Walt Larimore

March 9, 2024

March 9, 1944 – Letters home from the Anzio beachhead

After a long-night’s work, from dusk to first light, on the Anzio beachhead, Dad and his A&P platoon would head back to Regimental Headquarters for breakfast […]
March 8, 2024

March 8, 1944 – Trenchfoot and the smell of death at Anzio

A doom like quality surrounded the Anzio beachhead, and misfortune seemed to loom everywhere for the Dogface Soldiers. One of the most common occupational hazards was […]
March 7, 2024

March 7, 1944 – Rest Camp on Anzio

80 years ago today, my Father got the good news that he and his men were heading for a few days of R&R at at a […]
March 7, 2024

“At First Light” just released in soft cover

What a nice birthday gift I’ve just received. I’ve just learned that my WWII book, At First Light, has been released by Knox Press in soft […]
March 6, 2024

March 6, 1944 – Farm houses and foxholes at Anzio

Throughout this period there were almost nightly actions around the scattered homes that once housed Italian farm families on Mussolini’s Anzio-Nettuno model Fascist farm community. Each […]
March 6, 2024

“Vaccine News You Can Use” for Family Physicians – Winter 2024

I’ve been honored to write a quarterly column, “Vaccine News You Can Use” for the Colorado Family Physician journal for a number of years. Below is […]
March 5, 2024

March 5, 1944 – The grim and deadly struggle for life on the beachhead of Anzio

From the beginning of March, the forward positions at Anzio beachhead were stabilized and remained practically unchanged until the breakthrough in May. Conditions at Anzio resembled […]
March 4, 2024

March 4, 1944 – Letters home from Anzio

On March 4, Phil wrote two letters home about his arrive at Anzio”
March 20, 2024

March 20, 1944 – On Anzio a beachhead order to the men to wear steel hats or pay fine

AP correspondent, Richard G. Massock, observed, “Germans are being killed on the Anzio beachhead by “some pretty grim looking characters.”[1]
March 20, 2024

A recording of my WWII presentation at the LSU Military Museum

This presentation, “At First Light: How a Teenager Became a WWII Hero” was delivered at the William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum in October 2023 as […]
March 19, 2024

March 19, 1944 – Not a single spot on Anzio Beachhead is safe from enemy gunfire

Journalist George Tucker wrote, “To appreciate Anzio it is necessary to remember that the beachhead is shaped like a fan, the handle of which is a […]
March 18, 2024

March 18, 1944 – To seize a beachhead like Anzio was one thing—to hold it indefinitely was another

The miserly affection with which the limited ground on the Anzio, Italy beachhead was coveted is shown by the fact that during March the 3rd Infantry […]
March 17, 2024

March 17, 1944 – Dad’s first medal of valor caused Mount Vesuvius to blow her top

Well, not really. But the two events occurred in close proximity to each other. Phil’s first medal of valor was the Silver Star the Army’s third […]
March 16, 2024

March 16, 1944 – Baptism by fire (Part 2)

“No soldier in any of our theaters of operations is better acquainted with this war than is the Infantryman, and no Infantryman knows war more intimately […]