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Episode #590 of Hometown Heroes, airing August 22-26, 2019, marks 75 years since Operation Dragoon, the highly successful Allied invasion of Southern France in August, 1944. We hear perspectives on the invasion from five men who were involved in the operation in different ways.

First we hear the memories of paratrooper Walter Fees, whose very first combat jump took place in Southern France with the 517th Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team. Click here to access the complete original interview with Mr. Fees, who passed away in 2016.

For infantrymen like Rex Raney, who landed in Southern France with the 45th Infantry Division, Operation Dragoon was a much smoother and more comfortable experience than his division’s prior engagements in Italy. You can link to his complete original interview here. Mr. Raney passed away in 2018.
Another voice you’ll hear from on this episode is that of Mel Pliner, a glider pilot with the 436th Troop Carrier Group. Pliner had survived a one-way glider mission during the Normandy invasion, and Southern France marked his second glider mission. We never would have heard about his Operation Dragoon experience in and around Le Muy, France, if he didn’t also survive glider flights during Operation Market Garden and Operation Varsity, when he was wounded by an enemy bullet but still brought his glider safely to the ground. Click here to listen to Mel Pliner’s original interview on Hometown Heroes. Mel passed away in 2017.

Finally, we hear from two men who participated in Operation Dragoon with the 36th Infantry Division. Pasqual Reyes served with the 142nd Regiment, and was captured toward the end of the Southern France campaign. He spent the next 7 months as a prisoner of war. Click here to pull up the complete original interview with Mr. Reyes. Al Tortolano was in the 141st Regiment, and was wounded twice during World War II. After landing in Southern France as part of Operation Dragoon, he continued north, eventually becoming part of one of the war’s most famous rescue operations. Tortolano and more than 200 others from the “Lost Battalion” were rescued by Japanese-American soldiers from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the Vosges Mountains in October, 1944.
In February, 2019, American Legion Post 419 in Santa Clara, CA was named in Al’s honor.
You can access the complete original 2011 interview with Al Tortolano here.