Luxembourg, 14th of November 2013
Dear Mr. Santagata,
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I hope you are doing well and that everything is well over there. I will introduce myself, my name is Patrick from Luxembourg, I am 28 years old and I am very interested in WWII since I was a young boy. My grandfather was also in WWII, he was forced by the Germans into war but he died very early and I had never the chance to hear his war stories, so I started collecting stories of the still living Veterans before it is too late. I have also a small collection of WWII items of US and German soldiers, that I started since I was a young boy. I found an article of you on Internet and I wanted to know more about you, so I decided to write you a letter.
The last few years I had the chance to be in contact with a few Veterans of WWII and I have many stories collected through email or snail mail. I am very interested in your WWII experiences and hope that you will share your story with me. I wanted to know with which Company and Regiment you fought with? I wanted to know where exactly you fought (France, Luxembourg, Bulge, Germany?), what missions did you had, which medals that you earned and what your “job” was during WWII? I am very curious if you have fought here in the Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg. Did you took part in the crossing of the “Sauer River” in Diekirch in January 1945? I know that it is not easy to speak or write about WWII experiences because there are surely more bad memories than good ones, war is always cruel and I hope that a war like that will not repeat itself again that is why your experiences are so important for the generation like mine and the younger people. We have to preserve the freedom and liberty that you gave us back almost 70 years ago.
I also started since 2 years to collect recent pictures and WWII pictures with a signature of the Veterans in front of them who I met in Normandy, Luxembourg and Bastogne and I would be happy if you could also be a part of my “memory wall” at home. I wanted to know if you could send me some WWII and some recent photos of you through email, I wanted to know if I could print them out with your permission and send them with another letter to you for getting signed in front of them by you with your rank first then name and Unit in order to frame them. Do you think we could manage that, it would mean a lot To me? I will frame the photos and put WWII photos at left and recent photos at right, in the middle I will print the Red Diamond patch with your name and underneath a summary of your WWII story so you will get a place of honor in my home and I would be honored if you could be a part of it. In my next letter I will also include a coupon that you can give to the post office so you haven’t to pay for the shipping costs for sending the photos signed back! I didn’t put one in this letter now because I am not sure if the letter reaches the right person.
Unfortunately I never had the chance to meet you in Europe, have you been back since the end of the war? Do you plan perhaps to come over again in the future? I am also in good contact with Frank Forcinella and Don Hemphill of the 5th Division perhaps you know one of him? Is there any annual Reunion of the 5th Division in the USA?
If you have perhaps written your experiences down somewhere, I would be very interested in them. If you have some other stuff to add, please feel free to do it. If you know other buddies of yours of WWII who want to share their story to with me you can give them my email address and mailing address, I would be happy to get in contact with more Veterans before it is too late to collect their stories. I am looking forward to your returning letter Sir.
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Thank you very much your service, your help and time.
Best wishes from Luxembourg
Patrick Dax
11, rue Jules Wilhelm
L-2728 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Email: golf2_power@yahoo.fr
