Cherbourg Naval Base to relieve the 4th Infantry Division elements who had the German garrison pinned down in that seaport city. The 502nd returned to England shortly thereafter for refitting, earning a Presidential Unit Citation for the campaign. The summer of refitting was punctuated by several planned combat jumps to capture objectives in front of the advancing Allied ground forces, yet every jump was cancelled as the tanks got there first. Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was a British plan that would be the first major daylight jump attempted since the German invasion of Crete four years before. Set for 17 September 1944, the airborne troops were to seize roads, bridges and the key communication cities of Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, thus cutting the Netherlands in half and clearing a corridor for British armoured and motorized columns all the way to the German border. The 101st mission was to secure the of highway stretching from Eindhoven north to Veghel. Under the command of Colonel Michaelis, the unit was to land in the Netherlands on DZ C, seize the small highway bridge over the Dommel river north of St. Oedenrode and the railroad and road bridges over the Wilhelmina Canal at Best. The 502nd was also given the mission of guarding DZs B & C for the subsequent glider landings. Shortly after 13:15 on the afternoon of 17 September 1944, after an uneventful daylight drop, the men of the 502nd gathered up and headed for their objectives. 1st Battalion went north to capture the little town of Sint-Oedenrode. 2nd Battalion secured the glider LZ. 3rd Battalion sent patrols through the Zonsche forest, trying to move toward the town of Best and the bridge. German resistance was tough in the vicinity of Best, but the 3rd Battalion spearheaded by Captain Robert Jones' H Company fought their way to within of the bridge before the Germans blew it up. In fierce fighting around the bridge, Private first class Joe E. Mann, already hit twice, was killed when he threw himself on a German grenade to save the other soldiers in his foxhole. That same day, LTC Cole was shot and killed elsewhere in the Zonsche Forest. Cole died before formally receiving his Medal of Honor for the Carentan charge, while Private Mann would receive it posthumously. They were the only two members of the 101st to earn the nation's highest honor during