Memories

Memories of the Tours

Joseph Accorso	Sam Cloud	Robert Cox	Wilmer Eisenlohr
Edmund Evanofski	Marion Fisher	Cecil Ford	Quentin Horne
Clint Jaeger	Eugene Lieby	Otha McCormick	Frank Monti
Lawrence D Pickett	John Pluta	Leroy Prettyman	Wade Roe
Wayne Roe	Victor Rueschhoff	Eugene Schulz	Simon Stafiniak
Earl Symborski	Will Tanner	Edward Varner	Edward Vejsicky
Robert White

Joseph Accorso Memories (as told by his children and others)

   Mr. Accorso was born Feburary 20, 1920 in Rochester, New York. From an early age he had a remarkable eye for art, noticing colors blends and shadow tents that other did not see. Joseph attended #27 Elementary School and East High School in Rochester, NY. His childhood art work was always a favorite of his teachers, earning him special hanging locations in his class room. His good Catholic parents always encouraged his drawings with lots of praise.
   After training in Columbus, Ohio, Pfc Joseph Accorso completed the Oldsmobile Armament Training Course in Lansing, Michigan, June 11, 1943.
   When the 1781st was transferred to the California desert for infranty training, Mr. Accorso loved it there. He later told his children that the sunsets there were beautiful, and the colors amazing. He even took delight in the cold California nights. His eye for art went with him into the Army. This amazing man saw his world of color hues around him much differently then the other boys. He drew pictures in the sand, on truck dust, any place he could let his artistic abilty emerge and take him to a better place.
   One place of special comfort was his mother's kitchen. His mother's packages from home were a big hit with the other men in the 1781st . She would send homemade canned spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs were beyond delicious--all the flavors melded together. Mother Accorso, a really great cook, didn't use a recipe she kept it in her mind, but the flavoring came for her mother's recipe and the love in her heart from the different regions of Italy. Every week she baked bread. She would slice a loaf down the middle, put olive oil and anchovies (few) and garlic on it and heat it in the oven. Joseph's friends used to time their visits to the house to get it. Father Accorso would make homemade wine from the grapes in the yard. Joseph's friends came for that too.
   When Joseph got a package from home, it would be gone before he got much at all. But the boys were always happy to share their goodies from home. Later when Joseph married, his new wife watched Mother Accorso cook and learned some things from her.
   Mr. Accorso really loved the good USO shows in California. Seeing Miss Loretta Young was a highlight of the war. Years later, seeing her in an old movie, he would always tell his kids "She's little, you know". Mr. Accorso was delighted to get to go to Miss Young's house where she hosted a party for the boys. They spent the afternoon swimming and playing Ping Pong, which she was a really good at. While there, she offered the boys snacks and signed their ties, shirts, hats etc...
   While in California, each of the boys had to pull KP. There were many boys on the base and there was more than one mess hall. Joseph (Joe) didn't mind KP because he could eat ham and drink milk.
   On the ship Liberty heading for Liverpool England, Accorso painted a picture of a pin-up girl while lying on his back and using the underside of the upper bunk as his canvas. His canvas, the bunk, was 3feet x 6feet. The captain of the ship tried to keep the painting when the ship docked, but Mr. Accorso didn't let him. He cut the painting out and carried it with him all through the war. The family still has the art work.
   Here is a picture of the painting contributed by Mr Accorso's children:

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   In England, Joseph put the duties of the bomb and armament group first. His loyalty to this country was more important than his rich hobby of art for the duration of the war. Work always came first, and he assumed the duties of a soldier well.
   In France, Joe enjoyed the French stew and crusty bread that he ate in a country inn. He raved for years about the flavor that had never seemed to be copied in the states.
   He also left a little bit of himself in Leon France, where a local priest of tht Catholic church there asked him to do a painting for the church. The art work was a picture of the Virgin Mary which was hung in a prominent place in the church.
   In Belgium, Joe thought the rain was miserable. While there he got laryngitis and the men of the 1781st cheered "Accorso can't talk!"
   After the war ended, the 1781st moved to Germany. Accorso had the duty of guarding a German prisoner, standing outside all night with his rifle. The German prisoners had the nerve to ask the Americans for cigarettes.
   On the ship Victory's voyage back to the states, there was a big storm with horribly high waves, causing everything on the long dining table to crash to the floor in the mess kitchen, down below. The bathroom door flung open as an interrupted soldier came sliding out. Many boys were seasick on the stormy waves. For most of the 20 day voyage, the boys rode the high waves wishing they could see land.
   When Mr. Accorso finally got home and walked in the door of his childhood home, he grabbed his diminutive mother, lifting her up to him in a triumphant hug.
   A few years later Mr. Accorso married a local girl named Elsie Ferrari. Together they raised 4 children. The artist side of Joseph never left him. He continued his drawing and painting throughout his life. He relished talking lots about the brotherhood bonds that he made while with the boys of the 1781st.
   Mr. Accorso went to be with the Lord and Mother and Father Accorso on March 14, 1999. Daughter Kathy still remembers the vets at her father's funeral. It meant so much. As Kathy says, "This really was a great generation, so rich in memory and in life."

Other artwork by Joseph Accorso. The top painting is an oil acrylic and the three bottom are Christmas cards done in later years in water color.
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Sam Cloud Memories (as told by others)

   Sam Cloud had a lot of American Indian blood flowing through his veins. At the time of enlistment, Sam was 42 years old. Since he was older, the boys looked to him for good advice about women, drinking and making it in the world. Sam could cuss like a sailor, fight like a Grizzly protecting her young and drink like an Irishman.
   At different times the boys got home baked goodies from home, especially at Christmas time. When Sam got home made goodies, he shared them with the boys. A few boys did not share. One in particular waited until the lights went out, then pick though the good food and eat it without asking anyone if they wanted any. When Sam could hear the boy, he would cuss and fuss from his bunk.
   Sam could drink the other boys under the table. Some young boys refused to go to town with him because they knew they could not keep up with him when it came to drinking. As far as fighting goes, Sam was good to keep his hands to himself until he got drunk. But when he got all liquored up, the boys knew to give him plenty of room.
   Sam did well in training courses and especially well in the infantry training. Once in California the men of the 1781st had to take a 20 mile hike. The younger boys were falling out with heat exhaustion in the heat with temperatures reaching 119 degrees. Sam was up front heading up the group.
   One time Sam got drunk over seas and had a battle ship tattooed on his chest. When he stretched out his arms, the bow and stern were on his arms.
   Sam's job was officer's chauffeur. Once he and Captain Jarmac drove close to the front lines. They got caught up in sniper fire, bullets were ricocheting all around them. Jarmac said to Sam, "Let's get out of here." Sam carried a Thompson submachine gun for protection.
   At one place, the boys found an old cook stove. The cook needed kindling wood to get the stove started. Sam took his machine gun and shot up wood into kindling for the the stove. When Caption Jarmac found out about the stove, he put a stop to it, saying that the stove could have been mined with bombs or the smoke could have given away their location.
   After the war ended, the CO asked Sam what he would do now. Sam answered, "I have a still hidden in my mother's attic, I'm going home to Kingpsort, Tennessee and make moonshine." The CO answered, "I may look you up and join you in a drink." After the war, Sam worked at Tennessee Eastman as an electrician until he retired.

James Robert Cox Memories

   Cox was sworn in at Camp Forrest, Tennessee. In a long line, he walked between two Army doctors who gave him shots in both arms at the same time. In another line, behind many boys, he got his Army issue clothes,boots, safety razor, dog tags, duffle bag and orders.
   In Columbus, Ohio, the boys walked about one mile to a garage to begin their on-the-job training. There he also got to see his first USO show starring Bob Hope. He had with a male comedian, who was very funny.
   The boys did their share of pranks while in Ohio. One time, one of them killed a snake, it ended up in the bed of one of the other boys. Needless to say, the guy sharing his bunk with the reptile did not like his bed fellow.
   When the 1781st was sent to California, Master Sergeant Leon Sovich had a 1938 Dodge car he wanted to take with him. The boys drew straws to go with him in the car as opposed to the train. Cox, Edward Varner, and Lawrence Pickett were the three lucky boys who drew short straws. The boys used their gas ration stamps to buy gas.
   In California, Cox, along with a few other boys, got to go to Loretta Young's house. She had snacks and drinks. Miss Young played ping-pong with the boys and autographed their ties, hats, shirts etc...
   The Liberty ship crossing the ocean had a small crow's nest on deck. Cox and a couple of boys climbed up and looked down, but only one time. Before the ship docked, the boys were issued their Army rifle. The 1917 Enfield rifle had been used in WWI. The boys were only given 3 bullets, the gun held 6.
   On the base in England, they had a good day room. The boys could play cards, ping-pong, listen to the radio or play records. "The Tennessee Waltz" was real big during the war, every juke-box in Europe had the record amoung its list of titles.
   Cox visited night clubs in the Soho District of London near Piccadilly Street with many other boys. One club was called the Windmill. It featured dance hall girls and a chorus line as they were called. Their costumes were skimpy, many were handmade with feathers and rhinestones.
   Once in England, the 1781st was warned that 25 German paratroopers with very good English speaking skills had fallen behind their front lines. They were responsible for blowing up bases and killing as many as they could. One time they did have a German spy on the base. He was a sour man who didn't talk much. The boys didn't know he was a spy until the MP's picked him up.
   The guys had lot of fun on base. Someone came up with the idea of "Test Driving". To test drive one boy would pick up an unsuspecting boy by the shirt neck and seat of the pants and move him along in a fast pace. Usually the test driving took place at chow time or in the evening at quitting time.
   Once Cox and Lawrence Pickett bought a bicycle from an Englishman who drove the steam roller for the construction of the paved runway. They were planning to convert it onto a bicycle built for two. The bicycle stayed behind when they were shipped to France.
   The French women wore a lot of French perfume to help cover the smells of unbathed people because there was s shortage of fresh water in which to bathe.
   Cox saw a nice girl herding sheep in France, named Maria. He went to her modest home, the little bothers and sisters swarmed him looking for chocolate candy. Maria's parents asked Cox to eat with them, mother was making sheperds pie.
   In Paris, at the Moulin Rouge club, 35 girls all in a row did the French Can-Can. They wore only short shorts on the bottom and bare skin from the waist up. Funny skits were also performed.
   In Europe, many starving children went through the trash cans searching for food. The men gave them food and candy bars.
   One day a truck load of boys heading for the front lines of Belgium stopped at the base for a new clutch. Cox repaired the truck for them. It was very cold that day as they drove away into the snow fall.
   In Pontoise, France, the boys lived in 24 men field tents on a thick rolled mesh, steel or rubber mats to keep them up out of the mud. There were bomb and land mines all over.
   After the war ended with Germany, the boys repaired all the vehicles to move them to a replacement depot where they would be sent to Japan. The war was still going on there. The boys were each given furloughs to go home, then they were headed to Japan. But the war ended, so they were reassigned to occupational work in Germany.
   One time in Germany, Cox was standing guard duty, an old lady came along after the 8:00pm curfew. She had bundles of twigs on her back that she had spent the afternoon picking up for a fire. Cox hated to turn her back, but was told not to let anyone back into the city after 8:00pm.
   At his discharge, Cox was earning $76.00, overseas monthly pay, always in cash.
   Cox spent Christmas 1946 on a ship home. The good people of Pennsylvania had left up the Christmas tree and other decorations. They gave the boys a good welcome home dinner with all the trimmings.
   Favorite Memory: In Fort Sheridan, they had the best Christmas. The USO put up a Christmas tree and all the decorations, they had a big party with wonderful food and gifts for everyone.
   Worst Memory: He was in Paris when some soldiers from the front line came to town for some rest from the battlefield. They were in very bad shape and looked like they were from a different world.

