Camp Atterbury, Indiana
In November 1944, my dad was transferred
to Camp Atterbury, which was a Separation Center. While continuing
his convalescence, my dad worked as an Orientation Specialist.
Men were brought to the orientation building where they were given
a lecture on the process to be gone through. Dad collected data
for the lecture and helped to prepare it.
Barracks, Camp Atterbury
Above: Post card sent by
my dad to his mother.
Above: Flip side of the
Camp Atterbury post card.
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While stationed at Camp Atterbury,
my dad met my mother at a USO in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Right: My parents'
wedding announcement
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My Parent's Wedding Picture
June 14, 1945
W.W.II Irony:
My dad, who is Italian, was wounded in Italy fighting the
Germans. Two years later, he married my mother, who
is German and immigrated to the U.S. when she was 3 years
old.
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My Uncle Matt (mom's brother), Mom, and
Dad
Above left: From my dad's uniform.
Some Dates
in History
| Nov. 1944 |
Dad is transferred to Camp Atterbury,
Indiana, where he continues convalescing. Meets my mom at
a USO in Indianapolis, Indiana. |
| April 12, 1945 |
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
dies of a massive cerebral hemorrhage, in a frame cottage on Pine
Mountain, Georgia. |
| May 1945 |
Dad attends school for personnel
services at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia,
for a 4-week course for "educational reconditioning." |
| May 7, 1945 |
Germany surrenders - German chief
General Alfred Jodl, at a plain wood table in a grimy school building
in Reims, signs the paper that ended 2,076 days of war in Europe. |
| June 14, 1945 |
Mom and dad are married in Indianapolis,
Indiana. |
| Aug. 6, 1945 |
President Harry S. Truman orders
an atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Sixty-six thousand people
were killed. A second bomb was exploded at Nagasaki on August
9 and 39,000 Japanese died. Five days later World War II
was over. |
| Dec. 1945 |
Dad goes to Fort Knox, Kentucky,
to do some teaching. |
| Feb. 5, 1946 |
Dad is discharged from the military
service of the U.S. To see Separation of Qualification
Record, click here |
| Feb. 6, 1946 |
Dad is awarded disability pension
on account of disabilities resulting from the following condition
held to have been incurred during W.W. II services: nerve injury,
weakness of forearm and hand secondary to gunshot wounds left
elbow, and gunshot wound left thigh and right knee. |
I don't know why this picture was in
the scrapbook.
Caption at top says "Send
this back." I would love to be able to give this to the Jacobs
family.
My dad didn't talk a lot about
the war years. As a former infantryman who experienced combat first
hand, he was not fond of military hoopla and hawkish politicians who glorified
W.W.II and subsequent wars--including Vietnam, which he very much opposed--yet
never directly experienced battle. For him, war was not glorious
but something to be avoided by all means necessary.
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