I spent a lot of time at my grandparent’s home near Nevada, Mo during the turbulent years of WW II. Dad was first stationed in Fort Leavenworth, then Oregon. He spent a brief time in Waynesville before he shipped out for France, then Germany with the Army’s 70th Division. He arrived on the battlefield just after the Battle of the Bulge, 1944 at age 34. Since Mom held the position of store manager for the Edmiston’s Department Store in Fort…
The last stop in our journeys to follow my dad in the States during WW II was in Waynesville, MO. He was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood before the Army shipped the 70th Division to France. By then I was twenty months old and had already lived in Kansas, Oregon, and Missouri. My folks called this place “El Rancho.” We lived here with other couples because there was such a shortage of housing. Soon after this picture, Dad left to…
For the first few years, my dad was in and out of my life. The day after I was born, he received a notice from the draft board that he had been reclassified from 4A to 1A. He had already served three years in the Army during the 30s. After eight months the lottery draw of the draft board caught up with him in July of 1943. He was off to Fort Leavenworth for his physical on July 13 with…