I'm sure many of you have already read the ANNOUNCEMENT, at the top of each page/section, but it's sure good to be back HOME again, after a severe server crash! We've been gone for two weeks and it was terrible not being able to access ANY of my sites, especially this forum.
Just worked out a few more minor problems, but still can't access the emoticons. Working on it...
LOL... long time no see or talk everyone... yes, I mentioned the boys who gave support and got the beans, the bullets and the gasoline to the U.S. Army personnel on time, on target and kept it coming.
These boys have been forgotten in the greater picture of the ground war in the Mediterranean. I have since switched branches and now I hit for the United States Navy. I love the United States 3rd Infantry Division and the beloved U.S. 30th Infantry Regiment but, in 2013 my life and time took a turn to some forgotten men. Those brave men, walked the decks of the ships that brought the U.S. Army personnel to those hostile shores and cleared the waves on land and sea to make each and every landing a reality.
I've been away, hard at work bringing their story to light for the public. I went to work at Ships of The Sea Maritime Museum here in Savannah, Georgia and I wouldn't trade a moment of it. I LOVE my work, especially lighting up visitors faces when I research their family's relatives and bring their service to light for them in real time. I focus primarily on a ship named after my hometown of Savannah, U.S.S. Savannah, CL-42. A remarkable ship and crew, and its saddens me that I had to go back to the museum to remind me of this fact. However, its been a journey, better yet one heck of an adventure to bring her and her crews service to light.
I now run a page of Facebook to her and her crews honor. Just look up "U.S.S. Savannah, CL-42" I have TONS of documents, photos and family members of the ships crew on there.
I'm also in the process of finally pulling the trigger and writing a book on the U.S.S. Savannah, CL-42 to make sure her and her crew are not forgotten. It will cover EVERYTHING, her conception in 1933 via Senators Carl Vinson and Park Trammell, to the bombing of September 11th, 1943 at Salerno, to her escort duty for the Yalta Conference to her sad scrapping in January, 1966 at Bethlehem Steel.
I think we need a section dedicated here to them, to the United States Navy. For without them, victory, let alone the ground campaign wouldn't have become a reality.
WWII combat cinematographer Norman Hatch dies at 96
By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Maj. Norman T. Hatch, a Marine combat cinematographer during World War II whose harrowing footage became the basis of an Academy Award-winning documentary short, has died, his son said. He was 96.
Hatch died Saturday of natural causes at a nursing home in Alexandria, Virginia, the city where he lived for most of his life, said his son, N. Thomas Hatch Jr.
Hatch's footage of the 1943 Battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, now part of Micronesia, was unusually graphic, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to give special permission for the resulting documentary to be shown as a newsreel. The documentary, "With the Marines at Tarawa," won the Academy Award for best documentary short.
Hatch was so close to the action that he was able to capture Japanese soldiers and the Marines who shot them in the same frame.
"Two squads of Japanese came out — about 12 men," he told NPR in a 2010 interview. "They were mowed down. I had the machine gunner right in front of me."
His footage also shows Marines lying dead on a beach. He told NPR that he remembers the stench of the dead and the thick black smoke that forced him to change the shutter speed on his hand-cranked 16mm camera.
"I was told by guys on the front line that I didn't have to be there, and I would quietly tell them that I did," Hatch said in the interview. "The public had to know what we were doing, and this was the only way they would find out."
He was also with the Marines for their assault on Iwo Jima and contributed footage to another documentary, "To the Shores of Iwo Jima."
A Massachusetts native, Hatch joined the Marine Corps in 1939 after graduating from high school. He already had an interest in photography and further developed his skills while with the Marines before he was sent to the Pacific.
After the war, he worked as a civilian at the Pentagon, retiring as the senior audio-visual adviser to the Assistant Secretary of Defense. He later ran a production company. He collaborated with author Charles Jones on the book "War Shots," about his work in combat.
Survivors include his wife of 74 years and their son and daughter. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
I am searching for more information about my father, PFC Robert Sandor - Army Serial # 31326199. This is what his Honorable Discharge papers say (I received from funeral home):
Separation Center: Ft. Devens, Mass. Entry into Active Service: 1943 (he would have been 16 years old). Place of Entry into Service: Hartford, Ct. Date of Enlistment is blank meaning he was drafted? His Military Occupation Specialty and No Reads: "Sj. Traly Clerk C'65 - Military Qualification say "Combat Infantry Badge." Battles and Campaigns read: "Rhineland." With an: V pointing upward. I believe that means he was there at the beginning? Decorations Received: "Good Conduct Medal," "Victory Medal," "European African Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Ribbon." Date of Departure: July 41 - 25 July 43 - Destination: ETO. Date of Arrival: 30 Jul k3 10, Sep lj-5. He served 6 months and 18 days Continental Service and 1 Month, 10 days Foreign Service. Highest Grade: PF - 1 Sep U5 - USAC. Well, that's all I can read from those records. I am attaching them herewith. From what I could understand, I am thinking he served in the XX Army Corp, 65th Infantry Division, 1280th Army Corp. of Engineers (I know he was there because his best friend, Willis G. McLeod was there with him), Battalion - Company "C."
