Veteran's Day: The Book "And There Shall Be Wars" Speaks Volumes

Bud Wagner in North Africa
Anti-aircraft machinegun operator

My father-in-law Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner was the second man in Northern Minnesota to be drafted into World War II. He carried a small pocket camera and kept a diary from beginning to end, from Camp Claiborne to Ireland to North Africa and the Italy Campaigns. 

When Susie and I were dating in the 1970s, Bud brought out his diaries and asked me to give an opinion as to whether they would be of interest to anyone. At the end of the weekend I gave him my verdict: "Yes!"

So began his journey toward becoming an author. His keen day by day observations were then amplified with a lifetime of research and reflection to provide readers with important insights through the eyes of a young soldier from rural Minnesota.

Bud Wagner -- cook, machine gunner and company agent -- had the privilege of being on the first convoy to make its way across the Atlantic for the European theater. And the good fortune of having survived the duration of the war without becoming a casualty in North Africa and Italy, which included beachheads at Anzio and Salerno.

The book is a joint project involving the research skills and memoirs of WW II veteran Bud Wagner and his son Lloyd Wagner (Masters in Literature). When I encouraged to amplify his diaries and make a book of them I had no idea of how invested he would become in this project. He greatly exceeded my expectations and, with Lloyd's able editing, he has produced a fascinating manuscript that includes a large quantity of original photos and other documents.

When the manuscript was published, he sent a copy to retired General John W. Vessey, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Vessey's name appears four times in the book, including a diaryentry noting that John Vessey's promotion to Captain took place in Bud's "peep." (It was only after the war that the learned these all-purpose vehicles were called jeeps.)

Here is General Vessey's letter to Bud regarding this memoir titled And There Shall Be Wars.

"Dear Bud, ... Thanks not only for the copy of the book, but also for putting those wartime notes into a permanent record. It is an important addition to all the "stuff" historians record. I couldn't put the book down once I got into it. It brought back a lot of memories reading about times, places, and people from 55+ years ago." 

~ retired General John W. Vessey, 

former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Just today I was forwarded an email from one of Susie's classmates who just finished reading Bud's diary/memoirs. Her comments were so poignant I requested to share them here. She wrote:

Bud and his mud-covered "peep"

This is Sarah Grandson (Sundberg). I have a copy of your father’s book that you gave me at the 50th reunion in July, and just finished reading it. What a treasure!! You and your family are so fortunate that your father kept a diary. You had asked me to let you know what I thought, so here goes.

1. He kept a lot of his personal feelings to himself, so I thought it interesting how affected he was by the death of one of the fellows who he wasn’t as close to when they were fighting in Italy (don’t remember the name), but I suppose after seeing so much death and destruction anyone would really start questioning the purpose. It was amazing how well he actually handled all the destruction around him.
2. I was surprised how poor the quality of the Army “peeps” were as his was always breaking down, a certain amount due of course, to the conditions. You can feel his frustration with it. 
3. It’s amazing at how adaptable the human species are. To go from a tight, secure family environment to preparing for war, then to the thick of it, and handle the emotions as well as your father did, is remarkable. 
4. Those men suffered so much and complained so little. Hunger, cold, heat, lack of a safe place to sleep, danger of losing their life, etc, etc. they truly were the “greatest generation”.

Disabled German tank.

Here's another response to the book, this one from James Wiita, a friend in the local music and arts scene who completed his own first book this past winter, Rock On, Duluth!

Reading Bud is like a daily talk with someone, though one sided. You can pick right up where you left off, it’s so personal it shows his human characteristics, and what to anticipate with each entry.

It seems to show every aspect of “army life “ -- the important details and accuracy mixed with the training -- moments with friends and music, faith, along with frequent headaches and  times of boredom.

* * * 

One of the surprises for me was Bud's love of poetry. There are numerous poems included in the book. One of my favorites is titled, "You're A Machine Gunner Now." Another is titled "A Battalion Agent" which you can find in this blog post titled "War Poems Tell Stories."

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-battalion-agent-war-poems-tell-stories.html

When I was in Italy last year my visit coincided with Italy's Liberation Day. On that day Italy celebrated the Allies victory over fascism. There were nationwide expressions of gratitude to the U.S. for its role in defeating Mussolini. You can read about my experiences here:

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2023/05/liberation-day-italy-celebrates-victory.html

One last link

Various Ways of Looking at History with Commentary (and a Book Offer)

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2023/04/various-ways-of-looking-at-history-with.html 

Various Ways of Looking at History with Commentary (and a Book Offer)

I have long been fascinated with history. In fourth grade I remember taking every opportunity I could get to study the large American Heritage volume in the back of the classroom telling the history of the Civil War. I was an avid reader of biographies of famous people like Zebulon Pike, Paul Revere, Lewis and Clarke and others who shaped our past.

There are many different ways to look at history. Some people see it as a series of great events, while others see it as the sum of the experiences of ordinary people. Some people see it as a linear progression, while others see it as a cyclical process. Some people see it as a story of progress, while others see it as a story of decline. (I can see these as simultaneous, which is interesting to me.)

Here are some of the different ways of looking at history according to Google's AI bot called Bard:

Great man theory: This is the view that history is made by great individuals, such as kings, queens, and presidents. It follows, naturally, that the educated class wrote books about these people as the movers and shakers of history.

