''THE THUNDERBOLT ACROSS EUROPE''

An informal unit history of the 83rd Infantry Division prepared by the divisional Information-Education Section. The pamphlet consisted of a large map of the 83rd's route on one side and a unit history printed on the other side. The pamphlet folded to approximately pocket size.

"This document tells a little of the life we have known during the past year. It is dedicated to all officers and men of the 83d Infantry Division. We Thunderbolts are proud of the record we have made. We have contributed to the defeat of the enemy. We have grown a little older doing this and we have learned to understand a bit more about men. When finally we go home we shall have grown a little wiser. This document is also dedicated to our dead and wounded, left behind along the highways and trails of six nations. Those once strong-fibered, America-loving men gave their lives or limbs that victory might be ours. We owe our stature, our existence to the blood they spilt, to the cries born of their pain. They are gone from us now but we shall never forget them".

With this copy came the letter you can read below. It is a letter written to the relatives of the fallen combatants of the Thunderbolt Division and is personally signed by commanding General Robert C. Macon. This means that my map was once send to the family of a fallen 83rd Soldier.