The War In My Bones

In all my WW2 research, few images have left a bigger knot in my stomach than this one. Not bloody, not graphic, just numbers. They reflect the company roster sizes of the 36th Division, 141st Infantry before and after the Rapido River Battle in Italy, 20-22 Jan, 1944. The first column is the day before the battle. The second column is the day after the battle ended. And the third column is after replacements started coming on board. The rows are the individual companies in the 141st, and the numbers are the officers then the number of enlisted men.

When this was explained to me, the historian commented that Pop’s unit, Company F, made it through pretty well – only losing two officers and sixty-one enlisted men. Pop survived but left a couple of mortar-shattered ribs in an Army Field Hospital. Total American casualties for that brief, relatively unheard of battle were 1,052 wounded in action, 921 captured or missing and 155 killed in action.