Blue Devils - 88th Infantry Division
and Mt.Mestas Research Website

349th - 350th - 351st Infantry Regiments

337th - 338th - 339th - 913th Field Artillery Battalions
313th Combat Engineer Battalion and Medical Battalions
and the Mt.Mestas Memorial Names Project
Mt.Mestas-Picture of Mt. Mestas taken by Grayce (Mestas) Konieczny.
MtMestas.com is an archive of Documents, Pictures and Stories about Mt.Mestas, Felix B. Mestas, Jr., La Veta, Colorado, the Mt.Mestas Memorial Monument, the 88th Infantry Division and World War II. Our focus is towards preserving Community, Family and Historical knowledge and being the best Blue Devils research website in the World. Now over 2000 pages.
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88th Infantry Division
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Looking for other Blue Devils families and information ?
Come and join our YAHOO Group and post messages there.
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Hello everybody. Welcome to MtMestas.com. There's a lot going on. The website is undergoing an update. Some sections may be temporarily offline.

88TH ASSOCIATION QUATERLY NEWSLETTER SEARCH
Mtmestas.com is searching for a donations of back issues of the 88th Infantry Division Association quarterly newsletters. If you have any you don't want or can share please email: hello@mtmestas.com

YAHOO DISCUSSION GROUP - ''The MtMestas.com Blue Devils Yahoo Discussion Group''
Our 88th Infantry Division discussion group has grown to over 170 list members. Stop by and join. We are mostly families of 88th veterans. Post questions. Share pictures. Tell stories. CLICK HERE to join or go to YAHOO GROUPS and search for '88th Blue Devils'.

NEW 88TH RESEARCH CD -'' The MtMestas.com 88th Infantry Division Research CD''
Can't find what you're looking for? There's a lot not on the website. This year the MtMestas.com documents archives finally became available on CD as a research tool of totally remastered word searchable PDF files. Other CDs published by MtMestas.com and available on Ebay include the 34th, 45th Infantry Divisions and the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. See below for more info.

NEW BLUE DEVILS BOOK - ''BLUE DEVILS'' - Published in Italy !!!
Signed by the authors! From our friends in Italy, this very nice 88th Blue Devils book was published this year. Currently MtMestas.com is the ONLY seller of this book in the United States. See below for more info.

CURRENT PROJECTS
- Rebuilding the MtMestas.com website.
- Publishing the MtMestas.com 88th photos archives to CD.
- The Mt.Mestas Memorial Monument Names Project



Buy the NEW 88th Book
and get a FREE 88th Research CD

The book is BRAND NEW and was just released June 2009 in Italy. Currently www.MtMestas.com is the ONLY seller of this book in the United States. This copy is signed on the inside title page by co-authors Valerio Calderoni and Renzo Grandi.

It is a coffee table size book at 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches big, published on high quality paper, packed full of pictures, local history and personal accounts and is printed in both Italian AND English by printing each page on the left side in Italian and again in English on the right side page. Very unique.

At over 300 pages, the book covers the period between September and October 1944 when the Blue Devils were just south of Bologna, Italy in the rugged Northern Apennine mountains of Italy.

The authors are avid World War II history buffs and have spent many years of metal detecting for artifacts on the slopes of Battaglia and provide many pages of personal accounts as remembered by 88th vets who were interviewed for the book, and of their own knowledge as well, with actual pictures of when they recently located the effects of a soldier missing in action and arranged for the return home to the family of the soldier's remains.



The MtMestas.com
88th Infantry Division
Research CD

Featuring Personalised
Laser Etched Disc Graphics of your Veteran

This Research CD is the most comprehensive and complete grouping of 88th Infantry Division information available anywhere for the World War 2 Researcher or Family Member and is designed to be suitable both as a Research Tool and as a Family Heirloom keepsake. All discs and files are PDF REMASTERED and KEYWORD SEARCHABLE.*

The Heirloom Edition Research CD features Individualized Personalized Laser Etched Disc Graphics of Your Vet's Name and Picture and is suitable to be purchased as a keepsake or gift to other family members.

Laser-Etching is an optical disc recording technology that utilizes specially coated recordable CD and DVD media to produce unique high quality laser etched labels with text or graphics, as opposed to stick-on labels and printable discs.
Some of the books found on the CD.



Use the navigation links on the left if the scroll links are broken.

