75th Anniversary of D-Day

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of Normandy Invasion or D-Day. June 6, 1944, therefore, was the date that the United States officially entered France and began the efforts to battle the Nazis to an ultimate defeat.

I have spent the last few months going through reams of information, photographs, and the like in an attempt to sort out how I would continue this Blog. Several weeks ago I decided that waiting until the Anniversary of D-Day would be a good time to start my second push forward regarding the Blog and continuing to document Dad's involvement in WW2.

There is a bit of a "blank spot" in Dad's letters home after May 1944. Therefore I am not sure of his exact whereabouts between his last letter in May and when he reported for duty in France. So, I have had to search the records and attempt to connect some "dots" through military records as best as I could.

I know this: Dad left the United States for Europe by ship on August 11, 1944, and arrived in Europe on August 22, 1944. Based on records, I believe that he landed in England and essentially traced the same route that was taken by the Third Army from Scotland, England and into France. That route is depicted below.

Over the course of the next few posts, I will be posting about some of the activities and actions that were taking place leading up to D-Day, the initial movement of the Third Army into France and what took place between that time period and September 8, 1944 when Dad reported for duty and began his active engagement.