Lt Louis E. Raffety - 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division

First (1st) Lt Louis E. Raffety, 3 platoon commander in Charlie Company, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, was killed in action in the Netherlands on September 30, 1944.

1st Lt Louis E. Raffety was born May 12, 1921, in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas. Louis Raffety (whose name sometimes is misspelt as Rafferty) was the son of Lewis E. Raffety and Hazel Machen. His father had served in World War I as a private in Charlie Company, 2nd Engineer Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, seeing combat service in the trenches in France. He died in 1929 when Lt. Raffety was only 8 years old.

Lt. Raffety attended Pine Bluff High School and worked as a caretaker at the National Guard Armory. He was the husband of Alice “Peggie” Marie Campbell, who he married in Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas, on February 8, 1941. They had one daughter Pamela Gene (Raffety) Wachutka.

Louis E. Raffety enlisted, and joined the guard, on December 23, 1940. He received his basic training at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, and then saw service with his unit in Alaska. Upon returning to the United States, he entered into Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, on Feb 23, 1943, with the rank of Master Sergeant (normally, the rank in OCS was Staff Sergeant) until he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on May 26, 1943.

He was appointed as an instructor at the same school but in August of 1943 he transferred to the Paratroopers and attended Airborne School. After graduating from jump school, Lt. Raffety was sent to Rigging and Maintenance School. After completing that course, he was sent to Camp MacKall, North Carolina, for more, intensive overseas training. After that final round of stateside training, Lt. Raffety departed the United States and landed in Northern Ireland on February 1944, and then went on to England to prepare for the invasion of France.

He was one of the many paratroopers to land on French soil on D-Day, June 6, 1944, due to his assignment within the 101st Airborne Division. In Normandy, Lt. Raffety was involved in the heavy fighting and all other engagements his regiment participated in until they were returned to England for rest, re-fitting and further training for their next assignment.

On September 17, 1944, 1st Lt. Raffety made his second combat jump in the Netherlands as the 101st took part in Operation Market Garden. He was assigned as a 3 platoon commander in Charlie Company, 501st PIR. On that very day his platoon was ordered to support trapped airborne troopers in Heeswijk castle. They were however agressively opposed and came 800 yards short of the objective. The next day they were pulled back by headquaters.

Later on C company was being transferred tot he Schijndel, Eerde area when German counter attacks threatened the main attack and supply route (Hells Highway) for Operation Market Garden, which ran close to these villages.

His platoon was involved in heavy fighting and he was wounded on 22 september in the legs by shrapnel. Ever the resolved and dedicated soldier, he did not let these wounds debilitate him and he wason 25 september back in charge of his men.

Trying to set up an Observation Point on the left flank, he was killed in action by German machine gun fire on September 30, 1944, in the vicinity (West) of Eerde. 1st Lt. Raffety was at first buried in the temporary American Military Cemetery at Son and then later transferred to his permanent burial site at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten (at Plot A, Row 4, Grave 15).

Louis E Raffety