Engineer Memoirs
A
William K. Harrison, Jr. I had no real choice in the first place. In the second place, I
knew and admired General Harrison very much, so I assented. After 11 months of
combat in the European theater, I got on the boat and came home on verbal orders, a
somewhat unique move; but it seemed to work out.
I stayed with the Infantry Division as G-4 through a very trying period, following
the Japanese surrender. The division was used as a release unit stationed at Camp
Swift, Texas. We were trying to maintain training, yet at the same time we were putting
soldiers through by the thousands, simply to process them for discharge. This continued
into the spring of 1946, when the division moved to Fort Lewis, Washington.
State University of Iowa, 1946-1947
Shortly after the division's arrival there, I was detached from it and sent to graduate
school. This assignment had been deferred six years before when I had orders to go to
Cornell for graduate work. Those orders had been canceled with the mobilization of the
Army in late 1940. This time I went to the State University of Iowa for a master's
degree in civil engineering.
Q ..
How did it feel to get back home to the United States after a period of 11 months of
combat in
A ..
Well, terrific, really.
Q ..
You were married before you went overseas?
A ..
Yes, married and had two children. My wife didn't even know I was coming home until
I called her in the middle of the night after I got to Camp
New Jersey, telling
her I was
in the States.
Where had she been while you were in Europe?
A ..
She and the children had been in Illinois at her parents' home. This was from February
of 1944 until July of 1945.
Q ..
Which is a long time.
A ..
Eighteen months or thereabouts. After a short leave, I moved the family to Texas to
join the 2d Infantry Division, which had been assigned to Camp Swift.
Q ..
You said you were there doing training as well as processing?
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