Wilmer L. Eisenlohr's Memories

   Wilmer L. Eisenlohr was born 1921 in Maryland. He enlisted in the Army on October 27, 1942.
   Before he enlisted, Wilmer had met a beautiful girl from Baltimore named Margaret Smorgens while working at Maryland Glass Comoany where they both worked. Friendship grew into love and the two young people had married in 1941. Margaret's parents had migrated from Belgium at the ages of 16 and met years later and fell in love. Their union brought 9 Smorgens children into the world, eight girls and one son.
   Mr. Eisenlohr (nicknames "Ezzy" and "Ike") was chosen for the 1782nd ordance group, attached to the 9th Air Force. He took his ammo school training in Dearborn, Michigan at the Chrysler Plant.
   He worked in the ammo section. The guys were responsible for unloading trucks that came to the base full of bombs. The bombs weighed anywhere from 250 pounds to 2000 pounds. They stored the bombs and sent loads to be placed on the planes when needed. A lot of the work was done at night, sometimes in the dark, so the enemy could not see them.
   Mr Eisenlohr was assigned to drive the 5 ton wrecker in the long convoy, when the 1782nd moved to the Boreham, England airbase. While traveling the busy streets of an English town near the base, Wilmer let Clint Jaeger drive the truck. Wilmer stood out on the right hand running board and waved people out of the way. (The English people were so happy to see the Americans arrive.) Some time along the line, the two men purloined an air horn for the truck to help clear the way. That didn't add to their popularity. "Driving on the left hand side of the road," As Clint Jaeger says, "Was a challange, but when we got to France, we had the best go. You might say we got even."
   When Mr. Eisenlohr was stationed in France, he got to go to Belgium on leave and got to meet the rest of the Smorgens family still there.
   In France and Germany Mr. Eisenlohr had a mess kit, a folded plate with the eating utensils inside. The boys of the 1782nd went through the chow line and filled their tins with food. After eating, they washed their own mess kits, always in a line. There were 3 galvanized steel garbage cans set in a row. The boys scraped the food scraps off in the first trash can. They then dipped the mess kit in hot soapy detergent water in the second can, washing off food or grease. In the third can they rinsed the mess kits thoroughly for 30 seconds in either clean boiling water or a disinfectant water rinse. They were told to air-dry the gear by swinging it back and forth until it is thoroughly dry. Never wipe mess gear with a cloth or towel. The mess kits were stored in their tents, hanging on their bunk to continue drying.
   Mr. Eisenlohr spent three Chirstmas' overseas, one in England, one in France and one in Germany. Daughter Bobbie remembers her Dad telling her about a sad Christmas overseas. For one of the Christmas' in either England or France , Mr Eisenlohr was sitting in a fox hole as the whole base was under attack. It was a cold Christmas Eve (probably during a scraffing incident when the boys came under attack by German planes trying to blow up Army bases). As Mr. Eisnelohr set there, his head covered by his metal Army helmet, the planes dropped flares looking for targets. As the machine gun on the base fired back at the planes, he could hear a radio playing between the shooting and buzzing of bits and pieces of the song "I'll be home for Christmas". All he wanted to do was cry, but didn't.
   Back home in Baltimore, Christmas dinner was at Mr. and Mrs. Smorgen's house. They lived in Baltimore outside of the city, a small, village type neighborhood. There were 4 dinner plates on the table with no one sitting at them. Naturally prayers were said for all. Hardly anyone had an appetite. A lot of tears were shed. They tried to celebrate because two of them, one sister and the brother, were still quite young, but no one had their hearts in it.
   For Christmas, Wilmer sent his wife a bottle of Channel #5. She sent him cookies, cakes and pictures.
   After the war, Wilmer and Margaret lived in the Smorgen's home and raised their daughter Barbara (Bobbie) there until she got married in 1967. The cozy house had a coal furnace in the basement and a fireplace in the living room and one in the dining room. A home filled with warmth and love, the perfect place to raise a family.
   Mr Eisenlohr retuned home to play Santa Claus every year for the whole family. A delightful way to celebrate the holidays, bringing joy to the family who had shed so many tears while he was gone.
   He had managed to find work at the Heinz Meat Packing Co. in south Baltimore, where he drove a truck. He had many hours experience of driving large trucks in the Army, especially when the unit moved to a new location across Europe, always about 60 miles behind the front lines.
   Over the years, he spoke fondly of the men in the 1782nd to he brothers-in-law and his two brothers Benjamine and John who also served in the war. A strong brother-hood had developed between him and the men of the 1782nd over those difficult 3 years.
   When Mr. Eisenlohr passed away in 1987 at Christmas time, Bobbie set an empty plate on the table in his absence, but it was way too hard on Bobbie's children, Tricia 16 and Denise 10, whom Mr. Eisenlohr adored. She never did it again.
   In Jan 2006, Margaret recalled Wilmer's Army Serial Number from memory. Remembering is a tribute to her love for him.
   Mr. Eisenlohr was a good guy, remembered and well thought of by the boys in the 1782nd, who think of him to this day. Mr Eisenlohr has two great-grandsons that he never got to see.

Edmund Evanofski Memories

   Edmund E. Evanofski was born on December 18, 1918 in Cuyahoga, Ohio. He was one of three children. Like so many others, Edmund's youth was difficult in the midst of the Great Depression. In his junior year of high school, he felt the need to drop out of school to help his mother support the family. Edmund was always a good son, which aided in making him a good soldier also. On Valentine's Day, February 14, 1942, Mr. Evanofski enlisted in the Army. His country needed him, like his family had a few years previous.
   Mr. Evanofski was chosen to serve in the 1782nd as a supporter of the 384 - 385 - 386 - 387 squadrons and the 304th service group APO/49 and the 394th bomb group. Edmund was promoted many times over the months and years, finally reaching Staff Sergeant. His duties included taking care of inventory and delivery of equipment. In Germany, he was in charge of bomb supplies.
   Edmund met his future wife, Olive Carfield, while stationed in England where she lived. Olive had orginialy lived in London, but due to the bombing and air raids of the Battle of Britain, Mr. Carfield, Olive's father, had sent Olive, Olive's mother, grandmother, and sister to live on a farm in Somerset. The farm was well away from London. As Olive tells us, "Our house had been damaged and we were practically living in the air raid shelter in the garden.
   After moving to the country, they still had an occasional raid, but mostly they could hear and see the bombs falling in Wales (Cardift).
   The happy family always managed to look on the bright side of life even at Christmas time, even though times were so hard as war was so close. The Carfields had a happy, festive Christmas during the war. As Olive says, "Everything was rationed and we didn't exchange gifts, but we had fun." (After the war, when Olive and Edmund were married and living in the United States, they always made Christmas an "English Day". They had traditional foods and played games that Olive remembers playing as child where the winner wins a prize.)
   To keep from being called up for the regular Army, Mr. Carfield encouraged Olive to join the Land Army. In 1941, when she was almost 18 years old, the dark haired, brown eyed teenager signed up. Soon after joining, Olive was sent to a town called Tuanton in Somerset, but was soon transferred to Chelmsford. Once she had her training, she loved it. The farmers requested two Land Army girls. Olive, along with a girl named Doris, took their first assignment together. The girls helped out on the farm growing food. The two new friends got to remain together whenever they moved. The farmers were lovely to Olive and Doris even letting them have a couple of days off for the holidays so they could return home to see their families.
   The following taken from the web site The Wartime Memories Project - The Womens Land Army: The Womens Land Army was established during the First World War, with huge numbers of men volunteering to fight, the country was desperately short of labor.
   During the first six months of the Second World War, over thirty thousand men previously working in agriculture had joined the forces. The government re-formed The Women's Land army and by 1944 there were 80,000 women volunteers working on the land. About a third of the volunteers moved to the countryside from Britain's industrial cities.
   Women in the Land Army wore green jerseys, brown breeches and brown felt hats. They did a wide range of jobs from milking and general farmwork to cutting down trees and working in sawmills as well as controling pests such as rats. Volunteers lived in hostels or on the farms where they worked. The work was very hard, the women worked long hours, especially during the summer, but without their efforts, Britain would have been without enough food to survive.
   Doris was dating a guy from Columbus, Ohio named Roy Reed of the 1782nd. One weekend in April, 1944, Doris convinced Olive to go to the bus and wait with her for Mr Reed. When he got off the bus, he had Edmund with him. Olive and Edmund met for the first time that day after being introduced there by Mr Reed. Olive was on her way home to Walthanaston for the weekend, but Doris convinced her to stay and go out with them instead of getting on a train heading home. Edmund noticed right away what a special person Olive was, not only in her beautiful face, but her personality as well. The couple saw each other a much as possible before Edmund shipped out.
   Soon Edmund's unit had orders to move out to France. Olive was left behind. She and Edmund wrote letters back and forth all across France. Not expecting it, Edmund and Olive had fallen deeply in love. When Lt Fiske, who was assigned the job of censoring the mail and had to read all the letters coming and going, realized that a war should not keep the two young people apart any longer, he arranged for a plane to take Edmund back to London so they could be married. On July 7th, 1945 they married. Edmund was in his class-A uniform and Olive in a pretty peach dress. Olive's sister made their three-tier wedding cake which was a traditional English fruit cake. With all the food shortages and rationing, Olive doesn't know how she got the dried fruit.
   Five months later in early December 1945, Edmund got to go home. The war was over. Olive followed him later. Their union blessed them with three children, Sherry, Dan and Christine.
   In July of 2005, Olive and Edmund celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Even though Olive grew up in a hurry during the war years, she says that she wouldn't trade them for anything.
   Edmund and Olive are a lovely couple helping each other over the years, now when he needs her most, she is by his side.

