52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #48: "War and Peace" - Melvin Carl Kallman

  Prompt #48 (Nov 26 - Dec 2) "War and Peace" - My father: Melvin Carl Kallman

Unloading American Troups unto Omaha Beach, Normany, France
D-Day, June 6, 1944, WWII

My Father, far left on Omaha Beach,
June 29, 1944. 

My Father (right) with a mate in Occupied France,
pushing through toward Berlin.

My Father (far right) alongside captured German soldiers,
fall of Berlin, April 1945.

My Dad, Melvin Kallman, was drafted into WWII. He was not at D-Day but was with the replacement, follow up troups that would fight their way from Normandy, through France, Rhineland, Central Europe to ultimately Berlin. 

He told me that initially he did not think he could morally carry a gun, let alone shoot anyone. "How long did that last?" I asked him. "Halfway up the beach" he replied.

He refused to ever discuss any other aspect of the war. 

"Those are things you do not need to ever know."

My Father
PFC Melvin Carl Kallman 1916-1989
Anti-Tank Company of the 423rd Infantry
3rd Armored Division, United States Army

I have done the research and now I do "know".

I am so proud of you Dad,

 From Amy Johnson Crow, a genealogist, far more experienced then I. "The data that we've accumulated in our genealogy software and in our binders and folders doesn't do a whole lot of good just sitting there. We need to do something with it." Each week she sends out a prompt to share a bit about an ancestor, collateral relative, or family friend.