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In the dark hours of winter in 1944, U.S. forces landed at the Gulf of Salerno, onto the German-fortified shores of Southwest Italy.
President Franklin Roosevelt believed Germany could be defeated by puncturing through Italy. The 36th Infantry Division battled through the frozen terrain to meet an expected force of 20,000 German troops sent by a general who had promised Hitler that the Americans would be crushed at the Italian border.
This was the first clash between a U.S. unit and Germany’s forces in World War II. The battle, logistically disadvantageous to the United States, promised to be a brutal confrontation between Americans and Nazis.
Positioned for the fight was the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, which included a small Texas National Guard Unit made up of young Mexican Americans – most of them from poor El Paso neighborhoods.
The Texas National Guard unit, Company E, was part of a one-time Army social program to train, educate and “Americanize” young Mexican Americans in El Paso. The aspiring soldiers – many of them relatives or childhood friends – excelled in their drills, qualified for group Army Ranger training, ranked high in performance and were sent to war.
To memorialize their heroism on the WWII battlefield in Italy, the city of El Paso commissioned borderland artist Julio Sanchez de Alba to create a larger-than-life sculpture titled “The Insurmountable Task,” which honors the young soldiers of Company E.
www.elpasoinc.com
President Franklin Roosevelt believed Germany could be defeated by puncturing through Italy. The 36th Infantry Division battled through the frozen terrain to meet an expected force of 20,000 German troops sent by a general who had promised Hitler that the Americans would be crushed at the Italian border.
This was the first clash between a U.S. unit and Germany’s forces in World War II. The battle, logistically disadvantageous to the United States, promised to be a brutal confrontation between Americans and Nazis.
Positioned for the fight was the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, which included a small Texas National Guard Unit made up of young Mexican Americans – most of them from poor El Paso neighborhoods.
The Texas National Guard unit, Company E, was part of a one-time Army social program to train, educate and “Americanize” young Mexican Americans in El Paso. The aspiring soldiers – many of them relatives or childhood friends – excelled in their drills, qualified for group Army Ranger training, ranked high in performance and were sent to war.
To memorialize their heroism on the WWII battlefield in Italy, the city of El Paso commissioned borderland artist Julio Sanchez de Alba to create a larger-than-life sculpture titled “The Insurmountable Task,” which honors the young soldiers of Company E.
‘The Insurmountable Task’ : Honoring Company E
“The Insurmountable Task” sculpture that will honor the heroism Company E – a Texas National Guard unit from El Paso during World War II – is about 80% complete and
