80 years ago.
Official period caption. “80th Infantry Division. Near Faulquemont, France. 23 November, 1944. Three American infantrymen eat K Rations on Thanksgiving day in a dugout somewhere in France. They will be relieved later and will have Thanksgiving dinner in the evening with their unit.”
Photographer: Pfc. Howard E. James, 166th Signal Photo Co. SC 197157, U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.
The soldiers are left to right: Sgt. Albert E. Burns, 1308 E. Gilbert Street, Muncie, Ind., Pfc. John K. Smith, Munderstar Route, Brookville PA., and Pvt. Robert H. Seymour, Newark, N.Y.
Nicknamed the “Blue Ridge Division,” the 80th was ordered activated on 15 July 1942. Arrived in England on 7 July 1944, they landed in France on D+58, 3 August 1944, then were in combat five days later.
In just 239 days on the line from Northern France to the Ardennes to the Rhineland and Central Europe, the outfit suffered 180.8 percent casualties (some 25,472 men killed, wounded, or missing).
Besides 4 MoHs, 33 DSCs, 671 Silver Stars, and 3,557 Bronze, the 80th’s biggest prize was probably the whopping 212,295 enemy prisoners they took on the push through Bavaria and Austria.
Remember to be Thankful for what’s in front of you, today, gents.