Hit me up if so and let me know if you need anything over there.

Best duty station in all the military imho.

My dad was the VFW post commander there in the early 90s (he was retired).  He moved there when I was stationed at Bad Toelz (1988 or so).

His (our) Italy tour was at SETAF HQ in Verona (before it moved).  Vicenza is nice but Verona is better.

I just about gotta know your Dad.  If not I can guarantee you that he and I know some of the same people.

Been in that VFW Hall many many times.

@SCRooster

He passed in 2015 in Piedmonte (where he and his second wife had moved).

The VFW turned out for both his award of the French Legion of Honor (for WW2) there and had a memorial service for him at Ederle.

I'll post pictures later.

How did he end-up with that gig?  Was he Nickle O Nasty or 4/325th or ... wasn't 1/508th flying colors there at the time?  The only reason I ask is because that job almost always went to a Vet from one of our Airborne Regiments although I think I do remember one guy getting the job straight out of retirement from the SF unit up at Bad Toelz. I can't remember which SF battalion was in Bad Toelz at the ... 11th maybe, I think.

He must have been one heckuva man.  Just lost my Dad this past December ... we miss them every day I think.

ETA: The more I think about it the more I think it may have been 10th Group but, I'm just not sure. 10th may have been reserve in Texas that year.

I was on Ederle in the late 90s when it was 1-508.  Running Berico was always a great way to get over a hangover.

ETA:

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Have puked running Basilica di S. Maria di Monte Berico after a night at Johnnie's more than once .... makes me wonder if his daughter with the big hairy mole on her face was still there.

Saint Mary's Church of Thornes ... have even hit some patooty up there overlooking the city while eating pizza from .... I can't remember that place,  just outside the gates.

Go out the back gates and there was another run, the back gates out the Back Forty, take a right ... what was the name of that church at the turnaround? What was that run, six, eight miles?

There was no gate out the back 40 when I was there.

The only gates we had was the front gate, and two part time side gates on the eastern side.  I just pulled it up on google maps, and it looks like one of the side gates moved.  The back 40 is unrecognizable.  Used to be just a field up against the back wall and the jail.

The whole place is unrecognizable now except for the barracks buildings where the battalion was then.  Looks like they actually built real company HQs instead of the single wides we had.

I lived right off post in the block just east.

also

lol

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we (the family) were stationed in Verona when SETAF HQ was there.  Dad set up the the "Target Acquisition Team" with the Italian Folgore for the Corporal missiles in SEATAF (543rd & 570th Missile Battalions).  Dad kept in touch with a lot of the Army retirees from his days there & GS folks who moved to Vicenza.

He was a living legend in the post-WW2 through post-Vietnam army.  Private (1940) to colonel (1967).  3 awards of the CIB.  Wrote the qualifications for the senior & master parachutist badges.  Was in every airborne division post WW2 (11th, 82nd, & 101st) - chief of staff of the 101st in RVN.  33 years.

After my mom died Dad stayed with us at Toelz but moved too Verona, then Vicenza.  His second wife was Italian (US citizen) and he volunteered al lot on post (ACS, retiree services).  

Just before Desert Storm, he was elected commander of the VFW post, which was kind of dying.  During and after the Gulf War he really rejuvenated it.  Made it the top post in Europe.

About a year before he died he moved back to Italy (his wife inherited a house in Piedmonte) but he was 89.  Passed at 90 just after the French awarded him the Legion of Honor.


This was taken at the Florance American Military Cemetery

That's a group shot with the VFW guys that came to his Legion of Honor investiture.

Nickel Oh Nutty, 79-81
I have the Unit Crest somewhere......

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Not the one I wore on my shoulder....But it'll do.

My Shoulder Patch: