MY FATHER IS NOW 78 YEARS OLD. HE RECENTLY GAVE ME A PICTURE OF HIS BEST FRIEND, A BOY HE WAS RAISED WITH BEFORE THE WAR. SINCE I HAVE BEEN A LITTLE BOY, I WOULD SOMETIMES STOP AND LOOK CLOSELY AT THE FACE IN THE PICTURE ON MY FATHERS DRESSER...HE LOOKED LIKE THE KINDA GUY WHO LOVED LIFE, AND WOULD HAVE BEEN THE TYPE YOU COULD GO INTO TOWN WITH, OR FIGHT A BATTLE WITH. HE LOOKS KIND.....EVEN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, WHEN MY DAD COMES OVER FOR A VISIT, HE TO STOPS TO STARE AT THE PICTURE, NOW SITTING ON MY DRESSER....HE CHOKES UP.....HIS NAME WAS SGT.WALTER DAVID BRIDGER. 328TH INFANTRY, 26TH INFANTRY DIVISION. THE 26TH LANDED AT NORMANDY, D+FOUR MONTHS OR SO. THEY WERE PART OF THE BIG PUSH FOR GERMANY.WALTER WAS KILLED IN ACTION ON THE 30TH OF OCTOBER 1944. HE HAD JUST GOTTEN THERE. I DONT KNOW ANY DETAILS OF HIS DEATH. I JUST WANTED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO HIM, AND ALL THE OTHERS, AND LET HIM KNOW THAT I DO THINK OF HIM, AND I WILL SEE TO IT THAT MY SONS WILL KNOW WHO HE WAS, AND THE SACRAFICE THEY ALL MADE...MAY GOD BLESS THEM ALL....WALT
I must share your gratitude for these noble men's sacrifices, i will ensure that my children grow up with respect and admiration of such men. AMEN WALT
Here here--I totally agree with Ryan and in saying that this is also what these forums are also about. Very well said and I also sympathise with your father over this brave mans loss. Ive known of too many--American--German--British.
It is very sad that men must die in combat, I think even more so when they are killed early in their combat careers. When the Hastings and Prince Edward Regt of the 1st Canadian Inf Div waded ashore at Sicily to begin their nearly 2 years of continuous combat They met with relatively weak fire. However the first man to fall was Regt Sgt Major Nutley a man of more then 20 years military experience, who had remained with the Regt only because of his dogged insistance that he would not be left behind. Sgt Major Nutley didn't even get to set foot on dry land. A waste of a very good soldier in my opinion, but in a way that is what war boils down to, a waste of some very fine peoples lives.
I had an uncle who was with the 56th Field Artillery RA during WW II. He fought through North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He was by all accounts a very brave and very tough man. He died after a boiler explosion in the hospital where he worked during the 1960's. He was scalded and took several days to die, dying is never pleasant, and always a waste.
I can only tell you about my two granfparents: captain William A. Jolly who was a comunications officer in the 30th British Infantry division. But he saw action with West Yorkshire 10th batallion during the Somme. The batallion lost 710 men... And my other grandfather ( my father's father) who is still alive, Obesrtleutnant Gottfried von Hammerstein und Hartmann saw a lot of action since the Spanish Civil War until the Battle for Berlin, in which he was seriously wounded. He was shot in the right eye and in the throath. He lost his eye and he cannot speak. he has not done that since 1945. Now, he is 86, but looks and behaves as if he were 60!
Thumbs up to them . And give your Grnadfather a pat on the back for me to. Im very sad to hear of his wounds, but it sounds like he is doing ok, but it must be hard not being able to speak for all these years.
