Karen Finnerty didn’t know a lot about her late father’s time in World Warfare II. And since his passing, Finnerty has looked for extra methods to attach together with her dad and his army service.
She by no means thought she would discover a key a part of who he was as a soldier, and in one among life’s most nice surprises.
Finnerty, who resides in Watkinsville, Georgia, was reunited with a canine tag her dad, James Underwood, wore as a member of Gen. George Patton’s third Army. The surprising discovery, 80 years after the warfare ended, got here all the best way from England.
Underwood served within the 267th Discipline Artillery Battalion. After the Army, Underwood moved to Tifton, Georgia, residing within the small city for greater than six a long time. The World Warfare II veteran was well-known to Tiftons, operating a flooring enterprise, Underwood Carpet, Tile, and Flooring. He ran the small enterprise for years earlier than promoting it in 1980.
Like many from “The Best Era,” Underwood was instilled with a way of civic obligation. Following his service time, he joined the native American Legion in Tifton, serving as a board member for 56 years. Together with his spouse, Edna, the couple had 4 youngsters.
Within the woods of England
Karl Cranham most likely didn’t count on to make such a discover on a typical hike by way of the woods.
Mountain climbing alongside the Savernake Forest, in Marlborough, England, about 77 miles west of London, he noticed a chunk of bronze steel caught in mud. He was on the lookout for some outdated bottles, not World Warfare-II period canine tags.
Realizing it was a chunk of identification of an American soldier, Cranham phoned the Barnesville Herald Gazette in Georgia. Barnesville was the city listed on the canine tag.
Intrigued by the out-of-the-blue name, Walter Geiger from the Herald Gazette known as Finnerty in August to inform her concerning the mysterious canine tag. Geiger had teamed with a city historian to seek out one of many veteran’s subsequent of kin and so they discovered Finnerty.
The newspaper related Finnerty with Cranham, and so they acquired to know one another over telephone conversations. Cranham mailed the canine tag to Finnerty, and it unlocked a door to her father’s army previous.
Discovering his Army Life
Underwood seldom spoke of his time preventing within the European theater, not even to shut members of the family. However retrieving the canine tag sparked curiosity for Finnerty to be taught extra. She did some analysis and was in a position to piece collectively most of his wartime expertise.
After finishing his paratrooper coaching, Underwood transferred to the 267th Battalion following a shoulder damage. His battalion spent a month penetrating deep into the English countryside. Finnerty additionally realized that his father’s unit was despatched to Normandy, France, to assist strengthen Patton’s military. The battalion then moved additional into France and was reassigned, serving for the third Army’s Provost Marshall.
Underwood hung out as a bridge guard, helped liberate cities in France underneath Nazi management, and rescued troopers struggling in POW camps, simply after preventing in Europe had ended.
For Finnerty, receiving her dad’s canine tag was a revelation. It has offered a connection to an essential a part of his previous that she by no means knew about. The misplaced relic additionally offered a key to who her father was as a younger man, forging by way of the woods of England, hoping to assist finish the warfare and return residence.
“I really feel like we’ve been reconnected to that a part of my dad’s life. It’s a treasure,” Finnerty stated. “It’s simply miraculous that this canine tag was there for 82 years.”
Finnerty plans to share the canine tag together with her different siblings, Larry Roberts and Cindy Underwood-Fuller. Sooner or later, Finnerty needs to incorporate the canine tag together with her father’s reissued service medals. It’s a possibility to honor his service, whereas preserving his reminiscence.
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