| Title |
John Bleggi, Mapleton, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, 7 December 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 379 and 380 |
| Alternative Title |
John Bleggi, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Bleggi, John, 1921-2007 |
| Contributor |
Bahlmann, Benjamin; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2000-12-07 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
England; France; Germany; Mapleton, Utah County, Utah, United States |
| Subject |
Bleggi, John, 1921-2007--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Military operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
Normandy; Patton |
| Description |
Transcript (92 pages) of an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann with John Bleggi on December 7, 2000. This is from tape numbers 379 and 380 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Bleggi (b. 1921) was the son of Italian immigrants. He recalls his childhood in Mapleton, Utah. He was drafted into the army in September 1942 and took basic training at Camp Kohler, California, before attending Signal Corps training at Camp McCain, Mississippi. He was assigned to the 33rd Construction Battalion and left New York on the H.M.S. Queen in February 1944. He spent five months in Wrexham, England, practicing for the invasion of France. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day plus six. His unit supported A Corps and General Patton's Fourth Army through Europe, then trained in France to go to Japan. Bleggi was on a troop ship on its way to Japan when the war ended. He was discharged in December 1945 at Fort Douglas, Utah. 92 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
92 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6s201rm |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1024874 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6s201rm |
| Title |
Page 78 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1024857 |
| OCR Text |
Show John Bleggi 7 Dec mb r 2 0 t rm in th re. We cant go in. We ve got to go to an Franci co. I thought b tt r yet my brother s there. My brother Joe lives down there working in an Franci c . Got down the San Francisco; the weather was too bad there so they took us down to Pedro, Los Angeles. Went in there, and I can remember coming in that bay, and they brought a boat out from Hollywood with all the actors on it. Oh, those women were dressed to torment us guys. As big a ship as that was, it would go around this side and everybody would go to that side. It was doing this to the ship [laughing]. I thought, geez, we're going to tip it over. They unloaded us, and then they brought us out on the train and then they were supposed to take us to this big camp in Pedro. The train went right through the middle of Los Angeles. It wasn't going five miles and hour. So I looked at this one kid, and I said, "You know, there' s a beer joint down the street down there. I'm going in to get me a beer. I can run down there and have me a beer and be back on the train." He said, "You can't do it. Just go in and buy a six pack." I said, "All right," and I took off. Sure enough I caught the train coming back in. We were having beer and here comes the MP. "Where'd you get that?" "They issued it to us." B.S. So anyway, they took the beer away from us. When we got into Pedro according to which place you were going to be discharged they had you line up. I saw Fort Douglas and I got over there. That Chaplain got on the P.A. system, and he says, "Boys, see the ticket I got in my hand? Don't leave here without it because it will buy you the best meal you'll ever eat in your life! But without that ticket you can't have it." Well I couldn't figure out what was the best 76 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6s201rm/1024857 |
