![]() I passed the mental and physical examination and then was sent to Biloxi, Miss., for processing, then sent on to the University of Arkansas for preflight. Then a long train ride to Anneston, Ala., to Fort McClellan for basic training. We reported to Scott Field, and my first week introduced me to four straight days of KP duty, like 18 hours a day. ![]() So to begin, I joined the Army Reserves in 1942 when I was at Western Kentucky State college, and was called to active duty on April 20, 1943, along with my brother Lloyd. Pictures that stay in your mind long after and remind you of how lucky you were. There were days of loafing, joking and boredom, but also days of being down-right scared to death and seeing so many dead American and German soldiers, some you had talked to the day before. Please believe me, there is nothing glamorous about war. So, for what it's worth, I present facts and impressions as true as I can make them with a 44-year break. He wrote a detailed letter talking about his feelings prior to that great battle in Civil War history. In some ways it parallels a letter by a relative of mine named George Fritz who served in the Union Army in 1863 prior to the Battle of Vicksburg. I present the following as a personal family historical narrative of my World War II years. He worried his father that he had lost a hand because the photos he sent home kept showing him with his hands behind his back. ![]() Leroy Fritz is shown in Bamberg, Germany.
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