Political history: This is the view that history is made by political events, such as wars, revolutions, and elections. 

Economic history: This is the view that history is made by economic events, such as the invention of money (in ancient Mesopotamia) and the spread of the Roman Empire which produced safe roads resulting in widespread commerce. The Great Depression and, later, the collapse of the Soviet Union would be important chapters in this history.

Cultural history: This is the view that history is made by cultural events, such as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. 

Global history: This is the view that history is made by the interactions between different parts of the world. Historians who subscribe to this theory look at the world as a single interconnected unit, and that the history of any one part of the world cannot be understood without considering the history of other parts of the world.

Military history: This is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.

Digital history: This is the view that history is made by the use of digital technologies. Historians who subscribe to this theory believe that digital technologies are changing the way that history is written and studied.

Marxist view of history: History is a series of class struggles. In each historical epoch, there are two main classes: the ruling class and the oppressed class. The ruling class controls the means of production and the oppressed class does not. The ruling class exploits the oppressed class, and this exploitation leads to conflict between the two classes.

Religious History: By studying the origins of our world's religions and the manner in which they spread, we gain insights that can be applied to current events. 

Social history: This is the view that history is made by ordinary people, and that it is important to study the lives of ordinary people in order to understand history. This focus has resulted in bringing to light multitudes of personal memoirs and diaries whose stories shed light on the perceptions and experiences of common people, humanity's herd.

These are just some of the different ways of looking at history, each way providing us with a different understanding of the past.

* * * 

I re-arranged the Bard's list in order to end with a pitch for the book And There Shall Be Wars by Wilmer "Bud" Wagner and Lloyd Wagner. The book epitomizes this "Common Man" ordinary people perspective on history.

Bud was my father-in-law, the second civilian drafted into the WW2 at our local draft board here in Proctor. He carried a small pocket camera and kept a diary from beginning to end, from Camp Claiborne to Ireland to North Africa and the Italy Campaigns. His keen day by day observations have been amplified with a lifetime of research and reflection to provide readers with important insights through the eyes of a young soldier from rural Minnesota.

Bud served as a cook, machine gunner and company agent. He had the privilege of being on the first convoy to make its way across the Atlantic for the European theater. And the good fortune of having survived the duration of the war without becoming a casualty -- in North Africa and Italy, which included beachheads at Anzio and Salerno. 

The book was a joint project involving the research skills and memoirs of WW II veteran Bud Wagner and his son Lloyd Wagner (Masters in Literature). Bud showed me his original diaries during a weekend visit when I was dating my wife Susie. He asked if anyone would be interested in them. I was floored by their contents as I leafed through the pages.

For years I encouraged him to amplify his diaries and make a book of them. A market gardener by trade, he used the long winters here to research and assemble the contents of this memoir. The results greatly exceeded my expectations and, with the able editing of his son, produced a fascinating manuscript. A large collection of photographs accompanies the text.

The book is titled And There Shall Be Wars. It is 536 pages with 178 original photos and illustrations.

Here is a letter from retired General John W. Vessey, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who received notice of his promotion to Captain while seated in Bud's jeep:

"Dear Bud, ... Thanks not only for the copy of the book, but also for putting those wartime notes into a permanent record. It is an important addition to all the "stuff" historians record. I couldn't put the book down once I got into it. It brought back a lot of memories reading about times, places, and people from 55+ years ago."
 

The book is currently out of print, though a couple copies are available at Amazon for $75. If interested, we have copies available for $20 + S&H. To purchase your copy, send a note expressing your interest to ennyman3@gmail.com

To learn more about And There Shall Be Wars visit: https://budwagneratsbw.blogspot.com/2012/11/and-there-shall-be-wars-contactorder.html

This Day In History

Births

Jim Thorpe (126 years ago)
Ian Fleming (104 years ago)
Gladys Knight (68 years ago)

Deaths 

Noah Webster (169 years ago)

Military exercises, World War II

History has always been fascinating to me. It started, I think, when I was in the fourth grade. Years later I would learn that before a certain age children have no concept of time, so they have difficulty grasping stories about history. It makes sense that part of being a young child is wrapped up in "living in the now." Around fourth or fifth grade young minds begin to understand that the past is something back there and the future out ahead of us. 

It was in Miss Morse's fourth grade class at Stafford School that I developed an interest in the Civil War. The chief cause of this fascination was a very large, colorful book (published, I believe, by American Heritage) at the back of the room with maps of every battle. The maps had details of the terrain and showed where the various army battalions were stationed or moving. I remember very little from that year of schooling other than that book at the back of the room, which I visited frequently.

Books of all types are endlessly fascinating, especially biographies and autobiographies. When we read peoples' stories we discover how much we have in common, or how very different our experiences have been.

Chopping onions, Bud Wagner, left.

70 years ago today sugar rationing began in the United States. The war effort was having a major impact on many industries. Sacrifices were being made across the board because something large was at stake. Our young men were now overseas.

In 1999 my father-in-law Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner published his war memoirs, with notations. Hard to believe it has been 70 years since he was stationed in Ireland, preparing for the North Africa Campaign. Though never a soldier myself I know that the phrase "hurry up and wait" is a common one. The soldiers were assembled, trained and now waiting for marching orders. Many of these men would never see their families again.

