Voices of Valor

[Buckshot329]

Last month at the 83rd Infantry Division Reunion I was talking to my good friend Bill Spriggs, veteran of C Company, 329th Infantry Regiment and he told me about the guys on the cover of the book Voices of Valor (to be honest, I did not know the book ). Turns out these guys were from his unit, C/329

From Left to Right they are:

1st Lt. Dennis Henricks - S/Sgt. Emmit Beason - Pfc. Clarence Brooks - unknown but C Company - S/Sgt. Steve Kopacki

The three guys on the right probably were from another unit.

 

The original picture

[Sabrejet]

I have this book. The best part is the accompanying audio CD which features interviews with guys who were "there"! :thumbsup:

[hbtcoveralls]

That's something, I've seen this photo many times, always identified in the context of D-day. Of course the 83, which is a great though often unheralded division, wasn't part of the D-Day landings but it is still a terrific image. Thanks for sharing.

Tom Bowers

[PETER HENDRIKX]

In the book "War from the Ground Up. The 90th Division in WWII" by John Colby this photo is identified as C0. B, 359th Infantry Regiment on LCI 326, June 6. This photo was furnished by W. Lloyd of B/359th, who identified himself in the photo...

I just finished a book myself "Orange is the Color of the Day" about the 101st Airborne Division in the Holland Campaign and I know from experience one must be very careful to take an identification for granted. We all respect veterans and take their opinions for granted, but they make mistakes like all of us.

Based on the fact that the book by John Colby is very well researched and considered to be one of the best division histories and the plausability that this is a 90th Division LCI instead of an 83rd Division, I tend to believe the ID by Colby.

 

Peter Hendrikx

 

PS; this is the link to my book; www.d-day-publishing.com

[Buckshot329]

Well, that's kind of bad news . I do realise that veterans are not all the time right but I do believe Bill Spriggs because he is very careful in everything what he says, hardly mentions dates or places because of the possibility of telling the wrong thing. And I believed him when he told me about this book because out of a picture of 8 guys he immediately recognized 5 guys of which 4 by name. Also before becoming S/Sgt. himself he acted as an assistant of Emmit Beason (who he believes is in this picture 2nd from left) so he shared the first months of his war together with Emmit in a foxhole and basically going everywhere he went (--> he will probably remember his face!).

Anyhow this is very interesting and I will talk this over with him within the next couple of days.

[Buckshot329]

Peter Hendrikx

I got a reply from Bill and he sticks with his story!

He would like to know which guy on the picture would be W. Lloyd from the 359th?

He also pointed Emmit out on another picture and I do see a resemblance between him and the 2nd guy from the left. I do admit that the picture is not clear enough to be 100% sure.

By the way Bill is the guy in the lower left on this picture

 

[Fender Rhodes]

Unfortunately I have heard horror stories regarding what happened to the source material from this book. Essentially one of the 'authors' pilfered the material out of the D-Day Museum and left it in his basement where it was subsequently destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Ahole.

R/

FR

[Buckshot329]

So no telling if it is the 83rd or the 90th?

I've got another picture to compare:

1st Lt. Dennis Henricks at Thanksgiving 1944

 

Bill Spriggs believes this guy to be 1st Lt. Henricks

Again I see several similarities between the two guys but nothing that 100% proves it is or is not him

Also having a helmet in one picture and not in the other doesn't really help..

[cull canyon]

I'm a criminal defense attorney and I can tell you eyewitness identification is difficult even after a short time much less 60years

[Buckshot329]

Came across this again, you are indeed correct, 100% positive ID is impossible. To be honest, I would be very skeptical too if someone made such a claim but I tend to believe there is truth in these because he mentions Emmit Beason. They spent their days in a foxhole together and were very close friends. If it wasn't for his ID I would also go with the 90th but for now, I'm gonna go with my friend until we're proven wrong.