This page is dedicated to my father Hubert H Kendall a true WW2 hero who served with the 82nd Airborne - 3rd battalion - Company I - 504th parachute infantry regiment

Entered the service on April-28-1941 - Graduated parachute school on August-8-1942 - 2 years 2 months 3 days of foreign service - Battles & campaigns - Sicily - Naples/Foggia - Rome/Arno - Rhineland - Ardennes - Central Europe - Honorable discharge on July-8-1945

Highly decorated combat veteran - Awarded the bronze star (January-1-1944) - Purple heart (Holland October-4-1944) with oak leaf cluster (April-15-1945) - American defense service medal - American campaign medal - European African middle eastern campaign medal with one silver service star for the Anzio - Ardennes - Central Europe - Rhineland and Sicily campaigns also with one bronze arrowhead - Distinguished unit emblem - Combat infantry badge - Belgian fourragere - Netherlands orange lanyard - Army of occupation medal with Germany clasp - Good conduct medal - Parachute badge - WW2 victory medal

Awards were reissued to our family in 1996 as the originals were lost to time - The medals with engravings were reissued (Document 4) a second time due to a spelling error - Efforts to obtain more detailed service records were stalled as a major portion of the Army military personnel records were destroyed by fire at the NPRC St. Louis in 1973

Documents obtained in 2013 from the NPRC St. Louis by a professional researcher who petitioned for access to personally look for documents - Of great importance in the group are two hospitalization reports detailing combat wounds - They provide pertinent information as to where and when the two Purple Hearts were awarded - The first dated September 1944 (Nijmegen Waal River Crossing) and the second dated 07 April 1945 (Hitdorf Germany) both are notable historical battles of the 504th - A third hospitalization report dated January 1944 documents a case of pneumonia acquired during the Italy campaign

504th report acquired in 2015 courtesy of Tyler Fox - 504th morning reports acquired in 2014 courtesy of Mike Bigalke

Three of the most prized pieces in the archive - A souvenir postage stamp made during WW2 - Pastel drawing made in Italy 1943 signed by the artist as well as dad - German flag captured in Hitdorf Germany & signed by three company-I-504th soldiers one being staff Sgt. Louis E Orvin Jr. a recipient of two bronze stars

  Letters to home dating 1941 through 1945

Hagerstown Maryland newspaper articles dating 1943 through 1948 courtesy of Tyler Fox - Company I group photos