Marion Fisher Memories (as told by others)

   Marion Fisher was from Virginia. He was a big man and a very friendly person. As a child, he had gone squirrel hunting a lot, which had helped him to qualify as a sharpshooter.
   Mr. Fisher was a good carpenter. While stationed in California, his job was building crates to ship the 1781st supplies in for the trip overseas.
   According to James R. Cox, Mr. Fisher could sew just like a woman. He sewed the boys patches and buttons and such onto their uniforms. Fisher was not good at cards, he lost his money gambling about every payday.
   Lots of time the boys had passes as a group. Once the boys had trouble at a tavern in Melun, France. The next night, Fisher went with them. They got into a fight with the Air Corp boys. They were a big enemy to the 1781st because the boys in Fisher's unit had it better than they did. His unit was always about 60 miles behind the front lines, keeping equipment ready for the fighting, pretty much out of harm's way.
   Before the fight broke out, somebody said, "Lock the door", so no one could get in or out. The boys jumped each other. Fisher had one boy, holding him up and hitting him over and over, he didn't fall down. Fisher, who was drunk, couldn't understand it and looked around to ask a friend, Webney Mooney, "What do you do when you hit somebody and they won't fall down?" Mooney answered, "Just let him go." When Fisher released his collar, the boy hit the floor. Some time during the fight, a barmaid tried to call the police. Fisher was so strong that he pulled the phone off the wall. "He could really fight," according to Ford. The MP's had to break up the fight.
   Stearl (Bull) Rosier, who was from West Virginia, was very strong also. The MP's were in the process of leading the boys out of the club and one had hold of Bull's arm. Bull, who was drunk, looked down at the MP and told him, "Disconnect from my arm." After considering Bull's size and strength, the MP let go.
   Fisher and Cox, along with a few other boys, were left behind to clean up the old camp in Leon France. They had old tires, wood and other trash to either throw away or pile up and burn. Some odds and ends were sold or traded for beer. After a speedy clean-up, they soon joined the other boys in Pontoise, France.
   When the war ended, the boys were transferred from Pontoise to Erlangen, Germany.
   Fresh meat was hard to come by, and when the mess hall got low on meat, the boys shot deer. Fisher, being a crack shot, was called upon. Will Tanner, the cook, would cook the meat after he had hung it up in the cold weather for about 3 days so the meat would be tender. The boys also had mutton in the mess hall.
   Fisher made it to Master Sergeant. He could then check out jeeps for personal use while they were doing occupational work in Germany near the end of their time in the service.

Cecil R Ford Memories

   When Cecil R. Ford was inducted into the Army, the reddish-brown haired boy weighed 195 pounds. His blue eyes were fiendly to everyone. The 6 foot 2 inch Army private was nice man, good buddy to all. His father had passed away and his mother and sister hung a service star in the front window of their comfortable home in Chattanooga, Tennessee to remind everyone that he had gone to war and to pray for his safe return.
   After induction, Ford were sent to Columbus, Ohio to begin his training for Uncle Sam. He had been chosen to go to mechanics training. He attended all sorts of classes for about three months. But Columbus wasn't all work and no play. He remembers a good USO show starring Bob Hope. WT Grant, owner of Grant's Department Store chain, was present. He may have helped sponsor the show. Ford met him and got his autograph.
   Two USO pictures that Lawrence Pickett took (probably in Germany).

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   At Liberty Mountain in California, while doing infantry training, the boys had to survive on one canteen of water and enough water to fill their Army helments. The helment water was used to shave, brush teeth and wash their whole body. Ford got the idea to take water from the irrigation lines on a nearby orange grove. He got an empty jug from the mess hall and used his belt latch as a key to the water lines. Ford had plenty of water for a day or so until an officer wanted some of his hard earned water.
   Barracks inspection was usually held on Saturday in California. Six or seven inspectors would go to each barracks and inspect the boys clothes, bunks, guns and other places. They even checked for dust over the door facing. One time, one guy ran his hand up over the facing, feeling for dust. Instead of finding dust he ran his hand over a razor blade that one of the boys had mischieviously placed there. That put a stop to dust inspection over the door facings.
   Ford spent Christmas 1943 on a Liberty ship, a converted cargo ship, with the 1781st. The day was uneventful other than the good meal in the mess hall and the big loud, rolled out death charge of the ships 5 inch cannons to see if they were working properly. One time, during the 20 day ride over, the Liberty almost collided with another ship in the convoy. Several guys were on deck watching when the captain yelled,"You all get back!", then the captain ordered a man in the boiler room to throw the ship in reverse. The two ships barely missed each other. If they had collided, it would have cut the Liberty in half.
   About 10 miles outside of Melon, France, the boys of the 1781st lived in five-men tents. The four other boys in Ford's tent were James R. Cox, Lawrence Pickett, Peters, and Leroy I Prettyman. Many mornings the temperature outside was 15 degrees below zero. They had 12 inches of snow once, the boys had to remove it off of the tents for fear the snow would burst in.
   Once, while standing guard, it was so cold outside that Ford wore all the clothes that he owned, his wool OD pants, work shirt and wool sweater, work pants on top, and his overalls on top of that. He then put on his field jacket and lastly, layered his overcoat on the field jacket and all his coverings.
   In France, Ford found a wrecked motorcycle. When he got it in running order, in his free time, he decided to take it for a spin. He rode all around the base including the air strip. An officer drove up, Ford turned the cycle around and headed back to his work station. He got back to work before the officer could figure out who had driven the bike.
   Once Ford found and took an old 1932 or 1934 Ford car from a dump. He and Schulz fixed it up. They drove that old car all over the place.
   When the 1781st moved to Germany after the war ended, Ford was left behind in Pontoise, France and was put in charge of the motor pool. He gave tickets or passes for using the trucks and jeeps. After a few weeks he joined the unit in Germany.
   On pay-day the boys played poker and other card games. Once, when playing seven card draw, Ford had three kings in his hand and one showing. Tom Myers had four queens total. The other boys had folded. Ford said, "I call." Myers said, "I've got Me, Maude, and Mable. Ford said behind a big grin, "I've got the Ku-Klux-Klan," meaning 3 kings plus the one showing. Ford won $700.00 that night. The money wasn't his, he was playing for someone else. The owner gave him half for playing. Ford also loved to shoot craps, calling out "snake eyes, snake eyes."
   Ford remembers the boys having a little stray, feist dog named Butch. In Germany once, while the boys were marching, Butch and another dog, a black one, were running along side and in and out of their legs. A Saint Bernard on a leash, marching with another unit bit Butch on the behind after he ran over to investigate the dog and that unit. The boy had leashed him was planning to take it home with him. Ford told Butch, "Go bite him back." He did and then ran to get in between the boys legs for safety.
   Returning home, Ford slept on the top of four stacked bunks (four-high rack) and Cox slept on the bottom bunk. Ford was sea sick all the way back. The victory ship had gone down to the Coast of Africa to avoid a bad storm. The ship could not avoid the storm, and the waves rolled in to hit the ship's sides making it rock back and forth. The hatches were buckled down, the anchor hit against the ship's side. As the ship rocked, many more boys became sick before the voyage was over.
   Ford was discharged from the Army on Jan. 4, 1946 with James R. Cox in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Quentin Horne Memories

   Quinten Hancel Horne
   Mr. Horne was from the Soddy Daisy area of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Since he had red hair, his nickname was appropriately "Red".
   Quentin started his Army years in the 1077th before being chosen for the 1781st. The Northern and Southern troops of two new units the 1781st and the 1782nd met in Ricmond, Virginia making a total of close to 200 boys. Mr. Horne traveled with the other boys from Chattanooga to Richmond on a sleeper car train. At bed time, the porter made all the beds which were fold down bunks. The steam locomotive had a big restaurant with the aisle down the middle of the train. It lay between tables and chairs which were set all along the car�s outer windows. The dining car had white, pressed, cloth napkins and water glasses on every table. The whole train, plus the restaurant, was smoking acceptable, of course. At the train depot in Richmond, the Northern boys met the Southern boys for the first time. The Southern boys, wearing blue uniforms and floppy hats, walked towards the northern boys to shake hands and get aquuainted just off the two trains. The one large unit was then divided into two units, the 1781st and 1782nd, after determining their skills and training requirements in Columbus, Ohio.
   At first the 1781st wore Air Corps blue denim pants as their work clothes. The CC (Conservation Corps) camps had used them a few years before, so the Army reused the pants. The infantry also wore blue pants with a white stripe up the side like the boys. Some companies had green pants. Later, when the war effort was more organized, they all got new uniforms.
   In Columbus, Will Tanner and Quinten Horne were chosen to work in the officer's mess hall. The boys were restless. They did a lot of marching drills, close order drills and on the rainy days cleaned and put together one 45 gun for the whole group of boys. The boys were pulling KP every 8 days, anyway. The Army hired civilian cooks for the mess hall. The officers had chicken every Sunday. Both men were offered better food and work one day on and one day off, so the 1st Sergeant asked Tanner to push KP. He also asked Mr Horne to help out, telling the boys that they would work 1 day on and 1 day off. As it turned out the both ended up working 6 days with only one day, Sunday off. After one week the boys complained to the 1st Sergeant who had offered them the job, both wanted out. Horne got to go the machine gun school to work on the machine guns on the planes, but Tanner worked in the mess hall for the rest of the war and into the occupation of Germany.
   After the war ended, Quentin worked again as a cook and volunteered to help Tanner for 2 weeks in Germany. He was accepted, as there were no other cooks and Tanner was cooking in the mess hall by himself for 3 weeks straight. The locals were hired as waitress and bus boys and clean-up help.
   From Columbus, the 1781st was transferred to Arcadia, California to report for infantry training. Mr Horne was a good soldier and survived gun training, obstacle course (where the boys were told to crawl under mangled barb wire while being shot at over head), and desert camping and marches in temperatures of well over 100 degrees. He was only involved in one punishment detail. Several of the boys were messing up intentionally while doing close order marching drills. The overly zealous Corporal John O. Selpe, born 1914, could not get the boys, who were privates, to listen to him. He was smaller, only about 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed about 120 pounds. He turned them in to the officers above him and the boys had to pull clean-up duty in the mess hall. The boys scrubbed one of the mess halls from one end to the other. Camp Santa Anita was so large that 6 mess halls were utilized to feed all the boys there. The mess halls were referred to by colors, blue, red, green, white, orange and yellow. Quinten, like the other boys, took the punishment well and contiuned being friends with the Corporal.
   Mr. Horne noted in his Bible under "Military Service Record" that he and the 1781st left Camp Santa Anita, California on December 9th, 1943 to head overseas. They first traveled to Statin Island, New York and stayed there for close to two weeks waiting for passage to England. On Janurary 8, 1944 the boys reached Liverpool, England. The tide was low when the ship Liberty reached the Liverpool port. The boys had to stay on the ship all night long waiting for the tide to rise. A tug boat pulled them to the large port, avoiding mines at the shore's edge dropped there by the English to protect them from shoreline invasion of the Germans.
   Quinten fell into his life as a machine gun specialist with lots of energy. He and the others in the Ammo group serviced the machine guns on the planes as well as all the other guns on base. Like the other boys of the 1781st, he had a job to do. The boys knew that most of them had signed up for the duration of the war. They couldn't rest until the Germans were beaten down and Hitler was 6 feet under.
   The boys had many nuisances to contend with during the war, German spies on the base, sniper attacks, "Bed Check Charlie" flying low and noisely in a biplane to wake them a couple of times in the early morning hours and shortages of fresh food. Of special notice were the big wharf rats in France. There was a sugar beet field very close to the landing strip that beckoned the rats in. They were also called into the boys sleeping quarters area by the smell of chocolate through a self-gnawed hole in the wall. The boys were given Army issue chocolate candy bars, some had peanut butter mixed in the chocolate. Quinten became very upset when the rats found the candy. He decided to put a stop to the theivery by laying a candy bar on the concrete floor close to his bunk. Quentin told Cox, "I�m going to kill that rat." He planned to throw a claw hammer at the rat and end his life. He sat up to 1:00am waiting, finally he got his chance. He released the hammer a second too late, the rat got away. The hammer suffered the greatest loss, the end was broken off. He regretfully had to tell Cox in the early morning hours, "I missed the damn thing."
   In April of 1945, Corporal Horne and his company were recognized for outstanding service sustained throughout 1944. They serviced A-20 Havoc and A-26 Invader medium bombers throughout. The company stored and issued bombs, small arms and ammunition and maintained a fleet of heavy duty and general purpose vehicles.
   Quinten left the Army as a Sergeant. After the war, Mr. Horne worked in the machine shop in the same plant, Wheland Company, in Chattanooga with Will Tanner again. Quinten also had the good fortune of winning a new maroon 1951 Packard 4 door sedan from the Chattanooga Miller Bros store. They gave double-stub tickets for purchases and had a drawing with the results in the morning paper and local news. Randy remembers his mother running across the street in her housecoat yelling, "I won, I won!" to all the neighbors.
   Quentin was a very good cook and could grow anything in his garden. He kept a single shot bolt action .22 in his storage building that he probably never shot. His son Randy remembers that after the war he basically never had anything to do with guns again.
   Mr. Horne, "Red", died of cancer in 1983. He is very much missed by the boys of the 1781st, who speak of him fondly and with much respect.

Clinton J Jaeger Memories

   Clinton J Jaeger Jr was born in 1921 to Clinton Sr and Elizabeth. Clint endeavored to enlist in the Seabees in May of 1942, as he had been working as a surveyor on the construction of the Bayonne Naval Base, So many willing boys to become soldiers signed up in such great numbers that the Navy didn't have enough facilities to train them all. Clint waited and waited for months, to be called up. While waiting, he was drafted by the Army. He enlisted into the Army on September 12, 1942 in Newark, New Jersey. Clint's father, who had served in War World One, told his son before leaving for the service, "Never forget your service number". To this day, Clint can still call it off without hesitation.
   Clint was chosen to go to automobile school in Fort Sheridan, Ill. While in school, he met a sweet girl named Mildred Huff daughter of George W. and Violet Putman Huff of Mound City, Kansas. The two young people met at the post gym where they had roller skating on the same floor where they played basketball.
   After dating a few weeks, Clint and Mildred ventured off the base on a bitter cold night, to a movie theater in Waukegan to see a new movie called "Casablanca". The movie stared Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The movie's theme song was "As Time Goes By". Clint and Mildred liked the song so much it became their special song.
   She too was in the Army, a member of the 29th WAAC Company, the first WAAC unit to be assigned to an active Army Post. After graduating from Mound City High School Mildred attended Fort Scott Junior College. While in college, Mildred participated in the civilian Pilot Training program and learned to fly single-engine aircraft.
   Upon graduation from college, Mildred attended flight reservations school and worked for Delta Airlines in Atlanta and Pennsylvania Central Airlines in Cleveland. While in Cleveland Miss Huff enlisted in the Womens's Auxiliary Army Corp that later became the Women's Army Corp. Mildred was the non-commisioned officer in charge of the signal office at Fort Sheridan. When the Signal Company CO, Major Beck, asked Mildred what was wrong with the working of the office, she told him and got a promotion. She was discharged on November 4, 1945 as a staff sergeant. (The 29th had been mustered into federal service in August of 1943).
   After his Ordnance school course, which lasted about 3 months, Clint returned to Lockbourne Army Airbase south of Columbus, Ohio. The romance continued through letters and sparse phone calls. The two young people were married in Kansas City, Missouri April 8, 1943.
   At Lockbourne Army Air Base, nearing the end of their time there, rumors were in abundant supply, and had the 1782nd shipping out to all kinds of places, mostly to the East, and the dates were as erratic. Before The 1782nd left Lockbourne Army Air Base, most of the time was spent servicing trucks and making sure that they had all the proper personnel gear, still not knowing where they were heading. Clint had some dental work done. Despite what was the usual complaint, the dental care that he received was great as he says, "In fact the dentist had been in Miami with the Army Air Force and had worked on Clark Gable's teeth. Everybody has their 15 minutes of fame."
   On the 3rd of June, the 1781st and 1782nd, along with the 907th Quartermaster Company had a party. Clint surmises, "I guess a going away party that was enjoyed by all. On the 8th of June we had a softball game between the 81st and 82nd, the next comment might be in dispute, but the 82nd won, 8 to 2."
   The 1782nd eventually left Lockbourne on a Sunday, on or about the 20th of June. Traveling by rail, the trip did not provide the best of accommodations. Through Texas was what seemed to Clint like the longest part of the trip. As he says, "As an Easterner,I had never seen so much wide open spaces." The trip lasted about 5 or 6 nights and days. They arrived in Los Angeles on or about Thursday the 28th of June.
   Clint remembers that Santa Anita Race Track was an operating entity at the time the government took it over to house Japanese-American citizens because they thought they would have allegiance to Japan, which was a gross error. The internees were later moved to camps in the desert.
   CO Lt Fulton was in charge of the 1782nd in California at Camp Santa Anita Ordnance Training Center at Arcadia.
   The training center was primarily a ground force base and the 1782nd was the first Army Air Force unit on the base.
   The buildings were erected in a short time and were not fire proof which necessitated having fire guards.
   The ground force troops and officers there were not afficionados of the Army Air Force personnel made it clear that the Army Airforce was not welcome. At first they made it as miserable as possible for the first few weeks, then realized we were on the same side.
   The Army Air force personnel were not noted for their dedication to military courtesy. At one time at Santa Anita, the military training branch was going to make us remove our Air Force patches, cooler heads prevailed and we just turned our uniforms with the patches to the walls.
   We had a Lt Kozak for a training officer from Military Branch, a Santa Anita base unit, his sun tan uniform had been washed so many times it was almost white and the creases were knife edges. He was a martinet when it came to calisthenics and close order drill, what fun!!
   Six mess halls served the men. It was not unusual to see an officer at the door when the trays were emptied to make sure there was no food left on the tray. Many mess halls had a sign hanging overhead that said, "Take all you want,but eat all you take."
   The boys did have a little time for pranks and excitement other than training. Once Clint got the chance to drive a half track on the race track.
   Clint recalls that the 1782nd had two training bivouacs, one in the Angeles National Forest, and one on the Mojave desert near the Three Sisters Mountains. "The one in the Angeles Forest when Lt Fulton was our CO. The two things that stand out for me were the water discipline problem as you were informed one canteen to drink, and a helmet full to wash with. One of our men crawled down behind an officer giving a lecture and used his cartridge belt buckle to turn the plug that the rangers had used to replace the valves that were there when we first arrived, but not figuring on GI ingenuity, the GI used his belt buckle that fit the plug shank to unloosen it. But he turned it too far and water squirted up in the air. You can imagine how hard it was for the men listening to the lecture to keep their composure. He did get the plug replaced, and got some water in the canteens, he had taken two or three with him."
   The second memory is the forest when the 1782nd was scheduled for a night forced march. Clint takes over the story, "We were always cautioned to disperse our men so that one bomb blast would not make too many casualties. I moved quite a long way from other men, so when the marching orders came, I did not hear the call to move out. I slept thru the whole thing." Needless to say, no one ever believed his story, but he stuck by it. The march apparently was a fiasco, Lt Fulton who had been an auto parts man before the war, had just said "Follow me men" and stepped off a 15 or 20 foot bluff and injured himself more than a little bit, had to go to the hospital.
   The second bivouac was in the Mojave again. Water discipline was in order, one canteen and a helmet full per day. There were no water pipelines in the vicinity to purloin.
   We had to dig in the trucks and camouflage them with camo nets, one afternoon a whirlwind came up and wrapped one of the nets around a Joshua tree, it was a fun job getting it down.
   The old wives tale was that if you put a rope around your sleeping area snakes would not bother you, nobody ever proved or disproved the tail.
   A truck did go into a town and pick up some watermelons 2 or 3 at 20 cents a piece, needless to say good time was had by all. We did have an opportunity to swim in a pond the same time we picked up the watermelons.
   One afternoon we were buzzed by 4 P - 38s checking to see if they could see the hidden camp from overhead. The boys were quite surprised.
   According to Clint, "The bivouac area was about 93 miles from Santa Anita and not particularly easy driving, the truck I drove was the kitchen truck with a trailer. About a third of the way home, a dish cloth or rag fell down on the exhaust pipe and got on fire. I stopped the truck grabbed the fire extinguisher jumped out of the truck laid down under the truck and gave it a squirt. In the mean time Lt Kozak jumped out the other side. When I squirted the extinguisher, the Lt was right in the line of fire. What a deal, but we saved the truck. I don't believe the rag would have set the truck on fire, but it did make for some excitement."
   Learning to service side arms was a prerequisite, for the units to finish their training, along with learning to fuse and fin bombs and handling hand grenades. Clint remembers, "When we had the grenade training the practice, the grenades had lain in the sun all day and were so hot that you could not handle them. We also trained with the grenade launcher. The first lesson we learned was not to fire it from your shoulder, prop it up against a solid object."
   Clint never tried putting a weapon together blind folded, but he finally got the job done. He always fired a rifle left handed. The 1903 A1 rifle he had to qualify with on the firing range, was a bolt action rifle made to fire right handed, but he finally succeeded qualifying.
   Gas masks and the gas chamber was another exiting tour.
   The infiltration course was another adventure, crawling under barbed wire and keeping under the machine gun fire. Clint tells us, "The safety watch we had insisted that the bullets were hitting below the safety line that was on a white panel at the rear of the course, consequently we were burrowing in the ground like groundhogs."
   "September seems to be the month to try to burn the state of California down", according to Clint. As a result the 1782nd was called out on two occasions to fight fires. One of the fires was in the Angeles National Forest area. A report stated that the roads could be compared to the Burma Road. The drivers were commended for their good work.
   A Major Rumazza was in charge of the mission. The camps were about 32 miles apart and Clint was detailed to accompany the Major on one of his inspection tours over a fire break road to the other camp. "Quite an exciting ride. At one point, I had to give an assist to the jeep (jump out and push) on a very steep grade, some fun! It seemed that at some point in our activities humor made itself known, Lt Walden was having a tough time navigating one of our steep climbs to get to a fire. Vincient Cox hollered down to him and inquired as to whether he was going to get up the hill or make a "back side" of himself , (I polished the verbiage up). Lt Walden said he was going to be a "back side". "On one of our alerts the CQ had to advise Lt Walden of the new fire. His reply was 'Here is ten cents, let the whole state burn'. I think that at times humor was the only thing that kept us going."
   Clint remembers a GI fire guard's sleep being disturbed. One time in the middle of a cold night, a group of fellows carried a sleeping GI out to the company street and when discovered by the Officer of the Guard and asked what he was doing out, replied caustically "SLEEPING!".
   Another incident with fire guards was when one of our guards was asked by the guard officer what he would do in the event of a fire, and the retort was "take off my shoes and warm my feet".
   In October the 1782nd had two interesting activities. Clint tells the story, "On the 23rd, four of us were detailed to pull Military Police duty in Los Angeles. It seems that some brass didn't like the way that uniforms were being worn in town and wanted to spruce the troops up. I don't think we were of much help, we were on duty from 8 to 12 PM, but we did put in an appearance."
   "The second incident was the arrival of 750 Polish refugees and we were selected to clean up the barracks they were to use."
   From the last of October thru November the training was continued but at a less frenetic pace. Promotions were handed out, John Bergen had been made 1st Sgt in September, Robert Gilreath and Clint made S/Sgt, Clarence Mebane, Parks, and Lonnie Haley made Sgt to name a few. Overseas furloughs were being given out, Clint's started on the second of October and lasted for 12 days.
