Monthly Family Update — May 2024
May 2, 2024
May 4, 1944 — Many men wrote their final letters home from Anzio
May 4, 2024I’m continuing a blog on most days for the next 18 months or so following my father’s exploits and adventures during WWII. Each blog will represent what he and the men with whom he was fighting were doing 80 years ago on the exact day of the blog. Here are last month’s blogs:
- April 1, 1944 – An intensive training schedule was underway, but for what?
- April 2, 1944 -Soldiers in the hell of a foxhole on the Anzio beachhead
- April 3, 1944 – Movies on the Anzio beachhead
- April 4, 1944 – Fresh bread at Anzio—Yanks ignore shells to keep bakery humming
- April 5, 1944 – Phil awarded his first medal of valor, the Silver Star
- April 6, 1944 – Memphian, Phil Larimore says life at Anzio far from ‘Beer And Skittles’
- April 7, 1944 – Good Friday on the Anzio beachhead while a war correspondent looked back on successes and failures
- April 8, 1944 – Troops back from the front line have that ‘look’ in their eyes
- April 9, 1944 – Easter on Anzio celebrated while hospital bombed yet again
- April 10, 1944 — Nazi Shells Coming Faster Than You Could Count Them
- April 11, 1944 — What It’s Like With The Yanks In Their Anzio Dugouts
- April 12, 1944 — Phil writes home after being ordered back to the front line
- April 13, 1944 — Allies on beachhead stronger than ever; new drive is near
- April 14, 1944 — Anzio—Where our men held. Generals may have erred, but doughboys didn’t
- April 15, 1944 — Mules to the Rescue on Anzio
- April 16, 1944 — Flat battleground at Anzio has driven entire U. S. Army into dugouts
- April 17, 1944 — Even the dead are not safe on the Anzio beachhead
- April 18, 1944 — Army finally comes thru with a practical front-line stove and candles
- April 19, 1944 — Adopted kids at Anzio
- April 20, 1944 — Enemy names given to the Germans on Anzio
- April 22, 1944 — At the Anzio beachhead preparations for a breakout took on a febrile intensity
- April 23, 1944 – Front line rifle companies at Anzio were seldom at full strength except by accident
- April 24, 1944 — A letter home to mom from Anzio
- April 25, 1944 – German intelligence increasingly confused and anxious about the coming Anzio breakout
- April 26, 1944 — Tank-led Americans gain a mile at Anzio
- April 27, 1944 — The lull before the coming massive breakout at Anzio
- April 28, 1944 — Planning for two massive campaigns at once
- April 29, 1944 — A disaster unfolds for Phil and his men
- April 30, 1944 — Final training for the upcoming breakout from Anzio beginsList of my January 2024 Blogs on “Where was Dad 80 years ago today?”
- List of my March 2024 Blogs on “Where was Dad 80 years ago today?”
- List of my February 2024 Blogs on “Where was Dad 80 years ago today?”
Could I ask a favor? Could you let friends and family who are WWII aficionados know about the blog? They can sign up for it at www.DrWalt.com.
You can read more about his heroics and exploits in At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse.
In case you haven’t read or listened to Dad’s book, you can learn more or order it here.
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