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Show Richard Carlyle Baird Richard Baird was in the A.S.T.R (Army Specialized Training Program) for a year in Wisconsin. He then served in India in the Signal Corps. After the war, he became a dentist and practiced for 40 years. Walter I. Baker Walter Baker worked with the Italian Prisoners of War at the Utah General Depot. Because of this experience, he learned to speak Italian. Eugen H. Barrett Eugene Barrett, better known as 'Bud', served on an Army repair ship for 18 months during the liberations of the Philippines. Jim S. Bateman_ Jim served in the South Pacific and with the infantry in the Philippines, working with heavy weapons. Taylor Becraft_ Taylor served as a paratrooper with the 13th and 83nd Airborne Division in France. Elwood David (Red) Berrett Elwood was stationed in Hawaii during the war. He injured his knee and was unable to fight on the front lines. He never saw combat, but served in an office. He was a PX officer over finance and worked on payroll. During the war, for relaxation and peace of mind, he would type. By the end of the war, he had retyped an existing book. Submitted by Marie Berrett, wife Charles Seal Bishop On 19 October 1942,1 was enlisted into the service at Fort Douglas, Utah, and went by troop train to Camp Polk, Louisiana, for eight weeks of basic training. 14 of us were selected to attend radio school to learn International Morse Code, and all of the other radio sets that the Army used. This school lasted fourteen weeks, after which I returned to Camp Polk to be with my unit. We were there about a year doing combat exercises. After leaving Camp Polk, I went to Camp Ibis in the California desert where I did combat training and exercises for approximately six months. Then, I went on to Camp Barkley, Texas, for drills and calisthenics, as well as to rest and regroup for approximately three months. Then, I went on to Camp Cook, California, where we made preparations for overseas. It was here that Wanda Sharp, my fiancee, came to see me in Santa Barbara for a weekend before I left for overseas. About three weeks later, we left by train to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey which was our point of embarkation for overseas, and from there we went by troop ship to England. We spent from September 1944 to Christmas Eve 1944 at South Hampton, leaving that evening for Normandy aboard a troop ship. Six days later we had our Christmas dinner somewhere in France. We then went on to Bastogne, Belgium where we fought in the Battle of the Bulge for several weeks. On 5 May 1945, the Germans asked for cease fire. My next stop was Salzburg, Austria, for approximately four months and then to Kirchdorf, Austria, until 76 leaving for Antweys, Belgium, for processing orders to come home. I was released from the Army on 6 January 1946 at Fort Douglas, Utah. Cloyd D. Blair Cloyd served in the unit that won the Battle of the Bulge. It was this same unit that liberated two of the death camps: Dachau and Treblinka. He was more of a service warrior than a shooting warrior as he saw most of the war from a parts truck being in charge of parts. His division captured the Remagen Bridge that crossed the Rhine River. They put a sign on the bridge that said: 'Cross the Rhine River with dry feet courtesy of the Ninth Armor Division.' He sat in the truck one-half mile from the bridge and saw the first German jet and all the others that followed as they tried to drop bombs on the bridge. They could only drop one bomb before they had to make a sharp right turn to keep from running into the mountains. The U.S. P38s shot down every one of those jets. That bridge was a train bridge so it was very unnerving to cross in terms of keeping the tires on the tracks. The truck he drove was the lead truck because it was the heaviest. Because he was in the lead parts truck, he would drive over and pick up all the loose metal that was on the ground in his tires. Every morning they would go to his truck to see how many tires they needed to replace. About once a week he and his convoy moved closer to the fighting as it would advance, so the parts would be closer to the fighting men. They would usually have two or three flats on the way, so he would have to get a spare from one of the trucks behind him. Edward L. Blair My brother, Edward L. Blair, was drafted into the Army on 15 November 1945, and he was honorably discharged on 5 January 1947 as a technical sergeant. At the time of his induction, he was a sophomore at Weber Junior College. Ed did basic training at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, where he served as a rifleman, clerk typist, and chief clerk. His typing skills qualified him for the job. After a few months, he was sent to Europe. He served as a criminal investigator with a war crimes investigating team in Germany, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, and England. He assisted in collecting evidence and information pertaining to war crimes committed against American servicemen. He also served on the Nuremberg Trials. The following is a quote from a letter that Ed sent Mom on Mother's Day, 3 May 1946 from Kornwestheim, Germany. 'The set up is grand. I am staying in a house and there are only five of us Americans in the whole town ... the officer has the first floor, the two civilians have the second, and us two soldiers have the third. It is like a nice apartment except we don't have to clean it up. There are six German women and a German man who do all the work. They cook for us, clean up our rooms, do our washing and ironing and make our beds. And, oh yes, we sleep between sheets. The man is a mechanic for our cars, so I am living the life of a King. 'The day's work is over and once again I am back at the house. I got a little idea for your Mother's Day. You always did find my poems quite interesting, so I thought I would write you a poem for Mother's Day. This is what I came up with.' FOR YOU ON MOTHER'S DAY Of all the women in the world, Of all the stars that shine; The North Star shines the brightest, So does that Mom of mine! It seems like only yesterday You bounced me on your knee, And now o'er night I changed A man, and sailed the sea! I could search all over Germany To find someone like you, But never would I find one so Devoted and true. O'er England, over France, O'er Italy and Spain. The USA! The whole world wide 77 |