At 20 years old he went into the Army and ended up in England in 1944, 5 months after D-Day. He was sent to France in November of 1944, supposedly as part of an occupation force, but was caught up in the Battle of the Bulge a month later.
In November 1944 he was diving to the ground to avoid enemy fire and he caught his hand and shoulder in some netting and dislocated his shoulder requiring some aid that took him off the front line. He returned to his unit in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge.
In March 1945 he was in a farmhouse with some other officers ( he went in a Lieutenant and was a Captain by then). They were reading some maps when the house was hit by enemy shells and the roof collapsed. He got piece of shrapnel in his thigh and they sent him to a hospital in Rheims, France.
He didn't think they were doing much for him at the hospital so he hitch hiked back to his unit on the front. He said, " I was a stupid, 20 year old kid. What did I know?
I remember as a kid looking at his two Purple Hearts in G'ma Shirley's night stand.
6 FEB 1924