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Norman Dike

Norman Staunton Dike, Jr. (19 May 1918-23 June 1989) was a US Army lieutenant who commanded Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division for a spell during World War II.

Biography[]

Norman Dike was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a state supreme court judge. He joined the US Army in 1942, dropping out of Yale Law School to serve in the US 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Dike was transferred from Division HQ to Easy Company in November 1944 to take over as company commander after Frederick Heyliger was wounded, only to be relieved of his command for suffering a panic attack during the Battle of Foy. The allegations of cowardice against Dike led to him being nicknamed "Foxhole Norman" by his company. He was sent to become an aide to Maxwell Taylor, where he remained for the rest of the war. After the war, he remained in the active reserve and became a lawyer in New York in 1949 and Washington DC in 1954. He served as a US Commissioner in Japan and CIA agent from 1950 to 1953, and he also served in the Korean War. He retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1957, and he became a permanent resident of Switzerland in 1960. He died in Rolle, Switzerland in 1989.

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