Star Lake veteran of D-Day dies at age 95

STAR LAKE, N.Y. (WWNY) - One of the dwindling number of World War II veterans in northern New York died Monday at Canton-Potsdam Hospital.

Robert J. Noody was 95. He would have turned 96 on April 30.

“Smokey” Noody was a decorated - and celebrated - member of “the greatest generation.” As a paratrooper with the 10st Airborne, he participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France which ultimately led to the U.S. and its allies recapturing Europe from Nazi Germany.

Noody was the subject of an iconic photograph taken on the night of June 5, 1944, the night before D-Day, as he and other paratroopers waited for their airplane to take off.

In 2014, Noody recalled for North Country Public Radio "I was really loaded down there, if you look at that picture, I had a bazooka and I had a leg bag.

"I had all of the equipment that everybody else had — I must have weighed 300 pounds! — And the parachute and the reserves in the front seat.

“You know, I don’t know why we even wore that, you know we jumped at about 400 feet, so if the other one didn’t open you weren’t going to have a standing chance at opening that one.”

Noody is survived by three daughters. For more on the life and times of Robert Noody, look here, here and here.

(Photo: from Flickr photostream of Brevort, licensed under Creative Commons, some rights reserved.)