(Major Raphael L. Uffner Ret.

eBook, ePUB

Recollections of World War II with the First Infantry Division (eBook, ePUB)

Beschreibung

Maj. Uffner chronicles his experiences as a young officer with the infamous First Division during World War II, from the pre-war build-up of American forces, combat in North Africa, Allied invasion of Sicily, to the D-Day landing in Normandy and beyond. As a child growing up in the Bronx during the 1920's, Raphael ("Ray") Uffner was fascinated by the photographs and movies of the Great War, subsequently developing a strong interest in the Army. Entering CCNY at sixteen in 1934, he concurrently joined the ROTC and New York National Guard. Continuing to add military activities to his college schedule, Ray honed his soldiering skills long before any rumblings about another war in Europe. Around this time he met the love of his life, Edythe, whom he would later wed days before shipping out for the front lines. Maj. Uffner's adoration for Edythe is obvious in the snippets of letters to her that appear throughout the book. In the years leading up to the United States' entry into World War II, Uffner earned his officer's commission; became a champion marksman; learned drill, maneuvers, small-unit tactics, infantry weapons, amphibious training, horsemanship and skiing; and served as an officer with the Regular Army. When the time came to go to war, he was ready. There is plenty of history here, as Maj. Uffner richly details his experiences leading up to and including decisive battles in North Africa, Sicily, and France; in fact, several references to this work appear in the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn, by journalist Rick Atkinson. But there is much more than history in this memoir. It is a story of an officer's bravery, ingenuity, and unfaltering commitment to his duty and the welfare of his men.

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Autor

Raphael L. Uffner (19171993)

Raphael Louis Uffner was born in the Bronx, New York, the first of two sons of Louis Uffner, a Columbia University-educated architect emigre from Czarist Russia; and Minnie Stiebel, a native-born nurse.
Small, pale, and skinny, with a shock of platinum hair that begat his nickname "Whitey," Raphael played in the streets and vacant lots of the Bronx. As a boy he was strongly drawn to the Army, influenced by the Great War photographs and movies of the 1920's.
In his early teens Raphael studied violin at Juilliard School of Music, but dropped out when he qualified for Townsend Harris High School, an elite public school in Manhattan, where he was captain of the fencing team. In 1934, two months shy of his seventeenth birthday, he entered City College of New York (CCNY), where he continued fencing, played baseball, and entered the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).
Raphael enjoyed the military service so much that he added the New York National Guard to his extra-curricular activities while at CCNY as he turned eighteen. Continuing to study toward an engineering degree, he joined the ROTC rifle team, becoming a champion marksman.
Around this time, Raphael met sixteen-year-old Edythe Tompkins at his counsin's sweet sixteen party. A few years later he and Edythe, now a dental hygienist, met serendipitously in a downtown government office. They would marry in 1942, just before he left for North Africa.
During the war, Raphael served with the First Infantry Division, 26th Infantry Regiment. He earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Defense Medal, Victory Medal, Infantryman Badge, and Fourragere in the colors of the French Medaille Militaire.
After the war, Raphael resumed his studies at CCNY, completing a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in 1948. He was a civilian project engineer for nine years at the Special Devices Center, Office of Naval Research, where he worked on radar, weapons control, electronic warfare, communications, and navigational training devices for all the Armed Forces. In 1959 he moved his family from New York to California and joined Hughes Aircraft Radar Systems Group, where he served as systems engineer in airborne radar and weapons control systems for twenty-three years, until his retirement in 1983.
Raphael and Edythe raised four daughters together.
In 1989, when Raphael was seventy-one, th...

Produktdetails

• Verlag: fountainpenpress
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. November 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781005789800
• Artikelnr.: 70646355