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Post by quigondon1 on Aug 7, 2013 19:39:47 GMT -5
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/24/wyjv.jpg/Looking for information on where this photo might be located. NARA, Military History web site, etc. The actual photo, not where the photo was taken. The image comes from the book St. Vith: Lion in the Way and is labeled "Time out for coffee, doughnuts and music. Men of the 2nd Battalion, 424th Infantry, meet the Red Cross at Losheim." Any info will be appreciated and will help my research. I will share what I find.
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Post by connie on Aug 11, 2013 9:14:04 GMT -5
Sorry not to have connected sooner. I'm in schedule overload...
Glad you were able to figure out at least how to link to a copy of that photo. It's one I have wondered about occasionally because of the image of the Red Cross worker in the photo. I know a gal who was a Red Cross worker in the area at the time. This is not her in the photo. But it might be possible that she knows who is pictured and/ or has seen this photo. She doesn't have e-mail so I'll have to make contact the snail mail way, but I'll check with her. It strikes me that it could possibly also be a Red Cross owned photo. But that's just a shot in the dark.
I also know a medic whose vision is not so good anymore, but I'll check with him to see if he can offer us any clues on this photo. I know he has the book...
I wish that someone who was going to the Division Association Reunion could pass this around...
Connie
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Post by quigondon1 on Aug 11, 2013 22:28:43 GMT -5
Good idea about the Red Cross owning the photo. I will do some checking. I was able to track the movements of the 1st Battalion rather specificly from place to place from the very detailed unit history of the 331st Medical Battalion, "C" company which was imbedded with the 424th, 1st Battalion. It records each time and place the battalion or regiment moved. From the furtherest point west to where they retreated and refitted and during the offensive right up to the point they took over prisoner of war duty. (Which I am sure you already knew.) But it allowed me to tie together a few of the things my Grandfather talked about and where he was when it happened.
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Post by floydragsdale on Aug 12, 2013 10:08:11 GMT -5
This photo, I believe, was taken with a flash bulb & the details are very good, particularly for a copy. It appears to have been taken at night, yet I doubt that it was. Film speed (ASA rating) at that time was very low compared to what is available today. Thus to obtain a good depth of field, the photographer needed to use a flash bulb to accomplish that.
Also, coffee and doughnuts would not, I’m sure, have been passed out to troops, in an area like Losheim, at night, during the B.O.B. days.
The instrument used to take this photograph was most likely a Press 4x5 camera which means the negative size would have been 4 X 5 Inches.
The photographer was most likely someone from the Signal Company of the 106th Infantry Division.
I recall the American Red Cross being in our area, probably in January 1945, passing out coffee and doughnuts and I may have been present when this photo was taken.
Floyd
G Co. , 2nd Bn.
424th Regiment
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Post by quigondon1 on Aug 12, 2013 13:31:27 GMT -5
Thank you Connie and Mr. Ragsdale. I remember reading about an Aid Station of "C" company, 331st Med Bn, which was dedicated to the 424th, being set up in the woods near Losheimergraben less than a mile I think from Losheim in early February. But then the Red Cross was mobile. So I sure they may have been in several locations in the area. Can't nail it down where but i remember reading about the Red Cross entertaining the 424th with coffee, snacks and a three piece band and there are three people with musical instruments in the photo. Again thanks for the information. If I can nail down the location of the photo maybe I can find more like it.
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Carl W.
Active Member
Administrator
The Golden Lions
Posts: 265
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Post by Carl W. on Aug 18, 2013 16:54:39 GMT -5
This photo was taken by a US Army Signal Corps photographer of one of the independent signal photo companies ( that toured the front. They were not attached to a specific unit, but would follow different units that were positioned in active combat zones.
The original negative or print would normally be kept at the Still Images Branch of the National Archives. That's where Col. Dupuy got most of the photos for his book.
Greetings!
Carl
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Post by quigondon1 on Aug 19, 2013 1:36:17 GMT -5
Awesome Carl. Thanks. Thats a lead. Can these images be found on-line or do you have go there in person to research them?
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Carl W.
Active Member
Administrator
The Golden Lions
Posts: 265
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Post by Carl W. on Aug 19, 2013 11:36:31 GMT -5
Sadly enough they are not available online. There are millions of individual photographs kept in the Archives. There are some independent researchers who know the collection well, but off course you can also visit in person. Not all the photos were saved. Most Signal Corps photographers developped their own photos in the field, kept some for themselves and sent the ones worth publishing to the higher echelon. So every now and then a personal photo album from a WWII photographer comes up, containing prints that are not available in the Archives. Interesting things can pop up after 70 years! Greetings Carl Awesome Carl. Thanks. Thats a lead. Can these images be found on-line or do you have go there in person to research them? |
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Post by quigondon1 on Aug 19, 2013 13:03:29 GMT -5
Well I am going to try to plan a visit to the archives once I get organized. With a grandfather and four uncles in the WW2 surly I can find something but right now I am still trying to organize my info on my uncles.
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Post by engineercutoff44 on Nov 26, 2013 9:29:51 GMT -5
I just checked my maps here I am pretty sure the picture was taken after the battle was over in the days where the pressure wasn't that great anymore the 2nd Bn 424th Inf was pressed into service near Heckhuscheid,Germany and fought the bulge in that area, Losheim and Losheimergraben are about 20 miles line of sight in a northwesterly direction from Heckhuscheid the roads being the way they were at the time probably longerIt seems to me that looking at them they were relieved after the battle sometime when the situation presented itself for some coffee,doughnuts and music to help relieve the stress of the past couple of weeks...
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Post by quigondon1 on Dec 9, 2013 20:12:54 GMT -5
Update: Found another photo taken at the same time as this one. It was an Army Signal Corps photo Carl, taken on March 3, 1945. The Red Cross lady running the Clubmobile in this photo is Miss. Kay McKay from Long Beach, California and it is in Losheim according to the writing under photo.
Found the second photo in a copy of the Cub from when the 106th was still in Europe.
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