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A DUKW Narrative As a point of reference for this story, the following entry from our Division Chronology, which appears in our 10th Mountain Division Association Web site, will give the reader some idea of the "lay of the land". "30 April 45 Another DUKW, carrying a 75mm Howitzer, 25 men from B and C Batteries of the 605th Field Artillery Battalion and the 52nd QM Bn. (Mobile) driver, PFC Nicholas Del Grosso, capsizes near the town of Riva with all hands lost but one: Cpl. Thomas E. Hough of 605-B." From: Defense Attache Office - Rome Dear Pete, I am the Air Force Attache at the American Embassy in Rome Italy. I
got your Internet address from the 10th Mountain division website. An
Italian gentleman has told me of an action that took place on the 30th
of April 1945 in Northern Italy where 25 soldiers of the 10th Mountain
Division, 105th Field Artillery battalion, lost their lives on Lake
Garda when the DUKW amphibious vehicle they were traveling in was hit
by German fire and sank. Kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff L. Patton, Colonel, USAF From: Pete Clark Dear Colonel Patton -
I wish you the very best at your conference. From: Defense Attache Office - Rome Dear Pete, Thanks for the information on the 10th MD DUKW incident and the points
of contact of Dr Imbrie and Debbie Gemar. I will keep you posted on
information that I find out. I have learned that the Swiss underwater
explorer, Picard, discovered a DUKW 150 meters off shore of Lake Garda
in 100 meters of water in the 1970's but the exact location of the wreck
is unknown. I am in contact with Dr Imbrie to see if he has any more
information on the approximate location of the DUKW and I will be discussing
the possibility of human remains being recovered after so long a time
with the Central Identification folks this weekend. Jeff Patton From: Defense Attache Office - Rome To: Dr. John Imbrie Subject: Re: Information on WW2 casualties of the 10 Mtn Div Wednesday, March 20, 2002 9:31 AM
I am the Air Force Attaché at the American Embassy in Rome.
I got your email address from Pete Clark, the webmaster of the 10th
MD site and he suggested that you may be able to help me. Kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff Patton, Colonel, USAF From: John Imbrie Dear Col. Patten: In reply to your request for information received this afternoon about the drowning of 10th Mountain Division soldiers in Lake Garda, and the possibility of finding their remains, I can give you the following: On 30 April 45, 10th Mountain Division troops took the town of Torbole and headed for Riva, three miles away at the north end of Lake Garda. A DUKW carrying 25 soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division's 605th Field Artillery Battalion (6 from C Battery, the rest from B Battery) plus the helmsman who probably came from IV Corps and possibly also 50-caliber machine-gunner who came from some other unit in the 5th Army. They headed across the lake for Riva, close to shore. But the boat was overloaded and capsized with all hands lost but one: Cpl. Thomas E. Hough, of 605-B. Hough struggled ashore and was rescued by Pfc Maurice Dennis, who received a Soldiers Medal for his effort. Hough is alive and well should be able to help you locate the lost DUKW. He is not on e-mail, but he can be reached as follows: Thomas Hough The names of the 10th Mountain Division men who lost their lives are:
This is the only 10th Mountain Division DUKW sinking in WW II, so it seems to me virtually certain that the wreck discovered by Picard, close to shore at the north end of Lake Garda, is in fact a relic of this tragedy. If the effort to find remains is successful, I can provide some information about the next of kin. By cc of this message to Debbie Gemar, a researcher at the 10th Mountain Division Resource Center at the Denver Public Library, I am asking her to provide you with a copy of an article which describes the event (Source Document #891). Let me know if I can be of further assistance. And please accept my thanks, and the thanks of all my comrades in the division, for moving this extraordinary effort forward. This tragedy has haunted our memories of the last days of the war in Italy, and it would be a fine thing to bring it to closure. Cordially, John Imbrie, From: Defense Attache Office - Rome Dear John, Thanks a lot for the quick reply. I called the cemetery in Florence to inquire about the status of the troops lost in the DUKW accident. All of them are listed on their roll of the missing. I am trying to contact Picard to find out any additional details of his photo exploration of the wreck and see if he can shed some light on the vehicle's exact location. Thank you very much for the information and I will let you know what I find out this weekend as to the feasibility of searching and recovery of the remains of our fallen brothers. Jeff Patton From: Phil Lunday DUKW SINKING IN LAKE GARDA, 30 APRIL 1945I would add only one thing to what Mr. Imbrie described about this incident. There were two men involved in the rescue of Mr. Hough. One, Pfc Dennis, is now deceased but there was a soldier named Tony Skonieczny who was with him and he may still be living. At the time his place of residence was listed as Bridgeport, CT (he also received a Soldiers Medal). Phil Lunday From: Phil Lunday Another thought - the two men who rescued Hough were in the 86th 2nd Bn Hq and standing on the shore of the lake at the time. It is possible the battalion Hq was near and might give a clue as to the location. Also other men in the same unit may have information. Phil From: John Imbrie
As the messages copied below indicate, your enterprise with the sunken DUKW has stirred up a hornets nest of interest among old soldiers of the 10th -- and led to a variety of questions and useful suggestions. These include: 1. Your report that all 24 men of the 10th who drowned are listed on the Memorial Wall at Tavernuzze. The list I obtained from the American Battle Monuments Commission lists all the names but one, that of PFC JERRY T. DILLARD, who is not indicated as being buried or memorialized on the Wall. Please check this out with officials at the American Cemetery. It is possible my list is in error. 2. You are correct that JAMES S. HILLEY was a PRIVATE when the DUKW sank. But he had earlier been a 1ST SERGEANT, apparently busted for some transgression. The practice of the Association's WW II Database Committee is to record for each man the highest rank he achieved while in our division. Hence I listed him as 1st Sergeant. 3. Phil Lunday points out that I overlooked a second man who won a Soldiers Medal in the rescue effort: another 86-HQ-2 man, ANTONY SKONIECZNY who, as noted by Marty Daneman, is alive and well in Bridgeport, CT. 4. Phil also points out that the location of 86th 2nd Bn HQ on that date would help fix the position of the wreck. BY this cc to DEBBIE GEMAR, of the Denver Public Library, I am asking her to identify this location by the Morning Reports in her handy archive. 5. Art Muschler's story of his voyage on another DUKW shows how close the division came to another disaster that day. 6. John Duffy asks why an artillery unit was going on the lake. The written records I have seen explain that a tunnel leading to Riva was blocked. Cordially, John Imbrie JOHN DUFFY, 86-HQ-2, ASKS: From: John Imbrie Dear Col Patten: Phil Lunday suggested that knowledge of the location of HQ 2nd Bn 86th would help locate the place where the two men from that unit put out from shore to accomplish their dramatic rescue of Tom Hough. Thanks to Debbie Gemar, who examined the relevant Morning Report, we now know that the Company HQ was in the town of Riva del Garda. Specifically, we know that the unit "set up security in Torbole at 0700" and moved to Riva, arriving there at 1500. The exact location on the 1:25000 military map of RIVA, using 1944 coordinates, is A549 042 (549 being the E-W coordinate, 042 being those for the N-S direction.) By good fortune, Jim Barr (who in 1945 was S-2 officer in 85-HQ-3) has a copy of the 1944 edition of this map. He reports that the location A549 042 is along the shore of Lake Garda at the northernmost part of the Riva harbor (coordinates on a 1973 military map of RIVA put this at 428 831). Unfortunately, this information does not tell us the exact place from which the swimmers left shore. This could have been any place within walking distance east of the company HQ. To get a better fix on that, and the place where the DUKW sank, I will mail Tom Hough a copy of the map and ask him to help us. Cordially, John Imbrie From: Defense Attache Office - Rome John, Thanks for the information, I will pass it along to the Central Identification
Lab, Hawaii (CILHI) folks. I attended a conference hosted by them in
Strasbourg France this past weekend and came away greatly impressed
by how dedicated they are to identifying US missing from our wars and
the capabilities they have at their disposal. Based on these questions, the Lake Garda site is very interesting to
them. The only major drawback is they do not know exactly where the
DUKW is and will have to search for it and no one has seen remains.
Dr Mann has extensive experience with recovering remains from on land
and water and believes there is a very good chance of having identifiable
remains present. The limestone mountains surrounding the lake lower
the pH of the water which would inhibit the disintegration of the bones. Kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff Jeff Patton, Colonel, USAF From: John Imbrie By popular demand, I send the entire text by Art Muschler. John Dear John: Fascinated by the account concerning the DUKW sinking on Lake Garda and the loss of the young artillerymen. I was, until we departed Camp Swift, assigned to FA-605. Several of the names do hit home. The sinking does hit home for another reason. My DUKW crossing of Lake Garda. I recall loading, in darkness, at a small inlet at Navene. We were attached to a reinforced contingent of infantry assigned to a beachhead opposite, on the west shore. Absolute darkness, as I mentioned. I had with me a full section - officer, section chief, two radio operators, and three wiremen. Such was the make up of the usual artillery forward observer section. I recall observing the loading from a short distance. I wondered when those directing the loading would put a stop to the count. We pushed off, immediately, I sensed the waterline was high up the side of the craft. The lake, fortunately, was only moderately rough. We beached directly across. Other loaded DUKW's arrived out of the darkness. The contingent moved out up the west shore, tunnel after tunnel. The tunnels were filled with heavy metal-working machinery. No enemy. An Italian gentlemen in a slick business suit appeared. He described his mission as one to protect the machinery. An infantry 2nd lieutenant told him to move out and keep well ahead of us or he would be dead. A better approach would have been to quiz him and find what we might expect immediately ahead! We entered the outskirts of Riva, without incident. I think our DUKW ride was perhaps more risky than anything we faced on the west shore. We had no fire missions -- no targets on arrival. Another small war, within the big one. Art Muschler From: John Imbrie
Dear Col Patten, Tom Hough and I had a long phone conversation last night. We did our best to fit his memories of the Lake Garda tragedy with the bathymetry and topography shown on the map; with the Swiss diver's estimated position (150 m offshore at a depth of 300 m); and with other evidence. Our object was to locate the site of the sinking as accurately as possible. Our conclusion is that the sinking occurred about 400 m offshore from that portion of the town of Riva called Porto di Riva, at a depth of about 300 m. Using the Army's standard location system (explained below), this would place the center of a 500 m circle of uncertainty at 43.6 82.0. I have marked this as "Site D" on the map.
[I have marked the start of the journey as Site A on the map, at 45.7, 81.3. Site B is the location of 86-HQ-2's CP, at 42.8, 83.0] When the sinking occurred, Tom quickly got rid of his equipment and much of his clothing and began swimming toward shore. Fortunately for him, he was a strong swimmer, swimming was his favorite sport, and he had trained as a lifeguard. Even so, by the time the two men arrived in a rowboat to rescue him -- alerted by the panic shouts -- Tom passed out and did not recover consciousness until he woke up at the aid station, somewhere near the shore east of Riva. He has no idea exactly how he got to the aid station, or exactly where it was located. How far was the boat from shore? All Tom can say is that the distance would be measured in hundreds of meters. The depth of water at the place where Tom estimates the sinking occurred (Site D), is 295 m. This nicely matches the depth estimate of 300 m given by the Swiss diving team But the distance from shore (400 m) does not match the Swiss estimate of 150 m. In fact, there are only two places at the north end of the lake where one finds 300 m of water 150 m from shore. One (Site C) is along the west side of the lake, about 1.4 km south of Riva (42.9, 81.6). The other (Site E) is about 1.5 km south of Torbole along the east shore (45.2, 80.3). Neither site fits the other facts we have to work with, including the location -- "Riva del Garda" -- given for the rescue site in the Solders Medal awards won by Maurice Dennis and Tony Skonieczny, both of 86-HQ-2. We conclude the distance-from-shore estimate is incorrect. Boring Technical details: Good news: Tom Hough is receiving this e-mail! You may talk to him
at Cordially, P.S. to Col Patten: Can you read the attached JPG file? If not, please
give me a FAX number so that I can get the map to you that way. From: Defense Attache Office - Rome Many Thanks John for the information. The map is great and please pass my compliments to Tom Hough for his recollection of the disaster. I will pass it to the CILHI casualty data collection office who is building a file on the sinking. Once they determine that the site looks promising (and the folks from CILHI told me its very intriguing) they will put it on their list of priorities to investigate. In the meantime, I have a contact at 6th Fleet in Gaeta whom I have discussed this with. There is a TDY detachment of navy divers from the states attached to the 6th Fleet this summer. He says they are always looking for training opportunities and he will ask them about the feasibility of making a "training" dive in Lake Garda this summer to see if they can locate the DUKW and any remains. I think things are looking promising and we are talking to the right people to investigate the site. Kind regards from the Eternal City and Happy Easter to all the 10th MD vets! Jeff Patton From: John Imbrie Dear Col Patten, I bring dramatic news. This afternoon I interviewed my Rhode Island neighbor, William Gall, who in April 1945 was a Lt. Colonel in HQ Company of the 10th Mountain Division Artillery. Bill confirms that not one but two DUKWs lie on the bottom of Lake Garda. The first sinking occurred late on 29 April 1945, when he and 20 men from a recon platoon drove a DUKW up the east side of the lake toward Torbole. Their mission was to assess the possibility of moving artillery there the next day by DUKW. The situation around Torbole was still fluid, with 3rd Bn 86th battling for control of the town. As Bill Gall's DUKW came into Torbole, two German tanks on the beach opened fire and sank the boat when it was perhaps 100 or 200 m offshore. His memory of the distance is vague. All 21 men and the helmsman made it to shore, transformed themselves into infantrymen, and dug in. The red circle marked "F" on the attached map is Col Gall's best estimate of the site. It is quite possible that this DUKW was the one seen by the Swiss diving party. Tom Hough's estimate of the site where the sinking of a DUKW on 30 April occurred still stands. John Imbrie From: John Imbrie Dear Peter (Austin), You express amazement at the location of the 30 April DUKW sinking. Specifically, you ask a question others have asked, "Since their route was past the tunnels, what were they circumventing? The answer is given in Wellborn's History of the 86th and confirmed by discussion with Bill Gall. The main point is that transportation along the shore road was handicapped, not only by armed resistance at and blockage of certain tunnels, but by sections of the road that had been destroyed -- and by accurate German shelling. When 2nd Bn 86 began the attack at 8:45 am of the 28th, the Germans blew the Tunnel #1. By 2:30 PM, tunnels 1, 2, 3, and 4 had been cleared of resistance, but Tunnel #6 had been blown, and the road between # 4 and #5 had been destroyed. On the morning of the 29th, 3rd Bn 86 cleared Tunnel #6 and had linked up with the 2nd Bn at Tunnel #5. The Germans scored a lucky hit, with one artillery shell exploding 10 yards inside the tunnel, "wounding 50" and killing Capt Lawrence Ely, Sgt James D. Enright and Cpl Howard E. Strohm of 86-H, T/5 Charles D. Ladd (86-MED), and one other man. By afternoon, while 3rd Bn 86 was battling for control of Torbole, "supplies, ammunition, artillery, everything was being moved up by DUKW." That evening, Bill Gall's DUKW was sunk as it approached the shore at Torbole. By 9:00 AM of the 30th, "German artillery was beginning to constitute a real menace to the troops in Torbole". But by the afternoon, 86-3 had taken the town, 86-2 had moved into Riva, and the decision was made to transport 605th artillery there by DUKW. Some of these boats made it. But by the time the Tom Hough's DUKW embarked, the storm had increase in intensity and the journey ended in tragedy. By 5:30 PM, the situation seemed quiet in Torbole. But as Col William O. Darby and M/SGT John "Tim" Evans stood by the lake's edge, they were killed by an exploding German shell. John From: Defense Attache Office - Rome John, That certainly is interesting news on the 2nd DUKW. I wonder if there
were more that were lost? Since the 10th was not normally equipped with
DUKWs (seems strange for a Mountain Division to have them) I wonder
how many they had and if there is anyway, after all these years, to
account for them? My concern is if there is a third (or fourth) DUKW
lost in the same area, it could confuse the search efforts for the primary
one. Do you know if this second DUKW had a 75mm howitzer on board like
the first one? I imagine the gun will be somewhere close to the wreck
on the bottom and could help identify it. Jeff ps. Even for an Air Force fighter pilot like myself, it must have been one heck of a (un)lucky shot by the panzers to hit a low riding moving target in the water. From: John Imbrie To: Defense Attache Office - Rome Subject: MORE DUKWS ? Date: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 12:25 PM Dear Jeff, More 10th Mtn DUKWs on the bottom of Lake Garda? I really think not. My reason is that, since your message to me arrived, at least a dozen knowledgeable veterans of the campaign have been discussing every aspect of the 10th's use of DUKWs in great detail -- a veritable e-mail blitz. And one of the participants, Bill Gall, when he was not himself sinking in a DUKW, was in very close touch with the commanding general (GEORGE P. HAYS) and the commander of our artillery, Brig. Gen. Ruffner. I think it pretty certain that by this time we would have flushed any other sunk DUKW out of hiding. I don't know exactly now many DUKWs were used in our campaign. But one of the sorties across the lake involved seven boats. The total must have been At least a dozen I should guess. I'm sure our panel will express other views. There was a 75 mm howitzer in the DUKW that sank on April 30 -- their mission was to get artillery to Riva. But I'm pretty sure there was no artillery piece in the boat that sank on the 29th with Bill Gall aboard -- their mission was reconnaissance. But I will check and make sure. On the German artillery's feat of sinking Bill Gall: the fact that it was dark makes their skill seem more impressive. And the darkness may be the reason they did not suffer casualties. They were not far off the beach, maybe as close as 100 yrds. The DUKWs proved an essential if surprising element in the last four or five days of 10th 's campaign (the German Army in Italy surrendered on May 2). Because the road along both sides of Lake Garda, passed through tunnels at the foot of steep hills -- a situation ready made for defense, and the Germans took full advantage of it. They blew up two tunnels on the east side, destroyed the road in many places, and used artillery to good advantage -- once by bad luck for us, and good luck for them, exploding a 88mm shell 10 feet inside the mouth of Tunnel No. 5, which caused many deaths and woundings. For several days, most of the rapid movement of men, munitions, and equipment went by DUKWs, which could bypass the tunnels. All the best, John From: John Imbrie Dear Jeff, How many DUKWS were used in Lake Garda? Col. Gall is not sure, but guesses 20. From the unpublished history of IV CORPS, I learn that on April 22 -- the day before 10th Crossed the Po River-- General Crittenberger provided 50 assault boats to our division, and had 60 DUKWs available. The DUKWS were not used for the river crossing, in part because they had been loaded with bridging parts. But they were used after the crossing to help ferry equipment across. And although no one had anticipated the need for DUKWs on Lake Garda, when the need for a way to bypass the tunnels became obvious, they were on hand. Do more than two DUKWS lie on the bottom of Lake Garda? Col Gall says it is possible that one supply boat might have been sunk in the vicinity of the tunnels. But he has no memory of such an event. And he is sure that none but the two we know about were sunk near the north end of the lake. Pete Austin wondered how artillery pieces heavier than 75 mm howitzers were transported around the lake. Col Gall remembers that when the Colonel of a British battalion armed with 5-inch guns faced that problem, he said he was damned if he would miss out on the action at the north end of the lake. He commandeered a bunch of fishing boats, lashed them together, and sailed his weapons up the lake. All the best, John From: Pete Clark Hi Colonel Jeff - From: Defense Attache Office - Rome Pete, I've sent a letter (just today) to the Defense Headquarters of the
Italian military asking permission and their cooperation in conducting
a side scan sonar expedition to the northern part of Lake Garda and
once the DUKW is found, assisting the US with divers to help recover
the remains. Things move slowly here but I am hoping we can get folks
into the water by the end of the summer. Jeff Jeff Patton, Colonel, USAF From: Pete Clark Hi Col. Jeff - Chief, Tim McTrusty, of the U.S. Navy Dive Team, has contacted me for location information on the sinking site. I gave him what we have. Part of that information was a copy of my "A DUKW Narrative". The rest were the two maps, the Graphic and the Topo maps, of L. Garda. We intend to continue cooperating with the Navy and Chief Tim on a strictly confidential basis until you and the Navy determine that the Government can release the story of the impending dives. No sense in possibly creating a PR debacle. Sincerely, Pete From: "Defense Attache Office - Rome" To: John Imbrie & Pete Clark Subject: Lake Garda Update Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 11:39:04 +0200 Dear John and Pete, We're still on track for our 5 September meeting with the Italian Navy and representatives of the USN divers and CILHI (Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii). One complicating factor is the fact the DUKW may be in deeper water than first supposed. The surface of the lake is at 65 meters and according to the divers with 6th Fleet, the contours on the bottom of the lake are from sea level, not the actual surface of the lake. Which means our initial estimate of 70-100 meters of depth could be 135-165 meters (roughly 400-600 feet deep). This would put it out of the capability of either the USN or ITN (Italian Navy) divers to reach via scuba gear but perhaps not with a rigid diving suit. At any rate, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. We will attempt to use a remotely operated vehicle to get an idea of the bottom conditions at the wreck site once we locate it. Right now, it appears the bottom is mud of unknown depth overlaying a very hard clay/rock floor. According to the side scan sonar folks, this should not pose a problem with locating the wreck and possibly other equipment such as helmets. That's all for now. Have a good summer, Kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff From: Pete Clark To: Defense Attache Office Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 10:24 PM Subject: 10th History
I just inserted a new article in our 10th Mtn. Web site, "10th Div. History" page, titled "How it all Began" [Fascinating reading even for a fighter pilot ;-}] which recounts that you attachés in Rome were instrumental in the origination of the later-to-become the 10th Mountain Division! For a long time we labored under the delusion that our letter had turned the trick. It perhaps helped for it arrived almost simultaneously with a report from one of our attachés in the Embassy in Rome detailing the debacle of the Italian winter campaign in Albania: "ten thousand frozen to death - 25,000 dead" - if a global war is contemplated or envisioned men must be trained in mountain and winter warfare and time is of the essence as these troops cannot be trained overnight." The activation of the 87th was a little less than one month later - 22 days before Pearl Harbor! - Minot "Minnie" Dole, 1955, quoted by Earl E. Clark (87-HQ-1) By the way, the "A DUKW Narrative" is also now up on the site at: "From the Webmasters Monitor". Any unclassified news from the Navy? Looking forward to meeting you next June. I plan on taking the Viva Italia - 2003 tour. V/R Pete From: Defense Attache Office - Rome Thanks Pete for the update. I think you all have a "class act" website and I enjoyed reading the articles. We have a meeting on the 5th of September with the Italian Navy to discuss the upcoming side scan sonar search for the DUKW in Lake Garda. We had hoped to proceed from the meeting to the search in a few days but now it looks like it will be "later" (nothing happens fast in Italy!) I am still hoping to get the side scan sonar search done in September, but just when, I don't know. I will hopefully have a lot more information after the 5 Sept meeting I will share with you all. Until the 5th of Sept, kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff From: John Imbrie To: Defense Attache Office - Rome Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 11:50 PM Subject: Re: Lake Garda Meeting Update
Thanks for giving a full and clear explanation of the problems, technical and especially legal, that have raised their ugly heads. Great Scott! The enterprise seems more daunting than many a battle in WW II. But I admire your identifying paths that might well lead to a satisfactory conclusion. It's clear to me that without you at the diplomatic helm, we would never get within a knot of our goal (I was about to say "mile," but realized this would be mark me as a landlubber). I have forwarded your message to President Duffy, VP for Public Relations Dick Wilson, Webmaster Pete Clark , as well as Tom Hough and others who have been following the story with great interest. With warm regards, John Imbrie To: Pete Clark From: Defense Attache's Office - Rome Subject: DUKW Update Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 16:25:56 +0200 Pete, Kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Since our last email, I have been pushing a third option to get this
search started. The first option was to let the Italian Navy do the
search but they have said their equipment is not suitable, the second
option was to use the USN's UUV (unmanned underwater vehicle) when they
come to Italy in March of 03. This second option looked like the preferred
method but the Navy tells me that all their UUV's have been sequestered
to support the war on terrorism which makes one's availability in March
in doubt. I have turned to a British underwater expert that specializes
in deep water wreck diving. We met at the WW2 Remains Recovery Conference
in Strasbourg France in April. Steve Carmichael says he could do the
search with his own equipment that he designed and find not only the
DUKW but perhaps also the soldiers. His equipment is not a towed side
scan sonar that can detect large metal objects like the DUKW but is
a high intensity "dipping" sonar that he lowers over the side
and it scans the bottom like a flashlight rotating. He has to move the
sonar from place to place but he thinks he can search the area of the
DUKW sinking in just a couple of days. An I'll keep you posted on further developments, Kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff From: Pete Clark To: Defense Attache Office - Rome Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 3:53 AM Subject: Re: DUKW Update
Thank you for the progress report. I share John's angst at the tedium of getting the search underway. What was the outcome of your meeting with the Ambassador? May I have your permission to add this exchange to the ongoing DUKW story on our Web site? Have our Navy folks returned home for the winter? Sincerely, Pete To: Pete Clark Pete, The ambassador (Mel Sembler) was very enthusiastic about the project and promised his support. He said that if I run into any Italian legal or administrative roadblocks, to let him know and he will call the Prime Minister (Berlusconi) to sort things out. You can't get better support than that! Today is the start of the new governmental fiscal year. Since the Defense Department's budget has not been passed yet, we are operating on continuing resolutions. We hope to get the budget passed by the time Congress adjourns for recess later this month. Once we have a budget, CILHI will budget for the project using the Brit diver, Steve Carmichael, and we'll be on track to begin our search for the missing men. Lots of moving parts in this operation to keep track of but I'm confident that we will be successful. Please feel free to share any correspondence we exchange as you see fit or to post on your web site.. With kind regards from the Eternal City, Jeff Jeff Patton, Colonel, USAF PS. Yes, the USN salvage unit has returned to the states for the winter. Another unit should be here in March 03. |
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DUKW RECOVERY UPDATE
April 30, 1945 LAKE GARDA DUWK SINKING INCIDENT Reports of Recovery Efforts October 2003 JOHN IMBRIE (85-C) |
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On 10/29/03, President John Duffy received the message from "Our
man in Rome," Col. Jeff Patton, (the AF Attaché of the Rome
American Embassy). The message described the results of an eight-day
expedition mounted by Brett Phenueff of Texas A & M, with the objective
of finding and recovering the DUKW that sank in Lake Garda Italy off
Riva del Garda on the evening of April 30, 1945. A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM ITALY Below is a Christmas message received from the former Mayor Emanuele Vai of Lizzano in Belvedere. (His photograph appears on Page 9 of the 3rd Quarter Blizzard. The Second row on the left with OUR Blizzard Editor Sally Oesterling.) The purpose of sharing this message with you is because his thoughts apply to you and the many others in the 10th Mountain Division at this Christmas time. Natale 2003 "Mr President of the National Association of the 10th Mountain
Division, |
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