Mementos from Private Bassler

A while back I obtained a small grouping of personal paperwork items that belonged to a Private John H. Bassler of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. Pvt. Bassler was in Company G, 23rd Infantry Regiment. I felt that these little treasures from his time spent in Europe during the war would be great to share with any other 2nd Infantry Division enthusiasts out there. So here there are for you to examine and enjoy.

First off is a photo which one can only assume is either Pvt. Bassler or one of his wartime buddies. There were no captions on the back of the photo so the exact date and location of the photo are currently unknown. He is wearing a M-41 Field Jacket and his 2nd I.D. patch is just visible on his left sleeve. He is either wearing a pair of double buckle boots or a pair of cutdown leggings with roughouts in the photo.
Next are a few paperwork items including an Immunization Register and a War Department address card.

Here is the top portion of a newspaper clipping from the Milwaukee Sentinel dated Sunday, January 24, 1943. Pvt. Bassler has circled the 2nd Infantry's "Indianhead" insignia and scribbled some comments above it. It reads: "This is our shoulder insignia - the star for Texas an Indian for Okla. This is what will be on my arm. I will try and send you one home to wear." This must have been the popular story that circulated around the division as to their insignia's origins.
This is a postcard from Pvt. Bassler addressed to his wife back in Martinsburg. The postmark date is Feb. 7, 1944. The card reads: "Darling Wife, Just a line to let you know I am O.K. was at town yesterday got you some souvenirs. I will put some cards in with your letter today. Love, John"

And the last piece of this little collection is a decal from the Carlton Elite Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. The 2nd Division was never stationed in Zurich during the war, but Pvt. Bassler may have made a trip to Zurich or obtained this decal from a friend.

Paratrooper Sketch

This past Sunday, I spent a couple of hours doing a sketchbook page for the 100 Artists Project. I decided to use the August 14, 1944 LIFE magazine cover as my subject for this one page sketch. I had always wanted to do an illustration of this "now famous" photo. The paratrooper is Lt. Kelso C. Horne on the road to St. Sauveur, Normandy in late June 1944. I thought I did a pretty good job rendering Lt. Horne, his uniform, his equipment and the M-1. I should probably spend more time doing drawings like these because I really did enjoy working on this project although I found the helmet to be particularly challenging!

You can check out what the project is all about by visiting their site at www.100artistsproject.com.

Operation Dragoon

This past Saturday, March 15th, six members of “Item” Company, 23rd Infantry headed down to Kansas for Operation Dragoon. The weather held out for our boys this time and they were able to make it down and back without Mother Nature adding any extra excitement. In attendance were Sean Cheek, David Jameson, Brian Jameson, Will Green, Kirk Gustafson and Casey Sill. I really wish I could have made it down there with them, but I went to a wedding in Omaha with my wife and represented our 2nd I.D. boys on the dance floor instead. We danced to a few Glenn Miller songs which was pretty fun for Tracy and I. So here are some photos from Sean and David from the event. I adjusted the color and grain on these to give them more of an antique feel - and by desaturating the color it makes the landscape look pretty bleak. Enjoy!!!

Our First Movie Night

We held our first official unit "Movie Night" on Friday, February 22 at Will Green's house. In attendance were Will, David Jameson, Scott Rowe and myself. We started the night out by watching two WWII-era training films. The first film centered on being inducted into the U.S. Army. The second film covered the ins and outs of military courtesy - basically when to salute and when NOT to salute. Needless to say, I love the old wartime films, the subtle nuance of phrase, the authoritative narration and the really cheesy actors. Then we threw in "The Story of G.I. Joe" starrring Robert Mitchum and Burgess Meredith. This has become one of my favorite World War II action dramas over the years. Released in 1945, it features 150 actual veterans of the war and I think it shows in their movements, language, and mannerisms. After the movie we headed down to Will's basement to bask in the glory of his awesome Civil War and World War II collection. We did a little rifle drilling as well - I know, we're total nerds!!! It was a fun night and hopefully the first of many more unit Movie Nights to come.