Here's an excerpt from Bud's book And There Shall Be Wars. It's an ordinary man's daily observations for three-and-one-half years of service. Wagner was the second man in Northern Minnesota to be drafted into the war. He carried a small pocket camera and kept a diary from beginning to end, from Camp Claiborne to Ireland to North Africa and the Italy Campaigns. His keen day by day observations have been amplified with a lifetime of research and reflection to provide readers with important insights through the eyes of a young soldier from rural Minnesota.

The format of the book is diary entries followed by commentary, designated here by italics.

Wednesday, May 27,1942 

On again this forenoon. Raining on and off. Hurley and I went to Limavady. Got a ride in with an army truck. Went to several places, until 7:30, then we took Nancy and Dorothy to a show, Toppers Return. A fantastic story, but enjoyed the picture. Left the girls at 11:30 and walked to camp. Two letters today.

Dorothy had been staying with Nancy a few days on vacation. They came from Belfast. Both were well-educated, with high standards, and real nice to talk to. Hurley kept in contact with Nancy the whole time we were in Ireland. 

 Irish girls like these two would never think of inviting boyfriends to their apartment after a move. Dorothy and I weren't excited about each other, but I was a good fill-in once in a while, and she gave me a good reason to go to town, instead of just to walk around. 

Thursday, May 28, 1942 

Slept until 9:30. Read a little. Hurley and I were on together this p.m. We hurried through tonight. We each got a pass. I borrowed Don's bike, and we went to Limavady again. We went for a walk with Nancy and Dorothy, across the river and in a park. Dorothy took pictures. She can get film. We just talked a lot, and I had a Time magazine that we discussed. We walked back again. To camp at midnight.

Friday, May 29, 1942 

Didn't get to sleep until 1:30. Hurley overslept. I really had to move on the double to get breakfast out on time. We had fried potatoes, French toast, braised beef for dinner. Off this p.m. Had to load all our things, the kitchen truck and leave the kitchen and our hut real clean. Hurley wanted me to go with him to Limavady again, but lucky for me, no passes were given out. I'm just getting tired out.

* * * * *
This matter-of-fact style of daily notation becomes quite dramatic once the war kicks into high gear. Here's a portion of a letter from retired General John W. Vessey, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Vessey received orders of his promotion to captain while in Bud's jeep, his first bump toward the top.

"Dear Bud, ... Thanks not only for the copy of the book, but also for putting those wartime notes into a permanent record. It is an important addition to all the "stuff" historians record. I couldn't put the book down once I got into it. It brought back a lot of memories reading about times, places, and people from 55+ years ago."

And There Shall Be Wars is available at Savage Press. Wagner will soon be 93. His service to his country will be remembered.  

Photos by Wilmer Wagner. Click images to enlarge.

Pearl Harbor Day Reflections

When the Twin Towers were struck and fell on my birthday ten years ago, 9/11 was immediately being compared to another Day of Infamy sixty years earlier. What’s striking about the two events is how differently the news reached us. In 2001 Americans across the land were glued to their TV sets seeing replays of the horror and hearing commentaries of related unfolding events as they happened, with varying degrees of accuracy but instantly. With Internet access we could also watch reactions from around the world. Information about the 1941 attack came home to us in a far different manner, as this book excerpt shows.

During World War II my father-in-law Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner kept a diary which years later he assembled into a book, with the help of his son Lloyd. And There Shall Be Wars is 536 pages in length with 178 original photos and illustrations. In many ways it is a remarkable document by the second man from this region of the country to enter the army, serving for the duration in North Africa, Italy and all points in between. The diary entries were made throughout, but the book’s additional value comes from the commentary added nearly fifty years later. Here is the excerpt from Pearl Harbor Day through the ninth. The italicized portion is commentary from the book.

Sunday, December 7, 1941
Slept until 9:00. Made my own breakfast, which was fried eggs, bacon, and toast.
Went to church in the Service Club. Good service by Chaplain Walker.
By the time church was out, so was the news of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Probably this will affect my life very much in the future.
Will go to the Service Club and to church again. Nice today.
Chaplain Walker gave a real good sermon tonight as well. There were only 8 of us there. I got both of the Lucas brothers to go, and Sheppard.
Undoubtedly, we will be on the alert or affected in some way. Some discharged fellows are to report back to their local boards.
Off today. Talked and listened to a lot of the fellows' ideas as to how this will affect us in the future. There haven't been any specific radio reports on Pearl Harbor attack that I've heard, but some information comes now and then.
Our first quesion is, "Just where is it?" Of course, in the Hawaiians, and from all accounts so far, it was bad. It puts all of us in a much more sober mood.

Monday, December 8, 1941
The United States declares war on Japan. We hear the news on noon. I am on duty with Ceno.
We have an alert tonight at 5:00. The 125th Field Artillery of our Division is starting to pull out of Claiborne. I'm wondering what the folks at home are thinking. I bought another diary book tonight.
I'm still the newest cook in the kitchen, but Tarman likes me pretty well. I do my job and somewhat more, so there are no complaints.
I don't care too much for the Philippino cook.
He seems he might be a bit tricky, but then it might just be a strong desire for a drink. All our bottles of extract are taken care of by the Mess Sergeant, but the Philippino seems to find something to drink.
An alert is always a lot of work, but Tarman told me later that he caught the Captain's wink, and only loaded a few things on the kitchen, formed a convoy, drove a few miles, then came back to camp.
The Philippino will drink lemon extract as readily as Otto did.

