The author had given a copy of this book to my parents some years ago; I had paged through it on St. Joe visits, and was pleased to be able to take this from the St. Joe house when we siblings "divided out" things in April 2023.
It's autographed by the author! Vernon Hohenberger farmed near us in the Luverne/Livermore area though - since he wasn't Catholic - we didn't see him regularly - in fact, very seldom. I have a dim recall of a very pleasant human being.
The book is fascinating. Partly because I read so few, if any, first-person accounts of the war.
Hohenberger's path overlapped geographically with that of our uncle, Irvin Bormann - North Africa and Italy. But a bit earlier in time (and later). Unlike Irvin, Hohenberger survived Italy and ended up with duty elsewhere after the fall of Rome.
He belonged to the famous 34th Infantry Division - "Red Bull" - an incredibly long combat history - at page 100 he mentions 33 months overseas. Red Bull division is prominent in all the histories of the European theater in WWII.
p. 28 - vivid memories of getting into a theater to see "White Christmas" prior to getting shipped toward N. Africa.
p. 35 - artillery experiences, here in N. Africa - reminds of Irvin's artillery descriptions.
p. 45 - his description of N. Africa "Arab" scenes - again, reminds of Irvin's.
p. 47 - he mentions the soon-to-be-famous 100th Infantry - this is the successful battalion of mostly Japanese-American soldiers mostly from Hawaii - they come up later in his story - Michener covered this in his "Hawaii" novel.
p. 50 - landing at Salerno (Irvin at Naples). I believe this was autumn 1943, prior to Irvin's arrival.
p. 53 - Volturno River - just a terrible area. Lots of detail in ensuing pages about fighting around Rapido River, Cassino. Mentions Christmas 1953. Irvin killed in action February 1, 1944. Monte Cassino eventually bombed February 15, 1944.
Additional discussion of finally getting furloughed and a visit home; war wrapping up by the time his overdue leave was expiring - ended up with some duty with occupation troops.
Stories of getting back into civilian life - including a short time working at a store owned by Cliff and Mary Baker (yes, Uncle Daryl's parents).
This is a quick and excellent read.
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