Probably one of my favourite pics of the 504th PIR:

PFC Walter Hughes hits Hitdorf, April 6, 1945.


He is dressed for speed and comfort: M42 jump trousers, 5 button sweater, .45 in a modified holster, M1918 trench knive and british despatch rider gauntlets.
In the background a captured SdKfz 251.

(This picture came from John Andrew's Airborne Album. It's full of great pictures of US Airborne forces in WWII, incl. some lesser known units like the Airborne Marines, OG groups, FSSF, 555th PIB smoke jumpers. Highly recommended, but probably hard to find).

Best regards,
Edwin

Good picture. Is that a .45 or a P38?

Thats a 45 and it belonged to Frank Keefe of I/Co When he was hit on the river crossing in Holland, I bandaged his hand and we knew he was going back to a hospital and it would probably be lost along the way. he gave it to me along with his wallet, (which I don't know what happened to it) I gave the 45 and a p38 to
either Lt Picard or Nance I'm not sure, when I got hit. The WWI knuckle knife
was sent home by my friend Jack Kaminittzer. I have two other pictures at that
Flack Wagon. one is friend Loyd Gates from Altoona PA standing on the Wagon with his Bayonet on his M1 (He was always ready for anything)
Walt E. Hughes

Neat picture!

Walt - I was reading "The History of the 82nd Airborne in WWII" by Phil Nordyke and saw a quote by you. I think it was from either Sicily or Italy. Totally cool to be reading along and see that.

When you were in Sicily, where were you dropped?

In Nordyke's book there is a picture of a bunch of paratroopers with a captured Tiger Tank. The caption says 505 paraptroopers, but at least two in the pic were H Co. 504, including my uncle.

Phil,
I was not in Sicily, I joined the 504 in England as a replacement just before Market Garden Phil had called and interviewed me before he wrote the book and mostly what we talked about was Holland and the Waal river-Nijmegen bridge,
action. Frank Sperling has my Rememberances along with Bill Leonard and Frank Keefe on his Dutch Website, www.504paratroopers.nl It starts with my joining the Army, Holland, the Bulge, right through to the end of the War in Berlin.
He did a good job on it.
I/Co had a Sherman Tank for awhile that had been abandoned by the American crew and we got it going. I have pictures of it with I/Co troopers on it
Walt E. Hughes

My cousin was in I Co. Wonder if he may be in one of your pictures...It'd be interesting to see !!

Rob

Walt, Thanks. I will check those references. It could have been a similar name.

Do you have a lot of WWII photos? Albert Clarke from A Co has a ton of them. I wish I had the time to go up north and scan them.

Phil

Phil,
Yes I do have quite a few Pictures of the guys in I/Co. I had a small box camra
even took a couple out the window of the C-47 with 4 other C-47's along side enroute to Holland on sept 17. Most of the Photos are not that great but, they could probably be redone. some are that faded brown color.
I had 2 good Lieca's I took from a couple of captured Jerry Officers but sold them to a couple of BSC'S in Rhiems for booze. At the time it seemed like the best deal.
Walt e. Hughes

Walt - Cool! I bet those photos are pretty special even with the fading. Photoshop can fix a lot of things!

Thanks!

Phil

Walter,

did you actually go to Berlin in the summer of 1945?

Frank

Frank,
Yes I had enough points to go home, but I chose to stay with the Division and go home later. I hadn't made up my mind at the time if I was going to stay in the Army. I am glad that I did, and was able to be a part of the 82nd Honor Guard and also March in the Victory Parade in my home town of New York city when we did go home. By that time, I had made the decision to leave the Army and go back to the Merchant Marine. Berlin was an eye opener in many ways. You had to feel sorry for the people, that the Russians got there before us, but also how the
people could be so misled by the Nazi's to see their country destroyed. I never could figure it out. I enjoyed the duty in Berlin there was no Wall up at that time and we could go into the Russian sector. You had to be careful dealing with the Russians for Booze at Potsdammer Platz. Especially if you had run out of chocolate
and sold them Ex-Lax instead the day before. Most of us could fill a good size book just about our stay in Berlin alone.
walt e. hughes

My dad was one of the first home from the 82nd. He enjoyed the parade in NY but I think he wished he could have marched.

Jim,
Tell you a little story about the Parade. I had tickets for my mother and my brother. they were in the reserved stands for relatives and personel who were not marching. I spotted them and they were seated among a group of 82nd troopers some from a local Hospital where they were being treated. but anyway when the parade ended me and a couple of my buddies instead of heading back to the busses took the subway over to Brooklyn. Now remember we all had M-1 rifles
we rode the subway with them. And left them at my house while we went bar-
hopping for the night. the biggest mistake I ever made was the next day bringing the M-1 back to camp. I was discharged from Ft Dix and some SGt said put your rifle in the pile of rifles in the corner. No one checked off numbers or anything. I could have left the rifle home and no one would have been the wiser
I still think it was one of the best parades ever in NY city. Someone told me there is a video of it but I've never seen it
walt e. hughes

Mr. Hughes,

Sounds like a great time! My dad told me that when he came home he was restricted to one duffle type bag. Anyway he tossed all of the uniforms that he would not be needing and filled the bag with Lugars, P38's, SS Daggers and other loot. He got back home to Fort Devens(2miles from home) and was told he needed to get into a uniform he did not have anymore for close order drill by some Lt. . He was so close to home that he could taste the home cooking.

