Army Command Sgt. Maj. Vern Daley, senior enlisted member of the 11th Airborne Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, participates in airborne operations in August 2023. (Ian Morales/11th Airborne Division)
As Command Sgt. Maj. Vern Daley prepared for a parachute jump over Alaska on Thursday with the 11th Airborne Division, he had one addition to his standard Army uniform and equipment — his grandfather’s World War II-era jump wings.
The small silver pin adorned with a combat star was awarded to Army 1st Lt. Lee Jackson Bowers for jumping into Normandy, France, during the D-Day invasion 80 years ago. Bowers was a demolition platoon leader in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, then part of the 101st Airborne Division.
A present-day battalion of that regiment falls under Daley’s leadership as the senior enlisted member of the division, which is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
“It’s a pretty special deal. It’s very emotional,” Daly said, preparing to jump and thinking of his grandfather. “[But] remember, there’s no crying in infantry.”
Army 1st Lt. Lee Jackson Bowers, grandfather of Command Sgt. Maj. Vern Daley, participated in D-Day airborne operations on June 6, 1944. (Courtesy of Command Sgt. Maj. Vern Daley)
Daley’s grandfather, who he called “Papa,” was a key figure in his life and one of the reasons that he chose to go to airborne school. Bowers was a “wiry, west Texas guy” who died while Daley was deployed to Iraq nearly 20 years ago. He served as a role model for Daley, as did Daley’s father Vern Daley Sr., an Army aviator.
Now in his final months with the division, Daley, 54, said this could be one of the last jumps that he makes in his 35-year career. To make that jump on the 80th anniversary of D-Day with his grandfather’s wings attached to his dog tags added a deeper meaning for him.
“It’s really just the chance to remember who my grandfather was and who those guys were. They’re not around anymore. They’re not here. They’re gone to history,” he said. “We can’t forget that, and I can’t let my soldiers forget that.”
The jump wings awarded to Lee Jackson Bowers, a first lieutenant, who participated in D-Day airborne operations on June 6, 1944. (Sgt. 1st Class Ian Morales/11th Airborne Division)
Thursday’s planned jump was not just a commemoration of D-Day — the June 6, 1944, invasion of 160,000 allied forces into northern France that included roughly 13,400 paratroopers jumping into combat — but also part of the 11th Airborne Division’s week of events to celebrate the second anniversary of its reactivation.
The division first activated in February 1943 and fought in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, the unit tested air assault tactics before being deactivated in 1965. The Army revitalized the division as the “Arctic Angels” on June 6, 2022, to master operations in extreme cold weather and mountainous terrain.
The Anchorage community surrounding the joint base was invited to come watch 290 paratroopers participate in Thursday’s activities, which included a role-playing enemy force and the seizure of an airfield.
“It’s to remind the public that, yes, we call the World War II generation the Greatest Generation, but I’ve got some damn good soldiers now,” Daley said.
