegan, Illinois. On D-Day, Meehan, age 22, was killed when the C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft he was a passenger in was hit by German anti-aircraft fire. On 06-06-2000, a memorial was dedicated in the Beuzeville-au-Plain church to Meehan and the other men that were killed when the plane was shot down. After training, Randleman became a Paratrooper at Fort Benning  and was promoted to Corporal, and then made commander of 3rd Squad. At Aldbourne, England, he and his fellow noncoms mutinied against Sobel. They were berated and demoted by Colonel Robert Frederick Sink 

  and threatened with execution as a result of the mutiny. They were spared only because the Normandy invasion was imminent and well-trained NCOs were badly needed. He captured in August 1944, the German General Ludwig Bieringer   commander of 7th Motor-Transport-Battalion, of Field Kommandantur 800. Bieringer was released in May 1947 and died on 22-01-1975, age 82, in Hanover.

Randleman  participated in the D-Day/Normandy invasion , where he got lost during the jump and was caught up in a tree. A German soldier tried killing him with his bayonet, but Randleman retaliated with his own bayoneted rifle, killing the soldier. He reunited with his unit sometime after at Ste. Mere-Eglise where private John Steele landed in the church tower. A dummy is still hanging there on the wrong spire.

  Randleman fought at Carentan with Lieutenant colonel Robert Cole, and carried a man whose leg was blown off to safety. He then helped in the defensive outside of Carentan after the Germans regrouped and attacked. After Normandy, he returned back to England with the 101st and promoted to Sergeant. He was then the subject of Episode 4, “Replacements”: in the episode, while hanging out with most of Easy Company, he was seen greeting three replacements in his squad by the names of Privates James W. Miller , Antonio C. Garcia , and Lester Hashey . When Private Roy W Cobb  insulted Miller for wearing the unit citation ribbon that men who fought in Normandy were wearing (causing Miller to take it off), Randleman replied “Shit, Cobb. You didn’t fight in Normandy, neither.”Randleman then fought in Operation Market Garden in Holland, where he and Easy were swarmed by adoring crowds of Dutch people, who called them “liberators”.  He was then seen marching with Easy Company and a Sherman tank when Lieutenant Robert Burnam “Bob”. Brewer  went out to scan the area. Randleman yelled a warning, but Brewer was then shot and wounded in the throat by a sniper. Randleman tried helping him, calling for a medic, as he joined up with his men, who were taking cover in the town of Nuenen. Robert Burnam “Bob”. Brewer on 05-12-1996, following a battle with lung cancer, died in California, age 72, leaving his wife Mary, and five children, Mary Elizabeth, Robert Burnham, Nathan Hale, Virginia Ruth, and Wheaton Hale Brewer. In Nuenen, they were besieged by German tanks and infantry. Randleman tried to escape, but he was wounded  when tank shrapnel hit his left shoulder. He took cover in a barn and waited the night out. While Randleman ate, a Dutch farmer and his daughter entered the barn. The farmer helped with Randleman’s wound; before Randleman could leave, a group of Germans came to the barn. They hid, and eventually, most of the soldiers left. One stayed behind after finding the bloodied cloth used to treat Randleman’s wound. The Dutch girl accidentally knocked a pail over and the German investigated. As planes roared overhead, Randleman attacked the German with his bayoneted rifle, eventually stabbing him in the face. He then hid the body of the German and forced the Dutch farmer and his daughter to leave. Randleman left at daybreak, finding no more Germans. He found the dead body of Private Miller as an American jeep approached, and was reunited with Easy Company. He then fought in the Crossroads battle, eventually leaving after Operation Market Garden ended. Randleman fought in Bastogne (The Battle of the Bulge) ; he followed up by fighting at Foy, Noville, and Haguenau. Randleman then participated in the occupation of Germany and Austria. During the occupation at Landsberg, he and his unit were on patrol when they discovered a Nazi concentration camp. Like the others, Randleman was horrified by seeing the victims of the camp. After helping secure the camp, he and the rest of Easy Company participated in capturing Hitler’s Eagles Nest at Berchtesgaden. The European war eventually ended, but Randleman stayed due to not having enough points for discharge. When Sergeant Charles E “Chuck” Grant  was shot by a drunk Item Company replacement, Randleman, along with

Donald “Don” Malarkey, was ordered by Captain Ronald Speirs 

 to find the man. Speirs died 11-04-2007, aged 86, in aint Marie, Montana, They did find him, and he was then beaten by many of the Easy Company soldiers and nearly executed by Speirs. Eventually, Japan surrendered before Easy Company could be redeployed to the Pacific; Randleman was discharged as a Staff Sergeant and returned home.

Death and burial ground of Randleman, Denver “Bull”.

     Randleman then attended trade school and worked for a Caterpillar equipment dealer. He met and married a woman named Vera, and together they had two children. After the war, Randleman became a successful businessman and became superintendent of a construction company in Louisiana.and lived out the rest of his life in Louisiana and Arkansas. He died on 26-06-2003, age 82, of staph infection and is buried at East Memorial Gardens in Texarkana Miller County Arkansas, USA.

According to Major Richard Winters, Randleman was one of the best soldiers he ever had.

 

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