Week 48: Noel Addy

Seventy one years ago this month, Allied forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. While several Chandler residents participated in D-Day, Noel Addy was the only one who had a bird’s eye view of the invasion.

Addy originally joined the National Guard in 1938 in order to be able to spend the hot summers at Fort Tuthill in Flagstaff. In 1940, as war clouds loomed, Congress called the National Guard to active duty. Addy’s one year active duty appointment was extended. Soon, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor showed Addy that he was in for the duration.

After joining the war, the Army Air Corps started a new program. This program involved disposable gliders being towed over enemy territory to land soldiers, ammo, and equipment behind enemy lines. The job was dangerous, as the gliders were made from thin sheets of wood, had no defenses, and lacked their own engines. Despite the danger, Noel Addy felt that it was a better option than being a foot soldier and volunteered for glider pilot training.

After completing several months of training Addy became an instructor. By 1943, he was activated as a “full fledged Combat Glider Pilot,” and was sent to England to begin training for the D-Day invasion.

Addy was assigned to carry a mortar unit from the 82^nd Airborne Division into Normandy. On the night of June 5, he ticked off the equipment the unit loaded into his glider. The weight limit was 4,800 pounds, but he ended up carrying over 9,000 pounds of explosives on his glider. The extra weight made for a challenging takeoff, with the tow plane and glider barely clearing the fence at the end of the runway. Addy remembered that the foremost concern was what would happen if the glider took fire with all that ammunition onboard – he imagined a fireworks show better than any seen on July 4th.

As they approached the Normandy coast, they began to take ground fire from the Germans. The first tow plane was hit and released its glider. After the second tow pilot released his glider, Addy saw what was coming and released his own glider. He aimed for two small fields connected by a small opening in a hedgerow. Without much space to navigate or stop, Addy knew “that if I arrived at the hedgerows, I would be there first and quite a few thousand pounds of mortar ammo right behind me.” Even though the wings hit trees going through the opening, the glider stayed intact and Addy was able to safely stop it.

Once on the ground Addy needed to find his way back to the beaches. Gilder pilots were scarce and often suffered a high casualty rate, so it was vital that surviving pilots make their way back to the beaches to be evacuated and trained for their next mission.

After two days of combat with the Airborne troops he delivered, he made his way to the beach. He boarded a ship carrying wounded soldiers back to England. Two hours before dinner he laid down for a short nap. When he awoke, he found that he had slept for 28 hours straight.

Addy participated in two more airborne invasions – Market Garden and the crossing of the Rhine. After V-E Day, he came back to the states to train for the invasion of Japan. The Japanese surrendered before the invasion became necessary. Addy remained in the military, retiring from the Air Force in 1971 after 31 years of active duty.