[The Dispatch] Not many in the area are aware that one of the most celebrated heroes from World War II was from Lexington, but hopefully that is about to change. Local historian and family member Steve Smith is looking into having a state historical marker or a local monument erected in honor of Lt. General Robert Sink, who was commanding officer of the first parachute division into Normandy on D-Day.
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He also commanded the U.S. Army 506th Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, liberated a German concentration camp and his unit was instrumental in the capture of Adolf Hitler’s mountaintop retreat named the "Eagles Nest" near the end of the war.
Smith was one of the main characters in the book and subsequent HBO series "Band of Brothers" produced by Tom Hanks. "Colonel Robert Stout" in the film A Bridge Too Far (1977), played by Elliott Gould, is based on Sink and he was also portrayed in the video game Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.
He received two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and was decorated by France, Belgium, the Netherlands and was awarded England’s Distinguished Service Order. Sink was also a senior United States Army officer who served during the Korean War and the early part of the Vietnam War.
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Sink was the commander of the Strategic Army Corps and the 18th Airborne in 1958. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1959 and took command of the U.S. Army in the Caribbean until he retired in 1961.
He was also the first person from Lexington to attend and graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, before his illustrious career in the military. After retirement, Sink returned to Lexington before he died in 1965.