Hello any Questions

[Nelespapa]

I finally flew to Italy and spent 9 days visiting sites where my Father traveled in WW2. I discovered the Italians really respect the American who liberated them. Every September in the Apennine Mountains, they have a Colonna della Liberta to remember when the Americans and the other Allied troops liberated this area. They have a column of restored WW2 vehicles drive along those winding roads. You can google YouTube and see a large selection of vehicles: jeeps, armored cars, half-tracks, heavy trucks, M-18 Hellcat, and many British vehicles.
No one does that in the US. Many Americans will never read about the mountain fighting north of Rome.

Mayor of a small town north of the Po River signing an American flag they sent to me---in honor of my Father's service.
View attachment 448937

Hi @DixieRifles,
what a great picture from Italy. The trip was definitely worth it. To see all this once where your father was, you can be very proud of him. It's a proud thing in Germany, you Americans hoist your flag and most of them can sing the national anthem and be proud of your country, rightly so.
And our former Chancellor Merkel throws down the German flag in front of the press. (I think that was in 2014?) And here maybe 20% of the population can halfway understand our anthem. What I'm saying you have a very different history approach @DixieRifles and a healthy sense of national pride. A grandfather of mine was in a Luftwaffe field division in the Feldgendarmerie. (MP) He died in the Battle of Falaise. (France)
Unfortunately, my other grandfather was a prisoner in a concentration camp in Buchenwald. He was released in 1944.
What unit of the US Army was your father in? Memory and tradition are important for all sides as they bring history back to life and make us remember it.
Greetings from Berlin!
André

 

[Nelespapa]

Yes, a lot of the supplies for the Army of Tennessee came from Atlanta and Columbus Georgia. You're doing a good job researching these things before spending your $$. I wish some of my guys here would do the same. Getting the right stuff and good quality the first go around will save you in the long run. You're doing good!

Thank you very much @captaindrew !
If you have any ideas what I could do better for my impression, I would be grateful for advice. Sometimes on videos of American Civil War reenactments, I see people with sunglasses, it's a bit strange. I think there are people like that everywhere and in every era.

Best Regards
André

 

[DixieRifles]

What unit of the US Army was your father in?

Thanks for sharing that info. Ive researched the Italian Campaign and there were two Luftwaffe Field Divisions in Italy. They were thrown into the fray after the Liberation of Rome and during the retreat to the Arno Line—June-August 1944. One division was pretty much wiped out.
I created a website — custermen— which I try to list a little info on each of the German Divisions that were in Italy; at least for the last 12 months.

My father was in the 328 Field Artillery (my avatar is his unit crest) of the 85th "Custer" Infantry Division. They fought in the last 12 months of the War— which became the Forgotten Front after the news focused on the combat in France & Germany. I created my website because this campaign is usually missing from history books.

 

[Yankeedave]

Hello and Welcome