Two D-Day Heroes Stories Recounted at Isadora Memorial Day Gathering

Jeshua Blaine gave a history lesson on Den Brotheridge and Lt. Robert Mathias, two people who were among the first killed in the D-Day invasion on June 6th, 1944. He gave his talk at the annual Isadora Memorial Day gathering Monday.

Huey Rowen opened the gathering with prayer. Denise Rowen along with her children Abbi Rowen, Gabriella Rowen, and Alex Rowen led the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star Spangled Banner, and the Tribute to the Armed Forces.

Den Brotheridge is widely regarded as the first person killed in the D-Day invasion. He served in the UK and was widely respected by his men, as he would rather hang out with his men than with other officers. He had the ability to use any weapon and knew each of his men inside and out. He and 26 men were tasked with taking and holding Pegasus Bridge so that the Germans could not counterattack and drive the allies into the sea. Brotheridge had a wife back home who was eight months pregnant.

Brotheridge sent a single soldier to scout for the enemy, and he was detected and the Germans immediately threw up flares. Despite the danger, they charged and successfully took the bridge. Later, the unit discovered that Brotheridge was missing; it turned out that he had taken a bullet during the fighting and was dead.

Forty years later, as reported by the BBC, the daughter in question, Margaret, discovered what had happened to her father. Her mother had remarried when she was four and neither her mother nor her grandparents would talk about Lt. Brotheridge. In 1984, Margaret discovered a paper with a photo of her father’s group in it. With the help of surviving members of her father’s unit, Margaret was able to piece together what had happened to him.

One of the first Americans killed in the D-Day fighting was Lt. Robert Mathias. He was a boxer and won a national Golden Gloves championship. He headed the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division. He and his unit were tasked with landing behind enemy lines and wreaking as much havoc as possible to delay any German counterattacks. His plane took anti-aircraft fire and he was mortally wounded. But despite that, he realized that if he didn’t jump from the plane as planned, it would affect his unit’s morale. So he jumped, and his men followed after him. Thirty minutes after the landing, his men found him dead. He is buried in Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in Cumberland (MD). He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Blaine said that Jesus sacrificed himself in the same way on the cross. He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He did so despite the mockery from the fickle mobs, who just a few days earlier had regarded him as a king seeking to remove Roman rule. Blaine cited Romans 12:1, which commands people to present themselves as a living and acceptable sacrifice to God. “These men did not think more highly of themselves than others,” said Blaine. “We must continue to fight.”

Debbie Thummel closed the gathering with the playing of “Taps.”