#29th infantry

[pattern-53-enfield]

Blue and Grey

via Willy Pete

[clancarruthers]

Truman Williams Carrithers

Lt. Colonel TRUMAN WILLIAMS Carrithers Fairbury, Illinois.

  Born July 28, 1882, Saunemin, Illinois.

Officer U. S. Army. Commissioned from U. S. M. A., West Point, June 7, 1903.

World War Service: Gatun, Canal Zone, June 1, 1917, Major of Infantry.

Transferred to General Staff Corps, Washington, D. C., April 15, 1918.

Promoted to Lieut. Col., August 7, 1918.

Died at Washington, D. C., October…

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[algonquinredux]

As We Remember John

As We Remember John

In any great age there are only a few great men.  I knew one of them.

John Whitehead died twenty days ago at home in New York.

When someone dies at the age of 92 it’s easier to celebrate his life than to grieve. But for me this last couple of weeks has proven to be reflective. I hadn’t seen him in over a year. I wasn’t one of his close confidants. I was a friend, kind of a touchstone friend, but…

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[greatestgeneration]

At H-Hour, 0630 in the morning the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions land the first waves of troops under heavy fire resulting in massive casualties. 

[arialene]

A Letter From My Grandfather

This is the full letter that my grandfather, Bob, wrote back to my great-grandmother during his time in WWII. My grandfather served as an engineer in the 29th Army Infantry division and served in such places as Normandy, Eastern Europe, and Reinland. I'm unsure if he was drafted or if he volunteered, and he passed away from cancer when I was 4. The letter below is written verbatim as I read it off of the page that he wrote it on in 1945.

                                                                                            6 May, 1945

  Dear Mom:

            By the time you receive this letter the war in Europe will probably be over. The turning point was the RoerRiver. After that, they never put up any determined resistance. It was about 100 miles from Normandy to the Elbe. We lost the race with the First Army to meet the Russians but we did get closer to Berlin.

            We have seen some very strange sights during the closing weeks of the War. We are having some cold wet weather right now but I guess its only for a few days.

            I am okay at the present.

            You were asking me about my trips overseas. There were several times that I was almost sick. We found that the best way to keep from being too sick was to lay on the floor. We came thru the North Atlantic an it was very rough the last few days of the trip. I dont believe it was quite as bad as those landing craft were. Just before the invasion we would practice landings. They would stop the L.S.T.S. which were pretty good size ships, about three miles out in the channel an we would go over the side and down into smaller craft which were called L.C.V.P. an those things were really rough. We would usually go over the side about Midnite or early morning an by the time we got to shore, we would be soaking wet an almost froze.

            I have plenty of unpleasant memories of this thing.

            We were fortunate tho, we always had plenty to eat an enough clothes.

            I haven’t anything from Bill for quite some time. I think I will write to him later on today.

            I dont need anything much right now. I would like to have some magazines, Esquire, Popular Science, an any other picture magazines.

            Well, I will try to write again soon.

              As Always,

            Bob