So proud to be Art's son

LET'S take up the story of GI Art Pinnow once again.

In last week's Looking Back, courtesy of Art's son, Bob Pinnow of Kingston Maurward College near Dorchester, we heard how the American soldier fought on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and showed courage under enemy fire to be awarded the Purple Heart.

Art was injured and evacuated to a military field hospital for treatment.

Bob continues: "Dad recovered sufficiently from his wounds to rejoin his unit and battle on through France, including the fierce fighting in Ardennes/Alsace, the Rhineland and on to Berlin.

"Whilst on leave from the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany, he returned to England and married my mother at Bere Regis Parish Church in June 1945.

"In 1946 my mother sailed to the United States with hundreds of other G.I. brides on board the Queen Mary and joined my father who had by then been Honourably Discharged from the army.

"My parents made their home in Herkimer, New York State. My late eldest sister, Maggie, was born there. Although my parents enjoyed a very comfortable life style in the USA my mother was very homesick for England.

"In the early 1950s my parents returned to this country and settled in Elstead, Surrey, where my other elder sister and I were born.

"My father was a popular figure in the village and even became an active ‘honorary’ member of the local branch of the Royal British Legion." Bob said that his dad greatly enjoyed the British way of life, but remained first and foremost an American Citizen.

He added: "My father was a quiet, modest man not given to 'blowing his own trumpet', he never really spoke in any detail about his war time experiences and especially not about ‘bloody Omaha’

"All the details I have managed to gather regarding his courage on D.Day have been gleaned from his Unit Citation and by speaking to other Omaha Veterans.

"I can remember dad saying that Omaha was just too horrific for words. After watching the opening sequence of the movie Saving Private Ryan, which according to other Omaha veterans is a very accurate portrayal of the events of that day, I am beginning to understand why he didn’t want to reminisce."

Sadly Art died very suddenly in 1966 at the tragically young age of 47.

Bob said: "He had never fully recovered from his wartime wounds. Dad had always planned for us all to return to live in the United States at some point, but it was not to be.

"When my mother died in 1989 my father’s war medals were nowhere to be found amongst her effects and I spent a couple of years trying to track them down to no avail."

But a pleasant surprise greeted Bob after his wife Joy secretly wrote to President Bush (Snr) outlining dad’s story and enclosing copies of his military papers.

"A few months later a package arrived from the Pentagon addressed to me with White House Interest Expiate stamped all over it.

"The package contained duplicates of all of my dad’s medals, including the Purple Heart and his Unit Citation. It was one of the best surprises of my life and I shall always be grateful to Joy for this."

Not so long ago Bob took a memorable trip to Omaha Beach to pay tribute to his father and his comrades in arms and to the American War Cemetery above Omaha Beach at Saint Laurent-Sur-Mer.

Of 9,286 men buried there, the graves of 307 are marked 'Here rests in honoured glory a comrade in arms known but to God.'

Bob said: "I’m not ashamed to say that I felt a lump in my throat. It was indeed a sobering experience to stand in that vast place of homage."

Shortly after D.Day Lt Colonel Omar Bradley had said “Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero!”

"I’m so proud to know that my dad was one of the best of them!" Bob added.

Bob has met nearly all of his American relatives and is in regular contact with them. He even met his great aunt (who was 105 years old at the time!) when he and Joy were in the States a few years ago. His cousin Bill Worden is a well-known television broadcaster for NBC News in Utica New York State and has interviewed (amongst many others) Bill Clinton and actors Christopher Reeve and the late Jack Lemmon.

Bill also broadcast live from Ground Zero, Manhattan, a few days after 9/11.

Bob added: "My greatest wish is to return to the USA to see my family again."

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e: joanna.davis

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