Major General Leonard Wing was an attorney from Vermont that was a Norwich graduate. He was the only National Guard general to command a division in battle during World War II.
The 43rd Infantry Division occurred as a result of the split up of Yankee Division after the Great War. Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island would form the units that composed it.
The division had three campaigns, New Guinea, Northern Solomons and Luzon.
When General George Smith Patton died in late 1945 his former Assistant Chief of Staff Paul Harkins compiled his notes and made War As I Knew It a book. Harkins was a former 110th Cavalry Trooper from Boston who entered West Point through his time in the Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment.
The book deals with all of Patton’s Second World War campaigns but is most detailed in the main push through Europe in the fall of 1944 through its conclusion in the spring of 1945.
Many references to the 26th Infantry division and Major General Willard Paul the division’s commander. The volume also covers the fact that Yankee Division overtook an area that had chemical weapons stored on a river in barges. The Germans came to his command post to ask him not to shell or bomb it, which he promptly got the word out. This is important in that YD was the most gassed unit of the First World War and appears to be the only unit of any size that came into contact with chemicals again, although the agents were not used.
Great book if one wants to know what happened during the Battle of the Bulge. The Yankee Division History 1917-1918 and 1944-1945 from the Yankee Division Veterans Association fills in a lot of the gaps to give a good picture of the actions involved.
George Linthicum was a member of the 26th Recon Troop of Yankee Division during the Battle of the Bulge. The Philadelphia native went on to lead the the Yankee Division Veterans Association and the Battle of the Bulge Veterans Association.
An action he was involved in was used in the 1960s movie the Battle of the Bulge where Germans were captured in American uniforms. He passed away of cancer in 2008.
XX Corps Third Army ETO
The 26th Infantry Division and the 94th Infantry Division were both members of the XX Corps subsequently to the Battle of the Bulge. This is interesting in that the formations fought side by side and were both New England based divisions and both have mementos in the Massachusetts State House.
The 26th Infantry Division was formed from the Massachusetts National Guard and known as Yankee Division. The 94th Was formed from New England Army Reserve units and had the nickname of Pilgrim Division.
The Corps designations and Army designations would change based on how worn out the unit was or the needs of the Army or Corps Commanders in order to achieve its objectives. General George Patton credited the ability to rapidly move divisions from Corps to Corps as one of the reasons America would overcome the German Army during the European Campaign of 1944-1945.
Born in Sweden and a 1939 graduate of Waltham High School Ralph T. Malmgren enlisted in the 110th Cavalry in 1939. When the Second World War broke out his unit was eventually converted into the 626th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
In 1945 he was Staff Sergeant who had been at the Hurtgen Forest during the Battle of the Bulge. He went on to own Barabara Jean’s Candy and Ice Cream Store in Newton, Massachusetts.
He passed away in late 2007 and his passion was the Wolfeboro, NH Historical Society.
I found out something new today. Dorchester has a a monument to Count Pulaski, the founder of American Cavalry during the American Revolution. This I was not aware of and will have to see at some point.
Dorchester is also where Thomas Swift, the famous cavalryman from the King Philip’s War was from. He was the son of Thomas Swift who was the cousin of William Swift who went to the Cape to settle. Thomas Swift’s line created 4 American Generals and one was a West Point Superintendent. Another commanded the 1st Cavalry Division during World War II, Innis P. Swift .
So Dot has a lot of cavalry history and is currently the home of the 182nd Cavalry of the Massachusetts Army National Guard.
This a great article about a farm that is teaching Military Veterans to ride horses as therapy for various injuries.
This is not a new idea, it is why groups like the National Lancers Veterans Association were formed in the old days. Horse riding as therapy for war veterans was around for a long time and was forgotten. I hope this trend to bring it back will continue and I have advocated that such a program be started with the Veterans Administration.
I saw this photo from the parade in Framingham the other day and wanted to highlight it.
Mario DiCarlo has run the National Lancers since his brother Dino passed away some years ago. He has been in it since returning from World War II and has set up a the Foundation and Museum for the group.
I have to get with him this week and it is always fun when we get to talk.
I went to the parade in Concord yesterday and to my surprise the National Guard did not have a group to march in the parade. The Naval Academy was there but not the local Guard unit.
I myself marched in the parade in 1987 as a 17 year old private in Company C 1-110th Armor. This is sad state of affairs when the local Concord Guard unit no longer participates. The entire point of the National Guard is community involvement, if not that then it would be the Army Reserve.
While I was there the Concord Independent Battery was there and one of the Horses was acting up and almost went into the crowd near the end of the parade. This group has its own facility to store its equipment in the Town of Concord not to far from the Guard Armory.
I then went to Lexington to catch the Paul Revere reenactment by the National Lancers and talked with Mario DiCarlo the leader of that group. Mario is involved in Massachusetts politics and has a really good grasp of who is who in the state still at 87 years old.
Mario was a Marine in the Pacific Campaign of World War II and donated free airtime on his New Hampshire radio station that he used to own to the Marine Corps.
Paul Revere Ride Schedule – Monday, April 21, 2008
10:30 am - Leave from Hanover Street, Boston, North End
10:50 am - Arrive in Charlestown, City Square
11:20 am - Arrive in Somerville Foss Park
12:00 pm - Arrive in Medford, Route 60 Gaffery’s Funeral Home
1:00 pm - Arrive in Lexington Green, Mass Ave
William Dawes Ride Schedule – Monday, April 21, 2008
10:30 am – Leave John Eliot Square, Roxbury
10:40 am - Arrive Mission Hill, Roxbury
11:00 am – Arrive Devotion School, Brookline
11:30 am – Arrive Harvard Square, Cambridge
12:15 pm – Arrive Arlington Town Hall
1:10 pm - Arrive Lexington Green
