Albert Blithe (25 June 1923-17 December 1967) was a US Army master sergeant who served in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during World War II.
Biography[]
Albert Blithe was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1923, and he joined the US Army paratroopers in 1942. Assigned to Easy Company, he participated in Operation Overlord in Normandy, France in June 1944. He was struck with a temporary caste of hysterical blindness following the Battle of Carentan and was shot in the collar bone by a sniper. He recovered from the wound and was awarded a Purple Heart on 25 June 1944. He was sent home on 1 October 1944 and was released from the Army Hospital on 8 October 1945, going on to work for Westinghouse Electric. He later served in Korea, being awarded a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for jumping behind enemy lines surrounded by a Chinese battalion. He remained in the military until his death from a perforated ulcer in 1967.