<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So we have a little bit about your oldest brother, let's talk about your other brother, Bob, and then we'll talk about your sister. So Bob was drafted, trained to fight with the 442 and then was sent to Europe?

FS: Yes.

TI: As he, at that point, was he a then replacement troop?

FS: Yes, replacement, Company C.

TI: And so about where did he join the 442? Do you know where the 442 was?

FS: You know, that I don't know specifically. 1981, when I retired from the Reagan administration, Bob calls me up and he said, "Frank, we're going to Europe. Can you and June join us?" What it was was the Blaine church was having a group going to the Passion Play in Munich, and he wanted us to join him. So I had just joined Deloitte & Touche and I couldn't take off the full time, but I joined them for three weeks. And we traveled and retraced his steps in Europe. But I don't know exactly where he joined the group.

TI: And did Bob participate in things like the Rescue of the Lost Battalion or the breaking of the Gothic Line? Was he with the 442 during that time period?

FS: You know, he must have been. And I say must have been, although I don't know for sure. And I say this because as part of our trip we were at Carrara, and we got a driver to take us up there. And while we were visiting the area, Bob showed me where they had gone up the steep hill, and he told me that those cables... have you ever been over there?

TI: No, I haven't.

FS: In Carrara you will see all these cables that go from the side of the mountain to the other side. And when we were there, the cables were still there from their mining operation. And Bob told me that when they were there, they went up those hills with full body packs, and that's what, you remember when Eric Saul was here and he talks about climbing the mountainside? Bob told me that the natives actually helped him go up there. And so that's part of the Rescue of the Lost Battalion, is it not?

TI: No, that's the breaking of the Gothic Line.

FS: Gothic Line, that's it.

TI: Where they totally surprised the Germans by, essentially, climbing up this mountainside.

FS: Mt. Folgorito or whatever it is.

TI: That they would be incredibly vulnerable if the Germans knew they were doing that, they were incredibly vulnerable to being wiped out. But they totally snuck up on them.

FS: But Bob pointed out where they were on there, so it must have been, yeah, that Folgorito. I didn't know which battle that was, but yeah, you're right.

TI: Okay, that's good.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2017 Densho. All Rights Reserved.