WW2 Paratroopers USA
AK118 is a single figure of Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke in tropical uniform, wearing a peaked cap with binoculars at his chest and one arm extended. King & Country places the portrayal in North Africa in 1942.
The boonie hat is a useful corrective to the word “airborne.” Del Prado’s 1971 American sergeant is dressed for service on the ground, not suspended beneath a parachute, and that is central to understanding the subject.
By 23 September 1944, Sergeant Dennis Smith’s account from Arnhem had narrowed to the essentials: shelling, rain, exhaustion and the need for relief. Six days earlier, aircraft had delivered an army into the Netherlands with the promise of speed. Now the men around Oosterbeek were measuring time by what they could still endure.
“I was scared stiff,” Sapper John Haines remembered in an account preserved by NZ History. Private Ivan Divehall remembered excitement. The same parachutes could produce both reactions. On the morning of 20 May 1941, German troops descended over Crete, and the men watching them had only moments to turn astonishment into action. The invasion would be decided by airfields and command decisions, but it began as a profoundly personal encounter with an unfamiliar way of war.
The blue beret, camouflage clothing and striped shirt at the neck give this Del Prado paratrooper a clear Cold War identity. The long weapon held upright makes him visually distinct from the catalog’s Second World War Soviet infantry.
A netted helmet, loaded equipment and jump clothing identify this American airborne subject. The important story begins after the parachute has been discarded: finding other men, reaching an objective and fighting with what arrived on the ground.
Explore King & Country DD268-2 Final Check — 101st Airborne, its historical setting, distinctive details and place in the D-Day collection.
Explore King & Country DD268-1 Final Check — 82nd Airborne, its historical setting, distinctive details and place in the D-Day collection.
Explore King & Country DD266-2 Kneeling and Seated Paratroopers — 101st Airborne, its historical setting, distinctive details and place in the D-Day collection.
Explore King & Country DD266-1 Kneeling and Seated Paratroopers — 82nd Airborne, its historical setting, distinctive details and place in the D-Day collection.
