My Service in the U. S. Army During WW II

I was twenty when I received the greeting from Uncle Sam. I was being drafted to serve in the U. S. Army during World War II. Up until this time, events in the world had not affected me a great deal. My world consisted of the Mount Pleasant area in Schenectady, New York and the geography books I had studied from in high school. I was working at the American Locomotive Company as a clerk. In this capacity, I helped build tanks for the U. S. Army.

It was a pleasant April date in 1943 when I was inducted into the Army. I had trouble falling asleep that night. I had never before been away from home and didn't like the experience. The next several days were a blur of marching on a drill field, listening to lectures, viewing movies, eating in a mess hall, taking tests, and, otherwise, being kept so busy I had no time to brood or feel lonely. This was basic training. Thankfully, this period of boredom ended in due time. I was then put on a train, and assigned to study math, chemistry, and physics at Syracuse University. This was part of an Army program called ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program). Later I was transferred to the University of Illinois. I was surprised at my good fortune but did not consider inquiring about this.

Abruptly, ASTP was terminated. I then began training at Camp Crowder in Missouri to become a radio operator for the U. S. Army Signal Corp. I was to be trained to listen at Morse Code radio signals coming through earphones and type the corresponding letters that I heard. The messages were encrypted so I had no idea what they said. At the conclusion of the course, I was able to let my fingers do the work while I thought about other things. It was now 1944 and the members of my class was assigned to serve in China. We students had a lot of questions to ask but there was no one who could give us answers.

Not long afterward I found myself in Los Angeles boarding a ship for a one-month trip to India. This is when my concept of what the world was like expanded considerably. Landing in Bombay, I came to understand what the term abject poverty means. I was overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smells of living conditions so deplorable they seemed surreal. We began a long train ride from Bombay to Calcutta at a speed of about 30 miles per hour. All along the route, when the train slowed at a station, kids would rush to the train hollering "baksheesh, Sahib; baksheesh!" They were begging for handouts. We gave what we could. We had no Indian money so we gave items of food, chocolate bars and the like.

After having waited several weeks at a camp in Calcutta, transportation became available by air to Kunming, China. A long road trip followed and we arrived at our final destination, Kwaiyang, China. We set up a transmitter and began sending and receiving messages from U. S. troops already in China. This work continued for several months. One day in August, 1945, I awoke to the sound of a loud radio broadcast. Harry S. Truman was speaking. An atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan, he said, and it was possible the war might end soon. Indeed, it did a few days later.

By this time, I had earned three stripes for the sleeves of my uniform. This did not mean that I had been a leader of any sort or that I had distinguished myself in some sort of battle with the enemy. The stripes simply stated that I had successfully performed my duties as a radio operator. The fact is I had never even seen an enemy soldier in China.

There was another airplane flight back to India, another month-long boat trip to the States, and a week-long train ride to Schenectady. I was honorably discharged from the Army in April, 1946, almost exactly three years after I had been inducted.

I did not immediately realize how lucky I had been in my Army career. I had gotten my first taste of college. I was able to go on and complete my college education. I became a ham radio operator with the call letters W2ZOV. I had gotten to see and learn about parts of the world that I could never have afforded to visit. I had learned to rely on myself. I still feel the effects of these benefits, and more, to this very day 65 years later.