Steve Dedijer did not jump over Normandy with Maxwell Taylor. He told me he missed D-Day by several weeks, and the other bodyguards told him that he was replacing a bodyguard that had been killed during the Normandy invasion, a guy named Patrick.

Steve did carry a wounded Taylor out of a mortar attack later on. "The whole time I was running, Taylor was yelling, 'God damn it, wounded in the ass.'"

Still later, he was an eyewitness to the famous "Nuts" message that General McAuliffe wrote in response to the German unconditional surrender demand at Bastogne.

The most interesting man I ever had the pleasure to call a friend.

He sure does sound like a cool guy! I wish I could have such an interesting friend! You're lucky!