tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862669708064765240.post1192002161736382957..comments2024-03-26T06:11:02.879-07:00Comments on Coaching for Pizza: The Battle of Troina, August 1-6, 1943Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06989195950413604766noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2862669708064765240.post-1497865801613187992009-06-19T21:40:47.906-07:002009-06-19T21:40:47.906-07:00Thank you for this summary of the Battle of Troina...Thank you for this summary of the Battle of Troina. My uncle, James McInerney (b. Manhattan; 39th Infantry Regiment) was killed outside Troina on July 30, 1943 in the lead-up to the battle. A now deceased family friend (Tom Orband, Binghamton, NY) who had also been detached to the 39th, told my family that my uncle had been killed by machine gun fire while scouting enemy emplacements. My uncle was the only boy in a family of six children and his loss, needless to say, was a devastating blow to my grandparents. Members of the 39th Infantry Regiment were the first U,S, combat troops to land on foreign soil in WWII when they landed at Algiers in November 1942. The 39th fought across North Africa, took part in the Sicilian campaign, later landed at Utah Beach (D-Day +4), fought their way across France, were in the thick of the Battle of the Bulge and the battle for the bridgehead at Remagen, and with the 47th Infantry Regiment captured Roetgen, the first German city to fall in WWII. The odds of surviving WWII if you'd been detached to the 39th were steep. Tom Orband beat those odds--my uncle did not. If anyone has information regarding either man, or can provide more firsthand accounts of the Battle of Troina, please contact me at joelap1@netzero.netAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com