   Late in the year, the 1782nd's mail was starting to be censored. Lt Fiske, being only a Second Lt, drew the chore. Lt. Harold Fiske came from Columbus, Ohio and may have taught at Ohio University. He was in charge of the ammunition section. The first censored letter that Clint remembers was on the 26th of November.
   Capt Dooley took over as CO of the 1782nd while still in California, just before they shipped out for overseas. He had been an aide to General Simpson, the Training Center commander. He was a good and fair CO.
   The 1782nd left Santa Anita about the 27th of November or there about heading for Camp Miles Standish in Rhode Island, close to the POE in Boston. Clint had his barracks bag stuffed to the top with clothes, coats, personal items, newspaper clippings about the unit and bomb group, pictures and letters from home and from his new bride Mildred.
   The 1782nd departed Boston on the 6th of December, 1943 and landed in Gurock, Scotland just East of Glasgow on the 16th of December.
   Clint stayed in Glasgow for a week to accompany some of the equipment to Wantage, England close to Oxford, from Wantage we were sent to Boreham, England we were there ahead of the 394th BG, in fact the airbase was still in the process of being finished, Boreham is just east of the town of Chelmsford.
   Clint takes over the story, "I was in Glasgow for 5 or 6 days to stay with the TAT ( To Accompany Troops ) equipment. This period is a blur, but I loaded on a train and headed for Oxford. This had to be a trip of about 600 or 650 kilometers and was an all night ride as I remember. The stationmaster at Oxford was gracious to write out the directions to get to Wantage. I still have the little card that he gave me. 'Train departs Oxford at 12:45 arrives Didcot at 1:01, departs Didcot at 1:42 arrives Wantage at 1:52.' Wantage was a staging area to the 1782nd. We were there only a short time, before Lt Fiske and I headed for Boreham, where we had our truck, loaded with company equipment, confiscated by the Military Police, because it did not have a guard. Lt Fiske and I had stopped at the Red Cross Club for directions and committed a cardinal sin, of which was unknown to us. We left the truck unattended, without a guard. When we had acquired the info and came out the truck was gone, I honestly walked down the curb with my arms out stretched. Of course the blackouts were in effect and you can't believe how black it was. The Military Police had impounded the truck, and if it hadn't been for Lt Fiske, we would have had to walk to the base. They let us go, we had only been in the UK about 6 weeks, and had no idea we couldn't leave a vehicle unattended in an allied country. It was a lesson well learned. I believe Lt Fiske and I were the first 1782nd personnel to arrive at Boreham. If it hadn't been for the Lt we would still be there.
   One thing I want to mention, the train service in the UK was great,the thing that stands out to me was the sound of their whistles, very high pitched. The public address system was called Tanoy, and the operator came on in the AM singing (My Wild Irish Rose), how nice.
   Our arrival at night on the base was purely accidental, driving in blackout conditions in a strange land was an adventure with a blackout driving light, and cat's eyes for marker lites. The engineer battalion had not quite finished the base. There were no lights in the consolidated mess hall, so we ate by candle light for a short time. The food was handled well, at least it was fattening.
   The barracks were Quonset huts, with two little stoves for heat. The single bunk beds were pretty comfortable.
   Air raid shelters were nonexistent, we dug trenches behind the barracks for some protection. The flak from the anti aircraft guns rained down on the tin roof of the huts like hail, I found pieces outside as long as 3 inches and an inch and a half wide.
   Buzz bombs were a common concern. We never knew when the engine was going to flame out and drop the load on Boreham. The anti- aircraft guns didn't seem to be much help.
   I remember that one of the first Buzz Bombs or V1 landed a short distance from the base. One Sunday morning the V1s were coming fast and furious and the chaplain thought it would be good idea for a couple of men go out side and keep an eye out for them, I don't think he was getting his message through to the apprehensive troops on account of their concern."
   Sergeant Jaeger remembers that the 1782nd had 76 men and 4 officers. It was composed of four sections, automobile (vehicle repair), ammuntion (bomb and small arms ammunition, 50 cal etc), supply ( vehicle parts etc), and armament (repaired small arms weapons and aircraft weapons).
   Clint was a vehicle inspector. He inspected the motor pools of the bomb group, quartermaster corps, and other units. If the vehicles needed heavy repairs, he sent them to the shop. The different shops were engine replacement, transmission replacement, body damage work, etc. Clint was his own boss and Harry Fields, full Cherakee Indian, assisted him. Clint remember that Harry's mother's name was Lucy Beaver.
   The 1782nd had problems with driver maintainence, fluid levels, tire pressure, engine belts, etc. At the time, a lot of the men that went into the service had never driven and had to be taught how to drive and maintain a motor vehicle.
   "Wilmer Eisenlohr", Clint tell us, "Was assigned to drive our 5 ton wrecker. One time when we going thru a town, he let me drive it and stood on the right hand running board and waved people out of the way. Some time along the line, we purloined an air horn for the truck and that didn't add to our popularity. Driving on the left hand side of the road was a challange."
   Overseas, the men of the 1782nd didn't wear rank on their fatigues. They also didn't wear their class "A" uniforms very much. The enlisted men of the 1782nd only saluted their officers once a day (maybe at roll call?).
   In England the 1782nd ate at the consolidated mess hall which served the whole base.
   The dance craze was the jitterbug during the war days. Clint could not jitterbug but as he says, it didn't take the women in England long to learn. While in Boreham, England Mildred bought Clint a watch and shipped it to him there. Clint tells us, "It finally arrived after much worry on her part, but Murphys Law being what it is, the watch would not keep time, so I sent it back so she could have it fixed, another worrisome trip. On the third trip across the Atlantic it survived and worked fine."
   The 1782nd always looked forward to what movie was on the tape. They never knew the pick until the last minute. One day a bomb group machanic was picking up parts at Clinton's supply section and asked the name of the chosen movie. A supply Sergeant told him that it was a movie starring Betty Grable and Gene Autry called "Home On the Range". He had just made the movie name up. "Rumors flew far and fast in the military. That same afternoon, I was doing inspections in a bomb group motor pool and asked one of the men there the name of the movie. He gave the same fictitious movie name that the supply Sergeant had given."
   From Boreham the 1782nd was sent to Holmsley South, close to Bournemouth on the south part of the UK on the English channel. They were housed in tents there, although there were buildings for housing. The Royal Air Force used those. The bomb section offered to clear the revetment areas for the RAF, but the British officers would not let them do it. We had mechanical equipment to do the heavy lifting on the bombs, the British were not quite so fortunate, they did it by hand.
   It was early morning of 6 June, 1944, that Clint remembers that he was awakened by the roar of B26s taking off. "My thought at the time was, why are they practicing in weather like this? It had to be 5:00 or 5:30, (It was really 4:00 am.) little did I know this was the real thing, the invasion. Maybe others in the company knew, but I really didn't find out until about 8:30 or 9:00 AM." The planes wore black and white invasion stripes on the wings and lower mid- section of the allied aircraft. "Rumor had it that due to a shortage of paint brushes, GI towels were used to apply the paint. they were just the right wideth. These stripes were painted on the 5th as rumor goes."
   The 1782nd shipped to France in August after D Day and landed in Bayeux, on the French coast. Because of the shortage of nagivators, Clint remembers officers asking the men of the 1781st to volunteer to become togaliers. A togalier had the job or either a plane gunner or that of dropping bombs.
   Clint shared a four man tent with Rob White, Rodney Mcpherson, and Merlyn Schnoor in Cambrai, France.
   When they were in France, Cecil Cummins was the mess hall Sergeant and had a mess tent. Clint didn't have to pull KP.
   When the V2s started, we were in France, they flew right over us. Thereby hangs a tale, 1st Sgt Bergen thought that some of the non-coms should have private quarters and built a wall at the end of a barrack. I believe he, Sgts Whiting, Collins, King and someone else were in the room. One night the air raid sirens went off and someone, I don't know who, forgot that the wall was there, being half asleep, ran full blast into the wall. Needless to say all h*** broke loose. We thought a bomb had landed, needless to say there were some second thoughts about the wall. Vic remembered that the mess kit jarred loose from the shelf and struck someone in the abdomen. I remember that his hands were under his head and he slowly felt down to see if he had bought the farm.
   We could get our washing done for soap. When we first arrived in Cambrai, we started on the first wash or two with a bar of soap but discovered we could get the same wash done for half a bar. Soap was also good to trade for fresh eggs, I don't remember what the exchange rate was for eggs. We were able to buy bath soap at the PX. One of the favorites was Palmolive, the locals liked bath soaps, they were always good for exchange. One enterprising GI would slip the wrapper off a bath soap and replace it with a slice of laundry soap, it did not take long for the exchange to terminate when the local took one whiff of the counterfeit. Needless to say, we all learned to get along and the GIs were generous ,especially to the children.
   The 1782nd was also stationed in Orleans, Cambrai, and Venlo, Holland. In Venlo in April of 1944, the 1782nd was assimilated by the 481st air service group, 899th air enginering squadron. The men were told that it took 19 men on the ground to keep one man in the air.
   Cigarettes were good barter material. In cash, they brought 20 bucks a carton. I had a pair of loafers half soled for 20 cigarettes in Venlo and I supplied the material.
   We were close to the Battle of the Bulge area, in fact we thought we would have to move to the rear on account of the German advance. The infantry held the Geramns then began to back them up, so the 1782nd was not called upon. After the war ended the 1782nd was sent to Kitzengen, Germany where they did ocupational force work. There the 1782nd had a base mess hall.
   The 481st ASG continued to support the 394th Bomb Group through to Germany for the Army occupation. The service group supported the Bomber Groups.
   Clint shipped out of Marseille for home and back to Boston. The boys of the 1782nd did not come home at the same time. Clint was back in the states on the 7th of November, 1945.
   A quote from Clint which helps to describe his delightful personality, "I am like Mort Walker, the cartoonist who does "Beetle Bailey", I didn't do much, but our side won".
   After the war, Clint opened a Pontica car dealership in Mound City, Mildred's home town. The business operated from 1947 until 1985.
   Clint and Mildred's home is still in Mound City, Kansas. They have three children, Joyce, Gregory and Erik. They have seven grandsons, one granddaughter and two great granddaughters.
   Clint loves the computer and has regular e-mail contact with us here at the web page, sending us useful information and answering many, many questions. Clint loves to play golf. He is active in charity work. He is a regular driver for Meals on Wheels and he is overall a wonderful human being.
   Mildred Huff Jaeger born August 8, 1921 passed on November 28, 2006. Internment services were held on December 4th, in Mound City. As a special tribute to Mildred, Clint had their song "As Time goes By" played at the service. An honor guard with firing squad from Fort Riley, Kansas assisted with the services and presented Mrs. Jaeger's flag to the family.
   Mildred is flying with the angels now, always watching over Mr. Jaeger, from up above the clouds. God is her co-pilot there as he was here.

