OLSON, MELVIN H Nov 9, 1943 age 23 KIA Italy

MELVIN H. OLSON, b. 1920 Mich  d. Nov 9, 1943 Killed in Action Italy

Pfc 36131120 135^th Inf Reg  34^th Inf Div

Buried Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuni, Italy

Parents: Hogan and Gertrude N. both immigrants from Norway. Father worked as a press operator. Auto Factory.  

The family lived at 21494 Curtis, a short walk from the High school.

Melvin graduated from Redford in June 1938 so was a bit older than other students when he enlisted. Oct 21, 1941 in Detroit.  The 34^th Infantry Division was originally a federalized National Guard Division from Minnesota and North Dakota. It was the only US infantry division serving in the North African and Mediterranean Theaters of Operation throughout the war.

The division skipped the Allied invasion of Sicily and instead trained intensively for the invasion of the Italian mainland, with the main landings at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on Sept 9, 1943 to be undertaken by elements of the US Fifth Army. After a Field Artillery Battalion landed Sept 9, the rest followed on Sept 25. After engaging the enemy at the Calore River Sept 28, the 34^th relentlessly drove north to take Benevento. After crossing the winding Volturno River repeatedly as they pushed forward toward Rome.

Progress was steady but slow. Determined resistance at a roadblock or ford often halted the advance, forcing units to struggle through the mountains to envelop the obstacle. When they finally conducted an assault on a position, the Allied would find that Germans had melted away and they would resume their forward progress, only to be halted a few hundred yards away by another obstacle. In twenty days during October across a forty-mile front Fifth Army forces advanced only 15-20 miles. By the time they advanced from the Volturno River to the Bernhard Line they were near the point of exhaustion. On Nov 15, succumbing to both weather and fatigue the Fifth Army’s progress was halted for two weeks for rest.

 Pfc Olson was killed Nov 9.