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Show New Utah - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - Page 9 'V .v 5? . " S t . A- i (S ua: : bete X! man d V ise oft Mil It- r a " :iaini: ction- es Salute to freedom SBc j. - , V IS ' ' , i ' t "I lattb;, : M 1 ' "eation;. s 5 : r I . P-m. " I il twenty f J i-store :V y it the L: ,iS School' f" f ; ill add '' V )e door: ' - ate. L' '4 ittend;; f"" s on Or " I he!: "1 ametc V X,,...-. .. . irnir-- ... mill H - ... . -1 perican Fork High School student Ben Bartholomew won $100 in the second al photography contest sponsored by Hospice For Utah. Students from tooss the state were asked to take photographs of veterans to be shown in con- xtion with National Hospice Month. The photos are displayed at the Utah State sterans Nursing Home, 700 S. Foothill Dr., Salt Lake City. Buddy Poppies offer help for disabled vets Veteran's Day is Thursday, Nov. 11. In remembrance of American's disabled veterans from all conflicts, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 4918 and its Ladies Auxiliary offer red paper poppies for the public to wear. The buddy poppies are made by disabled veterans who work year round in hospitals, rest homes, etc., to assemble the small poppies. pop-pies. All donated money goes to improve the lives of injured vets who have defended our freedoms. Red poppy donations give thanks to veterans who have sacrificed to maintain our liberties. This year's buddy poppy chairperson is Walt Farmer. American Legion Pleasant Grove Post 70 invites veterans and the public to a special Veteran's Day program followed by the movie, "Saints and Soldiers," Sol-diers," 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 13, and again at 1:30 p.m. at SCERA Show House II Theatre, 745 S. State Street in Orem. The publishers of "Saints and Soldiers" Sol-diers" are helping to sponsor the program by allowing allow-ing the movie to show for free at the SCERA. Veterans Veter-ans will be the honored guests. The suggested public donations is $3 per person and will support the American Legion Post 70 fund for a "Deceased Veteran Memorial Crosses" at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery, and for Post 72 and its program at the Orem City Cemetery. Crosses are displayed dis-played one-week prior to and one-week following Memorial Day. Each cross costs approximately $4. The Post 72 veterans would like to encourage a patriotic donation for this Veteran's Day event. Additional donations may be sent in care of Orem American Legion Post 72, P.O. Box 2195, Orem, Utah 84097 and by specifying the donations for Post 70, or contact Post Commander George Van De Water for additional information at 225-6428 or 400-5037. History Channel to show 'Story of Veterans Day' The Department of Vet erans Affairs (VA), the Department of Education and the History Channel have collaborated on the creation of "The Story of Veterans Day," a youth-oriented youth-oriented documentary which will be broadcast Nov. 11 on the History Channel. "We're thankful, the History Channel and the Department of Education produced this documentary documen-tary to educate our nation on the meaning of Veterans Veter-ans Day and the sacrifices of America's veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Prin-cipi. Prin-cipi. "Educating the American Ameri-can people about the importance and value of honoring veterans is priceless." "The Story of Veterans Day" is the fourth installment install-ment in a series called "History of the Holiday," which explores the meaning mean-ing and origin of national holidays on the History Channel. VA provided historical information and footage to the History Channel and worked with the Department Depart-ment of Education on its outreach efforts to veterans. veter-ans. The 30-minute program, pro-gram, which examines the meaning and origin of Veterans Day, will air nationally on Thursday, Nov. 11, on the History Channel at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The series, created to stimulate student interest in our American holidays, also includes programs on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day and Labor Day. The 204th Field Artillery -Vs note: This article ztracted from a chapter, impact of World War TT hie of Pleasant Grove" 'West, from the forth- Comprehensive His-"f His-"f Pleasant Grove bv d Sutch and Beth V entries tffte rigors VoildWarll Linda Butler JI than 500 mm frnm Grnvo MWarTT ;ie Utah National Guard r,s t j . -oanery, 222nd Field was the largest ;?from the Pleasant e area an .i .,i ' men, wiiu 5 together during A. Early in the :. 