Next to the monument.

A rectangular information board mounted on a metal stand highlighting the life and death of Private Andrew Babjak. The board includes his photograph, details of his military service, and an illustration of the Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft. The content is presented in both Slovak and English.

Source of photos: Pavol Hornak

ANDREJ BABJAK

(20. 1. 1924, Zbince 6. 6. 1944, Montessy)

Osudový zoskok za nepriateskou líniou

Andrej Babjak sa narodil 20. januára 1924 v obci Veké Zbince (dnes Zbince) ako starí z dvoch synov Andreja Babjaka a Márie Mitníkovej. V roku 1939, krátko pred napadnutím Poska nacistickým Nemeckom, mu boli v Prahe vydané cestovné doklady potrebné na cestu do USA, kde sa u skôr usadila niekoko rodín. Andrej dorazil do New Yorku na palube parníka Lancasteria 27. decembra 1939, a pokraoval alej v ceste do mesta Bridgeport v táte Connecticut. V roku 1943, ke bol odvedený do armády, pracoval v miestnej cukrárenskej firme Frisbie Pie Co. Narukoval o necelý rok neskôr a základný výcvik absolvoval v Camp Wheeler v táte Georgia. V nedalekom meste Macon neskôr získal aj americké obianstvo. Andrej bol zaradený k výsadkárom, konkrétne 508. výsadkovému peiemu pluku, ktorý sa u vtedy nachádzal na európske bojisko trý roky, na de presne potom, o priiel do USA. Domovom jeho pluku v Európe sa po alom intenzívnom výcviku v Severnom Írsku stalo anglické mesto Nottingham, kde sa pred blíiacou sa inváziou sústredili aj alie pluky 82. výsadkovej divízie. Andrej bol jedným z vye 13 tisíc amerických výsadkárov dvoch najznámejích amerických výsadkových divízií (101. a 82.), ktorých prísluníci boli vysadený v skorých ranných hodinách 6. júna 1944 za nepriateskou líniou poas misie Albany a Boston operácie Neptune, a to celé tyri hodiny pred tým, ne k vyýteným pláam Normandie dorazili prvý vyloovací ln. Andrej tragicky zahynul pri zoskoku june od mesteka Picauville. Utupil sa v oblasti povodia rieky Douve strategicky zaplavenej nemeckou armádou. Jeho ostatky boli pochované 15. júna 1944 na doasnom vojenskom cintoríne nealeko Blosville. V roku 1947 boli prevezené a trvalo pochované na vojenskom cintoríne Normandy American Cemetery nad pláou Omaha. Andrej Babjak je tak jediným známym prísluníkom niektorej z amerických výsadkových divízií, ktorý sa narodil na Slovensku, a padol priamo v De D.

Fateful jump behind the enemy lines

Andrew Babjak was born on January 20, 1924 in the village of Veké Zbince (today Zbince) as the elder of two sons of Andrew Babjak and Mary Mitnik. In 1939, shortly before the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, he was issued travel documents in Prague, necessary for his journey to the USA, where his family had already settled. Andrew arrived in New York aboard the steamship Lancastria on December 27, 1939, and continued on his way to Bridgeport, CT. In 1943, when he was drafted into the Army, he worked at a local company, the Frisbie Pie Co. He enlisted less than a year later and received his basic military training at Camp Wheeler, GA. He later earned his U.S. citizenship in the nearby town of Macon. Andrew was assigned to the paratroopers, specifically the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, with which he went to the European theatre four years, to the day after he arrived in the United States. His regiments home in Europe, after further intensive training in Northern Ireland, became the English city of Nottingham, where other regiments of the 82nd Airborne Division were concentrated before the impending invasion. Andrew was one of more than 13,000 American paratroopers of the two deployed U.S. Airborne Divisions (101st and 82nd) whose members were dropped behind enemy lines in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, during missions Albany and Boston of Operation Neptune, a full four hours before the first landing craft arrived at the designated Normandy beaches. Andrew tragically perished in a parachute jump south of the small town of Picauville. He drowned in an area of the Douve river basin strategically flooded by the German army. His remains were buried on June 15, 1944 in a temporary military cemetery near Blosville. In 1947, they were transported and permanently interred at the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach. Andrew Babjak is thus the only known member of a deployed American airborne division to have been born in Slovakia, and to have fallen on D-Day itself.