United States Army

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Wynn's path to the paratroopers began in Norfolk, where he met Darrell "Shifty" Powers. After Pearl Harbor, both worked at the Navy Shipyard in Portsmouth before enlisting in the Army. They knew training would be brutal but vowed to finish it together; if either quit, they owed the other ten dollars. At Camp Toccoa, Wynn served as Captain Herbert Sobel's runner during training at Camp Mackall. In a notorious incident, Wynn was sent to locate platoons, got "lost," and slept through the night, claiming he could not see in the dark. He was replaced by Edward Tipper. Despite this, Wynn made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day. During the Brécourt Manor Assault, he was shot in the buttocks while attacking a gun position. Falling into a trench, he apologized to Lieutenant Richard Winters, saying, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I goofed. I goofed. I'm sorry." Winters later wrote that it was beautiful to see a soldier so dedicated he worried more about letting his buddies down than his own injury.

In Their Own Story

After being hit in Normandy, Carwood Lipton and Mike Ranney found Wynn on his way back to safety and applied sulfa to his wound. He was evacuated to Utah Beach and sent to a field hospital in England. There, doctors informed him that if he stayed out of action for ninety days, he would be reassigned to another unit. Determined to return, Wynn persuaded a sergeant to send him back to Aldbourne with light duty papers, rejoining Easy Company on September 1, 1944. When the company was alerted for Operation Market Garden, Wynn threw away his papers and fought through the Holland campaign. Later, during the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, he shared a foxhole with Shifty Powers. The danger returned in Haguenau when Wynn joined a patrol across the Moder River led by Sergeant Ken Mercier. Unable to swim, Wynn fell into the water and screamed loudly, prompting fellow soldier Clancy Lyall to remark that Wynn "must have woken up all the Germans." Wynn survived the plunge and fought with Easy Company until the war's end.

Reader's Guide

Robert "Popeye" Wynn Jr. was a veteran of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, specifically assigned to Easy Company. He was one of the original 140 men from Toccoa who trained under Captain Herbert Sobel. His service record includes the D-Day jump into Normandy, where he participated in the Brécourt Manor Assault and suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks. After recovering in England against medical orders to stay out of action for ninety days, he returned to the front in September 1944. Wynn fought through Operation Market Garden in Holland and the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, sharing a foxhole with Darrell "Shifty" Powers. His final combat engagement occurred during the fighting in Haguenau, where he fell into the Moder River while on patrol but survived to see the war end. Post-war, Wynn worked as a structural ironworker and lived in South Chester, Virginia.

Did You Know?

• Wynn made a bet with Darrell "Shifty" Powers that if either of them quit paratrooper training, they would have to pay the other ten dollars.
• During the Brécourt Manor Assault, Wynn apologized to Lieutenant Dick Winters for getting hit by enemy fire because he felt he had let his company down.
• Wynn was one of exactly 140 Toccoa men who served in Easy Company.
• In Haguenau, Wynn fell into the Moder River and screamed so loudly that fellow soldier Clancy Lyall joked he likely woke up all the Germans.