November 6, 1943
81 years ago today, three soldiers who signed book 1, James Nolen, Lemuel Williams, and Paul Myers, who were with the 45th Division Artillery Headquarters, and T/Sgt. Paul C. Waddle, who signed book 4 and was with the 189th Field Artillery Band, were killed when their command post truck was struck by a German shell in Venafro, Italy. Williams, Myers and Waddle, along with three of their comrades, died that day. Nolen died of his wounds three days later. The field report for that day, pictured below, is unusual in its commentary about the sadness of the day.
The soldier who owned book 1 marked his fallen comrades with a star drawn with pencil. Please take a moment to think of these men, who made the ultimate sacrifice.
One Comment
verybutterye6f394cb13
Hello,
my name is Vito Eliseo, I was born and live in the area of the Salerno landing known as “Operation Avalanche”.
I met and am a good friend of Prof. David D’Andrea, together we are doing research on the territory to identify the places where the 45th division fought. In particular I am deepening the research on the bloody fighting of the 179th regiment that took place in the territory of Persano.
Finding your blog was a pleasant discovery and I would like to have the files of the vignettes to better discover the history of the Allied troops in the Italian Campaign.
A warm greeting