The War.....
I've been meaning to comment on "The War" since it aired on PBS. I knew I would and seeing Ken Burns speak Tuesday night made me not let the opportunity slip away. I won't go into what a great series The War was, if you saw it you know, just what it meant to me. And that's a great amount.
Most of you know that my Dad died last November, one of a trilogy of tragedies in my life that occured last Fall that I'm still dealing with. My Dad fought in Italy and like most veterans of that age talked about it very, very little. Only in the last 5 or 6 years of his life did he reveal anything other than than he'd been in Italy, saw his best friend killed the first day there, later had his feet frozen and had been evacuated back to England for the duration of the war.
In going through records my Mom has had but had not shown me until my Dad's death, I've learned more. I knew that he'd been in the 45th Infantry Division but that was the extent of things. I've recently learned that he was a replacement in the division, sent to re-man the 179th Regiment after the horrendous losses they had sustained after they landed in Southern Italy. My Dad landed at Anzio.
Many people think of the ground war in Europe as starting with the "D-Day" invasion in France. "The War" did a brilliant job of portraying, in detail, that the war in Europe had started in violent fashion in Italy more than year before our forces landed at Normandy. Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighthing with the heaviest ground losses of the war. My Dad was with the 45th in their march up Italy, until two months after "D-Day" when they were sent to start a second front in France; they landed in Southern France near St. Tropez and started slogging towards Germany. My Dad didn't finish the march. After 8+ months in combat his feet were frozen in the French Alps.
What made "The War" very special for me occured in one 3 or 4 second clip in the 2nd episode. In this small slice of video a group of soldiers was shown standing around talking in Italy after the Anzio breakout. Nothing special about a group of grunts standing around talking except that one of them was the spitting image of my Dad. This was a fairly close shot, the soldiers being without helmets and one looked just like my Dad, young and handsome. Now, I know, the odds against this being my Dad are great...but wasn't it wonderful to believe it was and to get to see him all those years ago.
Most of you know that my Dad died last November, one of a trilogy of tragedies in my life that occured last Fall that I'm still dealing with. My Dad fought in Italy and like most veterans of that age talked about it very, very little. Only in the last 5 or 6 years of his life did he reveal anything other than than he'd been in Italy, saw his best friend killed the first day there, later had his feet frozen and had been evacuated back to England for the duration of the war.
In going through records my Mom has had but had not shown me until my Dad's death, I've learned more. I knew that he'd been in the 45th Infantry Division but that was the extent of things. I've recently learned that he was a replacement in the division, sent to re-man the 179th Regiment after the horrendous losses they had sustained after they landed in Southern Italy. My Dad landed at Anzio.
Many people think of the ground war in Europe as starting with the "D-Day" invasion in France. "The War" did a brilliant job of portraying, in detail, that the war in Europe had started in violent fashion in Italy more than year before our forces landed at Normandy. Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighthing with the heaviest ground losses of the war. My Dad was with the 45th in their march up Italy, until two months after "D-Day" when they were sent to start a second front in France; they landed in Southern France near St. Tropez and started slogging towards Germany. My Dad didn't finish the march. After 8+ months in combat his feet were frozen in the French Alps.
What made "The War" very special for me occured in one 3 or 4 second clip in the 2nd episode. In this small slice of video a group of soldiers was shown standing around talking in Italy after the Anzio breakout. Nothing special about a group of grunts standing around talking except that one of them was the spitting image of my Dad. This was a fairly close shot, the soldiers being without helmets and one looked just like my Dad, young and handsome. Now, I know, the odds against this being my Dad are great...but wasn't it wonderful to believe it was and to get to see him all those years ago.
