Kenneth (Kent) J. Stanger My Army career began November 4, 1942, when I joined the Army Reserves while a student at Weber College in Ogden, Utah. We were supposed to complete our education and then enter active duty as officers. This ended when 43 of us were called to active duty April 8, 1943, and sent to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City. There we received our clothing allotment, haircuts, shots, and orientation into the Army. We were then shipped out to our basic training units. Dil Young and I were sent to Camp Hood, Texas, to a tank destroyer unit. We trained at the main camp for about three weeks and then were sent to North Camp Hood, Texas, which was a new tar paper shack camp built on farms the Army had taken over. After basic training Dil and I were sent back to the main camp to attend tank destroyer weapons school. We trained on all the weapons used by the tank destroyers. While at the school we were given a test to see if we qualified for the Army Specialized Training Program. I passed the test and was sent to Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. We were quartered in rooms built under the stadium at the university that had been used by the ROTC. The ASTP training lasted for two quarters of intensive schooling to train us as engineer officers. The program folded when the need for men to fill the infantry divisions took over. Most of us at LSU were sent to the 99th Division at Camp Maxey, Texas. There we received basic training as riflemen in an accelerated program and then were assigned to regular Army units. I was sent to Company I, 395 Inf. Regt. as a rifleman. A few weeks later I was transferred to Cannon Company of 395. Fifteen of us from ASTP were part of the company. In September we received our call to go overseas and were shipped by trains to Camp Myles Standish outside of Boston. On September 29, 1944, we sailed on the SS Marine Devil in one of the largest convoys of the war. We landed in Plymouth, England, on the 9th of October and were transferred by train to Dorchester, England, Camp Marabout. We spent our time here by marching in the rain and getting our equipment ready. On November 1 we departed from Southampton on a LST and arrived in La Havre, France, on the 2nd. We spent the night in our trucks in a heavy rain parked in a cow pasture. The next day we went by convoy through France and Belgium to Aubel, Belgium, which is near the border of the Netherlands and Germany. We again spent the night in our trucks and then were taken out to a cow pasture in the rain and sleet and were expected to sleep there. Three days later we were moved into the town of Elsenborn and spent the next two nights in a house. The rain turned to snow so after dark we were taken by truck to the front lines where we had to place our guns into position to fire in the dark and very wet conditions. We spent the night trying to keep warm while wading in icewater and six inches of wet snow, with no overshoes to keep us dry. The next day when it was light we were able to find the foxholes of the unit we had replaced so we were able to sleep out of the weather and could build fires during the day to dry out. A few days later they supplied us with overshoes; but by then, most of us were suffering from frostbite. In early December we were taken in groups to camp Elsenborn to get our first shower since leaving England but no such luck as the water was frozen. We did get to change our underwear for the first time in over a month. On the 13th of December the 395 Combat Team pushed off to break through to capture dams on the Roer River along with two regiments of the 2nd division. We had our first two KIA's in the company on the 15th. On the 16th the Germans started their offense that was to be known as 'The Battle of The Bulge'. We had to stop our attack as the Germans were moving in behind us. We moved about a mile and set up our cannons to support the riflemen that were moving back. Our cannons were at full elevation, and we were using only one charge of powder to lob the rounds over the trees in front of us. When small arms fire entered our position, we were ordered to move out. The trail out was a firebreak in the trees and was a muddy mess from all the trucks that had used it. When the line of trucks stopped, we were in a large mudhole and unable to move. One of the last outfits out was driven by a friend of our driver, so we were able with both trucks pulling to get moving again. We stopped in a small village and were ordered back to our old position. Trying to turn around, he broke the tow ring off our cannon and had to chain it up to tow it. That night we stopped in a field in front of a battery of 155s that were firing and receiving return fire from the enemy. When they fired short, we received a good volley of rounds; but only one man in our unit was slightly wounded. The next morning I stepped across the fence by a foxhole and was shot at and missed. I went to Camp Elsenborn which was about five miles away to have the tow ring welded back on. In returning to our company the road went along a ridge that was exposed to the enemy. They opened fire on us so we jumped out of our truck into foxholes that had been dug along the road. When the shelling ceased, we expected our truck and cannon to be destroyed; but to our surprise not a mark was found on them. We then moved to a position that was north of Camp 124 Elsenborn and dug in. We stopped the German advance in the north, and they moved their main attack toward Bastogne while still giving us plenty of trouble. One of the big shocks I received was when a letter I had written to Dil Young was returned to me stamped DECEASED. The weather was very cold and foggy and the snow got much deeper. The day before Christmas the sky cleared and a huge air attack hit the Germans. As far as one could see were planes of all sizes. It was sad to see the bombers being hit and the crews parachuting down, but the supply lines to the enemy were broken. Sometime in January we had a blizzard hit us. As I did not have to stand guard that night, I was very comfortable in my covered foxhole. The next morning someone called to me to see if I was all right. The snow had drifted into the entrance to my foxhole and was packed like cement. They had to dig me out, as I could not move it from inside. About the first of February we again went on the attack and entered Germany where we were replaced by another division. We had suffered heavy losses and needed to get replacements and equipment replaced. We were moved back to a little town in Belgium called Claremont where we moved into the home of the Vandeberg family for about a week. I received a pass to Liege where I was able to get my first bath since we had left England. We pushed off again after a brief rest in Belgium and moved across the plains toward Cologne on the Rhine River. When the 9th Armored Division captured the bridge at Remagen, we broke off our attack and were rushed up river and crossed over on a pontoon bridge that had been just built 200 yards below the railroad bridge. The Germans held the high ground on the far side and poured artillery rounds on us all the way across without a hit, although they had hit the bridge several times while it was being built. We have since met the officer who was directing fire on us and have been with him and his wife when we returned with our division on trips to the battlefields. He is now a lawyer in Bonn and stated to me that he had been in Ogden when he made a bus tour of the west in the 1950's. We pushed out of the Remegen bridgehead and went into the Ruhr pocket and from there we transferred to the 3rd Army in Southern Germany. We crossed the Danube River and liberated 65,000 prisoners of war at the Moosberg. We had moved from the Holland border to near the Austrian Border. Our division was selected to return high point men to the United States so I was sent to our regimental headquarters to help our company clerk with the transfer records. I was not a high point man, but they sent me with the advance party to Marseilles, France, in August. I was then transferred to the Judge Advocate Section, of Delta Base Headquarters as a clerk typist. I served there until the last of November and then was transferred to the 220th General Hospital, which was being sent home. We sailed just before Christmas. We arrived in New York Harbor on New Year's Day 1946. I was discharged from active duty January 11, 1946, and returned to Weber College for the spring quarter. I served as president of the Viking Club until I transferred to BYU in the spring of 1947. James R. Stewart_ Whenever I stand and pledge allegiance to the flag or sing the National Anthem I am thankful for the many freedoms I enjoy as an American. These freedoms have not been given to us; they have come with a high price tag. I remember the many classmates that fought for these freedoms during the Vietnam War and paid the ultimate price. I remember the stories that have been retold about the 'Greatest Generation' and about the many sacrifices they made for the freedoms of the 'Future Generations.' There is one member of the Greatest Generation whose story I would like to retell. This member is my father, James R. Stewart. When our country was drawn into World War II, James entered the 222nd National Guard of Utah, in March, 1941. He was dispatched to San Luis Obispo, California, and was there on December 7, 1941. War was declared, and he was sent to the Hawaiian Islands to guard the seacoast from further Japanese attack. James took the test for officer's training school and was sent back to the United States for training. He graduated in August of 1943. However, he had to return home to Ogden because his father suffered a stroke and died. James, along with his two other brothers who were also in the military, were able to attend the funeral and then return to service. James was sent to North Carolina to be trained for D-Day; but before he could be sent to Europe, he received word that his mother was dying. He made it home in time for her funeral and so, in the span of four months, he had lost both parents. He was too late to be shipped out for the D-Day invasion so he was sent to England to be part of a support group for our troops in France. He was soon sent to France as one of many replacements for the officers that had been killed or wounded in battle. Hitler and his generals made plans for pincer movements to cut off the allied troops from their main supply line and all available servicemen were gathered and sent to help the allies. James was 125