WWII · Battle Death Record
Robert Niland
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army · New York
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- Robert Niland
- Entered the Service From
- New York
- Rank
- Technical Sergeant
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Unit / Regiment
- 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division
- War
- WWII
- Date of Death
- June 6, 1944
- Awards
- Purple Heart
- Burial / Memorial
- Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, France
- Grave
- Plot F, Row 15, Grave 11
Their story
Technical Sergeant Robert J. Niland served with D Company, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. On June 6, 1944, he volunteered to stay behind and man a machine gun to cover his company's retreat from Neuville-au-Plain near Sainte-Mere-Eglise, and was killed in action. One of the four Niland brothers from Tonawanda, New York, whose story helped inspire the film Saving Private Ryan; he is buried at Normandy American Cemetery beside his brother Preston.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.