The Greatest Generation


Like many veterans of the War, my Daddy hardly ever talked about his experience in Europe fighting the Germans. The only things I remember him relating (he died in 1976) were that he was a machine gunner, his asst. gunner who fed the ammo belt into the gun while Daddy aimed and fired, was killed right beside him, that he fought all the way across Germany into Czeckoslovakia, and ended up in Austria at the end of the war. Daddy also met up with his two brothers who also were soldiers in Europe.

I've decided belatedly to research his exact route during the war, but in order to do that I need to know what unit he was in. Unfortunately, I don't know the whereabouts of his discharge papers. I contacted my Uncle Vird, who was one of the three soldier brothers, and he found an old newspaper article that gave me what I needed! Daddy served under General Patton, that ivory-gripped-pistol packing, riding crop wielding, megalomaniac, in the Third Army, 26th Infantry (Yankee) Division, 101st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, S Company.

Daddy spent a total of 16 months in Europe, with six months of duty as a light machine gunner and three monts as a telephone switchboard operator/maintainer. He was separated from the Army on 30 June 1946, at the Camp Atterbury, IN Separation Center, where 560,000 GIs were processed.

I have two major regrets after my three year Air Force assignment at Ramstein Air Base, Germany during the mid 80's. One regret is that I did not see the great cathedrals and monestaries of Europe, and the other regret is that I did not study and see the battlefields which my own father sweat and bled upon. Now, I commence on my exciting quest to trace the march my Daddy took during the 2nd World War.Posted by Hello

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