S/Sgt. Michael N. Ingrisano Jr.
37th Troop Carrier Squadron
Michael was born on March 28, 1921 in Brooklyn, NY, youngest child of the late Michele and Stella Alfieri Ingrisano.
He enlisted on 3 September 1942 and got Army Serial Number 12129759. He received Basic Training in Miami FL. Then he received radio/mechanic training in Chicago IL. From there he moved to the newly formed 72nd Troop Carrier Squadron at Alliance, NE. his next step was Advanced Radio Training in Kansas City, after which he returned to the 72nd TCS. He departed the 72nd TCS for a move overseas.
He departed the USA in the summer of 1943, heading for North Africa where he joined the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron, one of the four squadrons of the 316th Troop Carrier Group. He remained active with the squadron in North Africa until they moved to Sicily in the first days of December 1943. Here preparations for D-day already started with formation flying, glider tow flights and instrument flights.
On 15 February 1944 the 37th left Borizzo, Sicily for England. Michael was on C-47 42-24392, further crewed by:
Capt. Floyd D. Miles (P)
2nd Lt. Robert T. Quinn (CP)
Capt. Joseph M. Rieger (N)
T/Sgt. Cletis C. Carmean (CC)
Maj. Leonard C. Fletcher (PAS)
S/Sgt. Abe Wanetik (PAS)
S/Sgt. Julius J. Ziankiewicz (PAS)
Sgt. Donald R. Walters (PAS)
On 18 February the squadron arrived at Cottesmore in England. This would be the home for the squadron, and for Mike, until the end of the war.
At Cottesmore, preparations for the big day continued with more training. This included the Exercise Eagle, where a mid-air collision between two 316th TCG aircraft caused the loss of the Group Commander, among others.
Around midnight June 5-6, 1944, the Troop Carrier aircraft departed from their fields in England. Sgt. Michael Ingrisano was the radio operator on C-47 43-15510. It was chalk number 50 in the 316th TCG formations and part of Serial 18 The aircraft had tail letter F and on the nose was the number 25. The aircraft carried paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The crew consisted of:
2nd Lt. William Prindible (P)
2nd Lt. John A. Harmonay (CP)
T/Sgt. Cletis C. Carmean (CC)
Michael stated: “When we arrived at our aircraft at approximately 2130 hours. We were met by public relations types (from our Intelligence Office) who handed us a copy of Eisenhower’s "Great Crusade" leaflet. I folded my copy, unread, and put it into my flight suit.”
Upon approaching the coast of France, Michael could see “a wall if light” which must have been caused by the anti-aircraft. The time Michael and his formation reached the coast was approximately 1½ hours after the first aircraft had crossed the coast. The German were awake by now. After dropping the paratroopers Michael helped the crew chief to pull the shroud lines into the plane.
After the mission the pilot estimated that they dropped their stick of paratroopers just outside the DZ, on the northwest side of it.
June 1944, Sgt. Ingrisano poses in the door of his C-47. The invasion stripes were applied a few days before D-day, and by the end of June, or early July, the top half was removed.
An undated photo showing S/Sgt. Michael Ingrisano (middle) at Cottesmore.
In a letter dated 7 June, 1944, he wrote this to my fiancée: "You have heard me say it often and over again but allow me to repeat—there is more power in prayer than I ever realized."
Like all other Troop Carrier flight member, the days after D-day turned into regular freight missions to France, which also turned in evacuation mission of wounded on the flight back to England.
In September 1944 Michael participated in Operation Market Garden. On 17 September he flew again on C-47 43-15510 with the crew:
1st Lt. William Prindible (P)
2nd Lt. John A. Harmonay (CP)
T/Sgt. Julius Ziankiewicz (CC)
Again, the 316th TCG carried members of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. This time to DZ-N near Groesbeek, Holland. They flew with chalk number 24 in the formation.
Little flak was encountered and the drop was made at approximately 13.15 hours. That evening Michael wrote to his fiancée:
"As tired as I am and as busy as I have been, I must write to you this evening. It has been a few days since I've written but I am sure a sort of reassurance will make you feel better. Right now all the past seems so far beyond. (I might as well be honest, I'll be damned if I can concentrate,) I want to keep on saying, 'I love you.' 'I love you.' and keep repeating it over and over again without saying anything else."
