Memorial

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1st Lt Douglas L. Wilcombe attended college. He was employed at E. I. Dupont De Nemours & Company.

He enlisted on 6 December 1940 at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The circumstances of his death on the Island, the Netherlands, in late 1944 and the date his body was recovered are not fully clear at the moment. Carl Beck, a former paratrooper of H Company, 501st PIR has told to Mark Bando as well as during an interview for the Veterans History Project about the possible circumstances of 1st Lt Wilcombe’s death. This information can be found on the former website of Mark Bando.

On 22 October 1944, Operation Pegasus I was conducted, aimed at evacuating a large group of soldiers trapped in German-occupied territory who had been in hiding since the Battle of Arnhem. Some 139 men were assembled (most were soldiers of the British 1st Airborne Division, but there were also a U.S. 82nd Airborne Division trooper, a number of aircrew, some Dutch civilians, and some Russians wishing to join the Allies) who were taken across the Lower Rhine River near the village of Renkum. The operation and its preparations are well described in Ian Gardner’s book ‘Deliver Us From Darkness’.

According to Carl Beck, Lt Wilcombe had found a Dutch kayak (small canoe) and a paddle and on the night of the river crossing, he had assigned himself the mission of crossing parallel to the main force in his kayak, as an observer. The strong westerly river current caught his little boat and swept him uncontrollably away. He was heard yelling "Somebody please help me," according to Carl Beck.

At present, there are two dates mentioned when his body was recovered. According to one source, Lt Douglas Wilcombe’s body was discovered several weeks later, located on the riverbank several miles west of the crossing site where he had gone missing. That would fit with the official date on his gravesite, 19 November 1944.

Another source mentions having an official document from the Dutch military police which declares his body was found on 11 April 1945, on the riverbank of the river Lek. The Lek River is the continuation of the Lower Rhine River after the Kromme Rijn ("Crooked Rhine") branches off at the town of Wijk bij Duurstede. Apparently, Lt Wilcombe was then buried on 12 April 1945, at a local cemetery, after which the GRS recovered his remains on 14 March 1946, with an unknown destination at that time.

It is also interesting that Piet Pulles, who has researched the men of the 101st Airborne Division extensively, and whose research is published in a hardcover book with over 600 pages that has more than 25,000 names, alphabetically sorted into their respective units, mentions 23 October 1944, as Lt Wilcombe's date of death, which is the day after Operation Pegasus I had taken place.

The former webpage of Mark Bando also holds the text of an obituary, dated 12 October 1945, with the following text: “Mrs. Douglas Wilcombe, Jr., the former Evelyn Lott, was officially notified last week that her husband, First Lt. Douglas Wilcombe, Jr. had been reported as killed in action while serving overseas. She last heard from him on 17 Nov 1944 and it is presumed that he died around that time. Besides his wife, he is survived by a son; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Wilcombe, Sr. of Madisonville; one brother, Jimmie Wilcombe and two sisters.”