The new 70th Infantry monument was in a relatively new area adjecent to the main property of the Fort Benning, Georgia, military base. There is a 70th monument ON the base (see the picture later below), but the base is asking Associations to move monuments to this new area near the Army museum on the same adjacent property (pictures later below).

For the 70th, it was cheaper to build a new monument here than to relocate the one placed on the base proper.

Here is a view of the monument area, with many, many monuments dedicated to military organizations and to those that gavethe ultimate sacrifice of various groups, divisions, and battalions.

Here is a general monument to all infantry of the U.S. for all time, and dedicated to those who didn't come home.

We note the statue on the right, of a U.S. WWII GI, carrying a Browning (BR) rifle, a big rifle used in WWII.

This plaque is below the statue of the picture above, of the various GI's of the various wars.

God Bless all those that have fought and especially the fallen!

Aspect ratio not-withstanding, here is a picture of one army division monument taken with Bill and Fred.

We were very privilaged to be at this place to honor those that fought for the freedom these two and all U.S. citizens and residents enjoy.

Here is a pic of the seating area for the dedication to the 70th Infantry monument.

This is about half the individuals that showed up for the dedication. It was gratifying that so many gave up their weekend to show up and honor the 70th fallen heros.

Here is the keynote speaker; General Donahue. He is the leader of the training team that trains the airborne solders at Fort Benning. An outstanding individual with an outstanding resume of action in many U.S. engagements.

We were totally honored that he took the time, on a weekend, to come speak to us.

Note also that the monument was not unveiled until after the speach.

Here is the 70th Infantry Association President, Brian Ellis, speaking, following the unveiling of the monument at the Fort Benning, GA, museum monument area.

Brian did much of the work coordinating the monument construction and (with help from Richard Brown, a 2nd generation member), getting it setup here. Also, Brian coordinated the activities at the base, the hotel, etc., for the visit.

Thank you Brian for all you do for the Association!

This is the back of a portion of the monument. Listed are all the fallen of the 70th. Great pains were taken by the Association Secretary, Diane Kessler, to ensure the names were spelled as correctly as possible.

Thank you also Diane for all you do for the Association!!

Note that the 70th was activated toward the end of WWII as a troop replacement division. And it has been deactivated and reactivated a number of times since. Thus (and thankfully), there are not as many fallen for the 70th, as some other divisions have experienced.

Here is a picture after the ceremonies of the vets that were present and the members of the 70th Infantry Association that were present.

Nice bunch of folks and thank you for your service to the Associaion.

Now here we have the solders of the Fort Benning color guard that joined for our dedication. Was wonderful to have them.

Also present on the right was one of the Fort Benning Chaplins (apologies if you read this, but I forgot your name). Thank you all for making the dedication special.

For those of you who know Bill's friend Kai, the Chaplin looks like Kai or maybe a brother. Wow!

This is a picture of the Army museum, just a short walk from the area where the monuments are, and the 70th monumnet dedication above. We are privilaged to be able to see the museum, but there was simply not enough time to see everything.

A wonderful place to view the contributions of Army combatents througout the history of the U.S. and get a sense of the efforts and dedication of these outstanding individuals.

Here, inside the museum, in one area, is a display depicting the fighting on Normandy on D-Day, and the scaling of cliffs on the beach to stop the German weapons fire that killed so many on the Normady beaches that day.

God Bless these troops and the sacrifice they made for us!!

The blue is a video superemposed on the fake rock cliff showing video pictures from that day.

A later display showed an experimental "rig" that supported a heavy weapons 30 caliber machine gun. This platform was deemed not flexible enought for combat conditions and never deployed.

It is shown here because Bill's father shot this machine gun during the war. Had this platform been deployed, Bill's dad would have been hot-rodding around the European theature shooting whatever moved, with this rig.

Before WWII, congress appropriated funds for a mini-train system for moving material for the military at Fort Benning. When the war started, plans and priorities changed, and the train had no purpose.

It was eventually deployed at Fort Benning to move trainee troops and material around the base, during the war.

After the war, the train and system was sold to a Filipino concern, except for this little track and two cars, which are on display here, on part of the museum grounds.

We took a guided tour of areas around the museum that are themselves museums of varous buildings and artificats from earlier Army history of the base.

This picture shows a barracks area with beds in a long row. These barracks would have been in general use during WWII and Bill's father would have no doubt used similar "digs" during his basic and subsequent training before being deployed to the ETO (European Theatre of Operations).

Note that Bill's dad did basic at Camp Blanding, Florida, not Fort Benning, Georia, where these pictures were taken. But the Barracks we're told, were standard for the time.

Here, we are in the "Mess Hall" building, just across from one of the Barracks buildings, where the picture above was taken. This particular picure is in the kitchen. Seating for the troops was out the serving window area, seen at the top right of the picture.

Note the coal burning stoves. Wow!

Outside the barracks area you can see one of the buildings to the right of the building. This particular building, the placard says near the buliding, was used by General Patton durin the war, when he stayed at the base.

This is (obviously) a display of WWII period tanks. Bill and one of the WWII vets, Vern Staley.

Now this 'looks' like the 70th monument we just dedicated. But if you look close, it is a red color (the real patch is a red color), rather than a grey color, as you can see from the above pictures of the monument during the dedication.