Drill Training at the Museum

On Saturday, February 16th, our unit held an indoor training drill at the Strategic Air & Space Museum near Ashland, NE. The day started out with an in-depth study of U.S. Army uniforms led by Will Green. We were given a really solid refresher course on all of the uniform items that a G.I. would have been issued prior to Pearl Harbor all the way through the end of the war. Items covered included hats, helmets, boots, dress uniforms, utility uniforms, and cold and wet weather gear as well. It was a really great presentation. Way to go Will!!! Next we broke for a brief lunch followed by some instruction from our president Sean Cheek on maneuver tactics in the field. The primary focus here was on the advantages and disadvantages of various formations used by squads in the field, for example a skirmish line, wedge, column, or diamond formation. We then spent some time going over basic rifle drill exercises. We covered such basics as "falling in", practicing rifle inspection, shouldering our weapons, and practicing turns. It was great to be in a line of guys all going through the manual of arms together! Next up, I gave a class on the use of our unit hand signals in the field. A majority of the hand signals we use are directly taken from the actual WWII signals that G.I.'s used, however, we have adapted a few signals to work better within the realm of reenacting and the needs of our unit structure. The day ended with quite a few of the guys touring the cockpit of the B-29 "Superfortress" and the entire inside of the B-17 "Flying Fortress". Wow!!! These airplanes are truly a treasure! I think that I have always taken it for granted that I have access to a restored B-17 and B-29 in my hometown. A big salute goes to David Jameson, an awesome member of our unit and a volunteer at the museum, for giving us the chance to spend some time in these incredible old warbirds. It was a great day and a lot of fun to see all the guys again.

2008 Schedule of Events

Tonight we had our event planning meeting for 2008, so here is our unit’s new living history schedule for the upcoming year. There will be a few other impromptu events sprinkled in throughout the year but these are the official events that were voted on by the unit membership. Come check us out at an event near you!

2/16/08 - Indoor Drill Event - Strategic Air & Space Museum
3/15/08 – Operation Dragoon Tactical Battle - Great Bend, KS
4/12/08 - Field Training Event - Mondamin, IA
5/10/08 - 2nd I.D. Sponsored Tactical Battle - Mondamin, IA
5/17/08 – Armed Forces Day Display - Strategic Air & Space Museum
6/7/08 – D-Day Display - Strategic Air & Space Museum
6/21/08 – All American Salute to the Troops - Sioux Falls, SD
7/26/08 – Trip to the National World War One Museum - Kansas City, MO
8/5/08 – Unit Field Trip to the Offutt Air Show - Bellevue, NE
9/7/08 – Army Cars USA Fall Party – Spooner, WI
9/13/08 – Fall Training Event and Bivouac - Mondamin, IA
10/12/08 – Tactical Battle - Kinkaid, KS
11/8/08 – Veteran’s Day Timeline Display - Strategic Air & Space Museum
12/6/08 – Unit Christmas Party and Elections - Omaha, NE

The 2nd Division on D-Day

I love discovering new information about different units during World War II and researching some of the lesser known actions that various units participated in. You could say it is one of my favorite aspects of being an amateur historian. This past week I was able to uncover some pretty incredible history on the very unit that my reenacting group portrays, the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division. This information was found in my all-time favorite D-Day book, Spearheading D-Day by Jonathan Gawne. What follows is the passage that got me so excited:

"The Special Engineer Task Force was still short of manpower so roughly 150 engineers from the 2nd "Indianhead" Infantry Division were added to the 900 men of the Gap Assault Teams to bring them up to full strength. Along with the 2nd Division engineers were a few infantrymen from the 23rd and 9th Infantry Regiments. Two to five of these 2nd Division men - whose patch they continued to wear on the field jacket - were added to each gap team that landed in the first waves on D-Day. Their contribution and presence in the initial assault has rarely been recognized."

Pretty crazy to think that there were 150+ engineers and as many as 125 infantrymen (there were roughly 27 Gap Assault and Gap Support Teams) who landed at H+3 minutes wearing the Indianhead patch. This new found information has made me even more humble to represent the unit that has always been "Second to None" since World War One!