A Reluctant Hero's Footsteps

<p>In 2011 by chance I discovered the after-action reports of the 329th Infantry Regiment my father’s World War II unit on the Internet. An idea was born: use these to reconstruct my father’s path in Europe. I would take my three children Richard Mary and Stephen on a trip to retrace those footsteps. This book is about our travels but it is much more. It documents the life of a man and his family the history of a unit and how through research and luck we were able piece together the story. As far as possible I tell the tale of my father’s life with pictures and artifacts from that life. In parallel I relate the history of the unit he joined in combat inserting pictures where I can. In fitting all the records together with the trip itself I discovered my father in new ways and built a memory for my children. In an appendix I give you a guide as to how you can do this for your veterans as well.</p>