I have seen the start of the parade it shows Gavin leading the way. However I've never seen anymore. I'm sure it must exist at the National Archives.

Regards,

Jim

Jim I had packed and mailed a total of 24 pistols just taking the chance some might get through. To my surprise a Luger and a P38 got through. I had both for awhile, but loaned the P38 to a friend who made the bay of pigs invasion. He never made it back and neither did the p38 I only recently traded the Luger for a WW II underwood Paratrooper Carbine that I use parading with our chapter color guard. Yes I still make some of the parades.
Walt e. hughes

Hello Walter,

Sorry that I didn't replied earlier. Nice to know that you are still "armed"!! Maurice Bledsoe (A/504) told me that there were two version of Allied issued banknotes in Berlin - one made by the Russians and one by the US and GB. He said that the looked the same, except that the serialnumbers were different. The Russian was not much worth as it was mass-produced.

When Maurice came back he found out that all the Allied issued German money could be changed for dollars. He was lucky as he had sold US dollars in Berlin for the Allied issued money and when that was changed again into US currency, he had quite some extra.

Frank

Hi Frank,
Yes the way I understand, We (the US) gave the plates for the invasion money to the Russians and their serial numbers started with an O. I have several of them still in my Photo Album, Which is on loan right now to a school. Wehad so much of the money from selling watches, baby ruth bars, etc to the Russians that they put a stop on how much could be sent home. It was cut down to your base pay plus 10% Of course we found a way to get around that. Which is another whole story.
I dont know Maurice Bledsoe but I have a G.O. official order paper that has him listed along with myself and a dozen other troopers being wounded on the same day April 8
That paper is also in my book so I am not quite sure of the date When the school returns the album I'll check it out.
walt e. hughes

Mr. Hughes,


My dad sent back a pair of engraved Italian Shotguns in the mail that came into his hands in Italy. He told me it was the prize of prizes that he got in WW II. He never got them back. H

I like the Brass Knuckle knife you had on in the photo. My dad had one but he said, he mostly used it to open cans.

Regards,

Jim

Jim
I came very close to having to use it only once. while we were out splicing wires between the first and second platoon holes in Holland Ed Hann and myself were almost surprised by a Jerry Patrol We lay still in the dark, and they passed within a few feet of us. We counted eight of them, and if we used our thompsons we would have been prime meat for the kraut mortors which would surely have followed any gunfire. You Dad was right they were pretty good for opening cans
walt

My grandfather brought home (and kept) a nice P-38, among alot of other nice trophies he used to say "He got it from a guy who didn't need it anymore." A bayonet, his Map Case (with pencils), Kraut belt-buckle, an SS Eagle pin, and some pamhplets and feild manuals he gave me when I was 15 got stolen out of my storage unit a few years ago, along with his uniform. Probably ended up in a ditch, not being worth much to anyone but guys like us. He kept his "service" snub-nose revolver (instead of a .45) and the P-38 until he died, but his nurse (25 years younger than him) stole those, as well his cans of dirt from 4 parachute jumps (wrapped in a peice of chute from each landing) and all his medals, ribbons, and other items. The stuff I have was left behind as "not of value" and it's the most important thing in my home, the thing I have to save, even in a fire. Protect your trophies and when it's time, give them to someone who won't sell them. If I had known those items would haunt me years later, I'd never have let them out of my sight.

Hello Walt, I'm currently in Afghanistan, based out of a FOB about 2 hours south of Kabul. I'm an advisor to the Afghan National police, under the operational control of 4th BCT (508), 82nd Airborne. I've been here 2 months, 10 more to go! So far I've shelled by rockets on June 10, and missed by IED's twice. How have you been? I understand All-American Week will be cancelled this year, everyone's deployed. All th best!

Steve Mrozek

Hi Steve!

I had heard that you were going over and it is FANTASTIC to hear from you.

Keep your head down...!

Dave Berry

Steve,
It's good to hear from you. Glad you have a good outfit to watch your back,(508) Yes the AA week was canceled but the convention is on. I am going down for just the one day for the 504 dinner (Aug 16) Mary is not up to spending 3-4 days in a hotel anymore. She is fighting the big one, but doing a good job on it
If you want to E-mail me your military address, Our Chapter is sponsering a Cub Scout troop that is mailing Packages and things to overseas personel and we would be happy to put you and any of your fellow troopers on the mailing list. If there is anything else you need just let us know.
And please stay low, and from one who went through it, Remember, "Not everyone who smiles at you is your friend"
Regards from all the guys in the chapter
and stay in touch
Airborne
Walt

Hi Walt, Great to hear from you again! My address is: Steven Mrozek (NO RANK), 201st RSAC-C/Logar,
Camp Phoenix/Camp Dubbs, APO AE 09320. On escort or patrol missions when we drive in M-1114 up Armed Hummv's, I'm the .50 cal gunner in the turret. I brought a M-42 jump jacket with me here to wear when it cools down. I'll keep Mary in my prayers. Where is the convention this year?
AIRBORNE!
Steve

Steve,
The Convention is in Harrisburg PA August 15 to 18th Dave Foy'S Central PA Chapter is running it.
I have a picture of you down at Bragg with that Jump Jacket on.
Airborne
Walt

Steve,

Now have 5 of those items for you is this the best address for you?

Regards,

Jim

Jim,
Roger on the address.

Airborne!
Steve