Then, I contacted the National Archives (NA) and they sent me this information: Two Final Payment Work Sheets -
The First Final Payment Work Sheet - Army Component - RA 817th Engr. Avn Bn, March ARB, Calif. Grade: (6th p.g. Pvt) Home Address: Sound Vie Ridge, Glenville, Conn. (same on Discharge Papers). Enlisted or Inducted at: N.Y. City, N.Y. 16 Nov. 46. Discharged on 5 March 1949 - Station March AFB, Calif. Arrived in US: 16 Nov. 1948. 3 years in service. Last Pay to include: 28 Feb. 1949 By H.C. Nichols, Capt. FD. Honorable Discharge by Reason of: AR 615-353 (CG-PETS) & Par. 3bDA Cir 335/48. The rest of the document talks about his deductions and pay.
The SECOND Final Payment - Work Sheet includes: Enlisted/Inducted at: Greenwich, Ct., Name of D.O. EA NY (and I cannot read the rest - it is in pencil). Discharged on Nov. 12, 1945. Station WDSC Ft. Devens. Arrived in US: Sept. 10, 1945. Previous Organizations: 1280th ENGINEER BN. Nov. 3, 1945. Then, the rest of the document talks about his pay.
In accessing the Archival Database ( AAD) on the National Archives (NA), I found this information: Name, Serial # and State match. Residence: County: Middlesex, Place of Enlistment: New York City, Date of Enlistment: 3/16/1946. PFC, No Branch, Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA, Term of Enlistment: Hawaiian Department. Civilian Occupation: Laboratory technician and Assistant (my father was a carpenter and so was his entire family - so, I think this is wrong). I found the Ft. Devens Book with his name and address in it.
My parents told me that my father was stationed in Linz at the Nibelungen Bridge. He called it their "Checkpoint Charlie" and he told me that he had to protect Austria from the Russians. I remember seeing the United States Forces Austria patch on his uniform. I also remember seeing his uniform decorated the Army Corp. of Engineers pins, patches, service medals, Here are some photos of him. I was told by the National Archives that all of my father's records were destroyed in the "Fire." I am trying to search Roll Calls to verify the documents I received from the N.A.
I just wrote a letter to the National Archives yesterday requesting information and records on the 1280th Engineer Combat Battalion 1945.
I need help in figuring out this information. I cannot seem to find information (Roll Call) for the 817th or the 1280th. Besides the Ft. Devens booklet, I believe my father fought in the Rhineland Campaign but can't find what Infantry he was in. I did find some information yesterday from a Len Drucker who was in the 1280th staying they were attached to the VI Corps. Combat Engineers and that is why I am now on this site.
I would appreciate any help/guidance that anyone can share with me. I thank you for your time. Sincerely, PFC Robert Sandor's daughter, Cynthia.
Please note: All photos are copyrighted and some are contained in a book I wrote about my mom when she was in the BDM. (PS: I found her personal journal 4 months before she passed away and wrote her biography entitled "Through Innocent Eyes - The Chosen Girls of the Hitler Youth." Many of my readers are now encouraging me to write a fictional story about my dad and also include a 'love story' in it where he met and married my mom, Gertrude Kerschner from Kleinzell, Austria).
Photo from March 17,1945 - Third Platoon of Company C. The picture was taken just before the building of the bridge across the Rhine River at Bad-Gadsberg. I do not have the names of all of the people but this is what I do have: Kneeling from left to right: Sgt. Charles Polite, New York; Tony Alves, New Jersey; Lawrence Weber, New York; Frank Linardi, New York; Manuel Pacheco, Mass; Laird Cogley, Penn.; John Marshall, New Jersey; Norbert Lukesewski; Richard Korte, MO; Lawrence Figueirede, New York, Frank Moore, New Jersey, Sam Blum, New Jersey, Francis McGonigle, Del.; PFC. Wellander, Iowa, Howard Weaver, New Jersey, Robert Whitmore, MO. Joseph Boyle, New Jersey, Neil Sharkey, New Jersey; Frank Schleicher, New Jersey; Casper Urbanek, Penn.; Ralph Ippolito, New York. Standing from the left: S/Sgt. Robert Kratzer, Ohio; Jacob Muth, New Jersey; Lt. William Abbotts, New Jersey; Frank Leonard, New Jersey; Michael DeEsposito, New Jersey; William Cuilson, Mo.; John Gazorian, New York; Charles Thomas, Iowa. My dad (Bill Rupp) is standing sixth from the right.
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