The Crossing 1944. The 94th Infantry Division Leaves England

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  • Опубліковано 24 гру 2024

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  • @kevind3185
    @kevind3185 3 місяці тому

    Thank you Wim for doing all that you do in support of the 94th.

    • @94thinfantrydivision
      @94thinfantrydivision  3 місяці тому

      You are welcome Kevin! There will be more in the coming months as I am planning my 80th Anniversary series ahead. Every 'Thank you' is much appreciated and I am very pleased with the way the number of channel subscribers steadily grows. And if you ever consider additional ways to support my research, let me know! Have a great day, kind regards, Wim

  • @teresaellis7088
    @teresaellis7088 Місяць тому

    I watch these and try to catch a glimpse of my dad.

    • @94thinfantrydivision
      @94thinfantrydivision  Місяць тому

      Hi Teresa, I am sorry, but you will not find a glimpse of your dad in this video. I used WW2-footage of men leaving England. However, these are 29th Infantry Division troops and US Army Air Force men. I have not been able to retrieve footage of the 94th Infantry Division leaving England during my research in the National Archives. So, the video explains what actually happened, but it is not supported with 94th Infantry Division footage. What company was your father in? If you still have paperwork, I might be able to help you out. Take care, and if you like the channel, please subscribe! Wim Schelberg.

    • @teresaellis7088
      @teresaellis7088 Місяць тому

      @ thanks.I am not sure.I subscribed!I am trying to do some research.I know he got 2 bronze stars and there was a letter that it may be in.I passed it onto son so hopefully can find it.

    • @94thinfantrydivision
      @94thinfantrydivision  Місяць тому

      @@teresaellis7088 Thanks for subscribing. It's good to do research! If you run into any puzzles, you are welcome to contact me at 94thinfantrydivisionbooks@gmail.com You could also check out the facebook page. Take care, Wim

  • @LeveretteJamesClifford1955
    @LeveretteJamesClifford1955 3 місяці тому +2

    Hi, my Dad's family lived in Duck Hill Mississippi very close to Camp McCain where the 94th trained, and there was an incident with a 94th officer and an unknown man at a house across the creek from my grandparent's house and acre pasture. If you want to know more about this, it is all oral history but when I was four, my dad and I found the unknown man's skull, I will tell you. Please let me know, it will add something to your history.

    • @kevind3185
      @kevind3185 3 місяці тому

      Interesting

    • @94thinfantrydivision
      @94thinfantrydivision  3 місяці тому

      Hi Don, thanks, you mentioned this story earlier and elaborated on the details as well. So, I took note of it and it might definately be something to research. Would be interesting to see if any mention was made of it in any of the local papers? Thanks again for sharing & conneccting! Have a great day, kind regards, Wim Schelberg

