The monkey's fur is worn away. It's nearly a century old. A well-loved toy, it is barely 4 inches tall. It was packed away for long voyages, on an escape from Nazi Germany, to Sweden and America. And now, it's the key to a discovery that transformed my family.
The monkey belonged to my father, Gert Berliner, who as a boy in Berlin in the 1930s rode his bicycle around the city. Clipped to the handlebars was the toy monkey.
"I liked him," recalls my dad, who is now 94. "He was like a good luck piece."
Yes still researchin the 291st as most here are researching ..donatating their family histories..
have joined the BoB Assoc. An also in some of the Battle of the Bulge groups To have at least a starting point an have a time line of sorts An Have been in contact with various Historians over in Beligum
from All Yalls posts Its Amazing to see this History that each of the Soldiers Experienced & Survived or Not,, & Ms Marion to be there to help us along the way Thank you All..
Received my signed copy of the newly released book, Desperate Valour - Triumph at Anzio, from my friend and author, Flint Whitlock. Thank you so much and truly appreciated the mention in the acknowledgments section of the book.
...Slight boo-boo though, my dad is listed as being part of the 36th. Should have been 540th, however... it's the thought that counts. Could see how this happened. :-)
Hi, I’m Judy. I’m excited to meet you all! My dad, Jim, was a T/5 in the 1275th Combat Engineers Bn, Company A, 15th Army, and served in England, Germany, and the Philippines from December 1944 to January 1946. He passed away in 1982. While reading a book recently called “When Books Went To War”, my curiosity was piqued about my father’s wartime experience. He never spoke to me about “the war”, but I have letters he wrote while he was overseas that contain scattered details of his whereabouts and activities. I started surfing the web, trying to piece some things together when I discovered the VI Corps Combat Engineers WWII web page. I was happy to find others who were following a similar path. Even though he didn’t speak of his war experiences, my dad was very proud of the German Luger he brought home. As I was growing up, he would occasionally bring out the Luger and let me hold it. He showed me how to load it and clean it and he spoke of its power. I was scared to death of it but at the same time, I knew it was a special, almost sacred, moment that I was sharing with him. I’m just getting started on this journey so don’t know how far my curiosity will take me. I wish you all the best on your journeys.
