@soar2newhighs Tough job, my respect to him. Dad told me a lot of medics were killed, running from fox hole to fox hole helping the wounded during artillery barrages.
My great uncle served and died in WWII and is buried in Italy. My uncle served in Korea and is buried the veteran’s cemetery. My father’s best friend died in his arms in Vietnam and sleeps in Arlington. Two of my dearest friends were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan…their ashes came home. Many others live heavily in my heart.
@Pinkstarburst I think a lot of it is, undeserved guilt, about something they did, or didn't do right. Dad said he forgave himself for the things he had to do, which helped him live a normal life, but it didn't stop the nightmares. I have read extensively about his unit, the Germans called them "The Blue Devils" They were forced into hand to hand, and bayonet combat on multiple occasions.
Thank you for reminding everybody. One of my annual traditions for the day is to watch John Williams' "Hymn to the Fallen." Check out the Youtube version that begins with the USS Arizona Memorial. It shows U.S. military cemeteries all over the world, showing the number of men and women buried there.
The forgotten front, and some of the toughest fighting in the war. Cassino, Anzio, Rome!
Not only did they liberate Italy, but they forced the Germans to dedicate precious resources which might otherwise have been sent to France after D-Day.
I will remember him on Monday. Thank you for sharing.
@Fukfacewillie You know your history Human. Dad landed in Naples, went up to the front at near Anzio, then to Monte Cassino. His Regiment was the first to reach Rome on June 4th 1944, two days before we stormed the beaches. They then pushed the Germans north to the Arno area, where the Krauts dug in. Dad was wounded bad, on Mt. Battaglia 4 October. They had over 50% casualties. After 2 weeks in the hospital he went back to the front, Where they continued to push into Northern Italy. I sent some of his letters to the WWII museum in Florence after getting to know one of the curators.
My three maternal uncles fought in Vietnam, two of them as Infantry Officers in the US Army, the youngest of them only put in his four years as a Grunt and never went past Sargeant, while my Dad enlisted in the US Air Force and was assigned as a cook, because he was a very good one, despite him signing up for jet mechanics, he was always begging his Base Commander to send him over, but the C.O. refused on his personal grounds, he loved my Dad's catering skills. Meanwhile, my Dad's younger brother cowarded out, claiming consciencious objector, refusing to touch a weapon of any kind in basic, and was stationed as a Radar O'Reilley in Okinawa. I tried to enlist into the US Army myself in 1990 when I was 20, but a surgically reset double compound fracture of my lower left leg designated me medically 4F, after the Army Doc denied me, Saddam invaded Kuwait two weeks later.
