Family and friends gather to give their final salutes to Ret. Lt. Col Robert Chisolm
FORT BLISS, Texas - He survived some of the most violent battles an American soldier could experience. Retired Lt. Col. Robert Chisolm jumped into Normandy on D-Day, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Market Garden.
Family, friends and fellow soldiers on Thursday said their final goodbyes and gave a heart-felt last salute to this national treasure at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. Hundreds were in attendance as Chisolm received full military honors.
He was a father, soldier, a hero who passed away on January 4 at 96.
As a private with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, Chisolm went up on C-47 and headed into enemy territory in Normandy. On June 6, 1944 the Allied forces in launched what has been considered the largest invasion in military history with over 156,000 servicemembers.
As Chisolm's plane approached the coast of Normandy, they came under enemy fire, scattering the men all over the countryside cutting them off from their units.
Chisolm recalled during a 2019 interview with ABC 7, "I dropped into a little field all by myself and I didn't see anyone from my company." He soon reunited with an American unit in Sainte Mere Eglise.
This being just one of the many battles he would see, later also fighting in Korea and Vietnam. During his 29-year Army career he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, one of the few soldiers in Army history to earn the Triple Combat Infantry Badge for having seen action in three separate wars.
