My father was in the Philippines, Mindanao, Saipan, and Okinawa. He did three invasions.
God bless the greatest generation. These men were barely men when they hit the beaches.
https://liherald.com/stories/baldwi...gest-american-soldier-to-fight-on-d-day,25346
At 16, Argenzio was so determined to fight in World War II that he changed his birth certificate to show that he was 17, the age requirement of the Marine Corps. But the Marines weren't interested in him, so he tried the Army. Argenzio, 17 by that time, still had to change the age on his baptismal certificate to 18.
“Are you serious? You're 18?” Argenzio recalled the Army draft board saying.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Argenzio replied.
Once enlisted, Argenzio recalled being at the receiving end of many jokes, with his fellow soldiers teasing that he belonged in the Boy Scouts.
But it wasn't long before Argenzio would find himself among the legal adults, on board a landing craft headed toward Omaha Beach. They would be the first wave.
As the soldiers waited for their orders, Argenzio remembers saying, “Oh boy, it's great being with you vets.”
To which one of the soldiers replied, “Lad, the minute they drop that ramp, you're going to be a veteran.”
God bless the greatest generation. These men were barely men when they hit the beaches.
https://liherald.com/stories/baldwi...gest-american-soldier-to-fight-on-d-day,25346
![1274994780_f330.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/326/3269f29096c41c3df267379ebb532102.jpg)
At 16, Argenzio was so determined to fight in World War II that he changed his birth certificate to show that he was 17, the age requirement of the Marine Corps. But the Marines weren't interested in him, so he tried the Army. Argenzio, 17 by that time, still had to change the age on his baptismal certificate to 18.
“Are you serious? You're 18?” Argenzio recalled the Army draft board saying.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Argenzio replied.
Once enlisted, Argenzio recalled being at the receiving end of many jokes, with his fellow soldiers teasing that he belonged in the Boy Scouts.
But it wasn't long before Argenzio would find himself among the legal adults, on board a landing craft headed toward Omaha Beach. They would be the first wave.
As the soldiers waited for their orders, Argenzio remembers saying, “Oh boy, it's great being with you vets.”
To which one of the soldiers replied, “Lad, the minute they drop that ramp, you're going to be a veteran.”