83rd Infantry Division Vets to Gather
I have fond memories of attending two Air Force reunions with my parents. My Dad was a staff sergeant pilot, one of a group of men without a college education accepted for flight training in the opening years of World War II. (He earned a commission as a first lieutenant before war’s end.) He was a member of the Army Air Corps Enlisted Pilots Association, a group I believe is now defunct as I can find no reference to them. (If anyone knows better, please correct me.)
When I ran across an announcement of the 83rd Infantry Divison’s planned reunion in Arlington, VA, August 22 to 26, I couldn’t help but smile. The war will be fought over — or at least the Normandy landings and the Battle of the Bulge in which these men participated — and we’ll win again, with even more dead Germans, even closer close escapes, and more youthful battlefield highjinks.
It’s hard to remember that these guys really were just a bunch of kids back then and when they could escape the war long enough to express their youth, they did. I imagine it helped to keep them sane.
About 350 of the men of the 83rd are expected to gather with their families. They plan visits to the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War memorials, the Holocaust Museum, and the Catholic National Shrine. They will also lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Army Air Corps, enlisted pilots, staff sergeant pilot, 83rd Infantry Division, Normandy, Battle of the Bulge
Leave a Reply