The following day, 18 September, Michael flew again on a glider tow mission to the Groesbeek area. T/Sgt. Cletis C. Carmean was flying as crew chief. They were flying chalk number 7 in the formation. The gliders carried men and equipment of 319th Glider Field Artillery Bn., 82nd Airborne Division. Flak was encountered along the route. Michael wrote later:
“Just prior to dropping our glider, I was seated in my RO position, which was behind a storage compartment where we kept our parachutes, and the co-pilot's position. Suddenly there was a rapid burst of fire which seemed to penetrate right over my head. I jumped up, went over to the vacant navigator's position, and looked out and down from the small window at that position at the Germans who were firing at us. I remember the one who seems to be hitting our craft. He was blond, (had no helmet on) had a big smile on his face, and every time that he squeezed the trigger of his Schmeisser, the bullets pierced our cabin. Except for the holes in our plane's skin, all of us were untouched, physically.”
In his September 20 letter to Bette, he wrote, "It has been days since I wrote to you. I don't know exactly how long because my mind has been slightly befuddled..Wish I could tell half of the things I am doing so that I can make something of my letters. I have been so 'geared up' lately that I can't even think straight. I should have a million and one things to say but I am so fidgety I can't sit long enough to write."
They had been towing glider 43-79148 piloted by 2nd Lt. David H. Hollyfield.
Cottesmore airfield on September 18, 1944. The flight line of the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron that would make up the first 20 aircraft of 316th Troop Carrier Group of the glider serial. About half of these gliders landed too far, and inside Germany. The C-47 on the left is the one of which S/Sgt. Ingrisano was the radio operator.
The same C-47 just prior to take-off with the glider.
On 23 September, Michael flew again with 43-15510 to Holand. This time towing a glider with men and equipment of 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. The glider was dropped on the intended LZ-O. again, the aircraft was hit by small arms fire.
“As we neared the LZ, we were hit by small arms fire. I jumped up and moved toward the cockpit. A shell came through on the right side of the plane. It sparked so that I instinctively moved my head to shield my face with my right hand, just as the missile passed by my hand and exited through the top of the fuselage.”
Luck had been with the crew, as a 20mm shell had penetrated the left wing gas tank without exploding.
The last flight to Holland was on 26 September. Michael and his crew flew to the Keent airstrip near Grave.
After the Holland operation, the 316th moved again to the freight line work. Occasional exercises were held as well. As we glider transportation from one field to another.
The last combat airborne operation flown by Mike was on 24 March 1945, Operation Varsity.
The squadron dropped paratroopers of the 9th Parachute Battalion and 3rd Parachute Squadron RE, 6th Airborne Division (British), This time Mike flew with another aircraft and crew. In chalk 114, C-47 43-48293 mike flew with:
1st Lt. Edward J. Mahony (P)
2nd Lt. Leroy L. Launders (CP)
T/Sgt. Camilo Altieri (CC)
They flew in Serial B-3 to DZ-A.
Michael was honorably discharged on September 3, 1945. He flew approximately 1500 combat hours in twenty-one months overseas.
Michael married his fiancée, Bettyjeane Hill, on 30 May 1945. She died of cancer on 9 July 1985. Later he married Nancy Day and they were together until Michael passed away on February 11, 2012.
Michael was awarded the Air Medal for the Normandy invasion, the First Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal for the Holland operation and the Second Oak Leaf Cluster for the Rhine mission.
Representing his comrades on the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Michael was named Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French Republic.
Michael authored two books related to his war time years:
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And nothing is said, Wartime Letters August 5,1943-April 21, 1945
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Valour Withour Arms – A history of the 316th Troop Carrier Group 1942-1945
Michael and Nancy were, among others, active to tell a more true full story about the Troop Carrier achievements on the D-day missions. Such was, and actually still is, as counter weight to the popular history in which the paratroopers side is highlighted, without checking the Troop Carrier part.
Note: C-47 43-15510, the one in which Mike flew the D-day and Holland missions, is still around. It is on static display at Hurlburt Air Force Base, Florida.
Left, me with Nancy and Michael Ingrisano during the Troop Carrier Community Reunion of 2009 at Indianapolis.
Middle: Michael's book about the 316th Troop Carrier Group. A must-have.
Right: A book with all the letters written by Michael to his fiancee.