Columnists

Personal Stories Of WWII… Different Stations

Issue 15.14

Some have made the military a career but I merely fulfilled my World War Two obligations. As a matter of fact, we guys used to sing a song to a stolen melody that went like this. “When the war is over, we will all enlist again (three times). We will like hell we will.” We spoke of a person who retired from the military as a twenty or thirty year person. I always felt that I got my twenty years done in two and a half years. When I was discharged in October of 1945 I was as good as a bowl of jelly. Soldiers always remember the different places they were stationed at for good or bad. I was stationed at Salt lake City, Logan Utah, Santa Anna, California twice, Lincoln Nebraska twice, Alexandria, Louisiana, Denver, Colorado twice, Las Vegas, Nevada, Polebrook, England, New Jersey, Tacoma, Washington, Boise, Idaho, San Diego, California and other places for short stays. While at most of these places, I go to see what is going on in the nearby city.

Some cities had reputations of being good soldier’s towns and some had the opposite reputation. While stationed at Alexandria, Louisiana, I did not care for that city but the guys on my crew would hire a taxi and five of us would pile in and go to the small Cajun town of Marksville. The only place in town to buy something to eat was a personal residence that put tables in their living room and served a modest fare from their kitchen. I’m quite sure that they didn’t have a restaurant license because the meat dish they served (because of rationing) was crawdads which were plentiful in the wild.  A person could get used to eating crawdads.

This small town had a dance hall or rather a barn converted to a dance hall. They provided live music for the crowded G.I.’s. The men’s restroom was out the back door and in back of the wooden fence. I got to know some of the French accented speaking people.

Boise was another great place for a soldier to enjoy. I wasn’t there for a longtime but long enough to find out that the people loved military people.  It was at a private party that I found out that smoked rattle snake meat was tasty. I was also taken in by a family in the dairy business.

Denver is another good “Soldier’s town.” I got to know some of the local people and loved them. One January day, I was standing on the street corner wondering what I was going to do for the evening when a car drove up and stopped by me. The passenger rolled down her window and asked me if I would like to be their guest at the big rodeo. I answered that I sure would. She asked me to jump in the back seat which I did. This middle aged couple bought my ticket and I sat with them to see the show.

They also bought me treats. After the rodeo, they drove me back to where I could catch the bus to take me back to Lowery Field.

I cannot forget the village of Polbrook in England where my air base was located. The villagers were very kind and talkative. Whenever I saw children, I always had gum for them. These people kept track of our losses and loved what we were doing in the war. Whenever I had time off, I went to London. Although most of the city was flattened, it was a fun place to go. These places that I mentioned were a far cry from an east coast city that had signs “No dogs or sailors allowed”.

Sam Wyrouck can be contacted at 801-707-2666.

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