Filed under: 36th, 3rd, 45th, 517th, Operation Dragoon, Veterans | Tags: 142nd Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, 36th Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 517th PRCT, Boyd Lewis, Charles Condron, Charles Phallen, David Grange, Donald Judd, John Keller, John Miller, Lloyd Ramsey, Michael Halik, Paul Guajac, Robert Jackson, Robert Phillips, Sam Ieronimo
I met with Tim & Monika to review things in preparation for the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the 6th Army Group in France, which will be held 30 July to 3 August, 2014. As part of the review, I’m able to announce the 14 expected veteran attendees. Yes, FOURTEEN World War II veterans expected.
6th Army Group veterans in attendance will be:
28th Infantry Division: Sam Ieronimo and Robert Phillips
45th Infantry Division: Robert Jackson
517th PRCT: LTG David Grange
36th Infantry Division: Donald Judd and Boyd Lewis (both 142nd Infantry Regiment)
3rd Infantry Division: MG Lloyd Ramsey, Michael Halik, Charles Phallen, Charles Condron, John Keller, John Miller II
We’ll also have two other WWII veterans who’ve attended a number of our prior events: COL John Kormann and COL Frank Cohn.
Our attendance numbers are looking very good, with perhaps 80-90 people participating.
We have confirmed that COL Paul Guajac, a retired French Army Colonel and historian of WWII, is coming from France to speak at the conference. His two best known works are Dragoon, August 15, 1944: The Other Invasion of France
Filed under: 3rd, 509th, 517th, 551st, Operation Dragoon, Veterans | Tags: 551st, Arlington National Cemetery, Jim Welsh, John Carter, John Keller, Operation Dragoon, Richard Seitz, Roy Brumfield
Once again, the Operation Dragoon Commemoration & Seminar has come and gone. It was a marvelous event. There were about a dozen veterans in attendance (I heard 13, but I wasn’t counting heads), including the 4 who were awarded the French Legion of Honor at Arlington Cemetery (Dick Seitz, John Carter, Roy Brumfield and John Keller).
It was an entire weekend of “highlights” for me, so I am thrilled that I got so much of it filmed. Interestingly, both last year’s event and this year’s provided me with about 32GB of raw footage. I expect to post Jim Welsh’s account of being in the drop zone/landing zone with the 551st while the gliders were landing in the next few days. I already posted a picture of Robert Maxwell and I to Facebook, but have a short piece about him in progress as well.
Everyone in attendance was so interested and involved in sharing the history that you couldn’t help but feel closer to everyone by the end of the weekend. While it made parting sorrowful, it also provided an incentive for everyone to return in 2012. Keep August 2-5, 2012 open for the 68th Anniversary.
We're not lost, Sergeant, We're in ... France 