Introduction
Lewis Nixon III was born on 30 September 2018 in New York. He was a United States Army officer. During World War II, he served at the company, battalion, and regimental level with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Ron Livingston portrayed Nixon in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.
Lewis Nixon III’s early life and education
Lewis Nixon was born to Stanhope Wood Nixon and Doris Ryer Nixon on September 30, 1918, in New York City. He was the grandson of shipbuilders Lewis Nixon I (1861-1940) and Sally Wood Nixon (died 1937). At age seven, Lewis took third place in the model yacht regatta at Conservatory Lake in Central Park. He had a gold and bronze medal in the 35-inch (890 mm) boat class 12 on 22 May 1926. Nixon lived in New York City and Montecito, California. He traveled the world extensively, visiting Germany, France, and England. He graduated from Cate School in Carpinteria and attended Yale University for two years. Nixon was selected (inducted) into the United States Army on January 14, 1941, in Trenton, New Jersey.
Lewis Nixon III’s Military service
y After graduating from Army Officer Candidate School in 1941 as an infantry second lieutenant, he volunteered for the parachute- infantry, part of the US Army’s fledgling airborne forces. He was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR). The regiment was commanded by Colonel Robert Sink. The 506th was an independent regiment until June 1943, when it became part of the 101st Airborne Division Nixon went through the regimental unit training and pre-airborne training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and Airborne School at Fort Benning. In September 1943, they sent him with the 506th to Aldbourne, Wiltshire, England, in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy. They appointed Nixon as the 2nd battalion intelligence officer. He and the 506th parachuted into Normandy on June 6, 1944. On June 12, 1944, they promoted him to the position of the 506th S2 at the regimental level. He served in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. In the Netherlands, a bullet from a German MG 42 machine gun hit him. The bullet went through his helmet, grazed his forehead, and left a small bum mark. He developed a drinking problem, and eventually, his superiors removed him and reassigned him as the operations officer (S3) in the 2nd Battalion.
Nixon was one of the few men of the 101st Aaborne to jump with another division or regiment. On March 24, 1945, Major General Maxwell Taylor, the commanding general of the 101st assigned Nixon.
Lewis Nixon III’s personal life
On 20 December 1941, Nixon married Katharine Page of Phoenix, Arizona. They can’t live together. In 1956, Nixon married his third wife, Grace Umezawa. She had been a student in California in the spring of 1942. They have no children. Lewis Nixon died of complications from diabetes in Los Angeles, California, on January 11, 1995.
Last modified: October 12, 2024