Tuesday, December 9, 1941
Another alert at 12:30 a.m. Hard to get up, but off-duty cooks always
have to help load. Most of our personal things go along as well, except for our foot lockers.
Had a bad headache. My things are in a mess. We left at 1:30. Got somewhere around Leesville to the firing range at 4:00.
Tarman and I put up our tent together. The situation is non-tactical, so we built a big bon-fire tonight.

As we gathered together around our fire, and after, we had an arousing talk by Captain Genung. Some of the things he said were, "This is it, men. We go for the duration. You will learn to bayonet the Japs and Germans as they sleep in their tents. It's all-out war now. Be prepared to go and do what you are told."

After that, we wondered if the Germans could see our big fire, and maybe come and bayonet us.

The United States and Great Britain had both declared war on Japan. In his address to Congress, President Roosevelt described the events at Pearl Harbor as the forming part of a "date that will live in infamy." Roosevelt did not ask Congress to declare war on Germany or Italy. Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, The Free French, Yugoslavia, and several South American countries all declared war on Japan. Also, China declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Some sobering facts had come in since Sunday's attack on Pearl Harbor. At 07:55 local time, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked the main base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. There was complete tactical and strategic surprise.

Six Jap carriers were sent with a total of 423 planes. Two waves of attacks were sent in. All eight U.S. battleships in port were damaged, five of them were sunk. Also, three cruisers and three destroyers were sunk. We lost 188 aircraft to the Japs' 29.

Words and accusations were flying. The Admiral in charge of the Pacific Fleet would be dismissed because of having all Anti-Aircraft (A.A.) guns locked in peace-time. Then it was Sunday, and many officers and crews from ships were ashore.

We had a lot to talk about, and wondered at how many more mistakes we would be going through for the "duration?" There were some. And those who made the mistakes were sure to try to cover them.

All in all we were able to say, as we could many times in the future, that "Error is Error, and Truth is Truth."

If you or a loved on has an ongoing interest in World War II history, this book would make a great addition to any library and a nice Christmas present. It is still available at Savage Press.

Honor Flight Lifts Off From Duluth

This morning I woke at four a.m. to bring my father-in-law to the airport. When I got to his apartment he was sleeping in the car, ready to go. He'd been there since midnight.

On the way to the airport he told me he remembered how he used to sleep in his jeep with his shoes on. If it wasn't raining the top would be down, but if raining the top would be up. There were no windows on the sides. He'd bunch up his blanket between the seats and it could be pretty comfortable, he said. But someone always came along and said, "Wags, time to get over to headquarters to get new orders."

These memories, more than sixty years old were fresh in the mind of this WWII veteran because today is the first lift off of Honor Flight. More than 100 World War Two veterans are flying to Washington, D.C. to see the WWII Memorial built in their honor for sacrifices and service rendered to their country.

Today's Honor Flight has been months in the making. The veterans and an entourage of paramedics, guardians, doctors, videographer and photographer left Duluth International Airport at 6:30 a.m. and will be arriving shortly at Reagan National Airport in D.C. where they will be greeted by an Honor Flight ground crew. In addition to the World War Two Memorial, the schedule includes visits to other memorials including Viet Nam Veterans, Korean War Veterans, Women in Military Service for America among others.

My father-in-law, Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner, was the second man drafted for service from Northern Minnesota in April 1941 and crossed the Atlantic on the first ship convoy to Europe. As a member of the Field Artillery, attached to the 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division, saw fighting and more in North Africa and Italy, with many a friend left behind. Today he will be part of the Blue Platoon as they visit the various sites and memorials.

Today's Honor Flight is expected to return to Duluth a little after 10:00 p.m. tonight whereupon the veterans will be met by the Duluth Combined Honor Guard, a drum and bugle corps, and (hopefully) a large crowd of appreciative people.

Bud has requested that when I arrive to pick him up tonight that I bring copies of the memoir/diary he published about his experiences titled And There Shall Be Wars. If you're interested, it's worth reading. You can find more information about this book and the price of our freedom here.

No Place Like Home, If You Live In Italy

“Making mental connections is our most crucial learning tool, the essence of human intelligence; to forge links; to go beyond the given; to see patterns, relationships, context” ~Marilyn Ferguson

When I wrote my Architectural Reflections last week I was essentially commenting on how it was once church structures that were dominant in cities but that the new structures in which we invested our imaginations were symbols of commerce (New York skyscrapers) or of excess (Vegas casinos.) What I did not talk much about is the history that is contained in the buildings themselves.

I am thinking this morning of European architecture, especially Rennaissance era buildings into which so much human creativity and imagination has been poured. The trigger for this was an email from our friend Mario Monasterolo, a historian in Northern Italy. Upon reading Sunday's comments on Pavarotti, Mario sent me these photos from Modena, where Pavarotti's life originated.

What's fascinating is that my father-in-law was there during the war, and described his emotions in response to Modena. Mario took the time to locate the passage from Bud's war memoir, And There Shall Be Wars.