PFC. Felix Belois Mestas, Jr.
Aug 23, 1921 - Sept 29, 1944
La Veta, Colorado
~
Died in Battle - Monte Battaglia Italy
350th Infantry Regiment - 88th Infantry Division
Blue Devils

Pfc. Felix B. Mestas, Jr. died a hero's death, on an Italian battle front, in one of the bloodiest battles of the World War II on September 29, 1944, just a month after his 23rd birthday.

His bravery that day was reported. For awhile his identity remained a mystery, lending him the title of "The Unknown Hero of Battle Mountain". Soon after, the complete story came out.

Pfc. Felix B. Mestas, Jr., was the 'Unknown Hero of Battle Mountain'.
Pfc. Felix B. Mestas, Jr., was postumously
awarded the Silver Star

"September, 1944. The Appenine mountains in Italy were misted with the first of winter's chill as members of Company G of the 350th Infantry struggled up the muddy slopes of Mount Battaglia.

Company G was about to face its bloodiest confrontation of World War II. There would be only three survivors and they would live because of one soldier's sacrafice."
Source:Mt.Mestas - The Hero Behind The Mountain. Click Here.



Mt.Mestas
Mt.Mestas Memorial Monument

A nearby mountain that had been Junior's backyard for all his life was renamed Mt.Mestas in his honor. The Mt.Mestas Memorial Monument was erected of Colorado rose granite from the mountain and engraved with 63 names of Huerfano County's World War II war dead. Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day since, people have gathered at the mountain monument to pay tribute to all of La Veta and Walsenburg's fallen war heros.

 




Medal of Honor Awards
Many heros died during the war - whether at Battle Mountain or Iwo Jima. Our 'Decorated Heros' section is dedicated to the 88th Infantry Division and has all the Citations of soldiers who were awarded the Medal Of Honor in World War II. The accounts of their bravery are overwhelming.




The Invasion of Italy

The Invasion of Italy is one of the least documented areas of the war. We're looking for any stories or photos of the 350th Infantry Regiment and 88th Infantry Division or any photos taken in Italy during World War II.



Research Section Dedication

MtMestas.com
88th Infantry Division
Blue Devils Research Library

MtMestas.com is dedicated to establishing an extensive research library of 88th Infantry Division documents and photographs and providing the best links and resources for continuing your research of the Invasion of Italy phase of World War 2.

The
MtMestas.com
Blue Devils Research Library
is Dedicated to the Memory
of Todd Wheatley.

Col. Edwin Todd Wheatley, Jr., was a bunkmate of Pvt.Mestas and spent his later years advocating for a Medal of Honor upgrade for his friend. Mr. Wheatley authored a lenghty article about his work which was published in a national magazine in June 2003. To read "Silver Star or Medal of Honor?" - Click Here.

During endless hours of searching the internet for "Blue Devils" information I upon came this January 2003 FORUM message that Mr.Wheatley had posted elsewhere during his own search, shortly before his death in May 2004.



Wheatley posted this January 2003 FORUM message shortly before his death in May 2004.

In the spirit of Mr.Wheatley's earlier research work, MtMestas.com would like to pay it's respects and dedicate the MtMestas.com Blue Devils Research Library
in his memory.


This Section Under Construction
Most of these files are already on the MtMestas.com website
Use the navigation links on the left to locate them.
88th Infantry Division - We Were There From Gruber To The Brennar Pass - 98 pgs
We Were There
From Gruber To Brenner Pass

History Of The
88th Infantry Division

98 Pages

The 88th
Infantry Division
Operation Of The 88th Infantry Division In The Po Valley Campaign, 15 April - 2 May 1945 - 24 pgs
15 Apr - 2 May 1945

Operations Of
The 88th Infantry Division
In The Po Valley Campaign

24 Pages
Monthly Historical Narratives 349th Infantry Regiment (88th Infantry Division) 1944 94pgs
1944

88th Infantry Division
349th Infantry Regiment

Monthly Historical Narratives

94 Pages


349th
Infantry Regiment
Monthly Historical Narratives 349th Infantry Regiment (88th Infantry Division) 1945 25pgs
1945

88th Infantry Division
349th Infantry Regiment

Monthly Historical Narratives

25 Pages
Operations of Company A, 349th Infantry, 88th Infantry Division, At the Town of Belvedere, Italy, 30 September - 2 October 1944 (North Apennines Campaign) - 24pgs
30 Sep - 2 Oct 1944

88th Infantry Division
349th Infantry Regiment
Company A

Operations at the
Town of Belvedere, Italy

24 Pages
Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 349th Infantry, 88th Infantry Division, In the Breakthrough And Pursuit To The Po River, 15-24 April 1945 - 29pgs
15 - 24 April 1945

