What a great evening. Was kind of tired today and just laying around watching TV all night when I received an email from someone new. I left off addresses and phone numbers for privacy:

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Marion

I am writing you to ask a special favor. I am the nephew of Anthony Nigro.

He was with the 48th and served with commanding officer Al Kincer during his tour of duty 1941/ 43 he also filled in as his driver when (rex) couldn't make it. My uncle last saw Commander Kincer and his wife many years ago when they came up to New York to attend my uncle tony's nephews wedding.He never talks about his time over there.but the other day i was jumping around on the computer and came across some information about his old outfit and Al Kincer. he kind of lumped up and couldn't stop talking about his old outfit and commander Kincer i am 73 years old and see him all the time and never heard him talk so much about his tour in the service. My uncle is not doing to well these day's and i was wondering if you could get in touch with his old company commander. or any of his old buddy's to drop him a line or maybe even call him his phone number is (left off for privacy). his address is above. My address is Salvatore Cataldo (left off for privacy)

anything anything that you can do to cheer him up will be more then appreciated. on top of all that he has gone thru he now has Parkinson and i love him to much not to try and make him smile again before he leaves us. Thank You and God Bless

Sal Cataldo 101st abn 506th reg.

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Well I wrote back and told Sal that I had already forwarded his email to Al and the gang. About a half hour later I received an email from Al telling me that he already contacted Tony and they had a great chat. Here is Al's email to me:

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Dear Sal:

Couldn't wait to call Tony. We had a great reunion, he sounds well & I would say his memory is good. I appreciate your interest in Tony & his Military unit. He was a great soldier, went through lots of tough cold & rainy times. He was with us through out the war, one of our first recruits in the fall of 42. He came home in 45. WE were in Berchtesgaden at the end of the war. He was in the first platoon & served as my driver when Rex Bass was in jail (hah) or sick. I will send you his certificate of "The WOW Memorial" as soon as you reply. I need Tony's home address if you will. I'll send him a roster & some things. Thanks again, as a kin of Tony's you are a member of the 48th Engineer Association. Best regards AL Kincer

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As you can see, you never know what will happen in the span of a day. We've had a little mini reunion tonight thanks to the ol' Internet. God bless Tony, Al and all the "boys"!

This was too powerful not to post

<http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=nul>

http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=...0wmv&ak=nul

Sgtleo

All ,

Next friday Anne and I will be flying to the States . First time in your neck of the woods . First time on American soil .

I'm really looking forward to it .

We'll be staying in NYC for a week and travel to Michigan to spent 4 more days at Don Burgett's place . While there we will attend the Salute to Veterans Weekend and I'm very thrilled to meet our webmaster and good friend Marion and her hubby . I'm also honored to meet forummember Doug Wilber .

I'll bring a commemoration medal to present to George Koskimaki . I'll be doing that on behalf of the city of Bastogne because of his writings , especially "Battered Bastards of Bastogne " .

I promise to report as soon I get back from this wonderfull trip ...

All the best

Reg

Five Stars to Victory - a complete text on the internet

http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature.pages/five.stars.htm

Complete Text of

"FIVE STARS TO VICTORY"

A book by A. Eaton Roberts

Published in 1949

Thanks James Hennessey!

I love getting letters like this. Sure made me smile and showed me once again how small the world truly is. I forwarded the letter to Ray a few minutes ago, and will be very interested to hear what he has to say. I also sent a letter to the family and informed them of my actions and how happy I was to hear from them.

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Me, my wife and two sons live in the small village of Bunde near Maastricht in The Netherlands. Aprox. 15 km east of our village is located the American Warcemetry in Margraten. About one monthe ago we have adopted the grave of 1 LT Guy A Ringbloom from Minneapolis/Minnesota. Registrationnumber O1293835. 387 INF 97 DIV. He was killed in action on the 9 April 45 in the German village of Allner.

We are wondering if he has still relatives. If yes, and if they want to know, we want to let them know someone has taken care of the grave of their relative. So far our search on the internet did not have any result. On google we found your website with the name Ringbloom. Perhaps our email to you leads us to the relatives of Guy Ringbloom.

Kind regards,

Family R. Meij-Bouwens

Vliegenstraat 46

6241 CH Bunde

The Netherlands

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The family found Guy's name on my buddy Ray Repasky's page. Here is the excerpt from his page that deals with the Ruhr Pocket, Germany, April 1945. I am also including the direct link:

TRIDENT'S PRONGS STAB DUSSELDORF

 

ALL three combat teams slashed ahead in near perfect coordination despite extremely difficult terrain and fanatical resistance in densely wooded areas. Col. Lansing’s 386th CT had a tough nut to crack when it moved into the town of Drabenderhoehe. Germans produced intense fire with 88s, 20mm guns, 40mm dual-purpose flak guns, small arms and automatic weapons.

 

From a defensive standpoint, the town was ideally situated. Perched atop the highest hill in the area, Drabenderhoele, communications center and roadnet hub, loomed as the greatest single threat to the 97th's advance. In order to prevent a wide gap from developing on 2nd Bn.'s flank, a single company was given the job of taking the town. The assignment fell to Co. C, commanded by Capt. Llewellyn R. Johnson.

 

Co. C attacked, but after a short, fierce battle was thrown back with heavy casualties. After the 365th Bn. laid. Down an artillery barrage, Capt. Johnson’s company again surged forward, this time with complete success.

 

The battle was brief, but it produced heroism unexcelled in other battles of the Ruhr. Capt. Johnson moved out in front of his troops and led an advance over 1500 yards of fire-swept terrain in the attack that took the town. He was awarded the Silver Star for this action.

T/Sgt. - Merlin C. Godsell, -Hales, Corner, WI, 386th, also played. An important part in the capture of Drabenderhoehe. - In the first attack, fire from enemy automatic weapons isolated approximately half a rifle platoon. The sergeant, acting leader of the platoon, regrouped and rallied his men, advanced in the face of heavy enemy fire, to knock out four enemy automatic weapons. Destruction of these weapons resulted in an unprotected enemy flank, which Capt. Johnson exploited to capture the town.

 

Although Col. Long’s 387th CT made rapid progress against strong points in the central sector of the- division front, the enemy offered stiff resistance in wooded areas. Each town, was a battle in itself. But the courage and determination of the men made them equal to the task.

 

One of the outstanding incidents of courage, loyalty and devotion displayed in the entire, campaign occurred in the small German town of Allner when Co. F, 387th, meet heavy enemy resistance as it moved in. During the fighting, 1st Lt. Guy A. Ringbloom, Minneapolis, Minn. saw one of his platoon fall, completely exposed to Enemy fire. Disregarding personal danger, the lieutenant made his way to the wounded man and attempted to move him to a place of safety. He was mortally wounded as he assisted the injured dough out of the line of fire...

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/RayRepasky.htm