Mario wrote, "Pavarotti was born in Modena; Bud was there and wrote wonderful words!" Then cited these:

"It was nice to go through Modena, a city of over 150.000. There were no old narrow streets here, and there was a really tall 290 foot cathedral. Parma was another city worthy of forfeiting a furlough in order to see... Saving these cities had to have been part of the glory of the war..."

These were scenes that made an impression on a young man from rural Northern Minnesota.

When you do a Google search for the words "European architecture" an astonishing array of images is now at your fingertips, courtesy the Internet. Some people have loved Italian architecture so much that they wanted to bring it home with them to America. In fact, that is exactly what John Ringling, youngest of the Ringling brothers did, purchasing a fifteenth century opera house from a village outside Venice, dismantling and reassembling it in its entirety in Sarasota, Florida.

With so much history on every street, in every villa and vista, it's no wonder that people like Mario Monasterolo have developed a passion for making connections with the past, bringing it to life in the present so we can enrich our futures.

Thanks, Mario, for these images and all the rest.

Veteran Recalls Death “By Friendly Fire”

On one level Pat Tillman was just another soldier. To quote my father-in-law who served in World War II, “The short lives of those killed were hardly a flicker here on earth. Though most of their names will never appear in history books, they were all heroes. Every battle left heroes, the survivors and the dead. I can only have nothing but sad respect for the men who had so few joys and so many miseries, and who gave their lives so others could go on living.”

For me, Tillman was more than just another soldier because he was more than just another person even before he entered the war. What I mean is that Tillman demonstrated his values by his choices. During his football career he turned down a 9 million dollar contract with the St. Louis Rams to play at one-third this price for the Arizona Cardinals. Later, Tillman gave up the money altogether to enlist in the armed forces to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was later sent to Afghanistan.

I remember in April 2004 when the news carried the story of his untimely death while in the service of his country. Tragically, two months later, another Pat Tillman story crossed the newswire. “FormerNFL player¹s death caused by ‘friendly fire'.” Friendly fire is a euphemism for “Oh no, we shot our own man.”

Mistakes happen in life, but when I overtighten a lug nut and it breaks, it is only a hassle. No one has been killed by this foolishness. Mistakes like the death of Pat Tillman are on another scale. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to process the confusion and grief. I know this because my father-in-law Bud Wagner has recently been telling a few stories that did not make the pages of his published war memoir, And There Shall Be Wars.

Today as we celebrate our own Independence as a nation, I wanted to share one of these untold stories which reveal the true costs of our freedom.

There are many, many things not written down in the book as they actually happened. One that comes to mind right away is on page 359 when four American bombers came over a bunch of us. I was out of range but some of the 125 F.A. weren't, and four were killed. Ken Kramer was one of those killed. Read it again. American bombers dropped four 500 lb. bombs to lose weight and get back to England. The Second Corps came out with the report that unidentified bombers dropped bombs.

Kramer was a friend of mine starting in Ireland. Truth is truth, as well as error is error, war or not. Articles like this one were ones that would grip me and others. You could compare it with a person not familiar with the Bible. After he read it you could say, "Well, what did it say?" He would probably say some little thing about it and would have to say, "Well read it again." Probably omitting the statement that those bombers were unidentified. We knew which were enemies and which were friendly bombers. Well, so did the corps.

Many accidents occur because of carelessness. When they permanently take away something that might have been, how does one process this?

While talking with Bud the incident came up yet again. It is also powerfully revealing of why returning soldiers are often so mute about their experiences. Heart breaking. They want to share, but others who were not there can be brutally insensitive or dismissive, or worse.

Once more let’s turn to page 359. Read it again and then try to imagine just what happened. I can't recall much of the details anymore but have to pounce on the fake statements that those bombers were unidentified. First of all by the time they dropped the bombs many on the ground, including myself, knew they were American. Then when they got back to their base they would have known about where they were dropped. This of course was far from the Air Force policy and what about Ken, my old friend who was on radio duty who had to be the one who was killed. The confusion is unbelievable in a situation like this. Medics were close by and all help was used.

The other statement that came to me years later and long after my diary was written was from the original 2nd Corps account of Feb. 7, 1944. I quote, “unidentified aircraft dropped three bombs in the division sector, one of which destroyed the radio relay station slightly infuriating Sgt. Paul Staken, Pvt. Robert Staples and Corporal Bernard Reno. Sgt Kenneth Kramer who was operating the radio received more serious (wounds) and died the next day.” The rest of us knew better. It was a cause of one of the bombers crews missing the target and wanted to get back faster, probably to England or south Italy, and get rid of the bombs. What a morale builder. Try telling this to some civilians fifty or sixty years later and the response is sickening.

I can't go on without telling of the night I came home after four and a half years. Remember I had just got home that day...all my uncles and some others were there to welcome (me) and of course wanted to know all about the war. The youngest uncle asked me afterwards about the Germans killing unnecessarily and I told him a little and his response was "they all do that in war." I kept my mouth shut but much later was able to tell him to try and prove to me where any American soldiers lined Italians up alongside a building and shot them down... men, women and children. Then they covered them up with hay; others weren't always (covered). He would just shrug his shoulders and we soon found out when someone wanted to talk about the war you would get further to just keep your mouth shut. They would mostly think that it was probably true for some but not you as you came back and saw a lot of the country.

