Ray Coniglio Page 2

Ray's unit went to Africa where it helped to fashion the "new mode of warfare" that was to be used by the Allies in World War II. One of his experiences was to have his unit, after it had captured the town of Bizerte, be ordered to move back from the town, and allow French troops to march in and claim credit for taking the town, one of those bizarre political and "diplomatic" decisions common to war.

In 1943, after the African campaign, the unit attacked the beaches of Sicily, a fore-runner of the beach invasions of the German mainland that were to be the beginning of the and for Hitler. Most of the campaign in Sicily was fought on the beaches around the island against northern Italian units and German forces. The Axis did not arm nor try to conscript local Sicilians who were rebellious, often anti-Mussolini, and hated the Germans. Sicilians were in large part uninvolved observers in the war, but did suffer much destruction and significant civilian casualties in the Allied bombardment of the larger cities like Palermo and Messina.

As was the common American perception, because the Sicilians were either non-combatants or openly friendly, Ray felt that interior towns like Serradifalco probably had seen little of the war, and when his unit was about fifty miles away from our parents' home town, he asked whether he could borrow a jeep and try to find any relatives there. His commander okayed the idea, and the jeep was all set to go, with gifts for the relatives, when the war took control of destiny: Ray's unit had to move on, and he had to scrub the trip to Serradifalco.

I recently learned from an acquaintance who was four years old in 1943, that the war, indeed, did touch Serradifalco. There was a German machine-gun emplacement there, on Via Calvario, the highest road in the town, from which the Germans could cover approaching roads. One day, villagers saw an American jeep approaching the town, and a Sicilian collaborator warned the German soldiers. They opened fire on the jeep, killing one American, and then abandoned their post and retreated with the defeated German army. When the townspeople tried to help the dead American, they learned from his G.I. companions that he had been the son of Sicilians. The story goes that when the war was over the dead soldier's mother went to Serradifalco to place a wreath in honor of her son.
When I told my brother Ray that there was a higher reason why he never made it to Serradifalco, he pondered: "You're right, that could have been me!"

After Sicily, Ray's unit was sent to England for some 'Rest and Recuperation', and to prepare them for the daunting battles they would fight in Normandy, France, and Central Europe.

On March 7, 1945, the US 9th Armored Division captured the strategic Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, Germany, over the River Rhine. Shortly afterward, Ray's unit, the 9th Infantry Division, crossed over, and Ray saw some American tanks going by, towards the battlefront. Army vehicles each carry a stencil of the unit's identification number, which is also the "APO" (Army Post Office) number, or mailing address, for anyone in the unit. Marty Pepe, a friend of Ray's had lived around the corner from Ray in Buffalo.

        The Coniglios lived at 309 Myrtle Avenue, and the Pepes lived at 18 Spring Street. Ray and Marty had corresponded with each other while they were both serving in the Army, and Ray recognized the number on one of the American tanks as Marty's APO number!   Later that day, Ray told his Sergeant that he thought he knew someone in the tank unit up ahead, and asked if he could try to find his friend. The sergeant said "OK, they're ahead of us and that's where we're goin', so you can meet up with us later."
         Tanks move a little more quickly than footsoldiers, so night fell, and Ray still hadn't caught up. He made a bed of pine needles in a grove, and slept there. The next morning he walked on, and nearing the front, he heard gunfire and battle activity.
         As he was walking along the road, he heard a tank behind him, and when he turned to look, he realized that it was a German tank! He rolled into the ditch and tried to cover up, but the tank ominously stopped when it got even with him. Then he heard a voice: "Don't worry, we're American, we captured a German tank!" Ray looked up and asked where the American tanks were, and was told that they were just ahead. He walked on, saw several of our tanks, and stopped at the first one. The Tank Commander was sitting in the turret opening, and Ray shouted up "I'm looking for my friend Marty Pepe from Buffalo."
          The TC peered down into the turret of his tank and yelled "Hey Marty, some G.I. out here is looking for you!" It was Marty's tank! Two boys from Buffalo had a brief but happy reunion on the rear deck of the tank, and a buddy of Marty's took the photo shown below. And if you look at the route taken by the 9th Infantry Division in WW II, you'll see that it goes right by Geissen, on the road to the little town of Kirch-Goens, where I served in a tank battalion, ten years later, in 1955.

The 9th Infantry's route

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Catherine	Marc, Becky and Catherine	Catherine and Haley

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Ray Guy ~ 1943 .	Ray Guy ~ 1944 .	Debbi & Ron ~ 2003 .
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The War Years
		. Campaign RiBbon . Algeria-French Morocco Tunisia * Sicily * Normandy Northern France Ardennes-Alsace Rhineland * Central Europe
47th Infantry Regiment	9th Infantry Division


Fort Bragg, NC 1942?	Fayetteville, NC 1942?	Fort Niagara, NY 1943?	Sicily? 1944?
Click on a photo to enlarge it.

Click on the citations below to read details.
June 21 - 26, 1944 Battle of Cherbourg, France	November 25, 1944 Battle of Wilhelmshohe, Germany	April 2 - 5, 1945 Battle of Oberkirchen, Germany

Marion and Phil	Ray Guy Jr. and Bobby	Kelly and Ray Guy Jr.

		. Bobby, Ray Guy Jr., Angela and Becky ~ 1974

Golf Outings
Ron, Ray Sr., Bob, and Ray Jr. ~ about 1988 ~	Ray Sr., Ray Jr., Ron, and Bob. ~ 2005 ~


Marion, Ray, Ray Guy and Ray Guy Jr.	Kelly, Ray Guy Jr. & Donna Brachman ~ 2003 ~