1944 Soldiers

[mojjax]

I got a box of old topo maps the other day at a yard sale , and this old photo was in there .

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[mojjax]

I counted about 319 faces - the cool thing about it is - several dozen signed the back

[bama20a]

Sure like that pic-Ive got one of my Dad's like that.

[Monty]

Makes me wonder how many of them never made it back home. I was lucky. My dad went all the way from the beach head in France to the outskirts of Berlin and still made it back home. He was at normandy, The battle of the Ardannes, The Battle of the Bulge and was held up by Ike across the river from Berlin. They wanted the Russians to go in first and take revenge for all the killing the Germans did in Russia. Plus it probably saved several thousand lives of the American and British forces by letting the Russians take Berlin. There was a lot of brutality in this war that was never reported. I asked dad what they did with prisoners and he told me they didn't take prisoners because they didn't have anyone to watch them or enough food to feed them

[silversnacher]

You might want to see if the person still wanted those pics, if they didn't know they were with the maps. There may be family in those photos

[drbecker]

Love those old group photos I have one of that has my dad in it at Fort Knox in 1946 as he was finishing up basic. really love the ones that have guns in them just got one from Great lakes Naval training center that has the recruits holding Krag rifles. I think it is WWI era but not dated. Have one on a parade ground in Moscow ID from WWI where they are drilling with Moisen Nagant Rifles. Best one I had was the Marines from the USS California posing with their 03 Springfields but I sold that one.

[Mackaydon]

mojjax,
Can you make out the name of the barracks in New York (top right corner of first pic)?
Don........

[piegrande]

I apologize if this is considered off topic on this thread.

This last spring I got an e-mail from a woman who turned out to be an unknown first cousin. Her mother was my father's sister. She married a WWI vet, who probably had PTSD based on descriptions of his behavior. (One of his daughters told the first cousin she could not think of one good thing to say about him.)

The mother died in 1937, and this woman was a baby. So, my dad's brother found a couple to adopt her. She said those adoptive parents rented rooms to university students, and a young man used to come and talk to her a lot, and play with her. She did not understand for years that he was an older brother.

That brother died age 20 on Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands. March 15, 1944, during the final Japanese offense.

She sent a photo someone took of the beach and the funeral tent, with a thing that looked like a surf board, with his name and data on it. He was a Marine which surprised me, because in late 1943, the Marines turned things over to the Army guys. His nickname was "Baby" per the sign.

Recently, I hit a page which said the Third Defense Marine Battallion stayed, so he was clearly with the Third Defense Battallion.

They were told he died from a staph infection, but her bio sister told her she got a letter from a fellow soldier who was with him. They were running for cover when he was killed. The sister now says she cannot find that letter.

His body was most likely buried in the Bougainville cemetery, there are cemetery photos online. After the war, they were moved back home whenever possible.

Those old photos can be fascinating.

[GaRebel1861]

I really like those old military pictures. I've got a few as well. The oldest one that I have is from the Navy taken on the USS CLEVELAND May 5th 1923. Which shows a segregated crew.

[Sawyer]

My dad was one of those boys on the first wave at D-Day. He told of having to climb/step over American bodies to move up the beach. I have a picture of him at the end of the war standing guard over 165,000 German prisoners. I know a little about the horrors of war, but my stories are minute when compared to the Infantry grunts in WWII.