Donald King

Donald Lawrence Pappy King November 9 1921 August 11 2003 was an American Army noncommissioned officer and World War II veteran He served as a Staff Sergeant with Easy Company 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division King joined Easy Company as a replacement after the Normandy campaign shortly before Operation Market Garden He was assigned to the 3rd Platoon and served with the company through Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands and the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium He earned the nickname Pappy because he was older than many of the other replacement soldiers and was already a father when he joined the company King remained with Easy Company through the remainder of the European campaign and the companys advance into Germany He was among the Easy Company veterans who later shared their experiences for the HBO documentary We Stand Alone Together The Men of Easy Company which accompanied the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers His interview appears in the fourth episode Replacements where he discusses the original Toccoa men and the challenges faced by replacement soldiers King died on August 11 2003 at the age of 81 He was buried at Glendale Cemetery in Washington Illinois