And so there was nothing more about the unidentified bomber except what we already knew and my old friend Ken had to do without the years that most of us survived.

As we remember the Fourth, let's make a special spot in our hearts for our veterans.

The Never Ending Story

A nice email again from Mario in Northern Italy. The magazine is now in print featuring the story my father-in-law, WW2 veteran who published his war memoirs and memories, which culminated in the villages near Torino and Racconigi.

I remember when I first saw some of Bud's photos from the war. He showed a picture of a road where every tree had every branch splintered and stripped bare of leaves. The devastation of the war had been vividly captured.

But Mario's letter this morning shares the brighter side of this war, the warmth and hope that had been inspired by the arrival of the Americans.

Dear Ed. Since our first mail, I have never spent so much time without writing. The fact is that we have been so busy organizing things... But my main difficulty was (is) how to express the feelings and the consequences of the article about Bud. All people were touched, and we had been waiting for such a reaction. But now, all people have begun remembering, also the younger ones: my grandfather used to tell me… My aunt… My father in law…

One surprising meeting I had was with a young man from Murello. It’s a small town seven km from Racconigi, were Bud used to go dancing and having dates. This man told me that an old aunt of his always used to remember those young Americans; there was one who reached Murello by jeep and offered “caramelle”; those sweeties were inside a tobacco can. One evening the soldier wasn’t near the jeep and the children opened the can so as to give a look inside, being prepared to receive “caramelle” later. The can was full of tobacco!

Maybe the man wasn’t Bud but I listened to the story and it was just like if Bud was there speaking to me.

Today and tomorrow we’ll have all magazines in kiosks and libraries; then we’ll be able to collect bookings of And There Shall Be Wars and organize orders and shipping. Our Mayor wants us to have another public presentation on the main square, during our summer feasts. A never ending story! But a beautiful story.

Now I’m busy preparing the second issue, but no longer stressed: I’ll write you again soon, so as to go on keeping in touch. A town-wide kiss to Bud and your whole family. Mario

If you are interested in seeing this feature story, in the new historical magazine "Terre di seta", I have uploaded it to my personal website and it can be viewed here: articolo_bud.pdf

According to Mario, “Terre di seta”, that means “a silky country”: a very original part of their agricultural past was bound to silkworm breeding and in the pre-industrial production of threads. The magazine will deal with all aspects of everyday life in their past, mainly based on personal memories and private archives, hence Bud's story was a natural fit for their leadoff issue. The magazine is the product of a non-profit cultural Association supported by local private sponsors with no public help. It is a product of volunteers, although they are all professionals, headed up by Prof. Bartolo Gariglio, deputy director of the History Department of the University of Turin.

May we all remember our histories, and pass their lessons on to future generations.

A Few Things You Might Not Have Known About The Flag

Today is Flag Day, June 14, commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States in 1777. Evidently you can't be a country without a flag, because every nation seems to have one.

The official proclamation that this would be called Flag Day was made by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Our doughboys were heading off to war on foreign soil and our flag would fly with them. It wasn't until after WWII that the U.S. Congress voted to establish it as a National Flag Day. Ironically, Pennsylvania is the only state to officially celebrate it as a holiday. Perhaps because that Second Continental Congress in 1777 met in Philadelphia?

Here are a few details about our U.S. flag that some might not know.

~ The first time our flag flew over foreign soil was in what country? Libya, over Fort Deme on the shores of Tripoli. (And now you know where that line from the U.S. Marines hymn came from.) But when was this and why? It was 1803. The Barbary Coast pirates had been perpetually interfering with shipping routes and the U.S. decided to do something about it. In fact, it was because of these pirates that George Washington created the U.S. Navy in 1794. North Africa was under the control of Ottoman Turks, but with the aid of Croatian fighters (probably from Venice), 8 U.S. marines took the fort and flew the flag to ensure afe commerce on the high seas.

~ Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner on the back of an envelope. Where did the tune come from? Actually, the music came from an English drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven."

~A vexillologist is an expert in the history of flags. Something I am not, though with the help of Google you can probably become an expert in anything.

~ The first 50-star American flag was raised over Fort McHenry near Baltimore in 1960, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

~ The reason the first flag had all the stars in a circle was so that no one "state" would be above another.

~ In 2004 Cornell University researchers etched the world's smallest full color American flag onto a silicon chip. The Bush administration was seeking to implant these chips into all natural born U.S. citizens. (That last sentence was a joke to see if you're still reading. ;-)

Today is my father-in-law's 90th birthday, a somewhat momentous milestone. It's true that many people are living longer these days, but I know few at his age who are still so active. As a veteran soldier from what many are calling "The Greatest Generation" he saw many of his friends killed during the war. He still mows our lawn, keeps a large garden, digs ditches, and loves to drive, a habit which he picked up during the war as a company agent, carrying messages to and from the front, and site seeing in that beautiful Italian countryside.

The images on the page today are from the National World War Two Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is a very special memorial, a good place to reflect on the price of freedom. The soldiers from each state our acknowledged here as well as the theaters in which they served. Be sure to click on each image to enlarge. Thank you, Bud, and to all who sacrificed so much.

