back. Of my high school class, I should say. And friendship became, friendship
 was always important but it seemed to be more important, I think, when we all
 came back and we saw our friends who came back. That was very important to
 me in retrospect. And you take a different view of life. I think... well, I think all
 of us recognized that we were, even though we came out of the Depression,
 Americans we were God-damn lucky and fortunate in this world. I think we all
 came back with that. And we very very fortunate. And unfortunately, not many,
 not most people realized that.

Q.: Is that how you felt when you heard the war itself was over? That you were very
 fortunate?
A.: Oh, the war was over in Europe. Of course, it wasn't over everywhere. So we
 were being, we were sent back to the United States, actually in North Carolina,
 which by the way, was Fort Hood I was at in Texas. It was Fort Bragg in North
 Carolina. But they, then we were being retrained to go to Japan. And I always
 thought it a pleasant prospect. We didn't want to go that direction to begin with.
 The preference was, to fight against Germany rather than to... That was
 considered better duty. Than to fight against the Japanese. We all have that
 (inaudible). But, no, when, I, there was a rumor went out at Fort Bragg that
 something big had happened, some mysterious weapon had been, had gone off in
 Japan. In 1939 I delivered newspapers and there was a story had leaked out about
 a bomb that was being, they had it on the front page. They confiscated all those
 papers later on. But I had, I had seen that, and I said, I was jumping for joy and I
 told all the fellows. I was the youngest guy in my outfit. All the guys (inaudible)
 organization and I was jumping on the table, I said, "Guys the war is over! I tell
 you, the war is over!"

Q.: You were overjoyed.
A.: I was overjoyed. Man, I said, "We're not going to have to go on the..."* But that
 was the next day, well, a couple days later lost the (inaudible). (inaudible)
 because the other one was worth more. Yeah, that was, and then we start thinking
 about joining society. We wrote to our parents...

Q.: How were you treated as a soldier and a medic when you returned home?
A.: That was pretty good. I always tell that story, you know, I had gotten one leave
 two months before that. They gave us two weeks leave and we came back from
 overseas. And I'd been on leave once. And we got gas coupons, we got special
 gas coupons so we could go travel if we could get ahold of a car or anything. So
 it was, when I went back, it was like three months later. And it was about six
 weeks after the war was over. I was released as they say. And I went home, well,
 my train... everything was done by train, you know. It was a very different
 world. And I got off the train in a town ten miles from my hometown. There was
 no train in my town. And got off the station, I think I was the only soldier coming
 off the station. And got off the platform, and there was no one there. No one!



 Drcro 1 '