101st Airborne Division
Three eagles screaming through the smoke of a war that never forgets its paratroopers.
The 101st Airborne Division, known as the 'Screaming Eagles,' is a United States Army airborne division that serves as the player's unit in Medal of Honor (2010). The game's single-player campaign was developed by EA Los Angeles (Danger Close), while DICE handled the multiplayer component. In the game, the player assumes the role of a paratrooper assigned to the 101st, experiencing the chaos of the D-Day airborne drop into Normandy and the brutal winter fighting of the Battle of the Bulge.
As a real-world division, the 101st Airborne has a long history dating back to World War II, where it earned its reputation for elite airborne operations. In the Medal of Honor franchise, the division represents the player's identity, branch, and combat context throughout the campaign, grounding the gameplay in the perspective of a U.S. paratrooper rather than a ground infantryman.
Quick Facts
- Affiliation
- United States Army
- Type
- Airborne Division
- Nickname
- Screaming Eagles
- Role in franchise
- Player's unit (Medal of Honor, 2010)
- Conflict depicted
- World War II
- Key engagements shown
- Normandy landings; Battle of the Bulge
Lore & Background
The 101st Airborne Division carries one of the most storied names in American military history. Formed in the early 1940s, the division earned its 'Screaming Eagles' moniker and its distinctive three-eagle insignia during the crucible of World War II. Its paratroopers leapt into Normandy on the night of D-Day, scattered across a dark countryside, and later endured the frozen, snow-choked forests of the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. These two campaigns defined the division's mythos: the terror of the drop, the disorientation of landing away from the drop zone, and the grinding, close-quarters combat that followed.
In Medal of Honor (2010), Danger Close built an entire campaign around the 101st's perspective. The player is not a generic soldier but a paratrooper of this specific division, and the game's structure mirrors the historical arc: the chaotic airborne insertion into Normandy and the desperate winter defense in the Bulge. The division's identity is woven into the gameplay—parachute deployment, the feel of a C-47 transport, the disorientation of a night drop—rather than merely referenced in dialogue.
The 101st Airborne remains an active division in the U.S. Army today, and its WWII legacy continues to shape how the unit is perceived in popular culture. In the Medal of Honor franchise, the division serves as a bridge between historical memory and interactive experience, letting players inhabit the role of a Screaming Eagle in the moments that defined the unit's reputation.
Reader's Guide
The 101st Airborne Division is the player's unit in Medal of Honor (2010), developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. You play as a paratrooper assigned to the 101st, and the campaign follows the division's two defining WWII engagements: the D-Day airborne drop into Normandy and the subsequent Battle of the Bulge.
Your role is that of the player avatar, not a named protagonist. You are one paratrooper among many, and the game emphasizes the disorientation and chaos of an airborne insertion—landing scattered, re-forming under fire, and fighting through hedgerows and small villages. The division's identity shapes the gameplay: parachute deployment sequences, the C-47 transport, and the feel of a night drop are central set-pieces rather than cutscenes.
The signature moment for most players is the initial D-Day drop: the ramp opens, the wind hits, and you fall into a dark, unfamiliar landscape with no idea where your squad has landed. That disorientation, followed by the slow, desperate reassembly under enemy fire, is the image the 101st Airborne carries for fans of the franchise.
More in Characters & Units
Elsewhere in Medal of Honor
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