#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Edward J. Tipper Jr. - VAntage Point

In December 1941, during World War II, Tipper was riding on a bus with friends when someone flagged it down to inform the passengers that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. Two weeks later, Tipper attempted to join the Marine Corps and defend his country. He was turned away from the Corps because of an overbite. Undeterred, Tipper then enlisted in the Army and became a paratrooper for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (the “Screaming Eagles”). He believed that paratroopers were among the best, most highly disciplined soldiers in the Army.
“I didn’t mind getting killed so much,” Tipper said in an interview. “I was willing to be killed. I [just] didn’t want some goof-off guy to get me killed.”
After completing paratrooper training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia, Tipper was assigned to E Company (“Easy Company”), 2nd Battalion. Easy Company, comprised of 140 men, parachuted into France as part of the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.