Home From the War.
The picture above, was taken in 1946 and shows me with my 3 best buddies from Boy Scout and high school days:
From left to right, they are Russ Cloer (me), Harry “Beege†Conrey, Don “Manuel†Valdes, and Ralph “Newt†Lewtas.
Harry volunteered for the Navy and applied for the Naval pilot training program. He washed out and spent the rest of the war aboard ship as a radio operator.
Don volunteered for the Army air force, got his wings and became a flight instructor for bomber pilots. After the War, he went back to college and became a PhD professor..
Ralph was a nose turret gunner on B-17s over Europe. He was WIA in action twice.
All but Ralph are still alive. Ralph died of a heart attack about 10 years ago.
Ah Memories,
Russ Cloer - 3_7_I_Recon
Oh yes!
I forgot to mention that I volunteered for Infantry OCS after 4 years of college ROTC. I was sent overseas as an infantry replacement officer to the 7th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division on the Anzio Beachhead. I fought in 6 campaigns in Italy, France and Germany, plus 6 months of occupation duty in Germany. I spent two years overseas and was separated from the service (to the inactive reserve) in January 1946.
I went to work for the Curtiss-Wright Corp in 1946, went to N.J. Institute of Technology nights to get my M.S. degree in Management Engineering in 1954. I retired in 1954 as Director of Administration, moved to Florida in 1981 and am still "hanging in there" at age 84.
Great photo. I like to see the "before" and "after" photos and the photos of the happy faces of the soldiers at home are great. Also, I'm always curious to see what they are wearing. Many of them appear to be in uniform but sometimes not exactly in official uniform.
Take your photo for example. Two of the guys are wearing their field jackets---am I right?
plus 6 months of occupation duty in Germany
It sounds like you were over there long enough to earn points to come home. Did you volunteer to remain there after the war?? Were you in the same unit or transferred to another unit?
Steve
Custerman
Did I volunteer to remain for Occupation? Hell No! I was an inactive reservist who had volunteered for active duty,. I fought in 6 campaigns and survived by a miracle. I had been overseas for two years, most of it in infantry combat, and I wanted to go home to my wife to whom I had been married only 8 weeks before being shipped out. And get on with my career as an engineer.
But my unit was a regular army unit. I came in as a replacement officer and was not ‘regular army†but rather “reserve†volunteer for active duty.
The 7th Infantry and 3rd Inf. Division were regular army and so they were deployed for occupation duty along the border of the Russian Occupation Zone to assure the Russians didn’t attempt to move further west. I was part of it.
I had enough “pointsâ€to go home, but I was declared “essentialâ€, because 3 of the jr officers in my company signed on for the regular army and were rewarded with a one month leave at home with 30 days travel time each way. Regulations permitted the Army to hold any officer for 3 months beyond his eligibility date for rotation, if he was considered essential. So there I sat! 1st Lt. Essential! And I stayed their for another 3 months and was then allowed to go home, even though the other 3 officers had not yet returned.
I remember a discussion of the pros and cons of signing on over drinks at the Officer’s club we had set up. I remember one Lt. saying, “I think I’ll sign on. It beats going back to the steel mills in Youngstown!†Another commented, “I’m not anxious to go back to the old fire station either.†I was neither a steel worker nor a fireman! I wanted to go Home!
Each to his own, but I had had enough. To volunteer in a time of your country’s need is one thing. To volunteer for a life of drudgery is something else. I stayed in the reserve, but was never called to active duty.
Why, is a whole ’nother story!
Russ Cloer