75th anniversary today
For my Father in Law's landing on Omaha beach. He was in the cavalry as a commander of a Greyhound Reconnaissance vehicle. I've told the story before about the closest he came to being shot and recovering a pistol off of the dead German soldier the next day. He was a Staff Sargeant.
Going through his military papers after he died, we found out that he had 3 bronze stars for the 3 major battles he was in. One of which was the Battle of the Bulge. He said the worst part of that battle was the extreme cold. He said they made a circle with the tanks and pointed the exhaust into the circle to try to warm up. He said there were quite a few that had co poisoning from that. I know he saw a lot of combat, but that was all he would say about it.
My father was in Italy. He said it was miserable. Rained every day and was nothing but mud. He came down with malaria and spent over a month in the hospital. After the war was over in Europe, He was sent home, and promoted to Staff Sergeant and mustered out the returning vets in various camps in the eastern US. Being sick was the only thing he talked about pertaining to his days in the Army, the rest I learned through reading the letters he sent home to his girlfriend (my Mother).
He died in 2013 at the age of 88. My Father in Law died in 1998 at the age of 80.
I just found out a couple of weeks ago that all of Dad's brothers and his Sister were in the service also. My Uncle Frank was on Tarawa and several other islands. My Uncle Nick was in the Navy as a forward torpedo man. His sub was depth charged as they were loading a torpedo. The torpedo fell on him and crushed his leg, ending his service. My Aunt Barbara was stationed at the VA Hospital in Cleveland, where she used her artistic skills to paint glass eyeballs to match the good one for those that lost an eye. Uncle Jake was in the Army and Uncle Pete was in the Navy, but I don't know anything about their service.
Going through his military papers after he died, we found out that he had 3 bronze stars for the 3 major battles he was in. One of which was the Battle of the Bulge. He said the worst part of that battle was the extreme cold. He said they made a circle with the tanks and pointed the exhaust into the circle to try to warm up. He said there were quite a few that had co poisoning from that. I know he saw a lot of combat, but that was all he would say about it.
My father was in Italy. He said it was miserable. Rained every day and was nothing but mud. He came down with malaria and spent over a month in the hospital. After the war was over in Europe, He was sent home, and promoted to Staff Sergeant and mustered out the returning vets in various camps in the eastern US. Being sick was the only thing he talked about pertaining to his days in the Army, the rest I learned through reading the letters he sent home to his girlfriend (my Mother).
He died in 2013 at the age of 88. My Father in Law died in 1998 at the age of 80.
I just found out a couple of weeks ago that all of Dad's brothers and his Sister were in the service also. My Uncle Frank was on Tarawa and several other islands. My Uncle Nick was in the Navy as a forward torpedo man. His sub was depth charged as they were loading a torpedo. The torpedo fell on him and crushed his leg, ending his service. My Aunt Barbara was stationed at the VA Hospital in Cleveland, where she used her artistic skills to paint glass eyeballs to match the good one for those that lost an eye. Uncle Jake was in the Army and Uncle Pete was in the Navy, but I don't know anything about their service.
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Yep a long time ago, and a tough time for those guys. My dad landed in Europe D-day + about 2 or 3 weeks. He has a book similar to a school yearbook, that tells where and when they went here, there, and yonder. I would have to get that book out to see exactly when they landed, and the book is in town in a safe deposit box. He was in a 155 battalion. 0 -
I just happened to fly through London on British Airways on 6-June.
They had the ceremonies on Tv's in the lounge and I was able to pick up several copies of the Times of London to save and give to my kids to save.
I also picked up a New York Times and the difference in coverage in print of the event was very sadly significant. What was pages and pages of interesting articles in the London paper, was but a single column on the front page and two pages inside.
I would have liked to gotten to see more of the coverage but was in the air most the day.
My Grandfather was to old to serve and Dad to young. so Grandfather loaded up and went to Baltimore shipyards as a master mechanic to do his part in the War effort, two of his brothers served, both in the Pacific, one in the air corps and the other Seabee.
My FIL Merlin John "Bud" Baler served with the 96th Deadeyes in the Pacific and received two Purple Hearts, one for getting shot up on the invasion of Leyte and then for getting shot up badly on operation Iceberg and invasion of Okinawa on a spot called Kakazu ridge. He also got a bronze star but because of his reluctance to go into specific details, we don't know for sure which invasion he was awarded it for.
The sacrifice of all who served will never be forgotten in our household.
Mule0
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