105th engineer battalion - also material on USO show Nov 1944

[Walt's Daughter]

Anytime gentlemen, anytime!

[Frank Gubbels]

One of the men who gave his life for our freedom. I hope to find out more about him. I made this picture on March 27th ... take a look on the date. Strange feeling especially because it's my father's birthday on the 26th.

[Frank Gubbels]

I just found out that there are only 5 men of the 105th buried in Margraten and 7 men in Henri-Chapelle.

There are 18 records about them on the ABMC website.

[Walt's Daughter]

You can rest assured his family would be very happy to see this.

[Walt's Daughter]

Received this a few weeks ago...

 

Hi! I’m hoping you can guide me. My father Rocco D. Petruzzi (deceased 2013) was a member of 105 Combat engineers, 30th Division in WWII. I’m not sure what company he was in but I know he was assigned to water point. I know he was in Mortain and Mogdanberg, Heerlen,Maastricht and he was there when the German propaganda leaflets were dropped. I’m trying to find out the path and time line of his march across parts of Europe. He always said he landed in Normandy D-day +6. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Also, do you know how I would find out about a uso show held in a theater that featured the showing of the film of latest baseball world series. It also had special appearances of Mel Ott one of the players.

Sincerely,
Maryke Petruzzi

 

 

 

Gave her some of the info from our forum and I also added these links of interest:

 

 

http://www.oldhickory30th.com/XIXSiegfried105.pdf - talks about September and Oct 1944

3d Platoon, Company B, 105th Engineer Combat Battalion earned a PUC for actions of 7 July 1944. Medical Detachment and Headquarters and Service Company earned an MUC for actions from 1 June - 31 July 1945. (Marion's note - PUC stands for Presidential Unit Citation)

30th items of Tech Grade 4 Joseph M Serena, Jr. 105th Engineer Battalion - scroll down the page until you see this name

See page 5 of this entry

http://www.facesbeyondthegraves.com/pagina70.html

http://campcroft.org/OHA/newsletters/OHA%20Newsletter%202011%20May-Jun.pdf - scroll down to section regarding the 105th

http://www.recorder.com/home/9196577-95/northfield-resident-recalls-wwii-service

Troop ship crossing - see entry for 43-2-12

See third paragraph of this journal

This looks really interesting, for it looks like a complete history of the 30 Infantry Division, which the 105 Engineer Battalion, was a part of.

That should get you off to a good start. Let me know.

Smiles, Marion

[Walt's Daughter]

Thanks Marion I so appreciate your help. My father talked about a show he saw in a theater, I think it was before Christmas ’44 I’m not sure what town in Europe at the moment but they showed news film about the ’44 world series and some of the players were present to answer questions from the solders. I need to track that down because my dad asked a question and one of the players threw him a signed ball which my dad cherished. I would like to find out more about the event… any thoughts on how to proceed???

 

Well now that I have a little more info about the show, maybe I can find something else about the USO show. Earlier this morning, I gave her a link to the USO website. Thought maybe they could shed some light on this subject.

[Walt's Daughter]

Okay, may be hitting (so to speak) on some baseball trivia here regarding an USO show in 44

 

This is an excerpt from a book I found on Google, Even the Browns: Baseball during WWII

 

Another excerpt from a book called, The Game Must Go On...

 

This from Freddie Fitzsimmons: A Baseball Life

 

Bucky Walters

 

Baseball and the Bottom Line in World War II...

[Walt's Daughter]

Found this on The Ballplayers website. See entry from Nov 44

[Walt's Daughter]

Rip & Big Poison, Danny & The Quail, Goose…1944

[Walt's Daughter]

While doing this, I found a quote from Hall of Famer: "Ducky" Joe Medwick (1932-1948). This was so funny, I just had to share.

In a 1944 World War II USO Tour, he was lucky enough to meet Pope Pius XII, he greeted him by saying; "Your Holiness, I'm Joe Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."