Prior to his overseas service in WWII, Dad was in the Ohio National Guard 107th Horse Cavalry enlisting in November 1940.  On March 5th, 1941 his unit was inducted into Federal Service as the "Winds of War" were blowing..  Between then and December 1941 he participated in military manuevers in the Carolinas and Louisiana and training at Camp Forrest TN which is where he was when Pearl Harbor occured.  "On December 6th 1941 my two buddies and I rented a hotel room for the weekend in Nashville TN as the 107th Cavalry was invited to a big Dance at Vanderbilt University.  It was a great dance and those Vanderbilt ladies really knew how to party!  Late in the weekend there was a commotion and a pounding on our door.  When we opened it the MP's came busting through stating that  all military personel had to return to their posts, this is an emergency!  So our women scurried around getting dressed and we three did the same except that our spurs had been hidden by our women.  Which much swearing and threatening they gave us our spurs back which of course are essential to a horse soilder.  We learned that Pearl had been bombed so we got on the next bus back to Camp Forrest."

 

Shortly after Pearl Harbor happened the 107th went to California.  After being shipped immediately by rail to Fort Ord, California and staging there, the Army took away all of the horses from the men and mechanized the cavalry.  During that winter and spring Dad took many passes and leaves around the west coast.  He and an Army buddy spent Christmas 1941 in Reno where "They painted the town Red", he also spent some time at Santa Cruz, CA and visited friends and cousins in Sacramento and Los Angeles.   Dad had a habit of looking up Kraushaar's he didn't know in the phone book when he went to a new town and saying hello and asking where their family came from in Europe.  While visiting Los Angeles he called Raoul Kraushaar, who shortly after became a famous actor and director of movies and television shows who's career spanned four decades in Hollywood.  Dad had quite a long chat with him and found out he was born in Paris.  You can get alot more information on Raoul Kraushaar by doing a web search. The unit shipped out for overseas, but Dad was in the Army hospital at Fort Ord.  After he got out of the hospital the Army gave him a choice of some new skills and schools and so he picked Hospital Lab Tech.  He was transfered to Fort Lewis, Washington (90 miles from where I live) where for one year he trained in a MASH type hospital unit and pretty much enjoyed army life in the Seattle area.  He made alot of friends at Fort Lewis and also took in a Washington vs California college football game. His diary starts upon leaving Ft. Lewis and I will summarize much of it and post a few exciting exerpts from it: