Elijah Ferrin Larkin Ferrin Larkin attended Weber College from 1937-1940. He joined the U. S. Army in June of 1942; and after serving two years in California as part of the Signal Corps, he was trained and transferred to the 558th Field Artillery Battalion, serving in General George S. Patton's 3rd U.S. Army during the final push into the Rhineland. William Eugene Lawler_ During World War II, I was inducted in the United States Army on Feb. 14, 1945. in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. I was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for 21 weeks of training in the Company A, Ninth Battalion, Third Armored Division. I trained for seven weeks with armored tanks as a tank driver, seven weeks in gunnery, and seven weeks in jungle fighting for the South Pacific Theater of War. In training, my ear drum was ruptured by heavy artillery. I completed the training but was not sent to the Pacific but assigned to take a group of 50 GI's to Camp Florence, Arizona. I was then assigned to SCU 3990 PW Detachment, Ogden, Utah, (a Prisoner of War Camp) where I served as a private first class in the military police as assistant provost sergeant. We had 500 enlisted men and approx. 20,000 German and Italian prisoners there. Most of the guards were returning servicemen from the war theaters and were waiting to be discharged on the point system. We always had an overabundance of men with rank; therefore, I had to work as a sergeant without rank. We had several other camps in outlaying areas that the enlisted men served in. I served there until the closing of the camp, and being the last man there along with two other men, I locked the gate. I then went to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, where I was given my discharge on August 4, 1946. I received the Victory Medal, the American Theater Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal, the Expert Medal with 50 caliber machine guns Marksman with the M1 rifle, and others. During my assignment at the PW Detachment, I met and married my wife Allie Lee Taylor who worked at the Utah General Depot, in the Adjutant Generals Office. After my discharge we returned to Ogden, Utah, where I attended Weber College on Adams Ave., in the auto mechanic tune-up classes with Mr. Ronson as my instructor. I completed the course and received a certificate as an alien tune-up specialist. I worked at the Utah General Depot for three years in the automotive department as a roving mechanic. To further my education, I went on the GI bill for three years in Wyoming in the Cadillac Agency to learn all phases of automotive repair and service including wrecker service, buying parts, inventory, sales and repair. I returned to Utah and worked at Hill Air Force Base for 25 years. I also started and operated my own mobile tune-up business for 28 years. After retiring, I worked at Weber State University in the Math department for two years to complete all the quarters needed for Social Security. My wife, Allie Lee Lawler, was employed for five years at Weber University for Dr. Joseph L. Neilson in the Community Education Department. She also attended classes at Weber. We have six children and several have graduated from Weber as well as several of our grandchildren. I was 18 years old and had a mother and seven sisters to support when I got inducted in the Army. I was the only boy in my family and the oldest. My father had died when I was 14. I was probably the youngest man with the most dependents in the service. I was a grain farmer and had to sell all of my equipment and most of the land. Thomas T. Leavitt I arrived in New Caledonia, a French island not many miles from Australia, on August 1944. I was assigned to the 8th Field Artillery Battery C of the 25th Infantry Lighting Division, a veteran combat division, that only a month or so before lost many at Guadalcanal. These were mean combat veterans. My first night there was a beer issue; I gave mine to another GI. They mixed this with white lightning, stolen torpedo fuel, from a Navy base not far away. At around midnight, I could hear a fight going on and then silence. I ran out of the tent and down to the mess hall. A full moon showed a 104 large knife wavering from a soldier's chest. Welcome to the 25th. We trained for the invasion of Luzon, Philippine Islands. On December 17, 1944, our division sailed from Noumea, New Caledonia, and headed for Lingayen Gulf. We made two practice landings on the way, one at Guadalcanal. I think I contracted malaria there. I didn't actually break out until on the ship coming home, months later, because of the atabrine pill we had to take while in combat. We landed on D-Day, January 11, 1945 at 0000 hours. Our original objective was to liberate Manila; but after a few days, our orders were changed to capture the main Japanese headquarters at Balete Pass in the rugged Caraballo Mountains. We encountered a lot of resistance as we crossed the central plains (rice paddies). I witnessed hundreds and hundreds of dead Japanese soldiers. Two weeks after our landing, with no water to bathe, we came to a slow moving canal. The water looked very inviting; at last a chance to bathe. I was the first to undress and jump in up to my neck. As soon as I was in the water, I could feel something hitting my entire body. I climbed right out to find I was covered with bloodsuckers that didn't want to let go. They looked like small pieces of liver. My buddy helped me pull them off a very ugly experience. It was another week before we came to a river where we took a bath. As we approached the Caraballo Mountains, we could tell we were at a great disadvantage. They had the high ground as they had been there for a number of years; their artillery was placed in tunnels on tracks in different parts of the mountain. They could fire from one point and then move to another. It was difficult to find them. We were infiltrated by Japanese suicide marines from time to time. We received a lot of incoming artillery. I was hit by artillery fragments on April 3, 1945, for which I received the Purple Heart. I took most of the hit in the chest and right arm. My fatigue jacket looked like I had been shot with a 12 gauge shotgun. I was taken to the aid station where doctors proceeded to remove the small fragments from my chest and arm. They told me I could carry some for the rest of my life. Lucky and blessed, I didn't suffer any debilitating effects and was back with my outfit in a couple of days. We lived in foxholes on the front lines for 165 days. It rained often. Our wool blankets got wet, attacked by blowflies and then maggots. Balete Pass was captured May 11, 1945. Japanese losses included 14,569 dead and 614 prisoners of war. Some of my heart-wrenching sights I saw were weapons carriers stacked with dead American soldiers, 7 and 8 deep with only their boots protruding from the back of the truck. Our division was being refitted with all new equipment, and we were scheduled to invade Japan. In August 1945, the Japanese government surrendered. We were, of course, ecstatic the war was over and grateful for the bomb. We felt quite certain we wouldn't survive another combat mission especially in Japan. Hundreds of thousand of GIs would never come home and hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians would have perished. We occupied the Kagamigahara Air Force Base in Nagoya, Japan. We were the first American division there. The Japanese civilians were very friendly. I'm so thankful we didn't have to kill any of them. I received the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Bronze Star, the Philippine Liberation Medal with one Bronze Star, a WWII Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Honorable Service Medal, and a Purple Heart in May 1945 at Anarat Luzon. I arrived home in January 1946 and was discharged as a technical sergeant. I then enrolled at Weber College. Carl Lechtenberg After basic training in Petersburg, Virginia, I was initially ordered to Camp Kilmer, preparatory to being shipped overseas. However, at the last minute, I was reassigned to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, as a trumpet player in the 323rd U.S. Army band. Apparently, the Army had discovered that I had played in the Weber College pep band and orchestra, and also in an all-state 300-piece classical orchestra prior to induction. We formed a twenty-piece 'Skyliner Dance Band,' and played 102 performances at Randolph Field, Kelly Field, and S.A.C. field, in addition to numerous officer's clubs, USO clubs, and NCO clubs entertaining the troops. The U.S. Army Band played at all military events, parades and concerts throughout the area. The band received numerous favorable citations. It was a distinct pleasure to help entertain the troops as they returned from combat, most of whom spent time at Brooke Medical Center for rehabilitation. 105