“I just completed working with Footsteps Researchers to do a tracking of my father, Frank E. Parsons, through World War II in Europe. My Father was in the 5th Infantry Division under Patton and landed on Utah Beach on July 1, 1944 and left Europe on September 9, 1945. I had done as much research as I could from photos my dad took as well as other avenues available to me and knew he had fought in the Battle of Metz, through France, the Battle of the Bulge, into Germany and then places he stayed for some of the after war occupation.
My father never really wanted to talk much about the war, but I knew it was a big thing for him. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the young age of 65 and passed away 14 years later. We never had the opportunity to really discuss this chapter of his life as in-depth as I wanted. I always wanted to know so much more and had a dream to walk in his footsteps through Europe.
I came across Joey van Meesen, and we started corresponding about my dad, which led to his team doing the research to track my dad’s footsteps. The information they found and documented was far greater than I ever expected it to be! It was extremely emotional for me and my siblings yet so incredibly rewarding. I now have an extremely detailed set of documents of where my dad was, the dates, what was happening, and more about his involvement in the different battles he fought. This project spurred me on to scanning all the negatives my father returned from Europe with and to add to the collection, education and memories. Joey has been great to look through and help me determine where they were shot.
I look forward to meeting Joey soon and having him put together a Silver Star Tour for me and my wife to spend some time in the locations my Dad did.
If you had/have a father who fought in Europe during WWII and have ever had any questions of what, where, when, how, etc., you owe it to yourself to take this project on. You will not regret it. My only warning is that it can be very emotional.”
— Bruce J. Parsons, Footsteps Researchers Package, February 2018