Introduction to this site -- links to other sections are below, as well as on the right. You can move up or down one post at a time by clicking on the "older post" or "newer post" links on the bottom of each page. Jump around and look at what interests you. To see the whole thing, though, you'll have to buy the book, currently for sale only through this link (which links to the author's grandson's ebay site).
BY BUD WAGNER
Edited by Lloyd Wagner (author of this website)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HOW THE BOOK WAS WRITTEN:
Corporal Bud Wagner kept a day-by-day diary and took pictures with a vest-pocket camera during the entire time he was in the Army. AND THERE SHALL BE WARS consists of the original diary entries, plus a commentary written by Mr. Wagner during 1998-99 explaining and expanding on the diary. It is 538 pages and includes 178 original photographs and documents. It is for sale through this ebay site, only.
Bud Wagner was a 21 year old vegetable farmer and woods worker from Hermantown, Minnesota when he was drafted in April 1941 in Duluth Minnesota, one of the two first men to be drafted from Local Draft Board #5. He was sent to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana for basic training. He was assigned to the 151st Field Artillery Battalion of the 34th Infantry Division, and participated in the Louisiana-Texas maneuvers August 11 - September 29, 1941.
The 151st Field Artillery Battalion left Camp Claiborne on January 1, 1942, and were transported by train to Fort Dix, New Jersey. They left New York City for Belfast, Northern Ireland on January 15, 1942 on the HMS Straithard, part of the first troop convoy to cross the Atlantic during WWII, arriving in Northern Ireland on January 26, 1942.
The 151st underwent combat training at Ballerena Camp near Limavady, Tynan Abbey near Armagh, and at Castle Coole near Enniskillen. They left Northern Ireland for England on December 15, 1942, and left England on Christmas Day 1942 on the Empress of Australia, to limp under partial power into the harbor at Oran, Algeria (after being accidentally rammed in the fog by another ship in the convoy), on January 3, 1942.
The 151st participated in the Tunisian Campaign. From Tunis they made their way in overland convoy back to Oran for amphibious training, and then back the 800 miles to Tunis to load on LST's for the Salerno invasion. The 151st was attached to the 36th Division for the invasion, and hit the beach on D-day with that Division. They were later returned to the 34th Division.
The 34th Division participated in the first phase of the Battle of Cassino in January 1944, and witnessed the Allied bombing of the Cassino Monastery. After a rest period, they were sent to the barely established Anzio beachhead south of Rome, arriving March 23, 1944.
Troops from Anzio finally joined with victorious troops from the Cassino Front on May 25, 1944, and pushed through Rome and northward during the summer and fall of 1944.
The 151st Field Artillery Battalion was attached to the 88th and 91st Divisions during the stalemate at the Gothic Line south of Bologna, and rejoined the 34th Division for the final push northward in the spring of 1945.
After the end of the war in Europe on May 7, 1945, Bud Wagner returned home by airplane and train at all deliberate speed, which involved a lot of "hurry up and wait," as had his entire Army career. He returned home on July 20, 1945.
Corporal Wagner served as a cook during the early part of the war, but began to dislike this job under combat conditions, as he says it only amounted to being in a kitchen truck under shellfire, opening cans, heating the food, and listening to the men gripe about it. He became an anti-aircraft machine gunner for a short time during the African Campaign, then became a Battalion Messenger (liaison) Agent for the rest of the war.
After the war, Mr. Wagner married, and he and his wife Evelyn bought a farm in Hermantown, Minnesota where they raised three children, Lloyd, Nancy and Susan. They operated a truck farm and greenhouse until 1991. Mr. Wagner also drove school bus, a job he says was similar in a way to being a Battalion Agent during the war, as it required "more nerve than brains." He retired from this job in 1982.Mr. Wagner completed 9th grade at Proctor High School in 1934, and continued his education in the school of hard knocks until he passed away at age 94 in January 2014. He enjoyed raising a garden through the last summer of his life.
The back cover was adapted from a Christmas card sent by Mr. Wagner to his parents in December 1944.
Links to subsequent posts:A. Excerpts from the book
1. Registration for draft - end of training in N. Ireland, October 1940 - December 1942
2. African Campaign
3. Italian Campaign, Salerno - Rome
4. Italian Campaign, Rome - Florence, and back to Minnesota
B. Sampling of original PHOTOGRAPHS and DOCUMENTS from the book
1. Pre-war pictures of Mr. Wagner's life on the farm in Hermantown, Minnesota, and in the woods at Payne, Minnesota. 1940 - April 1941
2. Basic training at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, April 1941 - December 31, 1941
3. Crossing the Atlantic ... Training in Northern Ireland
4. North Africa
5. Italy
C. Quotes from reviews of the book
D. 151st Field Artillery Battalion, 34th Division, Members Killed in Action, WWII
E. Contact/order Information
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