Friday, March 28, 2008

Wild Bill Guarnere.com:  6 Years online!

It occurred to me yesterday that tomorrow marks 6 years online of my grandfather’s website, Wild Bill Guarnere.com.  The site, as many people know, was in response to the HBO Mini Series, ”Band of Brothers.” Once the series hit HBO, everyone wanted to know the real men behind the story.  So who had the idea for the website, you ask?

Well, that honor goes to my father, Gene, Bill’s son.  He thought it would be a good idea to give the website to my grandfather as a Christmas present.  It was kind of funny, actually, that at some level my father and I both thought my grandfather would be excited by having his own website.  Well, he wasn’t.  In fact, he looked at me and my father, shook his head and said “we’re a bunch of internet-NUTS.” Nonetheless, we launched the site on March 29th, 2002 and it has become one of the largest internet repositories in the world pertaining to information on WW2.  The site, to date has 183643 unique posts by over 4200 members from all over the world.  There are usually several hundred users on the site at any given moment, and we have over the years had visits from the actors, producers and historians who were part of the original HBO mini series.  The site has also become an online community of friends who call each other on birthdays from different countries, send each other Christmas cards, and have provided other members with places to stay when members are traveling.

Wild Bill Guarnere has hosted 3 Community Dinners, all in Philadelphia, and have brought together several members to South Philly from as close as Pennsylvania and as far away as Australia.  My grandfather has done a few “live” chats with guests over the years, which gave the opportunity for his fans to ask him questions via the internet and get his responses.  Wild Bill’s website has made donations to disaster recovery efforts in the Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004 and has made many charitable donations of Wild Bill Guarnere hand signed merchandise and memorabilia.

Wild Bill Guarnere.com has mostly, however, raised awareness about the sacrifices made by our allied forces and has educated the young and old alike.  If you’re a history buff, educator, enthusiast, military personnel or just interested in one of the most significant periods in world history, then Wild Bill Guarnere has probably been a stopover in your internet travels.

Wild Bill Guarnere is 84 years old as of this writing and still is active as a guest speaker for many schools and corporations around the world.  He’s been an inspiration to his family and to the world alike.  I’m proud to celebrate 6 years online!

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