Abbot
Bailey
Bernstein
Bily
Centerwell

Eugene
Bily

Cherry
Garcia
Gregory
Hinkson
Johnson

Martyn
Morse
Mullins
Sasalie
Schoeneman

Vroeginday

New Additions

Abrahamson
Peebles

Blue Devils

Abbot, Thomas B. - Sgt

My father was a Sgt in the 88th in North Africa and Italy. I know very little about his service. He was a forward observer radio man. Part of his training was at Ft. Bragg, NC. He watched a torpedo speed by and miss his transport boat carrying them to Africa. His name was Thomas B. Abbott. A big guy, black hair, deep voice.

Any info appreciated.

Blue Devils

Abrahamson, Craig

Blue Devils

Bailey

Blue Devils

Bernstein, Dave - Sgt

From: "Abe Bernstein" <abebernstein@xxxxx.com>
To: hello@mtmestas.com
Subject: Form posted from Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 07:58:08 -0400

Blue Devils Member : Last Name : =Bernstein
First Name : =Dave
Middle Name : =
Rank : =Sgt
Unit:Other : =
Unit : =Unknown
BlueDevils Comments: =Did anyone serve with my brother Dave? Radioman
from Brooklyn ...Served '43-45

Thanks

Abe Bernstein
abebernstein@xxxxx.com
Alumni : Name =Abe bernstein
Relationship : =Brother
Relationship : Other=
Relationship : Other=
ContactPermission=Ok to Contact me
Contact Name : =Abe Bernstein
Address : =233 South 6th Street
City : =Philadelphia
State : =PA
Zip =19106
Phone : =215-925-0120
Email : =abebernstein@xxxxx.com

Blue Devils

Bily, Eugene

Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 12:57:38 -0400
From: "Eugene Bily" <eugene.bily@*****.net>
Subject: 88th Div. TRUST
To:
Hello Gary, I understand you are trying to get in touch with me RE: 88th Div. Ready on the firing line here in NY, Lock & Load & fire at will!
GENE BILY, TRUST 52-54
Do you have a high speed line for some pictures?

------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 13:16:36 -0400
From: "Eugene Bily" <eugene.bily@*****.net>
Subject: PIX.
To: cheapgary@yahoo.com

Gary surprised at the quick response. Yes, I was stationed in Trieste
52-54 Here a few sites if you have not seen them already www.oldsoldiershome.com & www.groups.msn.com - @ groups.Msn click on pictures I am the fourth from the top TROOPER 73
Above My visit to TRIESTE 2004 for dedication of plaque. CLICK HERE

Blue Devils

Centerwall, Willard

From: "osornio-centerwall" <ocenterwallxxxxx.com>
To: Hello@mtMestas.com
Subject: Willard R. Centerwall (former member of 88th Infantry) obituary
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:25:51 -0700

Obituary notice for Dr. Willard Raymond Centerwall, of Silverton, Oregon.

Dr. Willard Raymond (“Bill”) Centerwall, 81, formerly head of the family planning clinic at the University of California, Davis, died August 2 at his home in Silverton after a long illness. He had resided in Silverton for the past 20 years. Before that he had lived in Davis, California from 1982 to 1985, where he headed up the genetics lab. Prior to that time he resided in Redlands, California from 1968 to 1982.

Bill was born Jan. 16, 1924 in Missoula, Montana. His mother, Charlotte, raised him in Maple Plain, outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her family homesteaded there in the 1890s after coming over from Norway. A close-knit family, most of Bill’s cousins still reside in the Minneapolis area. He, however, wanted to visit unusual places even as a boy. As a young man he worked one summer on a coal barge plying between Havana and the East Coast ports. At the end of World War II, he went to Italy as an officer in the Corps of Engineers, a member of the 88th Infantry Division, the “Blue Devils” stationed in Naples and Trieste.

After attending high school in downtown Minneapolis during the Depression, Bill received a scholarship to attend Yale. There he discovered his life-long passion for medicine, in particular for pediatrics and genetics. He graduated with the class of 45W. His work on Down Syndrome and phenylketonurea was to benefit thousands of affected families. Taking family histories and plotting family trees became a favorite method for Bill to chart how close relationships between spouses could lead to such inherited disorders appearing in families.

Rebecca Centerwall

Blue Devils

Cherry

From: "Bill Cherry" <billibob@*****.com>
To: Hello@MtMestas.com
Subject: Blue Devils
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 00:48:19 -0600

Gary,
I'm trying to find info about my father's unit. I know he was in the 88th but I don't know if it was the 349, 350 or 351st. He was infantry. Do you know of a way I can research this and learn more?

Thanks,
Bill Cherry
801-554-****

Blue Devils

Garcia, Frank

To: Hello@MtMestas.com
Subject: New guestbook entry
From: Patricia Quets
Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:46:04 -0500

This is a great site!I ran into this site while trying to find
infomation for my father served in the 88th infantry Division during WW11,
receiving Camp Gruber,Oklahoma. Sailed for North Africa arriving in
Casablanca and served in Italy.
His name is Frank Garcia.

Thank You, Patricia

Blue Devils

Gregory, Robert - SSG

Date: Sat, 8 Oct 2005 13:52:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Ed Dorroh" <epdorroh@xxxxx.com>
Subject: Sgt. Robert "Cecil" Gregory
To: Hello@MtMestas.com

My grandfather passed away last November and I have
been researching his WWII history. From the records I
do have, he joined in 1938 and was discharged in 1946.
He started with the 9th Inf. He never talked about
it and I don't have much. From my grandmother's
recounting of her transfers from Fort Bragg to Camp
Gruber and then his training in Louisiana, I know he
was in the 88th, but nothing beyond that. I am
looking for more info. Anything. I've read
everything I could find on the 88th. My mother tell
me she was named (Norma) after the Italian lady who
aided my grandfather after his squad was wiped out and
he was left for dead. He received a bad headwound and
the family nursed him back to health where he was able
to return to his unit. I have also been told he was
wounded three times - once by an incoming artillary
shell during the ceremony to present him with another
purple heart. That sounds like my family's luck.

