Ollie E. “Sonny” Barrington Jr. was born on April 8, 1921 in Ardmore, Carter, Oklahoma.

He enlisted in the US Army on August 3, 1942 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Following four months of basic then jump school training at Camp Toccoa and Fort Benning, Sonny was awarded the coveted paratrooper's jump wings on December 19, a week before Christmas 1942. A qualified trooper proudly serving in Company A of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. “Currahee!”

On D-Day, the assigned Drop Zone 'C' for the 506th was six miles south-east of Ravenoville near Sainte Marie-du-Mont. Cpl. Ollie Barrington mis-dropped between Ravenoville and the 'other' Ravenoville, Ravenoville Plage (beach), two miles east of the village.

We believe he linked with other mis-dropped troopers nearby, led by Company A platoon leader 2nd Lt. William W. “Bill” Muir. The group of approximately 20 paratroopers, mostly 101st with a few from the 82nd reached the eastern limit of Ravenoville around 9.00am on D-Day morning. Muir and his men knew the village was occupied by the enemy – the two lead scouts had earlier disappeared rounding a bend in the road, taken prisoner.

Without any idea of enemy strength, Muir ordered his men to fan out and attack through the village from house-to-house. No-one knows how many Germans they encountered, but Ravenoville was in American airborne hands within half-an-hour of the attack. The paratroopers reached the crossroads and Marmion Farm, held by Major John P. Stopka and his men since before dawn. The groups consolidated to reinforce the position and wait for 4th Infantry Division reinforcements arriving from Utah beach, however long that might take...

Following the link-up on the early morning of D+1, the paratroopers left the farm to find and re-join their respective units. Sonny Barrington was wounded in action during fighting from village to village somewhere along the road between Sainte Marie-du-Mont and St Côme-du-Mont.

He recovered from his wound to jump into Holland with the 101st during Operation Market Garden on September 17, 1944 and the division's battles for “Hell's Highway.”

Sonny Barrington survived his second major airborne campaign only to lose his life in Belgium, killed in action during desperate fighting for Noville, north of Bastogne on December 20, 1944. Two years and a day since qualifying as a paratrooper. He was 23 years old.

Between February 6, 1945 – May 8, 1948 Ollie E. Barrington Jr rested in Plot B, Row 5, Grave 109 in the United States Military Cemetery at Foy, a short distance from where he died. In compliance with the family's request, his remains were disinterred and permanently re-interred in Section 6, Earthman Resthaven Cemetery, Houston, Harris County, Texas, USA.

We were honored to welcome four generations of Sonny Barrington's family including his sister, Mrs Marie Barrington Roach, to our 70th D-Day Anniversary ceremony in June 2014.