Walt Larimore - At First Light

Through my Father’s Eyes.

In this blog, you can follow my father’s heroics and exploits when, as a teenager, he entered and fought on the “Forgotten Southern Front” in Europe in World War II.
These blogs contain over 400 of his letters home and significant excerpts from my nearly 16 years of research that led to the publication of a multi-award-winning book, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse.

Each blog listed below represents what he and the men with whom he was fighting were doing 80 years ago on the exact day of the blog, starting with January 1, 1944 and ending at the war’s end on May 8, 1945 (although, if the blog is received well, I may do a couple of years of his unbelievable post-war activities as a war amputee fighting for amputee officers to be able to stay in the Army he loved, during 1945-1947).

A timeline for some major event in Dad’s life before the day of the first blog (January 1, 1944)
  • 1/4/25  Philip B. Larimore, Jr., was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Philip B. Larimore, Sr. and Ethel McClanahan Larimore
  • 5/30/30 Graduated from Miss Lee’s School of Childhood
  • 5/29/36 Promoted to the seventh grade
  • 02/06/37 Joined the Boy Scouts of America
  • 09/07/38 Entered Gulf Coast Military Academy in Gulfport, Mississippi, as a 13 year-old freshman
  • 05/17/42 Graduated from Gulf Coast Military Academy in Gulfport, Mississippi, While there he meets and falls in love with Marilyn Fountain from Des Moines, Iowa
  • 09/21/42 Entered Infantry Officers’ Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, Georgia
  • 12/17/42 Graduated as the youngest-ever graduate from OCS
  • 01/04/43 Phil’s 18th birthday
  • 01/20/43 Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant at age 18 years, 16 days, as the youngest commissioned Army officer in WWII
  • 01/22/43 Sworn into the Army
  • 01/25/43 Entry into Active Duty at Fort Wheeler, Georgia
  • 02/06/43 Phil’s mother accepted his Eagle Scout award in his absence
  • 02/15/43 Transferred to Glider Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
  • 02/15/43 – 07/01/43  Platoon Leader, Company C, 1st Battalion, 326th Glider Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
  • 03/01/43 Left for Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for Army Air Base, Alliance, Nebraska, serves as Train Quartermaster
  • 03/03/43 – 06/30/43  Infantry training at the Army Air Base, Alliance, Nebraska
  • 07/01/43 – 07/19/43  Battalion S-2, HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 326th Glider Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Alliance, Nebraska
  • 07/20/43 – 10/26/43  Battalion S-1, HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 326th Glider Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Alliance, Nebraska
  • 10/27/43 – 10/31/43  Platoon O, Company C, 326th Glider Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Alliance, Nebraska
  • 11/01/43 – 11/20/43  Parachute Demolition School at Fort Benning, Georgia
  • 11/25/43 – 12/04/43  Company C, 1st Battalion, 326th Glider Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, Alliance, Nebraska
  • 12/04/43 Took train back to Fort Bragg, North Carolina
  • 12/07/43 – 12/31/43. Awaiting assignment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
  • Here is a list of blogs:

January 1944

February 1944

March 1944

April 1944

May 1944

June 1944

JULY 1944

AUGUST 1944

SEPTEMBER 1944

OCTOBER 1944