Anyway, I'm just trying to verify some info and
looking for more. Can anyone help?

Thank you,
Ed Dorroh

Blue Devils

Hinkson, Forrest

Sgt. Combat Engineer

Blue Devils

Johnson, Hamish

From: "hamish johnson" <lynchmob@*****.com>
To: hello@mtmestas.com
Subject: 88th blue devils
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 22:31:58 +0100

please could you put me in the right direction.
my dad, who sadly died in 2002, was a royal engineer who gained the purple heart whilst attatched to the 88th blue devils during world war two.
my mum wishes to find out a little more about his time with the 88th blue devils and also if there could be any other documentation on him being awarded the purple heart, mainly because she is told that it was quite rare as he was welsh.
do you know where i could try
thankyou
dawn

Blue Devils

Martyn, Edward

To: Hello@MtMestas.com
From: dick@ xxxx.com
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 22:04:03 -0600

Has anyone remembered Edward Martyn. He was wounded july 11th 1944, at Volterra Italy. His discharge paper lists him as a mortar gunner. Any
imformation will be greatly appreciated.

Dick Tomczak

Blue Devils

Morse, Donald

Philip Morse pmorse1@xxxxx.com
Location: Windham Maine
Sunday, 18. December 2005 20:54

Hoping to find persons that might be able to tell me the unit my father (Donald Freeman Morse) might have served in the Rome-Arno theather during the ww11 invation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Phil Morse" <pmorse1@xxxxx.com>
Subject: Re: Blue Devils_Morse
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 18:13:47 -0500

Thanks Gary for the reply. I am well into this hunt but am going real slow. My father was drafted in the army 12/18/43. and discharged 11/10/45. After sending for all his service records I found that they were burnt in the St Louis fire 1973. I went to state records and found he was in the ROME-ARNO Apennines theater area. All of my older family members have passed as well as my father.

I am trying to find where he was during the war? And in what unit he served and how? 5th army? An uncle said he remembers him being sent to
No. Africa and then to Italy. Uncle also told me of my father telling some of the cold stories of war and the hell it was for all. I only took the 88th as the nearest to the accounts my uncle told me.Thinking maybe the 349, 350 or 351? Uncle sayed he was infantry and spent many nights in wet fox holes.

He received two bronze stars and other medals for his service in wwII. Oh well, I am sure I am boring you so if you have any thoughts on the matter give me a mailing. I want to pass all I can find on to my children so they don't get as far behind as I have.

Again, I am thanking you for the reply and hope you and yours have a great holiday,

Phil Morse

Blue Devils

Mullins

From: "g m" <greg_morse@*****.net>
To: Hello@MtMestas.com
Subject: address
Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 20:07:21 -0400

My grandfather was a member of the Blue Devils - he was killed 2 days before WW II ended. His last name was Mullins.
Are there currently Blue Devils fighting overseas? If so, do you have an address?

Thank you,

A. Morse

Blue Devils

Peebles, Claude Jr.

From: Aimeemdallas@xxxxx.com
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 19:55:02 EST
Subject: MY BLUE DEVIL
To: Hello@MtMestas.com

My father, (PFC) Claude Peebles, Jr., DOB 05-17-25, was a machine gunner in the 88th Infantry Division, Blue Devil replacements. He was wounded on October 25, 1944 , spent 45 days in a hospital in Florence then returned to combat. He had been on the front line only 5 days. He returned home to Mississippi where he has lived his entire life. I would like to find someone who might remember fighting with my father, he still talks about his fellow soldiers to this day. I have a picture someone took of him with another PFC and their SGT standing in front of a tent next to a 6 ft. "cut-out". My daddy was 19 years old in the picture. he said the "cut-out" was cut and painted by a German soldier they had taken prisoner. It is that soldiers version of a "Blue Devil".

I can be reached at the following address

Patti Peebles
28 Eastover Drive
Philadelphia, MS 39350

I would like to arrange for my father, if possible, to reunite with someone he knew from the War. Thankyou in advance for any assistance.

Blue Devils

Sasalie

Blue Devils

Schoeneman, Walter

From: "Irvin" <islonghorn@*****.com
To: hello@mtmestas.com
Subject: soldier
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 20:33:34 -0500

I just found your site and it brings back a lot of memories. My father was a member of the 88tth I will try to send a picture soon. His name is Walter Schoeneman and he passed away March 1981. If you have any information please contact me.

Blue Devils

Vroeginday, Peter

May 2005 13:09
YOUR'E SITE WAS RECOMENDED BY A FRIEND,MY BROTHER WAS IN THE 88TH BLUE DEVILS,AND WAS KILLED IN ITALY. HE IS BURIED IN THE AMERICAN FLORENCE CEMETERY IN ITALY.ANY INFORMATION I CAN FIND ABOUT THIS IS WELCOMED. YOU HAVE DONE ONE GREAT JOB WITH YOUR SITE.
MANY THANKS
JEANETTE

JEANETTE SASIELA
SASIELA@*****.NET
Location:
CLIFTON, N.J.07013
------
Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 12:40:22 -0400
From: "Jeanette Sasiela" <sasiela@*****.net>
Subject: 88th Blue Devils
To: Hello@MtMestas.com

Thank you for a wonderful site,this was the battle my brother was killed in on july 1944,I see his name Peter Vroeginday listed on the War Dead List. Thanks again
I hope I can print this is something for us all to remember.
Thanks, Jeanette Sasiela