EPILOGUE

THE BLESSINGS OF FATE ALLOWED ME TO WRITE THE BOOK THAT MY GRANDFATHER HIMSELF WANTED TO DO. THIS IS THE STORY OF AN UNKNOWN HERO. THIS IS THE STORY OF ALL OF THE UNKNOWN HEROES OF THE 2487TH QUARTERMASTER TRUCK COMPANY AVIATION.

When I was young, my grandfather would always have me sit with him and watch black and white World War II documentaries. He would always emphasize to me how important they were and the history involved. As I got older, he would tell me bits and pieces why he made me sit and watch those documentaries, but he never dove into the details. He would mention once in a while that he was in the Army and he drove truck. He told me that he was in Europe during the war and that was about the extent of it. A few months ago when I started to research his true history in the military, it all started to make sense and come to light. As a matter of fact, the more I dug into his history, the more I found. The more I found, the more I was amazed by the details. It was like following a rabbit down the rabbit hole. The deeper I went, the more his story took twists and turns. The more it twisted and turned, the more I got lost in one of the biggest and best history lessons of my life.

You see in the end, I found out that my grandfather was a bonafide war hero. In every sense of the word, he was a man that did more in his lifetime than most of us could do in multiple lifetimes. When my grandfather would tell me that he was in the Army and he drove truck, what he was really telling me was that he crossed the Atlantic Ocean being chased by a German submarine and lost them in a Hurricane, was at the largest seaborne invasion in human history and stormed Normandy at Omaha Beach, helped build the first Airfield in France paving the way for the Allied Forces to free Europe, was assigned to the 67th Tactical Recon Group that outfitted Spitfires and P-51 Mustangs with surveillance equipment to do clandestine missions, saw every inch of Europe during World War II by being a part of the Red Ball Express, survived the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Bodenplatte when the Germans attacked his Airfield on New Year’s Day, liberated one of the oldest concentration camps in Germany called Buchenwald, and was a soldier of the “Fighting” 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation).

The blessings of fate allowed me to write the book that my grandfather himself wanted to do. This is the story of an unknown hero. This is the story of all of the unknown heroes of the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation). This book is in loving memory of my grandfather and my hero Paul Joseph Guiton.

Special thanks to Larry Payne for your decades of research and love for history. Without your knowledge, guidance, and fate bringing us together, this publication would not be possible. This project is a true testament of the love that you have for your father Alton Dock Payne. He would be very proud of you and I would bet that the entire company of the “Fighting” 2487th Quartermaster Truck (Aviation) are all smiling down on you. My greatest joy in writing this book was to be able to see Larry present a copy to Coy Shirley, the last surviving member of the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation). The smile on his face will warm my heart for the rest of my life. God bless you my friend.