SPEAKER
FOR
MEETING ON
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2026
Alan M. Shapiro
2nd Lieutenant
1st Allied Airborne, 316th Troop Carrier Squadron
From the age of 11, Alan Shapiro wanted to be a pilot in the US Army Air Corp. During WWII, he enlisted and was accepted for flight training. Graduating as a fighter pilot, he was awarded his wings and commissioned as a 2nd Lt. on August 4, 1944. The Air Corp also had him train, and awarded his wings, as an airborne glider pilot. He was shipped to England aboard the Queen Mary (along with 13,000 other GI’s) to await participation in an airborne operation which was ultimately cancelled, but which resulted in his piloting the C-47 aircraft used to drop paratroopers behind enemy lines, as well as supplying General Patton ammunition and fuel to allied tank units in Normandy and beyond. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge, flying-in a 75mm Howitzer and its crew but was unable to fly out because of the abdominally cold and icy weather. Once able to fly out, his unit returned to England and then participated in dropping the 17th Airborne Division into Germany. He and his unit were then transferred to and stationed in Abbeville, France, where they took over the airfield that had been the home of Hermann Goering’s Me-109 Squadron. He remained active in airborne operations from Abbeville until the European War ended.
He returned home to Philadelphia at the end of 1945 and resumed his college studies at Lehigh University. He married and raised 7 children and was the founder and president of an advertising agency until he retired in 2023 at 98.
On April 4, 2025 Alan was awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal from the Government of France. And on June 25, 2025 The government of Belgium awarded him the Order of Leopold.
Alan is an avid reader and history buff and still plays golf and enjoys flyfishing.
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