Date of birth:

June 19th, 1919 (New York/New York County, New York, the United States of America)

Date of death:

September 20th, 1944 (Nijmegen/Gelderland province, the Netherlands)

Buried on:

Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial

Service number:

32344175

Nationality:

American

Private (PVT) Anthony Bei, nicknamed “Tony”, was born on June 19, 1919, in New York, the United States of America. He was the eldest son of John R. and Fannie P (Caltagirone) Bei and had two brothers, Alfred and Richard. His father passed away at some point. Sometime later mother Fannie married Emil Ballanti, who adopted the three boys as his stepsons. After grammar school Tony went two years to high school but he didn’t finish it. He went to work as photographer.

May 27, 1942, Tony enlisted in the US Army at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. When he was assigned to I Company, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504 PIR) of the 82nd Airborne Division “All American” remains unclear. The number and nature of his commendations and rewards suggest that he was already active in that unit during the Italy campaign. Tony possibly participated in Operation Shingle, the amphibious landing at Anzio in January 1944. His rewards indicate at combat experience before September 1944.

In April 1944, 504 PIR was shipped from Italy to England where the unit returned to the fold of the 82nd Airborne Division, that had left Italy already in the Fall of 1943. The regiment had suffered very high losses that couldn’t get replaced in time, and hence it wouldn’t participate in Operation Overlord, D-Day, in June 1944. The regiment had to stay in England and recuperate and train for the next operation.

On September 17th, 1944, Tony participated in the airborne operation over the Netherlands, Operation Market Garden. He jumped that day, with his unit, near Overasselt. 504 PIR’s objectives were to capture the bridges across the river Maas and the Maas-Waal canal. The 3rd Battalion, with Tony’s I Company, had to secure the western flank of the regiment, while the 2nd Battalion had to take the Maas-bridge near Grave and the 1st Battalion had to capture the bridges crossing the Maas-Waal canal. The regiment succeeded within 24 hours after the paradropping. In the afternoon of September 19, the 3rd Battalion became division-reserve of the 82nd Airborne Division. Tony, together with his co-paratroopers of the 3rd Battalion, marched via bridge number 7 (near Heumen), to the southern suburbs of Nijmegen. That night they camped in the Jonkerbosch woods. The same evening, the commanding officer (CO) of the 3rd Battalion, Major Julian Aaron Cook, received the order of General Gavin, CO of the 82nd Airborne Division, to cross the river Waal the next day by boat. The battalion had to capture the northern ramps of the two bridges crossing the Waal near Nijmegen.

Together with his fellow warriors of the 3rd Battalion, Tony marched, on the morning of September 20, to the south bank of the river Waal near the Nijmegen powerplant at the NYMA area. There they had to wait for the arrival of the canvas boats that had to be transported all the way from a Belgium depot to Nijmegen. Tony’s unit, the I Company, together with the battalion staff and H Company, would cross the Waal in the first wave.

On September 20, 1944, Tony allegedly was assigned to the same boat as PFC Raymond H. Grummer and PVTs Leonard G. Trimble, Dale E. Campbell and Jack M. Seitzinger. At 15.00 the assault kicked off with a preliminary bombardment and at 15.15 the men moved, while carrying their boats and gear, to the Waal and then started to row across the river. The boats were almost immediately spotted by the enemy and were heavily shot at with mortar fire, machine guns (MG) and antiair artillery (FLAK). At what point exactly Tony’s boat was hit by enemy fire remains unclear, but only Trimble was to survive their ordeal. The boat reportedly circled and drifted back to the south bank of the river, where the severely wounded Trimble was picked up and brought to the nearest first-aid station. Next to Tony, also Grummer, Campbell and Seitzinger were killed.

Private Anthony Bei was 25 years, when he got killed in action on the river Waal near Nijmegen on the afternoon of September 20, 1944. At first he was buried at the temporary graveyard in Molenhoek, south of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Later he was reburied at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, the Netherlands; in plot F, row 4, grave 6.

Do you have more information about this person? Inform us!

• Photo 1: findagrave.com by Hudson Louie
• Photo 2: Findagrave.com by Ralph P.
• - LUNTEREN, F. VAN, The Battle of the Bridges, Casemate, 2017.
  - STEENBERGER, D. e.a., De Oversteek, De Gelderlander, Nijmegen, 2013.
  - American Battle Monuments Commission
  - https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Anthony_Bei
  - https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/people_details.php?PeopleID=31560
  - https://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/504/504_trp_3.html#abei
  - https://www.oorlogsdodennijmegen.nl/persoon/bei/59912793-ebc8-44b5-8af7-1d22ee553a40
  - https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/90854/
  - https://sortedbyname.com/letter_b/bei/index_1.html
  - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56296664/anthony-bei
  

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