    • @LeveretteJamesClifford1955
      @LeveretteJamesClifford1955 3 місяці тому

      @@94thinfantrydivision Hi, my name is Cliff Leverette. My dad and I found the skull when I was four (I have an above average memory, remembering things from infancy like nursing at the breast of a black woman named Mary when I came home from the hospital). This was in 1959, and I can tell you, I had nightmares about that skull for several years afterward. The skull was missing all three jaws, in case you don't know we all have three, two on the top, the big one on the bottom). We were out in a huge pasture behind my grandparents' home on the edge of Duck Hill. There was an area full of blackberries and the accompanying stickers and this was the place where dead cows were taken so there were bones everywhere. But my dad noticed a round bone and picked it up. It was definitely a human skull with the nose hole, eye holes and the hole where the spine and nerves sticks into the skull. Dad took it to his father who in those days was a town official, and alderman and he took it but never said anything about it after that. I did research in the closest town that had a newspaper, Winona, Mississippi, but found nothing and back then I was an avid researcher spending a lot of time at the Mississippi State Archives.
      In 1985 I went to work at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in the publications department where we took students notes and photos and turned them into proper monographs. My very first job was to do a report on the Lafort Fracture. This happens primarily in people whose lower face and mouth hit a steering wheel in an accident AND in facial gunshot wounds.
      A few years later my wife and I were at my grandmother's house at Duck Hill, and we were listening to her tell stories. My aunt Eleanor Grace came by. As a 17 year old she went to work at Camp McCain and remembers the Americans leaving and the German POWs being brought in. McCain became a satellite POW camp of the Camp Shelby POW camp system. She talked about the night that there was a shooting. She said that while McCain was training soldiers women would come and rent any structure they could to be close to their husbands or for other purposes. My Grandmother's property included a one acre pasture that had fences on three side but the southern side had no fence for the cow because there was a very deeply eroded creek that flowed about 15 feet below the surface of the pasture. At the west side of the acre was a small barn and a very large chicken yard that was fenced on all four sides.
      An officer's wife had rented an abandoned 1860s era house just on the other side of that deep bed creek. There were no electric lights, only candles, and the officer had come with his pistol. While he and his wife were engaged in a conjugal visit, he noticed someone peeking in through the window, watching them and he quickly grabbed the pistol and fired. There was no scream. Back at my Grandmother's house they heard the shot and then a lot of racket coming from the chickens. After it had died down my grandfather went out with a flashlight and talked across the creek to the officer. The officer found a trail of blood leading from the window to the creek, down in and across the creek, up to the southern end of the chicken yard. He and my grandfather tracked the blood across the chicken yard in a northwestern direction until it came to the western fence of the chicken yard. The trail continued into the pasture so that is two wire fences that this man had crossed while wounded. They followed the blood trail as far as it lasted but then they had no idea where he could have gone. Well, from that description my Aunt gave, that means he would have ended up in the blackberry patch. There ends the story but as you can see, more than ten years later, my dad found the man's skull.
      If you want this in writing on a piece of paper, I would be happy to do this and take it to a notary and swear that I am telling the truth and then send it on to you.

  • @PhilsTeleTime
    @PhilsTeleTime 3 місяці тому +1

    Most of this film footage comes from Cornwall and Devon, UK, with the 29th Infantry Division. It shows embarkation for Exercise Duck on 31st December 1943 in Falmouth, Cornwall, plus some scenes from Cornish sausage camps filmed just before D-Day and some embarkation scenes from Dartmouth, Devon. Whilst I accept you acknowledge that the footage shows the US29th at the end of your credits at the end of this video the impression given is somewhat misleading. That said I applaud your efforts to keep the story of the 94th alive.

    • @94thinfantrydivision
      @94thinfantrydivision  3 місяці тому

      Thanks Phil, thanks for you comment, which got me thinking. Indeed. It is visible from the shoulder sleeve insignia as well. No footage was shot when the 94th Infantry Division and so many others crossed. It would however not be of much interest to tell the story against a black background of nothing, with the occasional moment of me telling something as there's enough 'talking heads' out there ;-) I mentioned it in the description as well. The story, however, is 100% 94th Infantry Division. And the funny thing is: during and after WW2, this footage was used and recycled over and over for all kinds of documentaries. You always have to work with what's available. Not all US divisions were 'blessed' with the attention the 29th got with Balkoski leading the way, historically. I have been considering to add all the footage I use for the small narrations like thise in the 'From the Archives' section of the channel, though that obviously leads to videos on other subjects than the 94th Infantry Division. And perhaps I should make mention of it in the footage itself. Will chew on that for a bit. I took a look at you channel just now - much Cornwall history there! Kind regards, Wim Schelberg.

    • @PhilsTeleTime
      @PhilsTeleTime 3 місяці тому +1

      @@94thinfantrydivision Hi Wim, thanks for your detailed and thoughtful reply. It's the age old conflict between the historian wanting to accurately portray the past and the documentary maker needing to visually stimulate their audience. I agree with your comment on talking heads, though I can find nothing in the description that says the footage is of the 29th, merely "archival footage of troops departing England from 1944, Wim follows the voyage of the 94th". Similarly in your 'Destination Europe' video your commentary talks of troops being in Wiltshire whilst showing footage of Truro, Cornwall. Here there is no mention of the US29th in the credits. While as a video maker I have full sympathy with your conundrum, the historian in me is concerned at the erosion of fact and how that could be exacerbated by future generations. I accept your comment on the film footage that historians of the 29th are blessed with, but that was due to their role in and around the events of D-Day. One assumes there are still photographs of the 94th that could be used to enhance the story telling. Any way, keep up the good work of keeping the story of the 94th alive. It is vital work, not just for their descendants and historians, but for all of us to realise the effort and sacrifices made in securing us our freedom and the peace we enjoy today.