"You always dream of getting back; actually, if you're in the combat zone for long enough, you think that you never will." (Audio interview, Tape 1, 48:40).

Alvin K. Dickson

Dickson standing by tent near Alzey, Germany. March 1945 [detail] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: 11th Armored Division Service Location: Camp Lee, Virginia; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Darby, England; European Theater Rank: First Lieutenant Place of Birth: OH

Once Allied forces secured the beaches at Normandy in the summer of 1944, the mission to recapture Europe was on, and soldiers like Alvin Dickson were called on to make it happen. An officer in the Eleventh Armored Division, Dickson was awarded a Bronze Star for his valor at the Battle of the Bulge. By April 1945 his 11th Armored Division had made the deepest penetration into Germany of any division in General Patton's Third Army.