Camp Atterbury	Dad was an original member of the 83rd Division. After his induction 6 October 1942, he entered the service on 21 October 1942 at the New Cumberland PA reception center. From there he took a train to Camp Atterbury in Indiana for basic training with the reactivated 83rd Infantry Division which was under the command of Maj. General Frank W. Milburn. Basic Training or the Mobilization Training Program commenced 9 November when the division reached full strength and lasted until 9 February 1943. 83rd Color Guard, Camp Atterbury	New Cumberland Barracks
Camp Atterbury Chapel		New Cumberland Reception Center
83rd Recruits, Camp Atterbury		New Cumberland Communications

Shortly after basic training Dad was promoted from Private to Tech Sergeant with the 324th Field Artillery Battalion and put in charge of the maintenance on the hydraulic systems of B Battery's four 155mm howitzers. He participated in the 83rd's maneuvers in Tennessee from June-August 1943 until the division's assignment to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky for additional training. In December of 1943, Lt. Col. George W. Irvine assumed command of the 324 FA Bn; Major Norman R. Bottom became Battalion Executive Officer; and Major Owen A. Kirkland became S-3. Likewise, in December Brig. General Robert C. Macon assumed command of the Division when General Milburn was promoted to head the XXI Corps. Brig. Gen. Robert Montague remained the 83rd's Division Artillery Commander. In the same month, Dad qualified on the M1 .30 caliber Winchester carbine, the personal weapon assigned to artillerymen. Lighter by about four pounds than the M1 .30 caliber Garand rifle assigned to infantrymen, the Winchester lacked the Garand's accuracy and range. Because of the carbine's inadequacies in a fire fight, a number of World War II cannoneers added Garands discarded by the dead and wounded to their personal arsenals.	115mm Howitzer
	Camp Breckenridge
	Camp Breckenridge
	Officers of the 324th FA Bn

Camp Shanks Barracks	On 30 March 1944 Dad and the rest of the 324 FA Bn departed for Camp Shanks in Orangeburg, New York about twenty-five miles northwest of New York City where they received final equipment outfitting. One week later, battalion members removed their division sleeve patches for security reasons, had their helmets chalked with a letter and number to indicate which train and passenger car each was to ride in, marched a short distance to the New York Central West Shore depot in Orangeburg and boarded a southbound train for Weehawken, NJ where they were then ferried across the Hudson to New York City. At a Manhattan west side pier, the artillerymen boarded the H.M.S. Orion and left next morning for a ten day voyage to England. After disembarking in Liverpool, the 324 bivouaced in Flintshire, Wales for about two weeks and then moved to Camp Aston Park at Shropshire England to await further orders. During this time, the 324 participated in exercises preparatory for their movement to Normandy.	Weehawken Terminal
		West Side, Pier 88

News of the invasion on 6 June galvanized the battalion. On D-Day plus 11, the Division headed for the Channel Ports, and Dad and the other men of the 324 arrived at the marshalling area at Camp Winterborn, Dorchester the following morning after an overnight journey.	D-Day	Boarding vessels	Here the 324's batteries took on munitions and issued life preservers and anti-seasickness pills to their men. From Winterborn the battalion moved to Weymouth and boarded four LCTs and one LST on the evening of 18 June for the choppy ride across the Channel.
	An LST

Mulberry Floating Docks	Due to one of the worst storms in twenty years which destroyed the Mulberry floating docks, the battalion could not disembark at Omaha Beach until 20-21 June, and after landing spent the next few days in an apple orchard near Bricqueville cleaning salt water-soaked equipment to prevent corrosion. Assigned to VIII Corps under Maj. General Troy S. Middleton, the 83rd relieved the bloodied 101st Airborne on 27 June and the 324 went into firing position north of Carentan. At 21:14 that day B Battery had the honor of firing the first round against the enemy. On 1 July the 324 relocated to a position south of Carentan to support the upcoming attack against Sainteny scheduled for 4 July. On 2 July, the 83rd was transferred to the VII Corps under Maj. General Lawton Collins. The battalion suffered its first fatality the same day when an L-4 Piper Cub reconaissance plane crashed and burned killing S/Sgt Melvin Pokela.	Omaha Beach
L-4 Piper Cub		Map of Sainteny Attack
Sainteny Monument

