Meeting Bruce and Dave

This month I had the chance to meet two of them 519th Port Bn men I have been interviewing. Bruce Kramlich was in HQ. He now lives about an hour from me in Colorado. I visited him in his home for a few hours on the 7th. He shared all sorts of great material that he's saved from his Army days. He even has his full uniform! My grandfather, Cortland, tells me that he re-purposed his Ike jacket for civilian use by dyeing it blue! Bruce was good enough to keep his intact. Note the interesting stitching of the unit patches.

Last week my family and I were in Tucson, AZ for a publishing conference. I met Dave Weaver for coffee on Sunday. After three years of email and phone conversations it was great to finally meet these guys in person.

Bruce (on left) and Dave (on right) at Indiantown Gap, PA 1943.