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I was sitting here thinking that a "personalized" story of one of the men in the 99th might be neat for folks to read, so here's one story:

My mother’s family had a farm in Trenton, Nebraska prior to WWII. After the war broke out one of my mother’s brothers (Clyde) went to Southern California to work in a factory making bomb sights.

One day, Clyde received word that his father was suffering from an acute case of appendicitis and needed to have an operation. Clyde immediately quit his job and returned to Nebraska, using the money that he had earned to pay for the operation. Clyde then decided to volunteer for the U.S. Army.

Clyde did his basic training at Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi and down at Camp Maxey, Texas. He was with the 99th Infantry Division, 394 Regiment, Company I (the ‘CheckerBoarders’). These guys were also known as the ‘Battle Babies’. My uncle left basic training with the rank of Sgt.

Upon finishing basic training these men were sent oversees and congregated at Le Havre, France. They were then sent out to get their feet wet in battle and were placed along a location known as the Elsenborn Ridge. Everything was reported “all quiet” until all hell broke loose. History has recorded this as the Battle of the Bulge.

Eventually, the Allies worked their way to the Rhine and the 99th crossed at Remagen on March 11, 1945. It was a few short days after this that my uncle was killed in action via a bazooka shot from a German soldier. He was 19 years old.

Not long after Clyde joined the Army my mother’s family moved from Nebraska to Southern California. When the telegram came from the military, it was my mother (a teenager) who answered the door.