Albert Blithe

Albert Blithe was born in Philadelphia (Pa) on June 25, 1923. He was raised by his Mother Emma Blithe who came from a family of missionaries that believed very much in God. Before he joined the Army (left) he was crane operator for Westinghouse.

In 1942 he joined the army and became a paratrooper with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. He was wounded in Carentan France on his 21st birthday June 25, 1944. Blithe was released from the Army Hospital October 8, 1945, which has been verified by his discharge paperwork at the end of World War II.

He stayed out of the army for a year and went back to work for Westinghouse. He waved his war time disability and re-enlisted back into the army and became a paratrooper again. He married Kay (left) in 1957 and became the trooper of the month then trooper of the year at Fort Bragg N.C. Not long after Gordon was born on Febr.26, 1959, Albert Blithe got a MAAG assignment in Taiwan. (Military Advisory and Assistance Group)

He also was in the Korean war .

On December 10, 1967, while on active duty in Germany, Blithe died in the intensive care unit at Wiesbaden Hospital, Germany, on December 17 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors.

In the miniseries Band of Brothers closing text of the third episode incorrectly states that Blithe died December 17, 1948, due to never fully recovering from his wound (a bullet to the neck). This was an error made by the writer Stephen E Ambrose.