Mortarmen from the 86th Battalion, 78th US Infantry Division fire an M2 4.2 inch (107mm) mortar at targets in the German village of Paustenbach, 15 kms south-east of Aachen; December 13, 1944.

Mortar activity

James Jones wrote the seminal war novels From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. Imbuing his novels in the grand literary tradition of American Romanticism, Jones touches on both the well tread themes of the terror and beauty of nature amidst the death and carnage in war and the corruption of the human spirit amid the forces of power and industrialization. His novels were well received as Jones fictionalized his pre-war experiences with the 25th ID based in Hawaii as a prism on the human condition. From Here to Eternity was turned into a classic Hollywood love story and The Thin Red Line was transformed into a gritty statement on the human condition in 1998; with many believing it surpassed the better known Saving Private Ryan as a war film.

CPL James Jones

Last picture of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt in his jeep the "Rough Rider".
Assistant Commander of the US 4th Infantry Division and oldest soldier to land on D-Day, Normandy, France. He died on 12 July, 1944 of a heart attack at age 56, and was awarded the Medal Of Honor for organizing his men and moving inland, as shifting tides caused the 4th Infantry Division to land on the wrong beach.