PFC George T. Davis, Army Serial # 37636933, joined the 10th Mountain Division in training at Camp Swift, TX in 1944. He was assigned to the 87th Regiment, Headquarters, and 3rd Battalion. In December of that year, the entire Division was moved to Camp Patrick Henry, VA and my grandfather, along with the rest of the 87th Regiment, embarked from Hampton Roads aboard the USS West Point, bound for Naples, Italy. They arrived on 13 Jan 1945.

My grandfather was killed in Action on April 19, 1945 at Badia di Sopra, Italy - which, as I understand is a location near the town of Sulmonte.

Left behind was his wife (my grandmother) Evelyn Ruth Davis, and his 5 daughters, Marian, Doris, Georgia (my mother), Dolores, and Yvonne. After the news of his death, my grandmother could not financially care for 5 children, so among the ones taken and put into Foster care, was my mother, Georgia. She never knew what happened for sure, but was forever hurt by the loss of her father in WWII, then her mother and all her sisters. She was abused when in foster care at age 7. She recovered somewhat and married at age 16. She and my father Charles Meyer had 7-8 children, but she never recovered the loss of her father and mother and 4 sisters. She later married Jack Norris and had one child. Then in a relationship with Carl Machaney, she had one more child, total but not certain, she had approximately 9 children.

My father left my mother because she had emotional problems and post-Pardom Depression, the loss of a father, mother and sisters, being hurt in foster care, and now the loss of her husband was more then she could handle. The courts took three children from her, because she could not care for them alone now. But because she was so destroyed inside, too much loss, they came and took more, one by one all of her children disappeared from her. When it was time for them to take me, at age 15 months. My oldest brother Chuck witnessed it all. He was age 11 years old. She fell to the ground and tried to end her life shortly after. She was admitted for mental care. She wanted all her life to know what really happened to her father, why her mother did what she had to, and why her sisters and her were separated, but no one knew except that her father died in WWII and her mother did what she thought was best. She was reunited with her mother and sisters off and on, but too much time had gone by. The pain had lasted too long and ran too deep. The loss was more then she could bare.

She tried to do the best she could but nothing could heal her. She had lost all her children except one. She was going to lose the last child because they were wanting to admit her again to the hospital, and that was not anything she could handle and Georgia committed suicide on Sept 13 1972, I was 6 years old, but had been adopted out so never knew till I was age 28 years old.

After a 20-year search there are 8 children found now, but all affected by what happened. My grandfather George T. Davis must be honored, he was a great man. People who knew him say he loved his family and was a great husband and father. He had custody of the five girls when he was drafted into the War. If he could have come home, my mother would have never been taken away, never hurt in foster care, and things would be different in the generations to come. I will forever honor my grandfather, he fought for his country, and died just a few days before the war ended after fighting 103 days of constant battle. He never gave up, and when he was killed, those lives back home waiting for him fell like dominos. Every life was crushed, and everyone was praying for the end of the war and his safe arrival, when instead the most unbearable news came of his being killed came instead.

When I hear of a death of someone in the Military, I know that it is more then the death of one person, it is the death of many people, of the family, and that no words are the right words. Spouses, Children, grandchildren's lives are torn apart, as in my family; there is a sadness that will linger for many years to come.

A special thanks to Norman Burkey who responded right away to my request for information on my grandfather and for referring me to John M. Antilla. This was the first call I made on his list and was the only call I needed to make. It was like it was supposed to happen this way. Mr. Antilla knew my grandfather, and told me stories of my grandfather, they trained together climbing and descending mountains and Mr. Antilla was there when my grandfather was killed by enemy artillery fire. Thank you John for the wonderful conversation and for telling me all about my grandfather. You helped my dreams come true!

I honor my grandfather PFC George T. Davis, and all those who died defending their country, for they gave the ultimate sacrifice. I also honor their families, for they sacrifice continuously.

Forever in his Memory........