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About This Site

My personal Wartime history taken from my snapshot album after the Normandy D-Day initial beach assault, to the end of hostilities. Each one has a precious memory for me and it is my wish to share these few historical photgraphs with you. My Unit, the 56th Signal Battalion, was directed to participate in the June 6, 1944 DDay amphibious operation NEPTUNE at Omaha Beach, Normandy with the assigned mission of providing communications for V Corps of the First United States Army prior to, during and after the Normandy amphibious phase of the June 6, 1944 operations as well as during the following campaign on the continent. The organization was divided into several detachments in order to provide communications for the various echelons as desired by the Commanding General. Detachments were organized on or about 21 April 1944 at Norton Manor Camp, near Taunton, England, as directed by the Battalion Commander and in accordance with plans developed with the different staff sections of V Corps Headquarters of the United States First Army under the direction of Lt. General Omar N. Bradley.

The WWII Galleries are from my basic military training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, May 1941; time spent during the Build-UP reinforcing the allied forces in the UK in 1942-44; the initial D-Day Landings in Normandy, France in June 1944; to the first days of the liberation of Paris; the Battle of the Bulge and across the continent of Europe, to the last days of the European war and experiencing the actual sights of inhumanity, brutality and horror in the Concentration Camps, then on to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia in May 1945. A total of 1305 combat road miles in 335 consecutive days. The snapshot photos are far from the digital camera "photographic artworks" that appear on some of many internet galleries, but the photos are part of the precious recollections of the life of my War and the many experiences and memories that I manage to retain. A few of the photos depicted here may be from field sources other than my own, as due to the wartime scarcity of film and the restricted services of film processing under combat conditions, snapshots were copied, traded and exchanged between those of us that managed to possess our pocket cameras. I share these, my memories of times, places and the friends I knew, with anyone interested in my small, but proud contribution and obligation to our nation's national honor, interests and history. I have also included photos provided from the personal albums of my fellow comrades that were part of the 56th Signal Battalion in WWII who wish to share their wartime photographic memories with the world. I would humbly ask your discretion in using any of the photos without first seeking permission.