Battery A, 319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion

Battery A missions and wartime service

The following is a selected history grounded in named records. Battery assignments changed, and a soldier’s presence in the dated directory does not establish participation in every mission.

1942: becoming a glider artillery battery

The U.S. Army’s lineage volume records Battery A’s entry into active military service on March 25, 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and its redesignation as Battery A, 319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, on August 15, 1942. The battery’s lineage appears in a parenthetical passage in the later Battery D entry. Read the Army lineage, printed page 1312.

Italy, September 1943: Able Battery’s firing missions

The 319th landed at Maiori on September 11 to support the Rangers. Its Italy collection preserves Battery A’s firing sheets under Major James Wilcoxson’s report dated October 16, 1943. Read the campaign context and report collection.

An inspected sheet headed “ABLE Btry” records September missions against road junctions, enemy guns, truck convoys and infantry. Its September 12 entries include a locomotive and four cars or trucks, with no effect reported; a September 15 convoy entry reports one truck destroyed, while other entries record uncertain effects. These are contemporary assessments, not independently verified destruction totals. The sheet makes visible the battery’s mix of targeting, adjustment and observation work. Inspect Battery A’s original firing sheet.

Normandy, June–July 1944: command, movement and infantry support

The battalion arrived in Normandy during the June 6 glider operation. See the 319th collection’s Mission Elmira account for the wider landing story.

The battalion historical record states that Charles L. Sartain Jr. was placed in command of Battery A on June 7. It calls him captain, while the compiled June 6 roster lists him as first lieutenant; each description is retained with its source and date. On June 13, Battery A moved across the Douve at 4 p.m.

The July record places Battery A in a new position by midnight on July 1. On July 4 it began another move at 2:45 a.m. and was in position at 5:10 a.m., before the battalion supported the 508th Parachute Infantry’s 9 a.m. attack on Hill 95. The record names Lieutenant Carey among those killed that day and Lieutenant Gelb among the wounded. These details come from the battalion record, not from interpreting the roster alone. Read the June and July historical records.

The Netherlands, September 1944: Market Garden

The original battalion history records Battery A leaving its quarters for Barkston Heath airfield at 1 p.m. on September 15. After weather delays, the September 18 glider movement began at 11:55 a.m.; A Battery departed from Barkston Heath, while Headquarters and B Battery used different airfields. Explore the Holland records.

The following page reports the battalion’s landing at 2:45 p.m. and firing by 5 p.m., with observation and liaison established for the supported infantry. It separately identifies Battery A’s position at map reference 726588. The times describe the battalion; they do not establish the arrival time of every Battery A glider. Inspect history page 3.

Belgium, January 1945: moving the guns forward

The collection’s January 31 summary identifies A and B Batteries moving forward while Battery C remained in position to deliver fire. It then describes the battalion’s guns engaging the Siegfried Line defenses. This battery-specific movement belongs within the wider winter campaign; it is not a complete Battery A firing log. Read the Belgium history and document collection.

Battery A soldiers and personal stories

Alton Davis: assignment and a dated casualty record

Two inspected March 23, 1944, morning-report images list Davis and the transfer of a group of enlisted men from the 456th Parachute Field Artillery to Battery A. A separate report headed June 15 records Davis’s death in action on June 7. The reporting date and the event date are different. View Davis’s profile and original morning reports · Find his directory entry.

Charles L. Sartain Jr.: battery command and an oral history

Sartain appears in the dated list and in the Normandy command record discussed above. The 319Gliderman interview collection also links an interview with him, offering a later personal perspective alongside the wartime documentation. Find Sartain’s interview · Find his directory entry.

William M. Bonnamy and the family-history collection

William M. Bonnamy appears in the June 6 list as a private first class. His son’s 319Gliderman collection preserves photographs, documents and stories about the battalion, including Battery A. Visit the family-history collection · Find Bonnamy’s directory entry.

More Battery A voices

The interview index identifies Mahlon Sebring, John Girardin, Robert Dickson and Victor Buinowski with Battery A. These are links for further listening and research; the interviews have not been used here to assign unverified missions or awards to individuals.

Sources and family research

This page distinguishes the Army’s official lineage, inspected images of wartime firing and personnel reports, a hosted transcription of the Normandy history, a later Belgium summary and a compiled roster. The Holland history’s pages 1–3 were inspected; its transmittal is dated October 27, 1944. Original mission records and later recollections should be compared, rather than treated as interchangeable.

For a relative, start with name, service number, battery and dated family documents. Use morning reports to establish changes of assignment before attributing a campaign, wound, promotion or award. See the 319th family research guide for archives and next steps.

Photographs and scans remain with their source collections. Submit a documented correction or family contribution through WorthFighting’s contact page, identifying the soldier or passage and its supporting record.

Sources checked October 2, 2026. WorthFighting is an independent publisher; this is not an official military roster.

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