At the appointed hour on 4 July, all the 83rd's artillery battalions gave the Germans a deadly taste of American fireworks. During the 324's continuing support of the attack, around noon on 9 July German artillery scored a direct hit in the area of B Battery which killed three men, Pvt. Richard Fuschillo, Pvt. James Staggs and Dad's best friend, Section Chief Andrew Giannotti, and seriously wounded Dad and cannoneer Milford "Mule" Powell. Corporal Joseph Harrington assisted in moving Dad into a litter-jeep and transported him to the unit aid station for emergency treatment to the severe schrapnel wound in his back. Medics then evacuated him to the division's 308th Medical Battalion hospital for evaluation and surgery. 308 Medical Bn

B Battery

Litter-Jeep

After surgery Dad was transferred to England for further medical assistance and rehabilitation. During his recuperation in England, he was visited by his brother, Joe, who was granted a leave from his duties as a medic in the ETO. Near the end of January 1945, he rejoined B Battery as a section chief. He was in charge of a 12-man gun crew, a 155mm howitzer and tractor, and was responsible for coordinating and directing his men in setting up, aiming , loading and firing the cannon based on radio-transmitted instructions. After Dad was wounded, Sgt Steve Conley replaced him as maintenance chief.

GIs and French children	GI shares his D-bar	While Dad recovered in England, the 324 and the rest of the 83rd Division helped to secure the Allied bridgehead and liberated a number of French towns. In these towns, it was a common sight to see American GIs sharing their chocolate D-bars with the French children, and medical personnel treating French civilians. After the breakout from the Normandy bocage, the battalion moved south to Avranches and then west into Brittany to support the 83rd's infantry units in the liberation of Saint Malo and Dinard during the first weeks of August. On 1 August, a few days before the liberation, the 83rd had been transferred with the rest of VIII Corps (the division had been reassigned from VII Corps to VIII Corps on 15 July) to the newly formed Third Army under Lt. General George S. Patton. The 83rd's hard-fought battle for Saint Malo and Dinard prompted Lee Miller, a photo-journalist assigned to the division and the only woman combat photographer to follow the Allied advance from Omaha Beach to VE Day, to write: "The 83rd Division had been on the secret list so long they thought they were forgotten. They had been in the line without rest for forty-three days, had fought terrible battles, and suffered hideous losses--and they were just called American troops."
Sgt. Luis Rivera (foreground) Aids French Civilians	Dinard
Lee Miller	Capture of St. Malo Citadel

After the fall of Saint Malo/Dinard, Third Army ordered the 83rd to move southeast to take up defensive positions on the north bank of the Loire River from Redon to Auxerre to protect Third Army's right flank. Shortly after the battalion arrived at its assigned position at Angers, however, the 324 received orders to countermarch to the Dinard area where its big guns were neeeded to help eliminate the German troops holed up on Isle de Cezembre. Working closely in a combined arms effort with fighter bombers, the battalion assisted in forcing the surrender of the garrison on 1 September. The 324 then retraced its steps southeast and moved to Chateaubriant northeast of Angers for a brief respite from combat until 20 September when the battalion relocated to Montargis for four days.

324th FA Bn Cannoners

Isle de Cezembre

In late September, the battalion and the rest of the 83rd received orders to march to the Duchy of Luxembourg and, after an arduous march of 324 miles, took up defensive positions across from the Siegfried Line to prevent the Germans from recrossing the Moselle River. B Battery redlegs had the honor of firing the first round onto German soil on 26 September, but German artillery would exact revenge on 21 October with a barrage that killed a Section Chief and three cannoneers, and wounded three other men from the hard-luck B Battery. In Luxembourg, the 324's artilllerymen once again showed their skill through their accurate long-range shelling of the railyard at Konz Karthaus and the communications center at Trier. Railyard Shelling

Huertgen Forest

On 4 December units of the 83rd departed Luxembourg to relieve the 4th Division which was engaged in the bloody Battle of the Huertgen Forest. The 324 bivouaced that night near Houffalize, Belgium until the following morning when it entered Germany to relieve the 4th Division's 20th Field Artillery Battalion. This battle, fought in the difficult, dark, dismal terrain of the Huertgen, was the bloodiest since the hedgerow fighting in Normandy. Although the 83rd entered the campaign late, its men experienced the nightmare and hell of that gruelling close quarters struggle. By 16 December, the 83rd had punched through the forest and continued to push the German forces across the Roer River for the next ten days.

