A Tribute To My Uncle -- Pvt. Joseph Scodella
This page is dedicate to the memory of the uncle I never knew. U.S. Army Pvt. Joseph Scodella of Detroit, Mich. died of wounds on Oct. 9, 1944, during the assault on the Siegfried Line.
My uncle was a member of the 119th Inf. Reg., 30th Inf. Div. Known as "Old Hickory," the 30th spent 282 days in combat and suffered more than 26,000 casualties in all, according to Stephen Ambrose's "Citizen Soldiers."
The Army historian S.L.A. Marshall called the Thirtieth the "Finest Infantry Division in the European Theater of Operations."
"It is the combined judgements of the approximately 35 historical officers who had worked on the records and in the field that the 30th merited this distinction. It was our finding that the 30th had been outstanding in three operations and we could consistently recommend it for citation on any of these occasions. It was further found that it had in no single instance performed discreditably or weakly . . . and in no single operation had it carried less than its share of the burden or looked bad when compared to the forces on its flanks," he wrote.
The circumstances of my uncle's mortal wound are unclear. A letter to my mother (his sister) from his sergeant only said he died "fighting for his country within sight of German soil." Official Army files indicated that he had suffered a serious head wound. Correspondence with the few remaining members of his unit I was able to locate did not provide further details.
What is certain is that like the many thousands of other "citizen soldiers" who made the supreme sacrifice in World War II, my uncle died much too young, leaving behind a bereaved family and unfufilled dreams and plans for a future he would never experience.
Interesting Links:
Pvt. Joseph Scodella during training
My Info:
Name:
Joe Martucci
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