This is because this is the "other" monument. Earlier I mentioned that it was cheaper for the Assocation to purchase a new monument than to move the older, original one. Here is the original one, on the Fort Benning base main property.

We like the red color more, but it was twice as expensive. Oh well.

On the field with the older 70th Infantry monument, is this sign, which dedicates this area of Fort Benning, and the monuments in this area, including the 70th, to all the fallen of these divisions and Battalions.

We have disengaged from the 70th Association festivities and the Fort Benning area. We had time before our flight and took a one hour drive south to the Andersonville POW museum.

Worth a web lookup, and more importantly, a visit, Andersonville was an infamous Confederate POW prision during the U.S. Civil War (was a POW prison housing British troops during the Revelutionary war also).

Due to the large numbers of Union POWs coming into this area, and the little food and building materials that were available, the Union troops were just kept in a huge walled area, some for years, during the Civil war.

This view is part of the area where the POWs "lived" during that time. Monumuments to the various solder army's and divisions of troops interned here.

What made this POW museum notiable and why we went there, is that this POW was one of the worst during the war. An estimated 15,000 Union troops died of starvation, dehydration, disease, and other things, such as fights, shot by guards, exposure, etc.

The commendant of the prison at the end of the war, was determined to be majorly responsible, and was hanged. But in reading all the documents on the subject at the museum, he was just one of many that were copable in this tragidy.

In this picture is a picture taken around 1885, showing the situation at the prison. The huge amounds of people in the foreground, show in some small respect, the large overcrowding situation in the prision.

The picture can't do justice to the starvation, sanitation issues, and total human misery, that were the lot of every one of the prisoners, during this time.

Now the Andersonville POW prison, while featuring the situation at Andersonville (that is, after all, where we were), also features exhibts about other POW's and POW situations.

Here we have a display about a situation in the Phillipines, during WWII in a Japanese prison. At one point, prisoners were given some cement and they built the Christian monument in the background picture. A replica is in the foreground at the museum.

This is close to Bill and Adelina's heart, since Adelina's father fought for the U.S. in the Phillipines, and was captured for a time by the Japanese.

Another Phillipine POW picture, with allied (U.S. and Filipino) POW's being marched to a prison camp during the infamous Battan Death March.

A story for another time, Adelina's dad was in the death march, but managed, with the help of a local farmer, and at great cost to both, was pulled out of the march and saved. He would have died from maleria and an infectied, surface level, bullet wound, had he not been saved by this farmer.

This march was hell for those on it and the Japanese commander was also hanged following the wars' end, because of this.

Going outside the Andersonville museum, we can see sights and settings of the prison and the exact area where things occurred.

This picture is a portion of the cemetary where some of the 15,000+ Union solders were buried, following their deaths in the prison. At the high point, 100 men per day died at Andersonville.

This is picture of a corner of the prison where the prisoners were. The view of prisoners during internment here, circa 1865, would have looked like this, except that the wall would have been all around us (and a huge area), with thousands of people living on the ground, in the area where we are.

The items near the fence (and an example of what the fence was like at the time), are shatterd tents and stick structures the prisoners put up to try to provide some shelter from the cold and hot weather.

Looking at this pic, it just looks like a grassy plain. But this is "part" of the area that held 15,000 prisoners. This is the area that showed so crowed in the 1875 picture above.

Peaceful now, it's hard to understand the evil and depravity that this area saw in 1873-1875.

This pic is the same partical wall that the we saw in a pic a few pictures back, but close up. Several things of intesest here.

On the right, is one of many, many, guard towers that the Confederate troops used to guard and watch the Union prisoners. You can also get a good idea of the height of the wood fence holding the prisoners.

If you look closely to the left of the wood fence, you can see a little fence about 19 feet from the big fence. This was a no-mans land area. Prisoners would be shot if they entered this space. Shoot-on-sight orders to the guards. This was both to help prevent escape and overrun attempts, and also to prevent the prisoners from being able to view the outside through cracks in the lumber fence.

Finally, you can see some of the makeshift small tents and coverings that are examples of what the Union prisoners lived in for months to years, in this hellacious place.

If you look closely at the picture of the prison from 1875 above, you see someting that divides the prison. It is a stream that runs through the camp that was intended to provide water to the POW's. But it quickly became fouled with sewage and bugs, and, it got so bad, from the museum reports, that there was a continuous "buzz" of bugs and constant foul stentch, in this area.

This picture shows that same stream area of the prison, as it is today. Smaller and overgrown with grass and vegatation, it is still very quiet and peaceful, compared to the hell hole it was 150 years ago.

This is more area that was behind the prison walls where the 15,000 prisoners were held.

The stucture to the mid-right is a monument to a water well that erupted following an earthquake during the time of the prison. This resulted in a hugh gush of water from the fresh water well. There was little water and dehydration was rampant.

Many prisoners considered this well eruption a gift from God from many prayers for help during the horrific experience of these POWs.

This picture shows a mid-wall doorway that was used to add prisoners to the inside internment area. There was a double-door, so that prisoners could be penned in from the outside, before the inner doors were opened for the POWs to see the hell inside the camp.

The double-doors are clearly visible in this front angle view. Many people went through these doors to the misery inside during this difficult time.