An Honor and A Guard

<p>There were those who doubted whether National</p><p>Guard Units could hold up like regular U.S. Army units</p><p>in wartime. Routinely assigned missions where the</p><p>odds were stacked heavily against them the 175th</p><p>Regiment-29th Infantry Division not only silenced the</p><p>doubters they went on to gain a reputation as one of</p><p>the fiercest fighting units of World War II.</p><p>This is the story of one infantryman of the 175th-Forest S.</p><p>Birch-as told to the author his son John F. Birch-over a period of</p><p>many years culminating in a recorded interview made on June 6</p><p>1994 (50th anniversary of the D-Day beach landings). The transcript</p><p>of the interview is included.</p><p>Forest Birch's story is personal and intimate-and brings to</p><p>light experiences shared by many who served during World War II.</p><p>Birch had more than his fair share of good fortune but never forgot</p><p>the horrors he witnessed nor the fear he felt from the first wave</p><p>of beach landings until the ultimate surrender</p><p>of the Nazi war machine in April1945 which</p><p>saw his unit just 40 miles outside Berlin.</p><p><br></p>