Newcastle presenter recounts father’s World War II service in Europe, including Castle Itter rescue

David Halsey, of Wheatland, told attendees at a Weston County Historical Society event in Newcastle about his father’s service as an Army lieutenant in Europe during World War II, drawing on more than 350 letters and his father’s memoirs.

Halsey said Lieutenant Edward Halsey (born May 4, 1922) served roughly a year and a half overseas with the 103rd Infantry Division, fought in the Vosges Mountains and through southern Germany, was wounded by shrapnel after an German 88 exploded nearby, and later performed administrative duties in towns including Landsberg and Hall in Tirol (Hall in Tyrol).

The presentation focused on front‑line experiences, a wartime episode known as the Battle of Castle Itter, and Halsey’s postwar duties. Halsey described marching from a troop transport in New Jersey to combat in late 1944, spending Christmas in the Alsace region of France, crossing rivers under fire, and advancing…