Description: From Normandy to Germany, newly minted paratrooper John McKenzie and his comrades of the 82d Airborne Division, the "All-Americans", participated in some of the hardest fighting of the war. Often employed as shock troops, the airborne was called on time and again to provide that extra push so vital to victory. Following the hedgerow battles in Normandy, the 82d jumped into Holland as part of Montgomery's ill-fated Operation Market Garden, immortalized by Cornelius Ryan as "a bridge to far". This lightning strike to the Rhine bogged down and the paratroopers spent months on the front lines. Finally relieved in November, the All Americans had barely caught their breath when they were called on to staunch the overwhelming Nazi attack that became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

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