“Never Mrs.” was a shapely lass who adored the nose of Matt Williams’ “Liberator” four-engine bomber during the Second World War. Photo provided
1st Lt. Matt Williams of Englewood, Fla. flew his first combat mission piloting a B-24 “Liberator,” four-engine bomber over Nazi-occupied France during the D-Day Invasion, June 6, 1944, along the beaches of Normandy in World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
This was Pvt. Bill Price of Port Charlotte, Fla. about the time he graduated from boot camp at 20 in 1942. Photo provided by Bill Price
Bill Price, who lives in Oxford House, Port Charlotte, was driving a 2 1/2-ton Army truck onto the beach at Normandy, France, D-Day, 60 years ago in June. Read the rest of this entry »
Radioman 3rd Class Chris Genovese of Port Charlotte, Fla. is pictured in his early 20s after getting out of boot camp during World War II. Photo provided
By the time Radioman 3rd Class Chris Genovese and his destroyer, the USS Rodman, reached Okinawa during the closing months of World War II, the ship had taken part in the D-Day invasion, shot down a German JU-88 bomber, 15 Japanese kamikazes, sunk a German submarine during the invasion of Southern France, and escorted President Franklin Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference. Read the rest of this entry »
Herb May of Port Charlotte, Fla. (squatting second from left). They were in the 466 Bomb Group, 786th Squadron, 8th Air Force during World War II. Photo provided
A tail gunner in a B-24 bomber dubbed “Wild Princess,” Staff Sgt. Herb May was on the first daylight mission flown by the U.S. Air Force over Berlin in February 1944. He had plenty of company — there were 800 heavy bombers in the armada that day attacking the German capital. Read the rest of this entry »
Pfc. Phil Lockwood is shown in his dress uniform shortly after returning from battle at the end of World War II. This picture was taken at the insistence of his mother at a local photo studio. Photo provided
Phil Lockwood of Port Charlotte, Fla. was in the 175h Artillery Company attached to the 29th Infantry Division that stormed Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 spearheading the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Cadet Ted Weatherhead of Englewood stands on the wing of a Fairchild PT-19A, two-seat trainer at an airfield near Uvalde,Texas, 70 miles west of San Antonio, where he took preliminary flight training in 1943 during World War II. It was the home town of John Nance Garner, IV. FDR’s first vice president. Photo provided
Ted Weatherhead was a 21-year-old green 2nd lieutenant and co-pilot of a C-47, twin-engine, transport plane — a member of the 316th Troop Carrier Group, 44th Troop Carrier Wing, 9th Air Force — that dropped 19 fully-equipped 101st Airborne paratroopers behind enemy lines on D-Day hours before the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Julius Gervan is pictured in his Navy dress uniform. It was taken after the war when he was a chief. Photo provided
Chief Julius Gervan of Burnt Store Isles subdivision south of Punta Gorda, Fla. was in charge of the forward engine-room aboard the destroyer USS Thatcher II (DD-514) when a kamikaze pilot crashed his plane into the the ship’s super structure and burst into flames killing 14 sailors and wounding 56 more during the Battle for Okinawa near the closing days of World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Bob Frazier, left, and his buddy, Clyde Hale, are pictured near Pier 42 in Manhattan. This is before the two teenage recruits shipped overseas in early 1944. Photo provided
Despite the German U-boat packs prowling the Atlantic, Seaman 1/C Bob Frazier survived 10 round-trips in the USS Susan B. Anthony, an attack transport, without a scratch taking troops to Europe in World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Lt. j.g. Millie Edsall works with a Navy doctor at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Southampton, England to save the life of a young sailor who was seriously injured when a German land mine he was handling exploded. Photo provided
Millie Edsall was a registered nurse working in a doctor’s office in Joliet, Ill. when the Second World War erupted. At 20, in 1938, she graduated from St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in Joliet. Read the rest of this entry »
Art Nicholas of Englewood, Fla. holds the medallion he received over there for taking part in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day in which 175,000 Allied forces stormed the shores of France during World War II. Sun Photo by Don Moore
His dark blue ball cap with the orange patch and gold lettering read: “SCOUTS AND RAIDERS, 1942-1945, U.S. NAVY WW II, WE LEAD THE WAY.” It was what Art Nicholas of Englewood, Fla. wore when he, his wife and two grown daughters visited all five beaches in Normandy, France on the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion during the summer of 2009.
Doc Lawrence Schaeferle waa a small town doctor from Garwin, Iowa who joined the 16th Infantry Division. Aa a captain he patched up wounded soldiers on Omaha Beach during the height of the Normandy Invasion on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The doctor served the entire war in Europe. Photo provided by Chuck Blaine
The citation accompanying his Bronze Star Medal reads:
“LAWRENCE G. SCHAEFERLE, CAPTAIN, Medical Detachment, 32nd Field Artillery Battalion. For heroic achievement in connection with military operations against the enemy in the vicinity of St. Laurent-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, 6 June, 1944. Although subjected to heavy enemy fire, Capt. Schaeferle remained on exposed beach, administering first aid and assisting in evacuation of the seriously wounded. His heroic devotion to duty saved many lives. Entitled to wear six bronze battle participation stars on European Theatre Ribbon for campaigns in Sicily, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe. Awarded the Bronze Star Medal for combat service in France and Bronze Service Arrowhead for Normandy Invasion.”
This was Ed Kent of Manasota Beach, Fla. when he served in the 4th Infantry Division in Europe during World War II. Photo provided
Ed Kent was the gunner on an M-7, self-propelled 105 millimeter Howitzer, who landed June 6, 1944 at Utah Beach on D-Day in Normandy, France during World War II. The 20-year-old corporal survived 15 days before being seriously injured by shrapnel from incoming enemy fire, was sent back to England and eventually the States to recuperate.
Soldier boys: Pfc. Buck Fields of Port Charlotte (right) is pictured with his buddy Pfc. Charles Dalton They both grew up in Taylorstown, Pa., south of Pittsburgh, and went into World War II together. Click on any image to enlarge.
A small American flag hangs from the brick wall outside the front door of Buck Fields’ Port Charlotte home. It’s a manifestation of the former World War II infantryman’s love of the country he fought for so long ago.
He hit the beach at Normandy on D-Day plus two, June 8, 1944, with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Regiment, 2nd Division of Gen.Omar Bradley’s 1st Army. Fields was a member of a 10-man anti-tank gun squad. Read the rest of this entry »
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, talks to 101st Airborne Division paratroopers in England shortly before they jumped on D-Day during World War II. Pfc. Robert Granche of Port Charlotte, Fla. was one of the “Screaming Eagles” who was there that historic day. Photo provided
Pfc. Robert Granche was a “Screaming Eagle” He served in the 101st Airborne Division that parachuted behind enemy lines in the dark on D-Day morning, June 6, 1944.
