My mother asked me if I wanted to video interview a friend of hers, Seth Tiberio, who had been in W.W. II. I told her I would and asked her to find out where he served and with what unit.
The info she came back with was:
1st Inf. Div, 26th Inf. Regt., 2nd Batt., "F" Co, Weapons Plt.
2 Bronze Stars
2 Purple Hearts
6 Battle Stars
3 Arrowhead Assault Landings (Oran, Gela & Omaha)
My video interview was over 1 1/2 hours long.
Seth was one of four brother who all served in W.W. II. He saw combat in North Africa, Sicily and NW Europe. He took mortar fragments in his legs in Sicily (he said that wasn't bad and was only out of the line for a day) and a rifle bullet in the shoulder during street fighting in Aachen (that one really hurt).
Seth went from private to command the platoon as often the LT was dead. He was at the battle of Dom Butgenbach against 12th SS during the Bulge. He was written up in several books about how an Jagd-Panzer drove directly over his foxhole, but didn't crush him due to the frozen ground.
I asked him about the landings against the French. I wanted to know if the Vichy French troops opened fire on them as they landed. Seth said they did.
Me: "Was the French defense difficult?"
Seth: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Well, how spirited was their fire?"
Seth: "It wasn't as bad as the Italians and no where near what the Germans gave us, but it was the first time anyone ever shot at me so it seemed pretty spirited at the time."
Seth Tiberio faded away on March 15th at the age of 92. My life is better for having met a man like him. Thank you, Seth.
Rest in Peace.
