'forty-five' days

Unit History 45th AAA Group

Unit history book of the 45th AAA Group still in its original envelope. The Unit History traces the route of the 45th through training in the US and later combat in Europe. The book also has portrait pictures of all members of the 45th and cartoon sketches drawn by two of its members, Melvin W. Boyington & Joseph G. Sateriale, detailing life during the war. This copy belonged to Marvin H. Poole. It was send by him to Mrs Suzy De Buyser in Mechelen.

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S/Sgt Marvin H. Poole

S/Sgt. Marvin H. Poole

HQ Battery - 45th AAA Group

Marvin Howell Poole was born on September 18, 1921 in Rockingham, North Carolina to Cicero L. and Gladys Boyd Poole.

Marvin Howell Poole entered the service on December 21, 1942 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Morning Report on july 1943 lists T/4 Marvin Polle as being assigned to the 45th AAA Group out of the AAA Training Center in Ft. Sheridan, Illinois. He then received further training at Ft. Bliss, Texas, Camp Forrest, Tennessee & Camp Crowder, South Carolina, before being send to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey to prepare for overseas movement.

The 45th boarded the SS Uruguay in the New York Port of Embarkation on August 10, 1944 setting sail for Glasgow. Upon arrival they boarded a train for Leek, Staffordshire & then trucked to Keele Hall, their final destination in the UK. The first assignment for the 45th was Normandy, landing on Utah Beach in September 1944. They set up in the tiny hamlet of Audouville-La-Hubert, commanding nearby AAA units protecting Utah Beach. Starting in October their new mission was to become a part of Operation Antwerp X, the Allied effort to defend the Port of Antwerp against the V-1. The 45th ended up setting up their new headquarters in Putte using the buildings and grounds of a brewery and the girls school. The Enlisted Men had their sleeping quarters a little further down the road in the malt factory. Their stay in Putte lasted from 2 November 1944 until New Years Eve. In the new year they moved to Brasschaat, to counter the new approaches coming from the North of Antwerp.

During Operation Antwerp X, his unit, and those in the 45th AAA Group were rocketed 154 straight days by V-1 buzz bombs and V-2 ballistic missiles. During the final weeks the offensive had petered out and by early April 1945 it was over. The 45th then moved for a time to Weser, Germany and were there on VE-Day. In June 1945 the 45th moved to Maastricht as part of the postwar occupation forces, anxiously awaiting their return to the United States. He returned to the US sailing from Southampton aboard the USS Washington in December 1945. He was Honorable Discharge on January 24, 1946.

Marvin Poole married Miss Marjorie Armstrong on August 6, 1949, at Woonsocket, Rhode Island. They moved to Charlotte, where they raised their 4 children: Betty, Robert, Sarah, and Kenneth Poole. He died on March 28, 1986 in Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was survived by his wife Marjorie Lessie Poole (1928-2022)