Sailors sitting on painted buoy, Scotland, 1944
Gift of Lewis Finkelstein
Description:
Photograph. Two United States sailors sitting on buoy painted like an 8-ball and reads 'B-4-[unknown] Is On 'The Ball'"; a Quonset hut is in the background. Advance Group Amphibious Force United States Atlantic Fleet base, Rosneath, Scotland. March 1944
Image Information
Donor:
Accession Number:
Date:
1944-03-
Hometown:
Branch:
Theater of Service:
POW / KIA:
Collection Level:
Items from the service of Seaman Second Class Lewis Finkelstein, who was assigned to Command Task Force 127 and was injured on Omaha Beach during the second wave of the invasion of Normandy. The son of Polish immigrants, Finkelstein was born on 12 November 1925 in New York, New York. On 11 January 1943, he enlisted in the New York Guard and was then assigned to United States Navy’s Atlantic Fleet Advance Group Amphibious Force. In early 1944, he was stationed in Scotland for training with CMT 127. Finkelstein participated in the invasion of Normandy and was part of the second wave to hit Easy Red, Omaha Beach. His unit transported members of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. During the amphibious invasion, Finkelstein’s left leg was injured and he was sent to a hospital the following day. After a stint in the hospital, Finkelstein reconnected with his unit and was part of the occupation of Bremerhaven, Germany until April 1946. He returned to the United States and moved to Tamarac, Florida, where he remained until his death in 2012. The collection consists of photographs from Finkelstein’s time in Scotland and Germany as well as photographs of Company I of the 116th Infantry Regiment in Germany.
Geography:
Rosneath
Latitude:
56.017
Longitude:
-4.817
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials:
Sailors--American--Scotland
Naval yards & naval stations--American--Scotland
Buoys