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The elimination of this German 88mm gun (there were two) by F Company, 506th PIR at the entry of Eindhoven cleared the way to the city. The barrel was pointed towards Kloosterdreef Straat and fired three shots point blank at Pvt. Robert W. Sherwood and S/Sgt. John H. Taylor the the 1st squad clearing their heads by only ten feet and damaging some houses in the process. The guns were hit directly with a rifle grenade by Pvt. Homer Smith…..
It’s a long way from the Civil War, when soldiers lived for months at a time on a mixture of beef, peas and rice and far improved from the U.S. Army rations delivered to the soldiers like your fathers and mine during WWII. The stereotype about terrible Army food no longer seems to apply as the U.S. military has turned its focus in recent years to improving the variety and quality of rations provided to soldiers on battlefields around the…..
My 101st Airborne father used to say, “We all have our cross to bear.” I was intrigued and puzzled by this statement, for in my child’s eyes, my father could do no wrong. And even though many years later, certain things came into play, he can still do no wrong. For those of you following my daily Comes A Soldier’s Whisper postings paying homage to our veterans and history, I rarely touch on the combat fatigue aspect, but when I…..
Three words seldom used together. True words as spoken by Carol Schultz Vento who in her book, The Hidden Legacy of World War II, A Daughter’s Journey of Discovery, weaves life with her paratrooper father into the larger narrative of World War II and the homecoming of the Greatest Generation. Her book describes the seldom told story of how the war trauma of World War II impacted one family. War changes a soldier. It changes the family too. I can…..
It’s December 1944 on the northern outskirts of Bastogne Belgium, near Longchamps, 20 year old Private Leopold Martin from Lewiston, Maine is hunkered down in a foxhole. For weeks, he fights hunger, pneumonia and frostbite as mush as his platoon is fighting the German shelling and siege. Food is scarce. He was able to scrounge scraps and potato peels from locals for his buddies because he speaks French. They refuse to surrender to the Germans, the weather gets better and…..
As paratroopers walked along the curving road into Son, Holland in September 1944, an 88mm gun positioned between them and the bridge. It opened fire with two quick rounds. The leading platoon circled behind the houses west of the road, and approached the German gun within fifty yards. Pvt. Thomas G. Lindsey fired one round with his bazooka, putting the gun out of action and killing one of the German crew members. The other six crew members tried to run…..
It is fifteen years now that you are gone my darling Father. This poem is for you Dad and all of those who served with you, past, and present. Looking for a trace of my father’s face so many men in uniform who served the 101st Airborne He must appear in one of them Photos, movie reels and the like For he was there in all the frey Carentan, Holland, The Bulge And D-Day We sons and daughters And grandchildren…..
My Great, Great Grandfather James Tharp also served as a soldier in the cavalry. His grave is amongst the many Tharp family members in Petersburg, Indiana. As I strolled through the cemetery, I couldn’t help but feel the strong pull and connection to my family members that I never met. My Grandpa Ibren Tharp passed away in 1943. My father was only 18 turning 19 later that year. If I had any doubts about who I am and where I…..
