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Tag Archives: nostalgia

“B” is for……BASEBALL!

02 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

American Legion, Baseball, Byrum Saam, hot summers, little league, nostalgia, Phillies, Richie Ashburn

image image   Today’s featured letter is B! How appropriate that Baseball season opens this month and Baseball is a sport I can actually follow and almost completely understand! So my blog post for B will focus on The Great American Pastime and how I came to know it.

Baseball formed the background noise of so many lazy summer days when I was a kid. Windows open, fans droning, hot city streets outside, everybody just sitting around……and the little Bakelite Westinghouse radio on the shelf crackling with the nasal voices of Byrum Saam and Bill Campbell calling the play by play. Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis, Robin Roberts…….Yeh, I know them.

What was really special was if dad and some of his buddies got together for a game in the street. Oboy, dad’s playing baseball! He made a hit! Hey, dad!
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My longest association with baseball came many years later when my son was in Little League. He played for ten years, all the way to American Legion ball, and was a really good natural athlete. His nickname was The Vacuum Cleaner……nothing got past him at first or third base.

There were times when my enthusiasm outran my knowledge of the game. Like when I heard the “clunk” of the bat on the ball and leaped up, yelling, “Run, Michael! Runnnnn! Runrunrun…..!”, only to be admonished by my dad. “It’s a foul ball.” Well, okay, then. Fortunately for Mike, he knew not to run.

We still spend hot, lazy summer days listening to baseball. Only now we use a 21st century electronic device to tune in. And I still don’t grasp some of the fine points, like The Infield Fly Rule and the Pace of Play rules. But you don’t need to know that stuff to lean back and listen to the play by play, let it wash over your memory, and take you out–take you back–to the old ballgame.

GO, PHILLIES!

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Christmas in the Hurtgen, 1944

20 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

308th Engineers, 83rd Infantry, Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, Christmas, Germany, history, Hurtgen Forest, Luxembourg, nostalgia, World War 2 history

December 1944. The 308th Engineer Combat Battalion of the 83rd US Infantry had moved from Steinsel, Luxembourg to Gey, Germany, where they were dug in from December 18 to 25. It was the coldest, snowiest winter Europe had seen in more than thirty years.

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Hitler’s army was pushing a last ditch counteroffensive against the Allies and the 308th was in the thick of it. It would become the bloodiest battle of the war: the Battle of the Bulge.

The Engineer companies supported the Infantry regiments in their attack and support missions. They worked on extensive road repairs and maintenance, mine sweeping and mine laying, bridge demolition and construction, splinter proof shelter construction and assistance to Artillery battalions in getting to forward positions.

Roads in the area were in very bad condition from heavy shelling. Shell fragments covered road surfaces, causing the engineers about fifty tire punctures daily as they hauled gravel in dump trucks to fill shell holes. Working long hours and having support from a Corps Engineer Battalion who worked exclusively on the roads, they kept the most important roads open.

For my dad, SSGT Harry J. Kirby, Jr, Co. C, and for most American GIs, no matter what else was going on, it was still Christmas. Herr Hitler was really making himself a nuisance with his Panzers and their big guns. The 83rd pushed back with all they had. But hey, it was Christmas.

Just before Christmas, Harry and the fellas found a treasure trove of beautiful glass Christmas ornaments in the cellar of a ruined farmhouse. Just what they needed!

In the forest, they picked out the perfect fir tree, not difficult in the Hurtgen Forest. In between their regular duties, they decorated that little tree and had their own little Christmas there amid the deep snow, bitter cold, and booming shells.

One of the guys had his camera. The gang gathered round the tree for a ‘family portrait’ and the soldier promised he would make sure everyone got a copy of the photo. It was a warm moment in the midst of a bleak winter far away from home for these American boys.

This is not the 308th, but these guys celebrated, too.

This is not the 308th, but these guys celebrated, too.

A few days later, in the hell that was the battle in the Hurtgen, that soldier was killed. Dad never told us his name or I would remember him here. But no one ever saw the precious photo of that Christmas tree, that little piece of home.

 

 

In 1994, the veterans of the 83rd returned to Europe, visiting Gey and the Hurtgen. Driving through the dark, dense forest, the old soldiers murmured to each other about ‘snow’ and ‘so cold’ and ‘minefields’ and ‘tree bursts’. It was a solemn moment for them, rife with memories.

Engineers Jim Prentice, Al Siverio, and Harry Kirby. June 1994

Engineers Jim Prentice, Al Siverio, and Harry Kirby. June 1994

The 308th departed Gey on Christmas Day 1944 and pushed on through Ossogne, Janee, and Biron, Belgium, where they remained into January 1945. In the beginning weeks of the new year, the 83rd was employed in the 7th Corps zone to defeat the German breakthrough in the vicinity north of Houffalize, Luxembourg. On 21 January, they assembled near Hamoir, Belgium, for rest and rehabilitation.

More peaceful times in Gey, June 1944. Harry's grandson, Mike, is at the far right.

More peaceful times in Gey, June 1944. Harry’s grandson, Mike, is at the far right.

 

 

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Marianne Kirby Rhodes

Marianne Kirby Rhodes

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