Clint and Mildred have three children Joyce, Greg and Erik. They have seven grandsons, one granddaughter and three great granddaughters.

Eugene Lieby Memories

   Eugene Michael Lieby (Known as Pops by the boys) was born Feburary 23, 1899 in Mississippi. The family moved to Hamilton County, Tennessee sometime before he served in the World War One. Before World War One, he had worked at the Lookout Oil Refinery in Chattanooga, Tennessee as a general laborer. On September 12, 1942, he was drafted to serve in World War Two.
   Mr Lieby was of short stature, chubby and chewed tobacco a lot. Even though he was 43 years old and had already served in WWI, he was chosen for WWII. He was placed in the bomb section of the 1781st.
   After enlistment, he traveled by train with many boys from Chattanooga to Lockbourn base in Ohio, to begin training there.
   His sister sent him lots of homemade baked goodies. He didn't always like to share them with the oher boys even though they shared their goodies. She made him cakes with very tasty icing. He usually waited until the lights went out to enjoy them. In the darkness from their bunks, the other boys could hear Lieby digging through the ruffled wax paper to get at the sweets. One of the older guys of the 1781st would cuss out loud in the darkness, while the other boys grinned to themselves hearing it all.
   Once Lieby and Will Tanner had a pass together. The boys of WWII almost always spent their free time in bars. Mr Tanner remembers Mr Lieby taking a pint of whiskey bottle back to the base, which was against the rules. He hid the bottle by sticking it down into his pants which he jerked up high to cover the bottle.
   While stationed in Santa Anita California, the 1781st got a 14 day fourlough to go home and see their families one last time before going overseas. They traveled home by steam train. At a lay over in Fort Worth, Texas, Lieby bought a pint of whiskey and put it down into his pants, under his belt. He and the other boys had something to eat at a bar close to the Fort Worth train depot waiting for a connector train. After eating, Mr. Lieby got up and as he did everytime he stood up, he pulled up his pants over his belly. He had forgoten that he had put the whiskey behind his belt and it slid down his leg and busted on the bar floor. Lieby was so embarassed.
   Continuing on to Chattanooga, while on the train, Mr. Lieby managed to work in an afternoon nap. He bagan to snore real loud and disturb the other boys. The boys woke him, telling him of his infraction. Mr. Lieby replied, "Oh I was only resting my eyes."
   Overseas Earl Symborski, the 1781st company cook and pranskter, was always looking for an easy victim. In France, he found Mr Lieby. One morning it was real cold and a thick blanket of snow lay on the ground. Mr Lieby was soundly sleeping in his 24 man tent. Symborski could not resist. He went outside and picked up a large amount of snow and made it into a snow ball. He slipped back into the tent and raised Lieby's covers without waking him. Quickly he threw the snow ball under his covers and ran. Mr Lieby was cussing mad. Lucky for Symborski, Lieby was old enough to be Earl's father and could not run as fast. Symborski, as the boys said, tormented Mr Lieby every time he got a chance. Symborski only messed around with people he really liked.
   One time Lieby had a pass and Sam Cloud had a pass, too. He and Lieby were about the same age. They checked out a Jeep and took off, Sam was behind the wheel. Mr Cloud was an aggressive driver on the bombed out roads of Europe. Lieby got back to the base all in one piece but told the other boys that he would never ride with Sam again. He fussed about Sam's driving for months to come.
   Lieby earned enough points to get out of the service early. The day he left, the boys who knew him gathered to see him off. They went around the circle, wishing him well and Mr Lieby cried.
   Mr Lieby never married. After the war, he returned to Chattanooga and lived again with his sister. He worked as a custodian at the post office near his home. He passed away on December 30, 1968 at age 69. Mr Lieby is remembered with much affection and love.

Otha McCormick Memories

   Mr. McCormick was from Chattanooga, TN. He was raised with brothers Albert and James and sisters May and Estella. His new job as an employee of Uncle Sam was as office clerk.
   While training in Columbus, Ohio, the boys were given their medical examinations and several vaccinations. They walked between two doctors who gave them shots in both arms at the same time. Otha went blind for a short time after his round of shots. One boy took him to the mess hall and he accidently bumped into another boy who sort-of jumped on Otha. The boy with Otha told the other that he was blind and could not help himself.
   In California, the boys were marching and Otha was in front. He just kept walking, as he put it, and the other boys got so mad at him he says they wanted to kill him.
   One of Otha's jobs was to chauffer the CO and other officers in a jeep. He was with Lt. Winship the day he died. Albert O. Winship was from Arizona and in charge of the motor pool. He took his own life in England. Otha was questioned extensively about the day. Winship was well liked by the men and many of them went to his funeral. He is buried in the Cambridge American Cememtery in England. Otha also drove Capt. Jarmac around. He always told Otha that he was a German Jew.
   One time a boy got drunk and had to go to the PX to get aspirin for his headache. Otha took him. Snow and ice was across the field where they were walking and the ground was very slippery. The ice across the slit trench broke through when the boy walked on it and he ended up in the latrine. When the boy crawled out he lookd up at Otha and asked, "Why didn't you help me out?" Otha replied, "I didn't put you in there."
   One time Otha said one of he Roe boys was on CQ furlough. His twin came to the office door. Otha said to him, "I thought you were gone." It was the other twin of course and they were very hard to tell apart.
   Once the boys were quarantined because they had come into contact with a boy from Texas who had TB. Otha was the only one allowed to go out. The boys sent him out for beer. When he came back in, the boys grabbed the beer from him like it was their mother's best dessert. They were tired of staying inside and wanted something to cheer them up.
   In France, Otha remembered hearing a story that one time the Germans had one group of boys surrounded. One boy from the same unit stood up and yelled, "They've got us surrounded." The Germans mowed him down with bullets.
   Otha also remembered going to town with Schulz on Christmas Eve. Schulz had a few drinks, but Otha did not drink. The two met a couple of girls, Schulz knew one of them. She could have been the girl who shaved him and did his nails. Schulz was Catholic, so they walked to the Catholic church to midnight mass. Otha waited outside. When Schulz came out of the church he told Otha, "Let's go get another drink." Otha, who did not drink, replied, "I'm going back to the barracks."
   In France, they had confiscated a German motorcycle. Otha had been using a jeep to drive around the base to get papers signed until Haining told him he would have to use the confiscated motorcycle. Otha was fussing that the bike was hard to drive. Haining told him, let me have your job then. Otha said, "OK." The first time around the base Haining did fine. The second time he rode the motorcycle under something, maybe a truck, and broke both of his legs.
   After the war ended, Otha got drunker than a hoot owl, as he says. The local folks in France were passing out cognac and such. He had never drank before, so he didn't know how much to drink.
   After the war, Otha returned to Chattanooga, TN and married Jane Sadler. They had three children.