This bottom photo depicts the major campaigns which were fought in Southern Europe, all of which are depicted in day-to-day first hand detail in Bud Wagner's diaries and memoir And There Shall Be Wars.  

From Italy With Love

There are more than six billion people in the world. Each person's life is a collection of stories. What's fascinating is how these stories intersect, diverge and re-connect.

Followers of this blog have been no doubt aware of the ongoing story unfolding here. My father-in-law, who served more than 3 and a half years in the army during WWII wrote a book ten years ago called And There Shall Be Wars. Tomorrow he will be 90, a milestone for sure. He served in North Africa and Italy where his Red Bull 34th division scrapped and slogged for every inch, pushing back the Nazis from 1943 till the war's end.

In April 1945 Cpl. Wagner and the 34th were in Milan when Benito Mussolini and his mistress were slain, their bodies hung upside down and stoned by the peoples. Wagner was within a mile and could have gone to witness this historic event, but it did not suit him. He had already seen enough violence. But of this day he wrote it was one he would not forget. The roads were lined with Italians all waving and cheering.There many in Italy who remember that day.

What's also fascinating to me is how the sharing of Bud's book with my own family lead to my discovering that one of my uncles had been at Normandy on D-Day and another great uncle had been wounded by shrapnel at the Battle of the Bulge. Now we have had the privilege of sharing some of Bud's stories in Italy. This week a new magazine is going to print about the history of Northern Italy. Mario, our new friend over there, helped with its formation. In the process, I think they've all fallen in love with the story teller from Minnesota, Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner.

Here is an email I received this morning from Mario followed by a YouTube video Birthday Greeting to Bud. Two of the people in this little video remember when the Americans were there in Racconigi. Bud remembers these days in Italy with fondness.

Thank you Ed! Today is Saturday: generally, a busy day for me. Well: busy is not the right world, it's better say: full of strange events, very "normal" in this old-odd country inside old Europe. I just arrived from a small city not far from here (Cherasco) where I was invited to attend the presentation of a Cycling Team (all babies under 10) going to attend the Italian Junior Championship next week. Now I'm leaving, to attend the inauguration of a new Restaurant in an ex aristocratic estate here (!!!). But tomorrow is Sunday!!! And the very important fact is that our magazine will be printed beginning from Thursday.

Our young art director (Pier) is very interested in fine arts and graphics; he already knows your blog! Good idea, a show in Italy! We only need to begin breathing again!

Carla is 83! A very active woman, a very, very good friend. She is helping us gather people to collect memoirs. Beppe is 84: at 18 he became a partisan! And one thing I forgot to tell while introducing him, is that he is our former mayor (the "first citizen", as we used to say).

When I was in Cherasco two hours ago, I had a touching meeting with a man (about 69, but he looks 50) who was one of my neighbours when I was young. I told him about Bud; he started telling me of his father, who was in the Army in Sardinia at the end of the war; he was some months old when his father had to join the Army so he only knew him as a face on a photo; in 1945, his mother was informed that maybe his husband was dead. When Bud was in Racconigi, the young boy used to reach the railway station every evening, 'cause the only one train arriving from Torino was full of soldiers coming home from all sorts of places. One evening his father arrived and had such a long beard, was so thin and bad looking, that he didn't recognize him. He had reached Naples on an English ship, and had walked (!) from Naples to Turin: look at a map, Ed!

This is the very meaning of "discovering" Bud: there are so many people here, who are astonished in listening to his story. He has opened a sort of "Pandora vase" of memoirs and feelings, that had never been told or written. I've so many stories to tell you!

"Domani è un altro giorno": tomorrow is another day. Bud will be "officially" 90: tell him we are all with you in Minnesota. Ciao, Mario

Thank you Mario, Beppe, Pier, Carla... each of you and all of you.

WW2 Vet Celebrates 90th This Week

"Death was always hovering over you like mud and executed orders. But once you got used to it, you never did get to know the fellows you worked with. When they left you it was for keeps and all they got was a body bag and a place in the cemetery." ~Wilmer A. "Bud" Wagner

We take our freedoms for granted, something no one took for granted sixty years ago.

My father-in-law is celebrating his ninetieth birthday this week. (His actual birthday is Flag Day, the 14th.) He's no slacker. Today he's been out mowing my yard, getting it prettied for his daughter arriving from Texas and a grand-daughter coming home from college this evening. He's planting a few more flowers, working in the garden and occasionally stopping to take a rest. Very occasionally.

On Memorial Day I made reference to his memoirs which were amplified into a book called And There Shall Be Wars. It just so happens that earlier this month Mario Monasterolo, a historian in the region of Turin, Italy, discovered Bud's book through Google and we have been in correspondence. The episode churned up fresh memories for Bud which had not been included in the original story. Here are a few of these.

By the summer of 1940 everybody knew there would be a war soon, except maybe the strong pro-Germans. My grandfather had died that winter leaving four sons, a son-in-law, two daughters and another son-in-law who had a mind of his own.

The oldest son soothed most of the Germans in the family by listening to Hitler speak one night on the radio and said he was real sure Hitler had no thoughts of a global war. However, he was the first one to change his mind as he bought a new Ford car and later a brother moved him to Wisconsin and he had his upstairs loaded with sugar and things that later became rationed. To the rest of the people it was pretty obvious that war was headed our way. You would have had to be pretty stupid to think otherwise. Then the draft lottery started and all the young men had to register. My dad was against that. Not so much of the war, but losing one or more of his two boys to the army.

