Turner Brashears Turnbull III was born on October 30, 1921, in Durant, Bryan County, Oklahoma. He was the son of Walter Jonathan Turnbull and Lucile McCarty Turnbull. Turner attended Bacone Indian School and joined the Oklahoma National Guard in 1939, later entering active military service with the 45th Division. After graduating from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, he joined the elite 82nd Airborne Division, fighting in African, Sicilian, and Italian campaigns. During the invasion of Sicily, his plane crashed, and he suffered severe injuries, earning him a Purple Heart. Despite his injuries, he rejoined his unit for the D-Day invasion.

On June 6, 1944, he and the 2nd Battalion, 505th Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, parachuted near Sainte-Mère-Église, where they helped liberate the town. Tasked with defending the road to Utah Beach at Neuville-au-Plain, Turnbull and his platoon held off a full German regiment for about eight hours. Tragically, he was killed by artillery shrapnel while leading his men on June 7, 1944. 1Lt Turnbull is now buried in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France.

Source of information: www.database-memoire.eu