 John
Graduated from jump school on 28 February 1943 and pinned on the
coveted Parachutist Badge
 Next
Stop ---Camp
Mackall
which was infamous for these tar-paper shacks. Man in photo not
identified. |
 John
purchased a copy of the company montage photo which consisted of
thumbnail photos of all Company C men present for duty that day.
The specific date these photos were taken is not known but may have
been April 1943..
The montage photos came in a presentation folder,
note the slip-in corner tabs that are evident in the photo.
The photos were taken by the Woltz Company, Des Moines,
Iowa and entailed snapping one or more shots of all men in the 508th
at that time ... approximately 2,500 men inthe entire regiment!. The studio then
created thumbnails of each man. Then a montage was created by
arranging them by company, rank, and name. Exceptions to
that order were the staff of the Company who were arrayed at the top
of the resulting montage.
Lastly, each photo had the
individual's rank, surname and initial handwritten beneath it, A
laborious task, especially as it was written with white ink,
backwards, on the negatives!. |
 A
number of men signed the inside cover of John's presentation folder,
most of the
group did not fare well and may have jumped in the same stick:Sgt Leon Houghlan
- full name was Edgar Leon Houghlan, transferred to 541st PIR, died
in Phoenix, AZ, 1991
PFC Benny W. McKenzie - died in Charlotte, NC in August, 1972
PFC Dave E. Moore - full name was Elijah David Moore, died in
Galveston, TX in December, 1973
PVT Bill Trammell - full name was William Stone Trammell, KIA
Normandy, France, 8 June 1944
CPL Bill Guist - full name was William G. Guist, KIA
Normandy, France, 4 July 1944
PFC Stanley Bahdzewicz - full name was Stanley A. Bahdzewicz,
captured 6 June 1944, escaped and returned to friendly forces,
(still living?)
SGT W. C. Loyd, no first or middle name, initials only -
captured 6 June 1944,liberated 1945, retired as a Chief Warrant
Office, Grade 4, died in Alabama, July, 1987
PFC B. G. Phillips - full name was Bramwell G. Phillips, captured 6
June 1944,liberated 1945, retired as a Command Sergeant Major
Curley Zwyers - full name was Robert William Zwyers, KIA/MIA, 7 June
1944 in Normandy, memorialized on Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge
American Cemetery, Cambridge, England
SGT Andy Loewi - full name was Andrew W. Loewi, MIA Belgium,
December 1944, status changed on 5 January 1945 to KIA
PVT John E. Lane - KIA 7 June 1944 in France
Owner of the presentation folder, PFC John
Montague was also captured on 6 June 1944, liberated in May 1945 and
died in Madison, WI in July 1973. |
