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Show J. William (Bill) DeYoung Bill DeYoung was inducted into the Army right out of high school and had his papers even before he graduated in 1943. I took my basic training in California at Camp Roberts in the area of Field Artillery. Then I applied for a transfer to the Air Corps for air crew training. I was accepted and sent to college in Cedar City to take my basic training and academic training. While there, they had a break down in Europe and all of us who had been transferred into the Air Corps from the Ground Services were sent back to the ground forces and were assigned as reinforcements to go to Europe. I ended up in a combat engineer battalion. I served in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. After the war was over in Europe, my outfit was transferred to the Pacific and we staged in Marseilles and went through the Panama Canal to the Philippine Islands. The war was still active when we got to the Philippines, and our job was to build bridges and roads up through the Blitei Pass, which we accomplished. When we arrived in the Philippines, it was a real shock. We were there in the fall so the weather wasn't particularly hot and water buffalos worked in the fields. I became sick and was sent to the hospital and was shipped home on the hospital ship Hope (the ship that later went around the world providing health care for poor countries). I was sent to Brigham City to the hospital and, after surgery, I was sent to Ft. Douglas and discharged in the spring of 1946. After his discharge, Bill enrolled at Weber where he met and married Beth Thatcher. Submitted by Beth Thatcher DeYoung, wife Vernon C. Dieu Vernon Dieu enlisted in the Army in 1944. He completed a specialized training program in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He spoke several languages, played the piano, organ and cornet. Franklin Norris Doxey Franklin Doxey served in the Army in the Pacific War and was involved in the New Caledonia invasion and the Japanese occupation. He attained the rank of staff sergeant. George Rhodes Doxey, Jr. George was raised and educated in Ogden, Utah. He graduated from Weber College in 1939 with an associate's degree in Science. He attended the University of Utah for one year prior to moving to Southern California to attend dental school in 1940. While attending University of Southern California, he enlisted in a reserve commission and received military training at Fort McArthur, California. George completed four years of coursework in three years and graduated from USC, November 7, 1943, at age 23. George's military service was from December 12, 1943 to November 17, 1946. He was first assigned to Continental Service for over one year at the Medical Field Service School in Pennsylvania; the Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee; and Camp Blanding in Florida. Then began his foreign service, where he was assigned to the 453rd Medical Hospital Ship 'Platoon' from August 12, 1944 to June 10, 1945- He made crossings with troops to England an Scotland and brought wounded troops (usually 500 to 1,000 patients per trip) back to the United States fro^ 86 the European Theater of Operations, ten different times. The 453rd was then assigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations. He served as Dental Officer in the Philippines from August, 1945, to August, 1946. He was chief of Dental Services for the major part of that time at the 90th and 1st Field Hospitals at Leyte. Captain Doxey returned to his family on September 19, 1946, and lived and practiced dentistry in Ogden the remainder of his life. George died July 10, 2003. He was awarded the European African Middle Eastern Service Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, the Philippine Independence Ribbon, the Army of Occupation Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal. Submitted by Cordon E. Doxey, son David 'Rod' Dunn Rod Dunn received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star while serving as a staff sergeant in the Army. Harold LeRoy Earl Harold was inducted into the Armed Forces on January 7, 1942, at Fort Douglas. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was a radio operator, a supply Sergeant, communication sergeant, and staff sergeant in the '760th' Tank Battalion. In December 1942, he was headed overseas. They landed in Casa Blanca, North Africa, in January of 1943. saw action in Africa under General George Patton in Rabot, Naples, and Casino. In this area, they got a call from the commanding officer that they needed radios and equipment on the front lines. John Floreck got the jeep ready and Harold was going to go with him. Meanwhile, he heard his name being called to come to the commanding officers' tent. He went to the tent, but no one knew anything about his name being called. John Floreck left without him, and he took a shortcut and ran over a mine. The mine blew the jeep up and blew his right leg off. Harold would have been killed if he had gone. After the war was over in Europe, they reclassified all the soldiers. Harold had the points and many more to come home. He could have been sent to the Pacific if the war hadn't ended with Japan. Harold died February 20, 2000. Submitted by Norma B. Earl, wife Ronald Barrow East Ronald served in the Army as a staff sergeant from March 3, 1941, to November 24, 1945. He received a good conduct medal and Asiatic Pacific Service medal, and a Philippine Liberation medal. Ronald served four and one half years in the South Pacific. He was in Battery 'B' 222nd Field Artillery Battalion. Eddie Enomoto served in the Italy Campaign with the Japanese American 442nd - the most decorated combat unit in WWII. He was wounded in action and received the Purple Heart. He died in 1998. 87 |