'Was felt that the ;;,0Wl1 boys boosted .fsserve unit ca ilizedonMarchS, -and th ' itj "-uuunancong LJ8 Captain EleroyR. ''c men shipped on ' 1941, to train in . uus uarcai- in- ,7u'5uatea as the Id Artillery Nu,T ec- 7 attck on LH the unit .. no were shipped Cak ,securedthe south- tornia coast. The sol diers embarked to England, landing in late March, 1944, where they trained until D-day D-day on June 6, 1944. The 204th Field Artillery Battalion became part of Patton's Third Army and landed in France in July providing pro-viding supply lines to the soldiers sol-diers fighting on the front. The battery had increased to 90 members and they traveled trav-eled back and forth in individual indi-vidual trucks and small convoys, con-voys, carrying food, supplies, and ammunition from the supply points to the firing positions. Much of the travel was done under dismal conditions condi-tions - poor roads, at night during blackout conditions (which meant driving with very little light), and crisscrossing criss-crossing behind the front lines. The 204th Artillery Battalion performed well on all its support missions and earned the reputation as one of the best firing battalions in the Third Army. The following excerpts are taken from battalion summaries sum-maries and describe Life on the front. Aug. 11, 1944 near Angers, France "While reconnoitering an assigned firing position, the advanced party received heavy shelling from German 88's, and hastily picked positions posi-tions 800 yard further south. Firing batteries moved into position by 1500, set up and fired 237 rounds supporting the river crossing. Enemy planes were overhead at 1830, and enemy artillery landed in the battalion area between 2230 and 2250." Aug. 22 to 25 "Orders were received assigning Battalion to reinforce rein-force the fire of the 19th FA Battalion in direct support of the 11th Combat of the 5th Infantry Division. The fight was for the city of Fontainebleau. Battalion ordered to move as soon as possible and support the building of bridge across Seine River. The occupation was the fastest on record. All speed laws were broken as the truck drivers poured it on moving into position. The move order was given at 1430 and was completed at 1535 at the race track in Fontainebleau." Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 "During the course of this day's travel, Battalion crossed the Meuse River, near Verdun, continuing a pilgrimage into the past. Opposition Op-position closed into another old World War I battlefield. Dugouts extend far into the sides of the hills and are occupied of memories of other men from our land who came over here many years ago on the same mission that we now have. It is our earnest hope that these tomb-like catacombs will never play host to our successors. suc-cessors. "Battalion pitched camp among grim reminders of other days in an earlier war to end all wars, surrounded by old shell holes, duds, and Artels W The Utah National Guard Service Battery, 222nd Field morning before the soldiers left for San Luis Obispo, Calif, rusted barbed wire concertinas. concerti-nas. Near Verdun, our Battalion, Bat-talion, along with all other units of Third Army, are compelled com-pelled to remain stationary because of lack of gasoline. Capable as we are of pursuit of the enemy, we are unable to do so because of empty gas tanks." The Battalion became known for its speed and efficiency. effi-ciency. They supplied many Divisions and, on occasion, arrived at the fighting front at the same time as the infantry, as written in the following entries. April 24 "We moved into PAN-HOLZ PAN-HOLZ smoothly, speedily. This was a difficult move over a narrow road, with a tight right angle turn at the bridge which would not allow the prime movers with the guns to make the turn. Each one of the guns was brought up, unhooked, man handled to make the turn, chained to a truck, pulled across the bridge, then rehooked up to the big prime mover and pulled out of the way. This was repeated for each of the twelve 155 mm artillery pieces, while under harassing harass-ing sniper fire. This was all completed, and the Battalion was in position ready to fire at the assigned hour. Quite an accomplishment. For us, the difficult has become routine" rou-tine" April 25 "Again a day of movement, odd in the fact that we, medium medi-um artillery, were spearheading spearhead-ing the attack, which has often been the case. We start at the rear, approach the center, cen-ter, lo and behold, even the cavalrv and infantry eat our dust."' Germany's surrender on May 7, 1945 brought an end- Courtesy photo Artillery, later the 204th, the on March 17, 1941. ing to the fight in Europe. The Battalion's journal states, "Peace has actually come to Europe; it's all over but the shouting. The radio has been giving out the good news all day ... Peace was not what might have been expected. It might be imagined to consist of a great deal of firing, the ring of the phone, and the command, 'Cease firing, peace has been declared,' but such was not the case. The Battalion Battal-ion has had a lull the last few days and the coming of peace was just another day; maintenance mainte-nance work went on as usual." The men in this unit had been serving for over four years, since March, 1942. Because of high points earned for their many months of service, these men were among the earlier troops to be discharged, beginning soon after the Japanese surrender on Aug. 14, 1945. |