World War II Blogs

On the afternoon of August 11th, the Chief of Staff and other personnel boarded the USS Henrico in the Bay of Naples. Here the Seventh Army […]

After two days of sailing, on August 10, Phil and Ross Calvert were sharing a smoke on their ship’s afterdeck when they noticed a speck in […]

Finally, on August 9, we pushed off, and looking out over the harbor, we saw Winston Churchill, riding around in a speedboat, smoking his cigar, and […]

Final loading of Phil’s 30th Infantry Regimental troops, along with the 3rd Infantry Division troops, was completed on 8 August, 1944.[1]

A final briefing of all commanders of battalions and higher units took place on August 7.[1]

VI Corps was moved from Lt. General Mark Clark’s Fifth Army to Lt General Alexander “Sandy” Patch’s Seventh Army, which was to lead the upcoming amphibious […]

Below is Phil’s second to last letter home before the coming D-Day attack on southern France. It was one of his longer ones. One wonders if […]

While the amphibious operation against the Riviera coast was to be their fifth major landing against a hostile shore by the 3rd Infantry Division, and the […]

The end of the tortuous trail was not yet in sight, but the beginning of the end was. Men of the 3rd Infantry Division, doubly heartened […]

I’m continuing a blog on most days until mid 2025 following my father’s exploits and adventures during WWII. Each blog will represent what he and the […]

Those who fought and suffered in Italy—that “tough old gut,” as Ernie Pyle called it—were left to extract from the bad time what redemption they could. […]

For the fifth time in World War II, the U.S. 30th Infantry and 3rd Infantry Division would be making an amphibious landing on a hostile shore. […]