Oral History: Johnny Allegrezza 11-Jun-14, 20140611.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Genre:

Internet videos.

Nonfiction films.

Physical Description:

online resource (video file 0:30:12) : Sound, Colour

Place of Publication:

11-Jun-14,

Summary:

Johnny Allegrezza was born January 8, 1923 in Shaw, Louisiana. His father had a small piece of land in Shaw where he grew cotton and rice. During the depression times were difficult for the Allegrezzas however; Johnny, always remembers having plenty of food to eat. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940 and was trained as an infantry man at Fort Benning, Georgia, then Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Fort Dix. During this time he received additional training on the 60 mm mortar. Johnny was assigned to the 22nd Infantry Division and shipped to Europe arriving at Liverpool, England during the spring of 1944. The 22nd Infantry Division was part of the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944, landing on Utah Beach. German resistance was minimal at that beach on D-Day. As his unit moved forward, Johnny was wounded at Montebourg from a German artillery blast which killed his Captain. He recovered and was reassigned to his unit in time to take part in the battle for Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. He remembers it being very cold during both of those battles and how thick the woods were in Hurtgen Forest. Johnny was wounded a second time in 1945 by a German sniper outside the town of Luneville. He was in an English hospital when the war was over. Of the original seven soldiers in his mortar squad he was the only one who survived the war.

Notes:

Description based on online resource (viewed on 12 June, 2019).

Archive Reference: OH.3200.