Frank Monti Memories

   Mr Monti was born in 1921 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, the 5th child of a vegetable distributor. His parents, Frank Sr and Constantine, had imigrated from Italy and came through Ellis Island, New York years before. They could speak only a few words of English, but he was fluent in both Italian and English. He enlisted in the United States Army on September 17, 1942 at Fort Jay Governors Island, New York after completing 3 years of high school.
   Army IQ testing determined that Mr Monti was a good candidate for office clerical work. The job fit him like a glove. He quickly caught on to the Army way of doing things and passed the course with flying colors.
   After his office training, Mr Monti was sent to California to do infantry training with the other boys of the 1781st. He kept up with the target shooters records and was responsible for different medals awarded for markmanship. He also worked hard and made himself into a good infantry soldier, well liked by everyone.
   After California, the 1781st was sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersery to await shipment overseas. The boys had no work duty stations in New York. It was all play and no work except orientation on life insurance, how to handle their mail, how to behave in a foreign country, and plenty of shots. Otherwise, they were free to explore. While in the New York area, Mr Monti got to see his folks again. He also acted as tour guide to some of the boys who had never been to New York. They saw The Empire State building where the King Kong movie was made, Rockefeller Center, Broadway theaters, Coney Island and several other interesting places. They stayed at Camp Kilmer for about a week, then went by truck to Fort Wadsworth to board a ship heading for Europe.
   Overseas, Mr Monti's offical title was company clerk. He worked in the office keeping records such as immunization and payroll records. He also helped out with the mail, assembling the boys together and calling different names for mail delivery. All the boys of the 1781st knew him as he helped with furloughs and leaves in the office. His smile was contagious. Soon the other boys who didn't know each other real well became friendly and approachable like Mr Monti. He was a people person.
   On payday, Mr Monti knew the total of pay the unit needed to pay the boys. He was in charge of getting the money to the base by regular mail before payday. Early morning, on payday, Mr Monti, with the Captain over seeing, counted out the pay for each boy and put it into envelopes with the boys names on them. Payday was once a month, always early in the day, usually first thing. The boys lined up in a long line in front of the paymaster's office. When their time came to be paid, the boys approached the CO who was seated at a table. They saluted him, he thumbed through the pay envelopes for the boy's name, and presented him with his pay. The boy signed his name and was free to go.
   The boys were sometimes paid in military currency called script. The scripts had serial numbers and were dated with the year. The certificates, about 2 inches by 2 inches, had a notice printed on them saying, "For use only in United States Military". The denomination was printed on the bill in the language of the country the boys were currently serving in. The script was printed on both sides with border designs that would be hard to duplicate. The boys could spend the script just like money. When the boys went overseas they got a 10% or 15% pay raise. Sergeant pay near the end of the war was $78.00 a month.
   The office guys couldn't work around the clock in the offce, so the boys of the 1781st had CQ duty. The CQ orderly took care of answering the phone and other duties, usually after hours and on the weekends. Someone had to be in the office all around the clock to take messages and guard the office. They couldn�t say, �You�ve reached the 1781st�, when answering the phone, that might give their location away to the enemy. Instead they were told to answer the phone at one location, with 6090LL, which was a code that stood for the 1781st. Another overseas location the code might be changed. Sometimes they gave the names of US states as the code. If a CQ worked the night time hours, he was responsible for waking the person in charge of waking the boys the next morning.
   After the war, Mr Monti returned to his home town and found work at the Coca Cola Company as a salesman. He married a local girl. Together they raised their family in New Jersey. After his wife died, he moved to Wharton, New Jersey to live with his daughter.
   When I contacted Mr Monti for help with the web-site, he accepted, realizing the importance of capturing WWII history for following generations, he was more than willing to help. He sent many pictures of the boys of the 1781st, all with the names of the fellows in the pictures.
   Mr Monti was a good jitter-bugger, as the boys say, he could cut a rug dancing. He has a great smile and personality. He is rememberd by the boys of the 1781st as a very nice man.

Lawrence D. Pickett Memories (as told by others)

   The 6 feet 3 inch Lawrence D. Pickett was born April 5, 1920 to William J and Estella C Pickett of McDonald County, Kansas. The Picketts had a 1,000 acre wheat farm there close to the Nebraska state line. Kansas was known for its bad dust storms.
   Lawrence and his brother Albert, also a WWII veteran, were very active and playful boys. Once Lawrence had picked up a rattle snake and it had bit him.
   Before the war he had witnessed a public court ordered hanging, which was still legal in Kansas. He told the boys that he would not witness another one.
   After finishing class room training in Columbus, Ohio and Fort Sheridan, Ill, Lawrence traveled to Arcadia, California to do field infrantry training. The boys thought they would be sent to Africa after this training. Lawrence's Master Sargent, Leon Sowich, who was older and a really nice man, and had been overseas and came back to train the boys, had a 1938, four door Dodge car. The car had a running board and rear doors opening to the rear. Sowich wanted to drive the car from Columbus, Ohio to California. Three other boys, by drawing straws, would get to ride in the car instead of the train. Pickett, James Cox, and Ed Varner drew the short straws.
   While on the car trip, the boys used their gasoline Ration Stamps for supplies such as gas, oil, and tire inner tubes to travel route 66 all the way to California. Once they blew out a tire about 1 mile from a filling station and they had to walk to it for help. In one state, the steering gear went out of the car causing the car to go from left to right, all over the road, making it hard to steer.
   The boys almost burned up in the hot car with no air conditioning. They pulled off their shirts to get cooled down. They passed a pond along their way and stopped for swimming and cooling off. It was also good for a bath. The blowing wind and the sun reflecting off the water gave them all sun burns. At night time, they pulled off the road and slept in the car.
   When they passed through Oklahoma, they noticed that the local Indians had gathered in and some were laying in the streets. The younger ladies had their babies on their backs in cradle boards.
   The boys had to buy drinking water, by the glass, in Arizona. The four had a good time taking turns driving on the two lane roads crossing the different western states of America. It took 2 or 3 days to travel from Ohio to Los Angeles, and the car arrived before the train.
   Finally the boys reached Arcadia, California, which was 20 miles North East of Los Angeles. Sargent Sowich sold the car when they got to California for about $60.00 dollars.
   In California, the boys would take their infantry training in the Mojave Desert. One section of infantry training was learning to make camp and hiding it with camouflage covering. After the two-man pup tents were set up and the camp was readied, they took tree limbs or brush to sweep away their tracks. Pickett shared his tent with James Cox from Tennessee. Cox was about 5'10" and fit in the tent, but Pickett was so tall that his feet stuck out the bottom.
   While in the desert, Pickett and Cox ran the portable shop. From the 2 � ton truck they ordered out oil, greese, antifreeze. The oil was changed in the Army vechicles several times a month in the hotter climates. They took the truck to different stations in the desert and the temperature in the back of the truck reached 100 degrees.
   When the company moved to Braintree, England, the airport runway was not yet finished. A Frenchman, Marseilles Dupree, whose job was to drive a steam roller building the asphalt runway, had a bicycle for sale. Pickett and Cox decided together to buy it and convert it into a bicycle built for two. Mr Dupree said that he would like to use the bicycle to get groceries that day, then the boys could have it. They paid him and then picked up the bicycle once he had run his errand. The bicycle stayed behind when they were shipped out to France in a few weeks.
   Outside the little village of Malun, France, along a river, five boys slept in each tent. In Pickett's tent were Cox, Ford, Peters, Prettyman. The tent had four corners and a door in one end. Cox and Ford slept on one side of the tent, Pickett and Prettyman slept on the other side, and Peters slept at the end opposite the door. A pot belly stove stood in the middle of the tent with a smoke pipe that went straight up though the ceiling. A metal circular sheet protected the hot pipes from burning the canvas fabric.
   One time the boys ran out of their allotted coke to fed the evening fire. Pickett decided to saw up the 4x4 boards which held up their cots off the rubber matting. The matting worked as a barrier between the cot legs and the mud earth floor. Pickett planned to use the wood for kindling. The cross-cut saw teeth were bent and it didn't cut well, so Pickett used a hammer to straighten and set the teeth with a wider gap. Pickett was very intelligent and could do anything well.
   In Pontoise, France, the boys worked in a shop that had been an L-shaped barn captured from the Germans. Inside the old barn, there was an old World War 1 tank. After work, Pickett went out to the barn to work on the tank on his own time almost every night. He finally got it started. It didn't have a starter or a battery, only an old hand crank like the T Model cars. When he got it running, he pulled it out of the barn and drove it around a little until the commanding officer, Jarmac, found out. He got upset, saying, "It could have had been mined or armed with explosives." Pickett parked the tank and never touched it again.
   The 1781st chow tent was supervised by Sgt John Morgan and run by Will Tanner, Earl Symborski, and Walter Harrington. Pickett had a very weak stomach and could not talk about anything unsanitary at meal times. If anyone mentioned anything about being sick or killing their own food or any sickly thing, Pickett would drop his fork and not take another bite.
   After the war, Pickett returned to Kansas to work on the farm and possibly as a state patrol officer in Salinas for a short while.

Lawrence's son, Jim, shares this information:

   Mom and Dad were married on Dec. 18, 1942. Mom's name was Alma Lorraine Knapp Pickett, but she went by Rena. Dad's name was Lawrence Dwight, but he went by Hook. Mom contracted polio before either my sister or I were born and was crippled from that day forward. That didn't stop her from taking her responsibliity as wife and mother, though and she held up her end. You have dad's date of death and Mom passed away on September 4, 2004.
   My sister Marion Francis Pickett Crouse was born on Dec. 9, 1947 and married Larry Crouse on May 15, 1970. They have two children Lori and Kari.
   I (James Dwight Pickett) was born on March 24, 1950 and married Pat Rhoads Pickett on September 21, 1968. We have two children, John and Sarah.
   Dad continued utilizing his mechanic skills the rest of his life. When he set aside enough to do it, he and Mom rented a farm in Sherman County, Kansas in about 1955, I believe. They rented another farm and we moved in about 1960 or so and then we moved and the folks purchased the farm that they lived on in about 1965 or so. This was where the folks lived when Dad passed away. We moved to the farm and Mom was able to stay on the farm until 1990. Mom lived in St. Francis, KS, near her sister Ann, until her death.
   Dad was well known and respected for his knowledge and expertise with horses, and that was his real love, in life, except his love for his grandchildren and family in general. He always had a stray kid around, never missed a parade and the opportunity to give the horses some experience in town.

Marion Crouse, Lawrence's daughter, shares this story and picture:

As I remember the story about Dad and the little French girl, Dad was walking down the street throwing an orange up in the air and then catching it. When he turned around he was surprised to see a bunch of kids following him with their eyes on that orange. He felt terrible because he knew that fruit was scarce. He also didn't know what to do since he did not have enough to go around. He told the little girl if she would have her picture taken with him, he would give her a sack of candy. It has always been one of my favorite pictures. Dad was a great story teller. Many times after supper we would sit around the kitchen table and the stories would begin. I'm sure that they were embellished a little and edited a lot, but even when they were about hard times or tough situations they always had a positive slant. One of his biggest disappointments was not being able to find and to help Joe Douchamps after the war.
(NOTE: Joseph Douchamps, from Belgium, was Pickett's civilian assistant hired by the military. He had previously endured torture under the German occupation. His hands had been put into a press and were damaged as a result.)