German POWs in the Huertgen

While the 83rd had been pushing the Germans out of the Huertgen and across the Roer, other German units had launched their major counteroffensive to the south on 16 December. Striking a lightly held section of the American front, German Panzer and SS Divisions overwhelmed American positions and pushed the front back 65 miles creating a bulge in the lines. On 26 December the 83rd moved rapidly on a forced march of 75 miles from the outskirts of Duren in Northern Germany to drive the Germans out of Rochefort, Belgium. For three days the 324, 322, 323 and 908 artillery battalions battered the town, and forced the German Panzer Division to retire on New Year's Eve.

Bulge Map

St. Vith-Houffalize	The New Year brought no relief for the men of the 83rd. Although the "Screaming Eagles" of the 101st Airborne, the same division the 83rd had relieved upon its arrival in Normandy, had stubbornly held the vital road junctions at Bastogne, the Germans had taken the town of St. Vith, another important road junction to the northeast, on 22 December. The 83rd's artillery battalions on 3 January were attached to the 3rd Armored Division to support their offensive in the drive to cut the St. Vith-Houffalize road. After the 324 and its sister battalions unleashed a preliminary artillery barrage, 3rd Armored advanced, followed by the 83rd's infantry units. Against heavy resistance, the 83rd and 3rd Armored made steady progress and cut the all-important St. Vith-Houffalize road by 17 January. During this combined action, Sgt Steve Conley, the man who had replaced Dad as maintenance chief, was injured with three other B Battery artillerymen when their truck hit a mine near Joubieval, Belgium on 12 January.	83rd Attacks Houffalize
83rd in the Ardennes

With the German threat stymied, the 324 was relieved and moved to billets in Belgium. It was during this time that Dad returned to the battalion. The Huertgen and Bulge battles had taken their toll on the men of the 83rd. Besides battle casualties, the 83rd lost a significant number of men due to the severe winter weather and sorely needed replacements. As an original member of the 83rd who had seen combat, Dad must have been a welcome sight to the cannoneers of the 324. Upon his return Dad received a promotion to SSgt and became a section chief in B Battery. Shortly after his promotion, the battalion became "Task Force Irvine" and was attached to Ninth Army's 29th Infantry Division for Operation GRENADE. Dad had returned just in time to take part in one of the greatest artillery concentrations of the war.

83rd Replacements

With division insignia removed from uniforms and unit markings taken off vehicles, Dad and his fellow cannoneers departed to join the 29th Division on the evening of 6 February and entered Germany again at Durboslar about midnight on 8 February. Operation GRENADE, however, was delayed when German troops blew up the complex of dams that controlled the flow of the Roer River. Despite the still dangerously high waters, the offensive eventually commenced in the early morning hours of 23 February with a horrific artillery barrage of 45 minutes. The 324 and its sister artillery battalions joined with the guns of XIX Corps to send a wake-up call to the German positions across the Roer River. This devastating shelling decimated the German defenders and the 29th Division crossed the Roer with little opposition. By 26 February the Germans had moved out of the 324's range, and the battalion was released from its attachment to the 29th Division and placed in reserve under XIX Corps.

29th Crossing the Roer

Blown Bridge near Dusseldorf

With his fellow redlegs of the 324, Dad rejoined the 83rd on the eastern side of the Roer on 28 February for the division's push to the Rhine. Hot on the routed Germans' heels, the 83rd raced deeper into Germany. The 83rd was the first division to reach the lower Rhine and, at Luttenglehn, Germany A and B Battery of the 324 fired the first rounds across the Rhine on 2 March in support of the 83rd's advance to seize the railroad bridge at Neuss to secure a bridgehead across the Rhine. Although the division's infantry captured the eastern span, the Germans managed to destroy the western span. During this same period, Division Headquarters sent a group of German-speaking GI's supported by vehicles and tanks disguised to resemble German models to seize the bridge at Oberkassel. Although the task force was able to penetrate the German lines, German forces discovered the ruse and demolished the bridge's center span. Had either of these bridges been seized, the 83rd would have been the first Allied unit across the Rhine. That honor went to the 9th Armored Division when one of its platoons accomplished one of the war's most incredible feats in capturing the Hohenzollern railroad bridge near Remagen.

Remagen

The following day the battalion took up firing positions in the city of Neuss proper, and the 324's artillerymen used the homes vacated by the German citizenry as their temporary living quarters. From their firing positions in Neuss, the battalion's medium howitzers pummeled the railyard, factories, pillboxes, and command posts in Dusseldorf which was located on the east bank of the Rhine northeast of Neuss. In addition to their own guns, B Battery cannoneers used captured German multi-purpose 88mm guns in this barrage. After two weeks of heaving lead into the German positions, the battalion was relieved by the 360th Field Artillery Battalion, and with the rest of the division left the frontlines for a well-deserved, albeit brief, respite.

