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Signal Corps official gets drop on class studying
World War II
By Charmain Z. Brackett| Correspondent Thursday, February 19, 2009
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Buzz Robert Anzuoni dropped in on a group of eighth-graders at
Immaculate Conception Academy last week.
Dressed as a World War II paratrooper, Mr. Anzuoni, the director
of Fort Gordon's Signal Corps Museum, stood at the classroom door
as though he were at the door of an airplane preparing to jump.
After giving a few signals, he leaped into the room and rolled on
the floor. He got to his knees and immediately put his M1 rifle
together.
"Paratroopers jumped in the dark and would land behind enemy lines,"
Mr. Anzuoni said. They practiced putting the rifle together blindfolded
because they wouldn't be able to see to do it in the dark after
they landed.
Many times, they were being fired on as soon as they hit the ground,
he said.
Once on the ground, a Signal Corps paratrooper would set up an antenna
equipped with a self-destruct mechanism.
The device would provide a signal for American troops.
Mr. Anzuoni spent about an hour during the Feb. 12 visit discussing
the equipment of a paratrooper and how paratroopers were used in
World War II, particularly during the Normandy invasion in 1944.
The World War II paratrooper's uniform was khaki and very hot,
he told the students. It was reinforced on the knees, elbows and
pockets with tent canvas. In battle gear, a paratrooper could have
carried as much as 180 pounds, and though the uniform was heavy,
it didn't provide the soldier much protection, he said.
"The helmet was mainly designed to protect against shrapnel. It
was nothing that would stop a bullet," he said.
George Weber, the eighth-grade social studies teacher, said he
has been teaching the class about World War II events recently and
had been looking forward to Mr. Anzuoni's visit. "This will augment
the whole lesson," Mr. Weber said. Mr. Anzuoni does many presentations
during the school year. "The Civil War, World War II and Vietnam
are the three main eras -- that's what's popular," he said.
From the Thursday, February 19, 2009 edition of the Augusta
Chronicle
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