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Started By
Message
75 years ago today
Posted on 8/29/19 at 7:38 am
Posted on 8/29/19 at 7:38 am
My great uncle lost his life in the liberation of Paris. He has a memorial on a corner in Mitry Mory that the city put up in his honor in 1999. I often think of how my family's life would have been different, had he made it home.
Bottom Plaque:
At this place on August 29th 1944 Sgt Clarence P. Hughes of the 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion gave his life for the liberation of France
Top Plaque:
He came to fight for freedom
To a land he had never seen
For a people he had never met
For his success he gave the ultimate sacrifice
May God bless his soul
The Hughes Family Kentucky-New York USA September 2000
The last picture taken of him (on top of the tank) 2 days before his death. The kid on next to the tank became the mayor of Mitry Mory...and was the one who pushed for the memorial.
Bottom Plaque:
At this place on August 29th 1944 Sgt Clarence P. Hughes of the 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion gave his life for the liberation of France
Top Plaque:
He came to fight for freedom
To a land he had never seen
For a people he had never met
For his success he gave the ultimate sacrifice
May God bless his soul
The Hughes Family Kentucky-New York USA September 2000
The last picture taken of him (on top of the tank) 2 days before his death. The kid on next to the tank became the mayor of Mitry Mory...and was the one who pushed for the memorial.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 7:41 am to madmaxvol
They were a different breed back then, One we will not see the likes of again soon I fear
Posted on 8/29/19 at 8:01 am to madmaxvol
Awesome. As much as we bash on Western Europeans (sometimes deserved, sometimes not), the people there do an excellent job maintaining and honoring the burial sites of fallen US soldiers.
In many cases, multiple generations of a family have been caring for an "adopted" soldier's grave.
There are small monuments all over France memorializing the specific soldiers and units that liberated them from Nazi control.
A testament to what was at stake them and a reminder of what is worth fighting for now.
In many cases, multiple generations of a family have been caring for an "adopted" soldier's grave.
There are small monuments all over France memorializing the specific soldiers and units that liberated them from Nazi control.
A testament to what was at stake them and a reminder of what is worth fighting for now.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 10:14 am to madmaxvol
quote:
At this place on August 29th 1944 Sgt Clarence P. Hughes of the 893rd Tank Destroyer Battalion gave his life for the liberation of France
Your great uncle had one of the most dangerous jobs in the ETO. That vehicle he is on is a M10 tank destroyer. His job was to take on the German panzers. And he was doing it in a vehicle that had little to no armor to speak of. Unlike today, during WWII the Army doctrine for armored warfare was that tanks were not intended to destroy enemy armor. Instead tanks were intended to exploit breakthroughs into the enemy rear area. The job of destruction of enemy armor was given to the US Army Tank Destroyer Corps. Thus, during most of WWII our tanks had “decent” armor protection and a low velocity main gun suited for taking out fortified positions and bunkers. Our tank destroyers had little to no armor, to give them better speed and maneuverability, and a high velocity main gun suited to engaging enemy tanks. They relied on their speed an maneuverability to survive.
The M10 had an open top turret who’s armor was only capable of stopping small arms fire. The hull armor was little better. To survive the M10 relied on ambush tactics to engage enemy armor then relocate before the enemy could return fire. Here is a model I built a few months ago of the M10 that will give you an idea of how little armor protection it afforded the crew. Needless to say, your great uncle was a brave man.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 10:16 am to madmaxvol
quote:
Top Plaque:
He came to fight for freedom
To a land he had never seen
For a people he had never met
For his success he gave the ultimate sacrifice
May God bless his soul
This is awesome. You can feel the appreciation the Allies had for one another.
This post was edited on 8/29/19 at 10:17 am
Posted on 8/29/19 at 10:29 am to JetsetNuggs
quote:
This is awesome. You can feel the appreciation the Allies had for one another.
There is an American war cemetery in the Netherlands where each grave is adopted by a local family who keeps the grave of an American soldier decorated. They’ve been doing this for the past 75 years. I’ve read that there is a still today waiting list of people wanting their turn to adopt the grave of an American soldier who died to free their country from the Nazis.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 10:36 am to madmaxvol
Kudos to your great uncle.
I wish the French - mostly Parisians - would be a little more grateful of what our grandfathers did to preserve their culture and free them from tyranny.
The disrespect they have for Americans over there is pretty rampant.
It's much better in the French countryside and areas like Chamonix though.
I wish the French - mostly Parisians - would be a little more grateful of what our grandfathers did to preserve their culture and free them from tyranny.
The disrespect they have for Americans over there is pretty rampant.
It's much better in the French countryside and areas like Chamonix though.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 10:36 am to Darth_Vader
I was pleased to see the American flags flying all around the Normandy cemetery. Not just in the cemetery but around the whole area. Those locals have not forgotten.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 11:49 am to fr33manator
That’s pretty damn cool to have something like that in your family history.
It’s their own fault, they were shite parents that brought about the boomers.
quote:
They were a different breed back then, One we will not see the likes of again soon I fear
It’s their own fault, they were shite parents that brought about the boomers.
This post was edited on 8/29/19 at 11:50 am
Posted on 8/29/19 at 12:25 pm to Dam Guide
It’s their own fault, they were shite parents that brought about the boomers.
----Sorry your family was cruddy. Not mine.
----Sorry your family was cruddy. Not mine.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 12:31 pm to cypresstiger
I think the influence of the media, especially though television was something that no other generation of parents had to deal with.
I mean how much influence could an idiot box have over their children? Turns out, a massive amount.
I mean how much influence could an idiot box have over their children? Turns out, a massive amount.
This post was edited on 8/29/19 at 12:32 pm
Posted on 8/29/19 at 12:52 pm to cypresstiger
quote:
----Sorry your family was cruddy. Not mine.
We are talking about society here, not one particular family. If we accept that society sucks now in comparison to greatest gen as suggested by the poster I responded to, then they are directly responsible for creating the boomer gen and causing that downfall.
This post was edited on 8/29/19 at 12:54 pm
Posted on 8/29/19 at 12:55 pm to madmaxvol
How old was he at the time and how long had he been in?
Posted on 8/29/19 at 1:36 pm to SEClint
quote:
How old was he at the time and how long had he been in?
He was 28. I think he had been in since late '42 or early '43.
Posted on 8/29/19 at 1:49 pm to Darth_Vader
Here is a document, translated from French, detailing his death:
Mitry Mory History - August 29, 1944
quote:
SERGEANT CLARENCE P. HUGHES.
Tuesdays, August 29, it rains a good part of the night! In the morning the American troops cautiously resume their progress along the line of Chemin de Fer towards MORY under the fire of the Germans. Two tanks of the company of the 893th Tank Destroyer BATTALION went ahead in recognition. They reach the location of the current FOOTBALL field that the SNCF . puts at the disposal of the ASMC , near the school (missing today). The exchange of fire between the German batteries and the American parts located on the side of MITRY LE NEUF continues.
In the late morning, Sergeant Clarence P. HUGUES, accompanied by two MITRYENS who guide him, leaves his tank and continues on foot to the limit of the SNCF city to locate and estimate the importance of German forces ambushed behind the mounds that border the north-east side of the avenue of the station opposite the street of Val de Mory. He was killed instantly by the bursting of a shell. Is it a German or American shell? Some witnesses say that Sergeant HUGUES, finding the firing of American guns or mortars too long to reach the Germans would have asked for it to be shortened. It would have been, a little too much ... His body lies, mutilated, in the middle of the avenue of the train station about ten meters from the beginning of the linden trees. Despite the risks, the Germans are less than 50 m across the street, a MITRYENNE will cover a blanket, another throws a flower, then another. According to a witness, in the evening, when American services picked him up, he was covered with flowers.
Mitry Mory History - August 29, 1944
Posted on 8/29/19 at 2:02 pm to madmaxvol
Crazy to think about.
You grow up hearing these old stories all your life, so the people of these stories feel so much older than you, when in reality you've lived many years or even decades longer and they seem so much more brave when you put yourself in the same position
You grow up hearing these old stories all your life, so the people of these stories feel so much older than you, when in reality you've lived many years or even decades longer and they seem so much more brave when you put yourself in the same position
This post was edited on 8/29/19 at 2:04 pm
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