Army days- Dad
Dad served in
WW11 in 1942-43. He has many memories of the war in
Germany as he was on front lines.
Here
is part of his story as he told it. -
Calvin served in WW11 in 1942-43. He has many memories of the
war in Germany where he served much time on front lines.
Calvin went to world war 11In 1943 He says that the war
hasn’t changed him that much, except he is closer to the
Lord. He had to leave his wife, Rachel and his first two
children, when he went to the war. His greatest grief was
leaving them behind. He is now getting old in years and has
silver hair from both his long years of life and from his
service in the war. He said the war taught him to respect
people for what they are and for life itself. He has great
pride in himself and his fellow Americans for coming together
united with God to fight for a purpose.
In
the war no man was to consider himself better than another,
for they all were the same inside and out, right down to the
same G. I. haircut. Calvin reads the Bible daily because he is
a man of God. He feels that tithe war gave him a reason to
study God's word, and to enjoy life more. When he got a couple
of days passed from the front lines there wasn’t anything
much to do, so he found that writing letters walking the
countryside and reading the Bible, has altered his hobbies to
doing just that after the war.
He
first started his army life at Fort McPherson, in Atlanta, in
1942, and that’s where I was stationed, Calvin said. There I
got my first taste of being transformed from a civilian to a
military person. After being drilled about how a military guy
was supposed to act and dress, I was shipped to another place
by the name of Fort McClellan in Alabama. There I stayed for
six weeks basic training. I was issued my guns, clothes, etc.
Now you might think basic training would be a breeze, but
it’s hard work. Now when I first had to get up every day at
the crack of dawn I learned to get used to it: but learning to
defend myself from live ammo in training was very earth
stopping. From Alabama I went to Wisconsin, where I was put
into a division, a group of about 1500 men, which was better
known as "B Company". To get to the front lines
where our company was headed we traveled through France,
Luxemburg, and Belgium.
When
I got tot the front lines, I fought for thirty days straight
before we got to pull back for a week’s rest. Most of my
company fighting was what I called "village
fighting". If we didn’t happen upon a village by
nightfall, we would just lie down wherever we were- in the
woods or fields. We averaged at least three months stay on the
first lines.
I
was still on the front lines when he Germans surrendered.
After that, I was put on military guard duty. I stayed a total
of about two years in the army. The largest amount of time was
spent on the front lines. I then got my furlough home: I was
on the ship headed home when Japan surrendered. I was glad
because this meant that I could stay home. Three weeks after I
got home, I was honorably discharged. He is now retied and
enjoys his wife, children, grandchildren and great
grandchildren. He is a minister of the Gospel
