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A few years ago my dad gave me the Army issued bible that my grandfather, Private Earl F Bandy, carried in World War 2. Written on the interior are the names of 16 men. He writes that these men were in his platoon and his personal friends. Each of them was killed in action.
My research on "E" Co, 39th Infantry began as I tried to learn about these men. And learn more about my grandfather and his experience in knowing and in losing them.
Each man has a story to tell. I'm sure that my grandfather recalled the face of each them as he wrote their names. He could recall their time together and being present at their often gruseome deaths. Some of these men have no living relatives. So it is with this project that I try to retain a memory of them and the sacrafice they made.
The bible was given to him by Pvt Clarence Holland in the immiediate aftermath of the battle of Cherbourg. The first three men named in the bible had been killed in the days leading up to that battle.
Holland and Bright, a former E company man who had become an assitant chaplain, had a discussion on the boat from England on the subject of faith. Holland gave my grandfather the bible and tried to assure him that the friends they had lost were with God.
Pfc Gill Pvt Rekettye
Sgt Jarasek Sgt Samuels
Pvt Franklin Pvt Dexhiemer
S/Sgt Simmons Pvt Toney
Pfc Heady S/Sgt Reber
Lt Kiger Sgt Getchall
S/Sgt Wallace Pvt Buehler
Pvt Adams Pfc MinJack
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