Well I got a low draft number and got called up in April of 41. The book tells about all I could say about it. Then December 7th came along and we were in it. The hardest things were mock battles, load everything and imagine you are ready to advance or retreat. Cooking was going good and I was satisfied... then the night after Christmas one Battalion moved out. Some of these fellows were on furlough and had to be replaced in a hurry and I was one that had to go with the First Battalion, but still as a cook. Then in a few days we left too and I found out what feeding five hundred men in a moving train was like. Lots of help, but hectic.

Then the following morning it hit me suddenly that we were heading East and it really sobered me up. The thought now was one year for me, it’s for the duration, but I was glad we found out we were going to Ireland. I learned a lot of cooking from Hurlog Soderlung, Don Sternke and others. Then I had the chance to cook for the officers. I made a hit with them as they bought food themselves and had us cook it for them. In the Tynan Abbey camp, the one gardener took me to his home and I met his daughter Peggy. I would walk across the estate almost every night to visit with them and we all had a good time. I had bought the first bicycle I ever owned and rode along the beach with Eva Auald, Don Sternke and his girlfriend. Then we moved and Hurley got me acquainted with his girl friend’s sister who was also a pharmacist. The book covers the time pretty well as we finally got into action and I got out of the kitchen. We made an 800 mile trip three times and then it was Italy for two years.

One of the most impressive feats of bravery for any soldier, green or experienced, is a beachhead. The first half hour of Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan did more to illuminate this experience than nearly any film or book I have ever encountered. What is often forgotten is that the 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division put themselves on the line in not one, but two such beachhead assaults, at Anzio and Salerno.

Over the years, I've frequently been impressed by the details in Bud's re-telling of these landings. This is in reference to Salerno, Bud in his jeep on the Landing Transport.

Let’s go back to just before the invasion. We had our vehicles pretty well waterproofed. Remember, we had to stay on the job until the vehicles were completely waterproofed and checked by an officer. Then there was constant thought as to how we really would do. Strange was all of it to us. As the big doors on the LST, or commonly called the Large Slow Target, would react to the orders to open we had to have the transmission in first gear, the transfer case in low position, and the throttle one third all the way on its permanent setting. Both hands on the steering wheel, and under no circumstances do you move any of your body members any other way. Oh yes, and the front wheel drive lever engaged.

The uncertainty of the whole thing would have me to say read it again. Put yourself in the place of a soldier. The running around to where you weren't quite sure to where you were told to go and not quite sure as to who they were as we were assigned to the 36th Division. It was “do your best and keep moving.”

One of the first things that happened was of course the Krauts left a few parting shots as they usually always tried to do, and our boys were doing the almost impossible thing of firing the 105's without having the trail split or using the gadgets for range and elevation. Easy to pass by on this one with a shrug, but read it again. 105's are made to be fired with the trail spilt and dug into the ground to hold them somewhat in the same position for the next shot. Then remember, too, they had absolutely no information as to what the range or altitude should be so they were shooting at the Krauts point blank and if you don't know much about artillery pieces, the Krauts couldn't shoot back. When you retreat the gun is hooked up to a two and a half ton truck and can't be fired until the truck unhooks the gun and the crew shifts it into firing position. Not an easy task either as they are real heavy expensive things and very heavy to maneuver back into firing position. The unusual thing about one gun is that as the crew was trying to get it back in the firing position, a two star from the 36th Division came and helped the crew get the trails back close enough so that they could get that artillery piece to give the Krauts one more parting shot. But read it again.

You never will get the full benefit of it until you can see the inside of what a tank looks like when they scored a few direct hits. The gun crew sergeant said of the General, he was the highest ranking man I ever had on my own crew. It was a hectic night. We had to do a lot of things on our own initiative. A skeleton crew was there from every detail and as I was going past the service truck the mechanic Louie Day hollered at me to stop and remove some of the waterproofing. I just waved and kept on my way.

The Jeep suffered a lot that day, got hot and really banged up. That’s why they picked me to be the one to be the first messengers there. My plan was to drive it or park it. There was no rest that night but by the next day there was some resemblance, though that changed in a hurry, too. The Krauts weren't giving up just yet. They had a crack division there in a hurry and we had to back up a bit, first time in all our combat. Eisenhower soon heard and had the 82nd Airborne Division from Sicily and some war ships shooting over us.

More stories yet to be told, but if you get a hankering for the book, you can find it here. It's a good read, and most can't put it down.

PHOTO CAPTIONS

Top Right: "This is what the peep and I looked like after a night of trips on the muddy Voltuno River banks, and sometimes between the banks as well. Hand-operated windshield wipers gave a small view. Shifting gears, steering, and windshield wiping all at the same time was sometimes tricky. I'm glad the clutch and gas were foot-operated instead of by hand." November 8, 1943.

Left: Bud today, as in this afternoon, still looking forward to good things as yet unseen.

Lower Right: "These 3 English graves and 1 American were close to Hill 609. No doubt they were booby-trapped. These graves were removed when the rear troops got there." July 25, 1943.