382nd FIELD ARTILLERY, BATTERY A, ARTIFACTS
This is one of the most exciting parts of my WWII collection. On top is a photo taken of the men of the 382nd Field Artillery, Battery A, on Sept. 21st, 1944 at Camp Howze. My grandfather is the fifth man from the left, second row up.
The photo on the far left is the back side of a duplicate photo of the one above. It contains the handwritten signatures & addresses of the men in the photo. The wooden plaque with the hand painted image and motto, "ALWAYS ABLE" can be seen held by the men in the middle of the top photo. It is my suspicion that my grandfather was given this plaque after the war because his last name was Abel. The photo directly to the left is of a book that was written by 2nd Lt. Frank Mucci about the activities and stories of the men of the 382nd. It covers their time from boot camp until the end of the war. Click the book photo to read the contents. |
Six "POWER IN RESERVE" pins that my grandfather had displayed with his war medals.
One of my grandfather's first issued dog tags can be seen in this photo as well; notice his mother's name and address stamped on the tag. This information was later removed from all dog tags when the Germans started gathering them from prisoners and writing harassing letters to family members. |