The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

248655 SSgt. Edward "Ski" Wisneski United States Army Company E 47th Infantry Regiment from:Sagamore, PA Edward Wisneski trained at Ft. Bragg, NC as part of the initial cadre of the 9th Division. He made the invasion of North Africa 8th of November 1942 landing at Safi Yellow Beach. He replaced units decimated at Kasserine Pass. On 26th of March 1943, marching at night, he attempted to take Hill 369 at El Guettar, Tunsia. Due to faulty French maps they were led into a wadi or canyon. One soldier described it as a football stadium, flat with little cover and steep walls all around. Just as sun was rising, all hell broke loose. Flares went up and Italian troops with German officers opened up with MGs and artillery. Any movement was met with MG fire. After a few hours, 2nd battalion commander Lt. Col. Louis Gershenow surrendered. All of Company E and part of Company F were either killed or captured. Company E XO, 1st Lt. David Conroy, was one of the first killed. Company E CO, Capt. Benjamin Humphrey was shot through both hips. One soldier said it looked like he was cut in half by MG fire. S/SGT Wisneski broke down an M1 rifle, put the stock on the outside of one leg and the barrel on the outside of the other and strapped his belt and Humphrey's belt around Humphrey's legs. Besides 175 of Company E and part of Company F, Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Gershenow, Lt. Craig Campbell (Aide to Eisenhower), Lt. Sidney Thal, Lt. Willard Duckworth (S2), Lt. Carlos Burrows, Lt. Harold Red Tallman and Capt. Horace Spaulding CO of Company H were all captured. Edward spent 26 months mostly in Stalag 3B and was moved to Stalag 3A in February 1945. They rarely received Red Cross packages and when they did, it was because the Red Cross was due for an inspection. They received a half-barrel of coffee that was so bad, they took turns bathing in it until it was cold. He attempted to escape twice and after the 2nd time the Germans smashed the top of his right foot with a rifle butt and broke it. Edward died December 1988. As a side note, Benjamin Humphrey survived the war and became a doctor. He married a doctor. He, his wife and 2 sons were killed in a small plane that he was piloting which crashed in the mountains of his home state of Idaho in 1973. Capt Humphrey Lt. Conroy Company E Edward Wisneski, Jr. Add to this record.  Related Content: 47th Infantry Regiment, US Army Stalag 3B Prisoner of War Camp Stalag 3A Prisoner of War Camp Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.