WORLD WAR II

CRUSADE IN EUROPE

Written by:
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
The book is Eisenhower's memoirs on his leadership on the War in Europe

Notes by:
Bob Meli
June 2007

Carrying out the order to land on Omaha beach with the first Army Division was P.F.C. Medic
Louis D'Arminio.

Eisenhower wrote, “In point of fact the resistance encountered on Omaha Beach was at about the level we had feared all along the line.”

The first Army Division with Medic Louis D'Arminio fought through France and reached the first major city in Germany Aachen.

Eisenhower wrote, “The American First Army, at the end of its brilliant march from the Seine to the German border, almost immediately launched the operations that finally brought about the reduction of Aachen , one of the gateways to Germany . The city was stubbornly and fiercely defended but Collins, with his VII Corp, carried out the attack so skillfully that by October 13 he had surrounded the garrison and entered the city.”

P.F.C. Medic Louis D'Arminio with the First Army Division was about to enter into a combat experience far worse, if that can possibly be understood, then what they had already encountered, the battle in the Hurtgen Forest.

Eisenhower wrote, “On the right flank of this attack the First Army got involved in the Hurtgen Forest , the scene of one of the most bitterly contested battles of the entire campaign.” Louis D'Arminio caught shrapnel in the shoulder during this battle.

Louis [Lee] D'Arminio served in the European Theatre from the invasion of Omaha Beach till the end of the War in Europe 2 years 7 months and 11 days of almost nothing but War.

Let us never forget the soldiers' sacrifice.