Actually, it ought to be possible to find out, if you are interested. If you can find out which unit he was in (are there any surviving family records?), it would be quite easy to find out the exact areas and times in which he served. There are such things as regimental histories and army archives, after all.
About all I (think that I) know is that he was in the 10th mountain division, he was drafted in '41 and he got promoted to Sgt because some kid Lt nearly got them killed in a rowboat accident and he saved 'em.... Oh, and he did something that he got a purple heart for that he didn't think he deserved.
My grandmother isn't "there" much anymore, or I'd ask her-- last time I asked about what he did, I ended up listening to her explain how very angry she got when she finally found out on accident that he'd gotten a purple heart.
I might try again some time-- thank you for sparking the idea!
I heard of the Tenth. The way I heard it, which is probably bullshit, it was actually partly modelled on the Alpini and some of the people who forged it were Italian mountain veterans from the First World War. It really does look likely that your grandfather may have served somewhere I knew.
Well, my grandmother claimed that the skiing part came about because someone pointed out to the guys in charge that a when you're trying to get around an area, it's generally a good idea to see what the locals do.
Looking around, apparently there's a good chunk of truth to the story: at least one of the instructors was a WWI vet, although he was Austrian, so there may have been other vets who were Alpini. There's LOTS of stories about the Alpini interacting with the 10th--some very sweet. http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/travel/escapes/10ski.html
Yeah, I found the website(mentioned below), but Grampa didn't join these kind of things-- too practical, I think; he loved his guys, not any organization-- and they don't seem to have any lists of the enlisted guys. Ah well. Bet my dad knows...he learns a lot by being quiet and listening.
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Your grandfather
Date: 2008-04-16 07:11 pm (UTC)Re: Your grandfather
Date: 2008-04-16 07:52 pm (UTC)My grandmother isn't "there" much anymore, or I'd ask her-- last time I asked about what he did, I ended up listening to her explain how very angry she got when she finally found out on accident that he'd gotten a purple heart.
I might try again some time-- thank you for sparking the idea!
Re: Your grandfather
Date: 2008-04-16 07:57 pm (UTC)Re: Your grandfather
Date: 2008-04-16 08:52 pm (UTC)Looking around, apparently there's a good chunk of truth to the story: at least one of the instructors was a WWI vet, although he was Austrian, so there may have been other vets who were Alpini. There's LOTS of stories about the Alpini interacting with the 10th--some very sweet.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/travel/escapes/10ski.html
Yeah, I found the website(mentioned below), but Grampa didn't join these kind of things-- too practical, I think; he loved his guys, not any organization-- and they don't seem to have any lists of the enlisted guys. Ah well. Bet my dad knows...he learns a lot by being quiet and listening.
Re: Your grandfather
Date: 2008-04-16 08:00 pm (UTC)I haven't looked yet, but from what I see, it seems that the Tenth might have arrived in Italy after fighting had moved north of Rome and L'Aquila.