LEGACY PAGE

PHOTOS AND TRIBUTES TO THOSE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO SERVED IN WORLD WAR II

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Photos and write-up  submitted by John Dwyer

Picture No 1. The mobilization of  the 112th Artillery, New Jersey National Guard. My Great Uncle,  Private Vincent T Higgins is first from the left. Notice as late as fall of 1941,  they all had 1917 revolvers,  pie plate helmets and long gas masks. He was a veteran of WWI, with service in France and served with the 112th Heavy Artillery as well.

Picture No 2.  My father Edward A Dwyer sighting in a Lewis Machine Gun. He was a second officer, later Captain, in the Merchant Marine.  When war was declared, his ship, the SS Celina was in the Indian Ocean completely unarmed. Putting in to Durban, the British armed the ship with two obsolete aircraft Lewis Machine Guns. Sailing alone, not in convoy, the ship was sunk in the Carribean by a German U-Boat in August of 1942.
My father would later sail transports to North africa for Operation Torch, supplies for the Invasion of Normandy, and prisoners from  Africa and Italy to the U.S.

Picture No 3. My father manning the 20MM Anti-Aircraft gun in a tub on the Liberty Ship "Cotton Mather". Where he served as First Officer

Photos and write-up submitted by Dave Egerton

Here are some pictures of my father, Master SGT George L Egerton, 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 2nd Armored Division.

Picture No 1.  Troop Transport. My father trained at Fort Hood Texas for Tank Destroyers. In December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, all training was cancelled and everyone was shipped to Europe. this picture was taken by a Coast Guard photographer who happened to be from New Jersey too. Note the M26 lifebelt and the beacon flashlight.

Picture No 2.  Sgt Egerton, taken after boot camp, before he was sent to TD school.  Notice the qualification badges.

Picture No 3.  Improper Military Dress.  Taken while on leave, I think before shipping out to Europe, as the trees are bare like in late fall. Anyone know what kind of car that is?

Picture No 4.  Dad in Jeep, I believe this was taken after the war, back in the States. Notice the First Army patch and the double-buckle boots.

Pictures 5 & 6.  These 2 photos appeared in the hometown newspaper. Note the Tank Destroyer patch in the dance photo. This is the only picture we have of him wearing the TD patch.

Picture No 7.  My father and Uncle home on leave.

Photos and write-up submitted by Tom Ciminello.

Here are a few photos of my father, Dominick Ciminello, who served as a Seaman 1st Class in the 35th Naval Construction Battalion  (Seabees) on the island of Luzon, Phillippines from 1944 to 1946.

Two of the photos show him clowning around with his friend  "Bill from Arizona"., Where else but in the service can an inner-city kid from Hunts Point, New York and a cowboy from out west meet on and Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and wind up as buddies.

  Another shows a mixed group of Marines and Navy men posing around a Japanese casualty.

1 shot is of another Japanese soldier who met his end while trying to  get inside the Seabees basecamp by way of a drainage culvert.

The last photo on the bottom row, is my dad back home after the war, in the Bronx, working as an "Ice Man" making deliveries to the tennants in the apartment buildings.

There are more photos that my father took, which I will be uploading on the new "Signal Corps" page, that are of General MacArthur, after the Japanese surrender, escorting the Japanese Delegation through war-torn Manila.

Photo and write-up submitted by Dan Ball

Roger Ball, my fathers youngest brother, enlisted in the Marine Reserves in the early 60's. This picture was taken at Camp Lejeune NC on August 15th 1962. He is the one loading the bazooka. Roger had just returned from LeJeune and was at our house for a visit in mid October when he got a phone call that his unit had been placed on alert and they were to deploy immediately back to North Carolina. This was the start of the Cuban Missle Crisis.
Scared the hell out of us!

My late father, Richard Ball... better known as "Red" (and he would remind you of that) recieved his welcome letter from Uncle Sam late in 1942. Still in High School, he surrendered his student deferment to go in with his school buddies, Jack Gorham and Harry Williams, thinking the three musketeers would be mustered in together. Of course Uncle Sam had other plans. Harry was rejected for medical reasons and Jack was sent to the Navy.
Red was mustered in at Fort Custer, Battle Creek Michigan and completed boot camp there. He had requested Signal Corps School so of course he was sent to Camp Callan, California for Anti-Aircraft Artillery training. Im not sure how long he was there before being transferred to Ft Bliss Texas and into the 583rd AAA Battalion for further training.
Again another transfer some time in '43, this time as a dogface in the Infantry, Camp McCoy Wisconsin (still active as Fort McCoy) with the 76th Division. He was assigned to Anti-Tank Companyof the 385th Regiment, the Rhode Island National Guard unit. He stayed with this unit until the end of the war.
From what I can gatherfrom the stories my mom related to me, he was in the"Mine Platoon"of AT Coy. She said he told her of riding in the trucks up to the front to clear mines, and laughing at the other dogfaces for  having to slug it out on foot in the mud, snow and rain.
The 385th was shipped to Bournemouth England on Thanksgiving Day 1944 aboard the S.S. Sea Owl. After a brief stay in jolly old England, it was on to Le Havre, France on 7Jan 1945. The 385th marched through France to take positions in Luxembourg. Then across the Sauer River and fought through the Siegfried Line, racing through Germany and into Czechoslovakia. Due to little Axis tank activity after crossing the Rhine, AT was in the business of guarding POW trains and the 76th Division PW enclosure at Glauchau until the end of the war.
My dad told the story that there wasnt much for the POWs to eat except for cherries, lots and lots of cherries. needless to say that many had to use the "facilities" quite often as diarrhea was rampant from the diet of cherries. He said he chased an escaping POW around the front of the train and was drawing a bead on him when the Kraut dropped his drawers and squatted... dad left him to his business.
The 385th was packing up to go to the Pacific sometime in July 1945. At that time dad had earned enough points to rotate back stateside, so home he went, and he was to join back up with the 385th when they arrived back here. August came, and so did VJ Day.
He said the Japs heard he wasto ship over to the Pacific, so they surrendered before he could get there.
Red was discharged in 1945 during his rotation back to the states.

Photos Submitted by Tony Antonucci

Photos of Tonys father, Antonio Antonucci,  who served in the Italian Navy during WW2.
He was a seventeen year old seaman on the Italian Hospital Ship  Gradisca .
He is shown in the upper left corner of the ships photo , and is in the lower right hand corner of the photo with some of his shipmates.

Photo  Submitted by Erik Youngberg

At left is my uncle, Edward Brennick who served as an officer  in the 2nd Armored Division in WWII