Robert A. Pizzano
Corporal, 4th Infantry Division 22nd Infantry Regiment, Company G Robert Pizzano was born 1924 in Revere, MA. He graduated from Revere High School in 1922 and attended Kents Hill Prep when he was drafted. He attended Basic training at Camp Lee, VA in 1943. He shipped out overseas on February 12, 1944 from Boston, MA to Liverpool, England. As part of the Quartermaster Corp headquartered in Cheltenham, England, he served as a messenger and often delivered Confidential papers between various HQs…some occasionally marked Operation Overlord. In August 1944, he brought a jeep from Cheltenham across the channel to UTAH Beach to the new QM HQ in Normandy, France. In September they moved the Quartermaster HQ to Paris. December 1944 brought about the Battle of the Bulge and great losses to our troops. Robert received his corporal stripes just before Christmas and then transferred to the Infantry in January 1945. He trained in central France and then joined the 4th Infantry Division in Frankfurt, Germany in April 1945. Assigned as the bazooka man, he went from Bad Mergentheim to Niederstetten to Obereichenrot, and several other small hamlets and towns. About the 16th of April, he came down with a 103 fever and was sent to battalion aid to get checked out. They sent him back to a makeshift field hospital and eventually evacuated back to Cherbourg France to recover. He was returning as a replacement when the war in Europe ended. He was then assigned as a member of the 25th Staging Battalion outside of Marseille France. This was a staging depot for troops and equipment to be sent to the war in the Pacific until August, 1945; afterwards, a staging location for troops and equipment to be sent home. Robert left on the last victory ship to sail from Marseille to the states and landed in New York on February 10, 1946. Robert was discharged from the Army as a member of the 4th Infantry Division. |
Jack Blickenderfer
PFC, 4th Infantry Divsion, 12th Regiment Jack Blickenderfer was originally drafted and went through basic training with his brother. He was originally assigned with the 69th Division. He left from Europe from Boston, MA on D-Day, June 6th 1944. He went to England then on to France and arrived on Utah beach in July, 1944. He and his brother were then assigned as replacements with the 12th infantry Regiment 4th Infantry Division. Jack and his brother were assigned to an Intelligence & Reconnaissance (I&R) Platoon. His job was to scout enemy and enemy positions without being detected. One story he tells is traveling down the road as the enemy opens up a machine gun ahead of him. His driver veers the jeep off the road and into a ditch to avoid the gunfire. Jack is ejected from the jeep head first about 20 feet. He walks away unharmed. He fought all the way until the end of the war including during the Battle of the Bulge sharing a fox hole most nights with his brother. And was never wounded. |