William Morton Hunt 2828th Bn 36th Engineer Regiment

[Walt's Daughter]

I just heard back from his wife this morning. We are still trying to ascertain the facts. This is the letter I sent to her a few minutes ago.

 

Dear Janice:

 

I'm with you on this one and I can see why you are so confused. Make that two of us. ha-ha!

 

Thanks for sharing ALL that, for I am looking for ANYTHING, which may help us.

 

Another thing that is confusing to me is this. I found out from Northwestern that he left school after the fall quarter of '44, which they said would have ended sometime in December and that he returned for winter quarter in January of 47. Bill said in past and more lucid years that he knew he was going to be drafted, so he went down to Fort Lauderdale and blew trumpet in pick-up bands playing for the swarms of service men in Fort Lauderdale at the time. Then he went into the Army, did basic training at Fort Rucker, went to North Africa and was put in Patton's Third Army and from there was transported across the Mediterranean, landed in Italy and from there went to France where fought at the end of the Battle of the Bulge.

The confusing part is that, if the folks at Northwestern are right and the Fall Quarter ended in December (let's say December 1), how could he have gotten to Florida, spent some time (even a week or two) gotten drafted, completed basic training and be sent all over the place and ended up at the Battle of the Bulge before it ended on January 25? Also he did not turn 18 until January 15 of 1945, only 10 days before the Battle ended. I don't think they drafted 17-year-olds, did they? It is possible that he enlisted, but he never mentioned any patriotic leanings, so it seems doubtful.

 

But you are so right about one thing; there's no way he could have finished the fall semester, gone through basic training, spent two weeks on a ship to the ETO and then took part in the Battle of the Bulge, which ran from Dec 16, 44 to approximately the end of January. Training was eight weeks in itself.

 

It's seems more likely he would have gotten drafted on his birthday, then did this eight weeks of training, and then shipped to Europe. He would have still gotten there to fight the last several weeks of war, and then remained in occupied Germany for several more months. That is extremely plausible. But this is probably why the 36th Engineers cannot find him on their rolls. It is also possible he wasn't placed with them until the very end or even during the occupation. This makes it even more difficult to find any records.

 

Now that I have a firmer understanding (thanks to you), I can proceed from there. Can't promise anything, but...

 

Marion