Vennard Wilson

“ It is always a proud feeling to belong to an outfit which can take its place with the best, which is definitely placed by its Corps Commander and by the infantry commanders with which it has worked, as a first-class fighting unit. ”

“ You cannot whip the enemy unless you take your share of the losses. They were accomplished through the willingness of our comrades to get out and feel his fire, to give back plenty of it, and to make the necessary sacrifice to dominate him. To our fifteen hundred men, there have been 1,195 Purple Hearts issued, and 194 of these will never again go into combat. They are our honored dead who lie buried on foreign soil; the men to whom we pay special tribute today. ”

“ Yet this is also a special occasion for those of us who have just completed a long and arduous campaign, and who by the accidents of chance still live to tell the story of those who are no longer with us. ”

“ I went in with A Troop 121st Squadron when it and B Troop 121st Squadron attacked the first town south of the Siegfried Line. Never could a man be prouder than to feel the weight of such an attack as you put on then. I know that nothing could possibly stop you.
Next, the advance to and across the Rhine, to the Main, to Nurnburg, to the Danube, to Munich, and finally to Austria. During this period, we worked with two of the finest fighting divisions of the American Army, the 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions. They are both fast-moving and hard-hitting. ”