Allied forces fought fierce battles up the boot of Italy during World War II. By the fall of 1944, after more than a year of arduous campaigning, Rome and most of Italy had been liberated. Learn more about these campaigns.
“Life started again,” said Hank Verouden, a 75-year-old Dutch man, as he stood on the grounds of Netherlands American Cemetery on Sunday explaining what it meant when the Americans liberated the town where he grew up in September 1944.
By the spring of 1945 Marie Mazzie, who was just 26-years-old, had lost her husband, Cpl. Patrick Mazzie, and her only brother, Pvt. Joseph A. Glassen, to World War II.
SSgt. Max Chotin, who served with the U.S. Army during World War II, spent most of his active duty time stateside, not overseas. Having graduated from St. John’s University in Brooklyn, New York, Max became a certified public accountant after graduation and worked as an auditor.
When the United States entered World War II, gender roles began to shift based on the needs of a country at war. Women started working in factories, and the U.S. military began actively recruiting women to serve. 1st Lt. Paul Donald Meyer met his wife, 2nd Lt.
Drafted into the service in January 1942 at the age of 27, Pfc. Robert D. Watts, best known as Dalton to his family and friends, personified the American G.I. of World War II. Dalton, unmarried, was the oldest son with three brothers, all of whom served their country, and seven sisters.
In the midst of 1944, World War II raged in both Europe and the Pacific. Cpl. David L. Conway, a married man with a two-year-old daughter at home, had been stationed in Washington, DC, far away from the theaters of operation.
The American Battle Monuments Commission in conjunction with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) and Virginia Tech (VT) has released Bringing the Great War Home: Teaching with the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, a free World War I Teacher’s Guide.
Shortly after Cpl. William H. Myers, Jr., arrived overseas with the 571st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion in November 1944, he learned he was going to be a father.