83rd Occupation of Neuss

Captured German 88s

Crossing the Rhine

On 27 March the battalion left its rest area to assist the division in its push from the Rhine to the Elbe River, and crossed the Rhine near Krefeld late on the evening of 29 March. Within a few days, Dad and his comrades would be involved in one of the wildest military pursuits ever. After the Allies had secured bridgeheads across the Rhine, German forces lost the safety of their fortifications and were forced to withdraw eastward. With the Germans on the ropes now, it was time for the knockout punch.

Rag Tag Circus

Dubbed "The Rag Tag Circus" by the press, the 83rd commmandered cars, trucks, tanks, motorcycles, wagons, bicycles, in short, anything with wheels, as it drove the Germans eastward. With his fellow cannoneers, Dad advanced the 324's howitzers in supporting the headlong drive toward the Elbe, at times moving ahead of the tanks and in one instance ahead of the division reconnaissance force. Despite the weather and the fatigue, the battalion pressed on with the knowledge that every mile gained brought the war in Europe closer to an end. From 31 March to 12 April the 83rd covered 280 miles, crossed five rivers and bagged 60,000 German prisoners, and became the first Allied outfit across the Elbe when the division's 329 and 331 infantry regiments established a bridgehead on 13 April. Dad and the 83rd's other artillerymen lent their able assistance in supporting this crossing by softening the German defenses on the eastern bank preparatory to the infantry's advance.

Drive to the Elbe

The supporting 295th Engineer Battalion and 992nd Bridge Company constructed two bridges (the Truman Bridge and the Roosevelt Bridge) across the Elbe, and the 324 crossed at Barby to the east side on 15 April. For the next few days German armor with strong infantry support, artillery, and aircraft desperately attempted to destroy the bridges, but to no avail. The division's artillery, parked hub to hub at the bridgehead, played an important role in thwarting this German counter-offensive. After the repulse of the German counter-offensive, the 83rd's artilllery with bomber support subjected the town of Zerbst, an important road center, to an intense shelling which resulted in the town's surrender. With the bridgehead secure, the 83rd and the attached "Hell on Wheels" 2nd Armored Division drove within fifty miles of Berlin before being ordered to stop. On 29 April Dad and the 324's cannoneers left Barby to assume occupation duties. Two days later the 83rd's commander, Maj. General Robert Macon made contact with Col. Alexei Ivanov, commander of the Russian Army's Sixth Guards Division, at Cobbelsdorf about thirty miles from Berlin. And one week later, mercifully, the war in Europe was over.	Truman Bridge
	Zerbst
	Gen Macon's VE Day Letter

Feeding displaced persons	For the next five weeks Dad and the other members of the 83rd took over the government, ousted Nazis from public offices, fed and housed displaced persons, confiscated documents, destroyed arms and ammunition, and guarded munitions and aircraft plants. The men of the 324 were based at Furstenstein near the Austrian/Czechoslovakian border until early June when the battalion relocated to Bavaria where it continued its occupation duties until the division went into training in the event it should be needed in the Pacific Theater. The surrender of the Japanese in August obviated this necessity, and within a couple of weeks, members of the 83rd with enough points began to leave for the States. Men earned points based on age, number of dependents, length of service, time spent overseas, and combat decorations with 85 points being the magic number.	Joe Harrington ready to celebrate V-E Day
B Battery HQs, Furstenstein

Fort Devens	In the fall of 1945 Dad finally had enough points to qualify for discharge, and reported to Pilzen, Czechoslovakia. From Pilzen he traveled by train to Belgium for embarkation to the States. On 20 November Dad and other 83rd Division soldiers, including battery-mate Joseph Harrington, the man who had transported him to the aid station the year before, boarded a vessel for a ten day journey home. After their arrival in New York, Dad and Joe reported to Camp Shanks. From there, Dad was sent to Indiantown Gap Military Reservation in Pennsylvania and Joe to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. On 5 December 1945, Dad received his formal discharge papers.	Indiantown Gap Military Reservation
Fort Devens HQ
Devens Chapel

Dad received the following decorations and citations: Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Victory Medal, American Theater Medal, EAME Theater Medal with three campaign stars (Normandy, Rhineland, Central Europe), and the Distinguished Unit Citation.