Warbird Information Exchange

Hey, John! 8th Inf. Div., 28th Inf. Reg.

Good info about them here: http://www.militaria.com/8th/WW2/28inf.html

According to my youngest brother, who has some of Gramp's letters, the most action he saw was actually in the Hurtgen Forest -- I just found out recently that my brother has those letters, so I plan on going & making copies of them!!!!

Thanks for the info! I hope you or your other family members also have his medals and his service records. Over the years much of this stuff gets dispersed to different family members, lost, or in the worst case...tossed in the trash.

About 10 years ago I helped my grandmother order her WWII records and receive a medal which she never received before being discharged. I displayed everything in a nice shadow box and gave it to her for her birthday. The only request I had was that she leave it to me when she passes away so that I can then display it with pride in my home. I'm afraid that if it went to any other family member it would end up stuffed in a box in the attic or on ebay.

The next of kin can order abbreviated records of their loved one's service from the following webiste:

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/milita ... cords.html

If they have his records they will give what units he served with as well as the types of awards he earned, rank held, etc. Unfortunately, many of the WWII Army records were destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Archives building in St. Louis. There is a chance they may not have anything on your grandfather but it's worth a try. I recently ordered my grandfather's naval records from WWII and was pleasantly surprised to find that they still had his records.

Thanks again for sharing your grandfather's diary!

John

Hey John, thanks for the tips.......The elder of my two brothers has all Gramp's framed medals (my Great-grandmother had them hanging in her parlour until the day she died! Gramp probably would've just stuffed them in box in the basement with the rest of his stuff!), the younger has all his weapons, and I got all his money. HAHAHA! No, seriously, my uncle and my two brothers were left all his military-related items. My mother has all his writings and personal correspondance (except for a few letters). I'm not quite sure how I ended up with the diary (most likely, I swiped it out of a box of stuff going to my Mom), but I'm glad that I have it.

Great read!
Wow..
Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Z

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Wow! Very cool stuff. Thanks for posting it. Some of it reads like it could be a movie.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Beachgirl:

Heartfelt thanks for sharing something so personal with us. I never fail to get something in my eye when I hear about the "greatest generation".

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Regards,

Jase
www.b26marauder.com
"I'm having a BLAST!!" 2007 CAF Wing Staff Conference

RIP Gary Austin..always in our hearts