Intro -- U.S. WWII Army formation - Homefront & Overseas

Greetings All,

About 6 years ago, I began writing a book on my parents' journey during WWII--Mother on the homefront and Dad in the Mediterranean working through six major campaigns. Basing it on the hundreds and hundreds of their letters from that period, I thought to be finished in 6 months or so. Then, I considered all the historical situations my father had been in, as well as all the photographs and documents he had saved, and the project grew. I hope to be finished in six months. (Proposed book cover is attached. This is a photo of my parents after they had been separated by the war for almost 3 years, and my father finally got a leave.)

While writing, I've taken a number of detours to WWII sites--first to research areas on my path and further to share what I have in terms of historical records. I know how important the material is to others with family and other research pursuits regarding WWII. To outline the book, I made 36 panels of photos and narratives concerning the whole period--from the WWII US Army formation at the "Great Louisiana Maneuvers" through the German surrender in Italy and have attached the PDF of that production. It is posted on a Scottish WWII website honoring the survivors of the SS Strathallan--a troop transport carrying 5,000 soldiers and a few hundred nurses to North Africa which was torpedoed off the coast of Algeria. After Dad survived that, he went through 6 major battle campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Dad had a very full war

http://www.thestrathallan.com/PDF/Journey_of_One_Indianapolis_Family.pdf.

I believe you'll find the panels interesting and hopefully helpful in your own studies. Any feedback on the panels is appreciated. Also, if your friends and family have traveled along this same journey, I'd be interested in any feedback they provided you of their time overseas or in U.S. training. I'll be posting more photos to the site later.

Best regards,
Heydon

 

Hello again Heydon.
Glad you joined here too.

 

Thanks, JW. Lou guided me to this one. Because of my father's divided time between Fifth Army and 15th Army Group, I feel a pull to both sites.

 

Welcome to the Forum, Heydon.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome!