FOUR BOYS, BACK FROM BATTLE, MEET ON SHIP Fought within Few Yards Of Each Other, Did Not Know It Sergeant Samuel J. LUCENT of Ninth street, S/Sgt. Emil ZIMMERMAN, of Sixth and Fallowfield, Private Regis LEE, of North Charleroi, and Corporal Andrew VERBACKY, of Ninth and Fallowfield, met accidentally on a ship coming home from Italy. On the ship were mostly hospital cases and wounded, some on rotation and some Air Corps men. S/Sgt. ZIMMERMAN of the Air Corps ground crew spent 26 months overseas; Corporal VERBASKY(sic) , also of the Air Corps ground crew, spent seven months overseas; Sergeant LUCENT, an infantry intelligence scout, and squad leader of the 36th division, and Private LEE, a paratrooper, fought within 300 yards of each other all winter on the Cassino front, without knowing each other was so near. Pvt. LEE fought the Japs at Kiska, then went to Italy where he remained for 12 months. Sergeant LUCENT landed in the first wave at Salerna(sic) and fought on up to the outskirts of Rome, where he was wounded for the second time and was awarded the Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster. His outfit, after serving 18 months in Italy, participated in the invasion of Southern France. Sergeant LUCENT, who was in the hospital for two and one half months in Italy, and Private LEE, who was wounded on the outskirts of Cassino, fighting as special service paratroopers, are home for twenty one days delay enroute and will both return to a health center in Ashville, North Carolina. >From The Charleroi Mail Thursday, September 14, 1944 Page 1 ===== Eva Dayle Zippay Tallahassee, Florida evadayle@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/