The Frontier Kid

I might mention here that I served in Europe for 21 months, and was in the following campaigns: Normandy, Northern France, Rhinelands, Ardens, and Central Europe. I was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and the European Middle East Service Medal with five bronze stars, and the Distinguished Presidential Unit Citation plus the Bronze Star Medal. Due to the shortage of ships taking men home, we had to serve in the Army of Occupation in Bavaria for five months. Here, we gaurded approximately 15,000 German prisoners. We did have passes… as many as you would want. So, most of us went into Paris and surrounding towns and into the Bavarian Alps, and so forth. Then, we finally got word that they had put up a new camp on the shore of France, and they called it Camp Lucky Strike. We were finally sent there by train to get on the ship to return home. We were on the ship for about six days, and we pulled in to New York Harbor, right past the Statue of Liberty and into Camp Shanks, NY, where we regrouped. The next day, we got on a train and proceeded to Indian Town Gap, PA, for final discharge. However, there were so many troops in Indian Town Gap that we couldn't get in. So, they sent word around that we were to go immediately home once the train stopped in the station. You can imagine the confusion with so many people on the roads in Indian Town Gap. However, I was lucky because Jim Clark, who was my buddy in the service, called his wife in Sunbury, PA, which was about 40 miles away, and she came and picked him up with a car. So, I rode into Harrisonburg, PA and got a train out for Toledo, OH. I had called Ardis from Harrisburg, and told her that I would be in to the station at Toledo at a certain time. So, she met me there, and I was flabbergasted to finally see her again after two years. Whether you believe this or not, we were more of a stranger to each other than we had been to each other for the prior four years before we were married. We had to put our life in perspective, and go on from there. Putting the war and all of its horrors out of our mind for good, (which we did, to a certain degree) was an accomplishment probably above and beyond our expectations at the time.