VOLUME 1 ACT 3

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Added: Mon Dec 3rd 1:48pm
Posted in: Lifelong Learning

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i left off the previous blog with me arriving at Camp Shanks, NY.. Shorly after that, our division was loaded on the good ship General J.R. Brooks. After 14 days in a convoy and joining many sea sick buddies in rough north Atlantic seas, we landed in Marseille, France. Over the side of the ship, down a rope net, with full gear on our back and into a landing craft. Scared, you bet. Once on land, we dug in and began our tour of the Europian war. One our first destinations was the town of St. Die. We were successful in freeing the people of that town and to this day there is a monument in the middle of town commenorating the 103rd. Infantry Division. We then went on to many towns that are lost in my memory bank. The moving forward ceased around Christmas of 1944, that is when the Battle of the Bulge began. I survived, how I do not know, but my cousin Carl Carlson did not. He was a member of the 106th Inf. Division that was almost totaly wiped out after only being there for a few weeks. We were like brothers as kids and it hit me rather hard. We were on the right flank of the 3rd. Army(Pattens Men). In March of '44 we made our jump off on the attack. Months later when the war ended, we were in Innsbruck, Austria, not too far from where Hitler ended his dastardly life. I spent my 21st birthday in Rome, Italy. Got very drunk on good Italian wine and paid for it the next day. Several months later, we were shipped back to the States and given our discharges. I was 21, happy to be alive, and more happy to be going home to see my family and friends. That is the end of Act 3. The final Act will be coming when I summon up enough nerve to write it(My wife and Lynna are egging this old man on). Have a good day.
P.S. If the grammar or spelling bad, please excuse it.