Edward Joseph Tipper Jr. (3 August 1921 – 1 February 2017)[1] was a paratrooper in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division, United States Army during World War II.
The family moved back to Ireland when Tipper was three years old, but they returned to the United States later.
[2]: 9–10 After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tipper signed up for the United States Marine Corps (USMC), but was rejected because his teeth could not bite together.
He was sent to Toccoa, Georgia, and was assigned to Easy Company for training under Captain Herbert Sobel.
Tipper made his first combat jump into Normandy on D-Day, where he met with fellow Easy Company member Frank Mellet and some other paratroopers and engaged in a firefight with a German patrol.
[2]: 114 Tipper fought in Carentan: after clearing a house, a mortar shell exploded near him when he was standing in the doorway.