A brief story about my Grandpa told by my Dad. Picture of Grandpa below.
If anyone else has a story about family WW2, please share.
Today is the 77th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Allied Troops on the Normandy coast of France on June 6, 1944. My dad landed at Omaha Beach around June 15, as part of Battery A, 531st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion (unit name read Battery A, 531st AAA (AW) Bn) and was attached to the 30th Infantry Division when they arrived in England on February 23rd 1944. From landing on Omaha Beach on June 15 they joined the 30th Inf Div on June 16 near Isigny, France, crossed the Vire River/Canal in one of the toughest river crossings the Infantry had during the European campaign, and went on fighting in the hedgerows through Northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. On Dec 18 they moved into the Malmedy and Stavelot area and fought the Battle of the Ardennes Forest (Battle of the Bulge) and fought through Central Germany ending up in Forschheim just north of Nuremburg in early July 1945.
Dad had a purple heart and I remember mom picking shrapnel out of his back when I was young even into the early 1960's. He also was awarded a bronze star with V cluster along with several other medals recognizing the theater of operations and significant battles he participated in. I have more detailed information that I received from the 30th ID museum concerning the exact history throughout Europe that I need to go through and develop a synopsis of. Dad went to a special school in Chicago to polish his German speaking skills and was a primary liaison with military intelligence including dressing in German infantry uniforms and pretending to be a POW to get information on troop movements, etc. from German POW's.
If anyone else has a story about family WW2, please share.
Today is the 77th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Allied Troops on the Normandy coast of France on June 6, 1944. My dad landed at Omaha Beach around June 15, as part of Battery A, 531st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion (unit name read Battery A, 531st AAA (AW) Bn) and was attached to the 30th Infantry Division when they arrived in England on February 23rd 1944. From landing on Omaha Beach on June 15 they joined the 30th Inf Div on June 16 near Isigny, France, crossed the Vire River/Canal in one of the toughest river crossings the Infantry had during the European campaign, and went on fighting in the hedgerows through Northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. On Dec 18 they moved into the Malmedy and Stavelot area and fought the Battle of the Ardennes Forest (Battle of the Bulge) and fought through Central Germany ending up in Forschheim just north of Nuremburg in early July 1945.
Dad had a purple heart and I remember mom picking shrapnel out of his back when I was young even into the early 1960's. He also was awarded a bronze star with V cluster along with several other medals recognizing the theater of operations and significant battles he participated in. I have more detailed information that I received from the 30th ID museum concerning the exact history throughout Europe that I need to go through and develop a synopsis of. Dad went to a special school in Chicago to polish his German speaking skills and was a primary liaison with military intelligence including dressing in German infantry uniforms and pretending to be a POW to get information on troop movements, etc. from German POW's.