John Pluta Memories as told by his children

   John William Pluta was born on May 30, 1921 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. He was the 7th child of Joseph and Mary Pluta. His father, Joseph, worked as a longshoreman on the docks of New York City.
   John dropped out of high school with one year to his credit. After working in a machine shop and related occupations for awhile, he joined the US Army on September 16, 1942.
   After induction into the Unites States Army, John was tested to see where he would best fit into the Army. Testing showed that he would be best used in the machine shop.
   After getting GI issued clothes, hair cuts and all the shots they needed, the boys to be placed in the 1781st rode a train to the Richmond Air Base in Richmond, Virginia. John traveled with the other nervous new GI's from the northern states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and the other northern states to meet the boys from the southern states. The 1781st was activated in Richmond, Virginia after the northern and southern boys met. They all soon headed for Columbus Ohio to Lockbourne Air base which was a B-17 bomber squadron base. Columbus was a really good town. The people there were very good to the soldiers. The local folks would invite the soldiers into their homes for good Sunday dinners. Some boys were taken to their homes on Christmas for an especially good meal and small gifts. There was also a good service club there for the boys. According to Cecil R. Ford, "You could be in a bar and the waiter would bring you a drinks and beer and say one of the civilians paid for it. Columbus was the best town that I solderied in."
   While stationed in Columbus, John met and married a girl named Betty who was originally from Kentucky. After a brief courtship, they wed at Sacred Heart Chapel in Columbus.
   In late June, the 1781st left Columbus, Ohio heading to California for infantry training. Betty followed her new husband to California. She had a child on the way and wanted to be near her husband.
   The 1781st shipped out of California on December 21, 1943. John's son, Phillip was born 24 days later on January 14, 1944 in San Jose, California.
   Phillip thrived on his mother's love. She took her baby out on the streets of Ohio in an old timey, antique wooden stroller with wooden wheels and all. During the war everything was rationed and new baby things were not made, so they used the old prewar baby things. The wooden wheels made such a noise, everyone could hear Mrs. Pluta strolling her baby, as Phillip remembers.
   John did a good job in the machine shop for the 1781st. The war overseas progressed slowly. The boys of the 1781st moved across Europe behind the infantry always about 50 miles behind the front lines, keeping the machinery and guns in good working order. Betty and John wrote many letters back and forth. Finally Germany surrendered and the boys returned home.
   Betty was a beautiful girl originally from Kentucky and John was a big city boy. He was Catholic and she was Protestant. John wanted the child raised in the Catholic Church, Betty disagreed. The union had too many strains to survive and soon John and Betty were divorced.
   Betty stayed in Ohio and John went back to the New York City area. John found a job working with Western Electric in New Jersey.
   Just before Phillip turned 5 years old, he saw his father for the last time. John had driven from Brooklyn to Columbus, Ohio see him in a Model-A Ford. John took the boy to a park in Columbus for a few hours.
   Phillip lost touch with his father and hardly remembers him. Many years later Phillip found his lost sisters and brother. He learned that his father had remarried a lady named Christina Korte in 1949 and had 3 more children, Ann, Gerry and John. John died in July, 1964 at 43 years of age in Brooklyn. All four children are united now, together they pay tribute to an American hero, their dad.

Leroy Prettyman Memories as told by others

   Leroy I. Prettyman believed born 1914, in Marion, Indiana, the only child of Matthew and Irma, had a great sense of humor, a very nice and funny man.
   Prettyman's job for uncle Sam was painting the Army's wrecked or damaged vechicles, mostly trucks and jeeps. They had been repaired by Joe Flores and Lloyd Reynolds who had knocked the dents out and sanded the repaired section.
   Outside of Malun, France, five boys slept in a tent near a little village where the Seine river flowed. The tent had four corners with a door in one end. Cox's and Ford's cots were on one side of the tent. Ford's was nearest to the door. Prettyman and Pickett were on the opposite side of Cox and Ford. Peters was in the end opposite the door. A pot belly stove stood in the middle of the tent with a smoke pipe that went straight up though the ceiling. A metal circular sheet protected the hot pipes from burning the canvas fabric
   Prettyman was kept busy with his Army job, but on the occasion when he had caught up on his duties and nothing exciting was going on in the garage, he would grab a tool and start drumming out a beat to a song. He would use a 50 gallon metal gasoline barrel as his drum and his drum sticks were screw drivers, metal welding rods, sticks, or anything he could use to make music. Not only was he a talented drummer, but he also could do the new dance craze called the Jitterbug.
   Mr. Prettyman was also a good artist. He drew lots of pictures of people and scenery on anything, in the dust of a truck or sand on the ground, any place he could leave his mark. He liked drawing beautiful women. He may have painted pictures of women or scenes on the planes some, even thought it was not his job.
   This talented and good soldier left good memories for the boys who knew him from the 1781st unit, to recollect from so many years ago.

Wayne and Wade Roe Memories

   The two Roe twins, Wayne and Wade were from Odessa, which was outside of Waco, Texas. They were the children of Cecil and Louan Roe. Mr. Roe had chosen farming as his occupation, so he bought a small farm there. On their land, the family grew cotton as the cash crop. When the cotton was ready, they picked it by hand, depositing the cotton tufts in a long sack, which they pulled behind them. It was a pains taking endeavour in the summer heat of south Texas. The money earned would last them for a whole year.
   During the Great Depression, when cash was in great shortage, the twins participated in rattlesnake roundups to make extra money. They would find a den of snakes and pump gas into it. The snakes would emerge to be caught in a sack. The boys would then sell them later that same week at a local auction.
   Both boys had dropped out of school before graduating high school. For a few years they helped their father tend the land and grew hay to feed the family's livestock, until they were both called up to serve their country.
   Wade and Wayne were tested by the Army and both were placed in ordnance automotive school but in different units. The twins mother had to get special permission to allow both boys to serve together. (During World War two, 5 Sullivan brothers were stationed on the same ship, the ship was hit and all five lost their lives. After that it was decided to divide siblings into separate units.) Their mother had written to President Roosevelt to get special permission for the boys to be in the same unit. Wade was originally placed in a different unit, so he was transfered to the 1781st.
   When the boys were in California for infantry training, they were punished with others of the 1781st for disobeying marching orders and were sent to the mess to scub it good. The boys were not in trouble again, after the scrubbing incident, they were good soldiers for the duration of the war.
   Pvt Wayne Roe was the smaller of the twins. Overseas, he drove the biggest wrecker the Army had. He may have used it to tow in crippled airplanes too.
   Once in England, the 1781st ran out of toilet paper. Wayne took the wrecker to pick up a case or two at a supply depot a few miles away.
   Everyday or so, one brother wrote to Mother, the next day the other brother would write to her. She sent one letter for both boys to share.
   One time in France, one of the boys got a furlough. His twin went into the office and Otha McCormick, who worked there as a clerk, said to him, "I thought you were gone". The boys looked so much like alike he could not tell the difference.
   In England, the mechanics of the 1781st worked in a big airplane hanger. The Airplane mechanics worked on the B-26 bomber planes in one end of a airplane hanger and the land vehicle mechanics worked in the other end of the building. The garage was up on a hill.
   The Roe twins were well liked, fun loving, pranksters like the other boys of the 1781st. Someone came up with the idea of �test driving.� To �test drive� someone, one boy would pick up an unsuspecting boy up by the shirt neck and the seat of the pants and move him down the hill in a fast walk. The person held in the hold could do nothing but walk along as fast as the holder wanted, swinging his arms. Usually the "test drive" took place at lunch time or in the evening at quitting time, when the boys had reason to walk down the steep hill. The Roe boys took the jokes when used on them in good fun and laughed as did the others.
   The boys of the 1781st came up with another joke called "hot foot". When a boy feel asleep at the mechanics shop, usually after a long night on pass, the other boys would stick wooden matches between the soles and upper part of the a sleeping boys boots. The match was then lit. When the match burnt down to this foot, the boy woke in a huff and pulled his boots off as quickly as possible. When the Sergeant told the boys that there was too much gasoline and combustible liquid around for lit matches, they moved on to a new trick. They spray painted the sleeping boys boots Army green, next. The body man had paint to re-paint and touch up the damaged vehicles on the base. The boys of the 1781st managed to have lots of fun during those years of turbulence. It helped them to not miss the folks back home so much.
   After the war, Wayne continued working as a mechanic. He married a lady named Sylvia and had two children, a son Gary who has passed away and a daughter Judy who lives in San Antonio, Texas. Gary has two children, Christine and Brandon. Judy Smith has two children, Hunter and Shelbi. Wayne Euel Roe was born June 7, 1922 and died Nov. 28, 1998 in Ector, Texas.
   After the war, Wade married a girl named Fay and had two children, a son and a daughter named Linda Kay. In his later years, he was disabled after losing a leg to diabetes and was in a wheel chair before his death. Wade passed away on October 12, 1986.
   Both boys are in heaven together now. Mrs. Roe didn't have to write to Mr. Roosevelt for permission for the boys to be together there, God took care of it, this time.

Victor Rueschhoff Memories

   Victor was drafted December l942 about Christmas time but was allowed to stay home for Christmas and report for duty the first week of January. He spent that holiday with his family in St Louis, Missouri.
   Victor remembers being in California two times. After the first few weeks in California, he was transferred to Columbus, Ohio for training and then back to California for infantry training. Peacocks ran loose and squawked all night long. They were probably part of the Hollywood studio that butted up against the Santa Anita horse racing track which had been converted into barracks and training camp for the Army. For morning wake-up,some of the boys were used to roosters crowing, but since the boys were in the Army now, they relied on the bugler's notes to softly and slowly raise them from their slumber. If that didn't get them up, there was always a Sergeant to scream, "On the double!" orders to them.
   Another featured attraction of the area was a paper boy who lived near by. A parent may have worked on the base. At any rate, the young kid had papers for sale every day. He called out to the men, "Papers for sale, get your paper here!" trying as best as he could to hock his goods. One day he asked a guy from the 1782 to buy a paper. The man answered him by saying, "I can't read." The boy replied "Take one and put in under your arm, you'll look smarter."

Victor explains his furlough from Camp Santa Anita, CA:
"I got a 14 day furlough from Santa Anita. I heard that you could get free rides on Air Force planes if they were going your way. I'm a little conservative. (maybe tight). I went to March Field out of Los Angeles. They told me I would have to rent a parachute for $5 so I did, they said they would refund my money when I returned it. There was a B24 bomber leaving for San Antonio, Texas. So I got aboard. What I didn't realize