r/ww2

Born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania to Ira & Mary Carney on April 17, 1924, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, Robert Ellsworth “Bobby” Carney had two brothers. He was inducted into the Army on September 13, 1943 and trained at Camp Breckenridge, KY and Camp Van Dorn, MS.

Before he deployed overseas Bobby married Geraldine Mae Haire from New Florence, Pennsylvania on February 23, 1944.
Serving in the 329th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division, they landed at Omaha Beach on June 18–19, 1944.

On July 5, 1944 during intense combat in the hedgerows of Normandy, PFC Robert “Bobby” Carney was Killed in Action.
He is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France - Plot D Row 25 Grave 8.

His widow Geraldine remarried in 1946 and had three children, she passed away at the age of 50 in 1976.

And today I visited pretty much everything that's still there from the battle. There are no signs and it's hard to get to some places, but the island is so small that you can eventually find most of the stuff. Being here makes you understand how tiny this strip of land really is. May all men who died here rest in peace.

Back in may, I went on a 3 week trip to japan for the second time in my life, the trip covered parts of Hiroshima prefecture and northern Kyushu.

one of the highlights of this trip was having the opportunity to go to the yamato museum and the nearby japan maritime self defence forces museum in kure city (it has a museum submarine too).

it's one of 4 ww2 museums I've had the opportunity to visit in the country the others being the hiroshima peace museum last year as it was the 80th anniversaryyear, the osaka firebombing museum and the nagasaki peace museum

Kure city is home to the japan's naval shipyards and is home to a massive naval base, it's been a naval town since the time of the meiji restoration. like pearl harbor, kure naval base had their own massive air raid attack. surprisingly too, it appeared to be relatively unknown, considering it being the city where the yamato herself was built.

I went to kure during "golden week" a massive week of national and civic holidays, it was quite packed

the first picture is a big mockup of the yamato herself, there were a lot of people staring in awe at it, myself included of course

pic 2 is a recovered kairyu sea dragon submarine that was sunk in 1945 and was taken out of the ocean floor in 1978, used as a naval kamikaze

and in picture 3 is a replica Aichi E16A Zuiun seaplane

the yamato museum was probably a massive highlight of my trip to japan this year, having the opportunity to see naval history from 3 historical time periods crammed into 1 city was an absolute treat. additionally there's also boat tours that go to the nearby naval base and you can see various vessels docked in the area, such as subs, aircraft carriers, destoyers and mine sweepers. unfortunately it was sold out but I still was able to see alot from the docks

in the surrounding islands and mountains of kure, theres various bunkers, coastal defence batteries that you can find and hike to. there's also a nearby island that hosted a naval proving ground called " Kamegakubi Proving Ground" where they test fired the yamatos guns and other naval vessels guns, it's innacessible by land and you have to go there via boat tour, I didn't get to do that this year but I hope to do it in 2028 when I go back to do a battlefield tour of okinawa

if you get to go to japan, i'd say include a visit of kure city if you go to hiroshima, you can see a lot of ww2 history in that small region

Today I came accros this memorial when exploring the area by bike. Impressive.

The first B-29s arrived at Piardoba Airfield in April 1944 and participated in the first US Bomber attack on the Japanese Home Islands since the 1942 Doolittle Raid on June 15, 1944.

By late 1944 it was concluded that staging B-29 operations against Japan out of bases in China and India was a logistical nightmare.

It was subsequently decided that the B-29s would be moved to bases on newly captured islands in the central Pacific and the 462nd was transferred to Tinian.

Photos by Bernard Hoffman
for LIFE Magazine.

Left to Right: Pfc. Arthur H. Muth, Sgt. Carmine H. Sileo, and Sgt. Kelly C. Lasalle

The men of the 79th were in combat every single day from their landings at Utah Beach in mid-June until 25 October 1944, when the 79th secured and established an assembly area in Lunéville, France.

During those 127 days, the unit suffered over 15,000 casualties, which was virtually a 100% casualty turnover rate. The brutality of the Normandy hedgerows, the siege of Cherbourg, and the tree to tree nightmarish fighting in the Forêt de Parroy was unrelenting for the 79th.

When the fighting ended on the 25th, the German 361st Volksgrenadier Division issued an internal intelligence report explicitly warning its own troops about the 79th Infantry Division, writing that they, "fought particularly well in Normandy, and [are] considered as one of the best attack divisions in the U.S. Army."

The 79th would rest for about two weeks before they began their next assault, spearheading the attack against the heavily defended Saverne Gap.

Born in Gridley, Illinois to Louis and Clara Greenwald on July 11, 1920, Sylvester Theodore Greenwald had one younger brother.
He enlisted in the Navy on May 8, 1942 and by April 1943 was serving as a Hospital Apprentice First Class in the Pacific.

In January 1944, Sylvester was promoted to Pharmacist Mate Second Class and was attached to the 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division as a Medic.
On June 15, 1944 The 6th Marine Regiment landed on Saipan fighting in the difficult terrain against heavily fortified Japanese positions.

Sixteen days later PHM2 Sylvester Greenwald was Killed in Action while assisting wounded Marines on July 1, 1944.
He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii - Section B 588.

Younger brother Raymond F Greenwald served in the Army during WW2, he passed away at the age of 75 in 1998.

Been watching the Tom Hanks WW2 doc and saw Admiral Canaris's hat. I'd never seen this device and I'm wondering if it was Abwehr specific or just something special for an admiral. I don't recall seeing Dönitz wearing anything similar.