blood and fire

I finally got the CD's I was waiting on...the compiled  history and troop movements of Dad's 253rd Infantry.  Complete order of command still confuses me (not necessarily in this order): H Company, 2nd Battalion, 253rd Infantry Regiment,  63rd Infantry Division. Vets of the campaigns/battles of the 253rd have contributed to the thin knowledge that managed to escape that fire in the Govt. archives.  It is spotty and some of the info comes in the form of copies of old mimeographed Morning Reports that were daily reports of the troops activites, some barely if not impossible to read. Being that they had to be recorded, I imagine a soldier, a few miles in back of the front lines, typing away, probably on an old Remington.

I went over a rough timeline I had pieced together with my Dad yesterday, to see what towns, villages, names of guys in his company, the officers he might remember.  It was only about 66 yrs. ago, (!) but I actually was able to jar his memory some.

He left the war behind him as soon as he was shipped home, not like some men who got involved in the organizations and reunions.  But some of these men have dedicated their time putting together as much material they could find and have actually become historians. Here is the main site I've been involved with. This is real history, with wars worth fighting. Not like today.