88th Infantry Division
349th Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion

Operations in the Breakthrough
and Pursuit to the Po River


29 Pages
Operations of the 349th Infantry Regimental Combat Team, 88th Infantry Division, In the Capture of Monte Rumici, Italy, 15 April-21 April 1945 (Po Valley Campaign) - 24pgs
15 Apr - 21 Apr 1945

88th Infantry Division
349th Infantry Regiment

Operations of the
349th Infantry Regimental
Combat Team in the capture of
Monte Rumici, Italy

24 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
1944

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment

Monthly Historical Narratives

87 Pages


350th
Infantry Regiment
350th Infantry Regiment
1945

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment

Monthly Historical Narratives

70 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
October 1944

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment


S2 - S3 Journal

18 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
December 1944

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment
1st Battalion

History

9 Pages

350th Infantry Regiment
March 1944

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment


Monthly Historical Notes

4 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
17 April 1945

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment
Company A

Operations at Monterumici
Northwest of Anconella, Italy

27 Pages

350th Infantry Regiment
15-18 April 1945

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment
Company H

Operations at Mountermumici
South of Bologna, Italy

31 Pagess
350th Infantry Regiment
21-25 May 1944

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment
 2nd Battalion

Clearing aRegimental Supply
Route to Roccasecca, Italy

27 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
1 - 2 Feb 1945

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment
Company A

Operations at Furcoli
Northwest of Loiano, Italy

27 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
Maps And Drawings

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment

5 Pages
350th Infantry Regiment
1945 - 1946
Occupation of Trieste Period

88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry Regiment
Battle Mountain Regiment

In Occupation with the
88th Blue Devil Division In Italy


68 Pages
1944 Historical Narrative 351st Infantry Regiment 88th Infantry Division
1944

88th Infantry Division
351st Infantry Regiment

Monthly Historical Narratives

87 Pages

351st
Infantry Regiment
1945 Historical Narrative 351st Infantry Regiment 88th Infantry Division
1945

88th Infantry Division
351st Infantry Regiment

Monthly Historical Narratives

45 Pages
1944-45 History Of The 351st Infantry Regiment 88th Infantry Division
1944 - 1945

88th Infantry Division
351st Infantry Regiment

History of the
351st Infantry Regiment

82 Pages
Battle Of Laiatico, Italy 351st Infantry Regiment 88th Infantry Division
9 - 13 Jul 1944

88th Infantry Division
351st Infantry Regiment

Battle Of Laiatico, Italy


20 Pages
Small Unit Actions At Santa Maria Infante, Italy 351st Infantry Regiment 88th Infantry Division
11-14 May, 1944

88th Infantry Division
351st Infantry Regiment

Small Unit Actions
Santa Maria Infante, Italy

59 Pages
The Final Campaign Across Northwest Italy 14 April - 2 May 1945 - 146 pgs
14 April - 2 May, 1945

The Final Campaign
Across Northwest Italy

146 Pages
The Allied
Invasion of
Italy
1943 - 1945
Finito Po Valley Campaign - 69 pgs

Finito !
Po Valley Campaign


69 Pages
Rome-Arno Campaign: 22 January–9 September 1944 - 32pgs
22 Jan – 9 Sep 44

Rome-Arno
Campaign

32 Pages
North Apennines Campaign: 10 September 1944–4 April 1945 - 32pgs
10 Sep 44 – 4 Apr 45

North Apennines
Campaign

32 Pages
Po Valley Campaign: 5 April–8 May 1945 - 28pgs
5 April–8 May 1945

Po Valley
Campaign

28 Pages
19 Days - From the Apennines to the Alps-The Story of the Po Valley Campaign - 98 pgs

19 Days
From the Apennines to the Alps
The Story of the Po Valley Campaign

98 Pages
Road To Rome Salerno Naples Volturno Cassino Anzio Rome - 66 pgs

Road To Rome
Salerno Naples Volturno
Cassino Anzio Rome

66 Pages
Pictorial Record - The War Against Germany And Italy - 473 pgs

Pictorial Record
The War Against Germany - Italy
Mediterranean And Adjacent Areas

473 Pages


Looking for other Blue Devils families and information ?
Join our Yahoo Group then send, receive or answer emails with other
list members about the 88th Infantry Division Blue Devils.
Visit Our Yahoo Group Email List ... CLICK HERE. 

For more information email: Hello@MtMestas.com

Copyright 2004 - 2009 Gary Smith