I bet I've seen this picture 1000 times but I never noticed.......

[1srelluc]

The 101st paratrooper with the 23 card has a Hawkins Grenade/mine strapped to his leg.....A member on another forum brought it up.

The wiki on the Hawkins Grenade even mentions it.

Hawkins grenade - Wikipedia

The "23" paratrooper.....Lt. Wallace Strobel....The pic was taken on his 22nd birthday....He passed in 1999.

Wallace Strobel - Wikipedia

 

[whitehall]

Why would a Brit explosive device strapped to the leg of an American seem strange in a British based D-Day photo? That was the mission of Glider Soldiers.

 

[odanny]

Strobel settled in Saginaw, Michigan after the war. In 2016, his M1911A1 pistol and a collection of captured German pistols were donated to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

I remember when that museum opened, the great author Stephen Ambrose was there to dedicate it, I think they have an exhibit, or a wing of the library, in his honor. Another place that has a great WWII collection is the U.S. Naval Academy museum.