Posted on 06/05/2019 10:08:43 AM PDT by uscga77
These stories about the WW2 service of FReepers’ friends and family show why we gather here at such a patriotic site.
My late father was in the 45th ID, Thunderbirds, and he did 4 amphibious landings in Europe; Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and Southern France. When he retired to Beaufort, SC, [Parris Island] where there were many seasoned & active Marines, none of them exceeded his landing count, even those who served in the Pacific.
He did have a gripe about how much of the popular history here in the USofA seemed to think that Normandy marked the start of the 'ground game' in Europe. His started in Sicily, Operation Husky, 10 July 1943 and continued through the march up Italy. Indeed, today, June 5th is the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Rome, which was the goal of the bloody and nearly botched Anzio Landing [Operation Shingle] of 22 January 1944. That butcher's bill matched almost any other amphibious landings outside of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Peleliu.
Nailed it Freee-dame!
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