501223 Sargeant Vernon Merrit Evenson US Army 82nd Airborne 5th Army My dad, Sargeant Vernon Merrit Evenson, of U.S. 5th Army 82nd Airborne, paratrooped into Anzio, went to Monte Cassino, where he actually hid under the Abbey and came to fisticuffs with German soldiers who were allegedly moving artifacts to Rome. He narrowly escaped before friendly fire destroyed the monastery. (This is the story I've been able to decipher from my mother's recollection - my father passed away in '84) Then, according to my mom, he went over the Alps on a secret mission with two other men, who happened to be on the nominating committee for the Congressional Medal of Honor (hence my father's non-receipt of same) in order to sabotage enemy artillery behind enemy lines.
Is this so? How did it go?...Does anybody know?
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