WWII Stories
Click on veteran names to read their stories.
Bob Boynton
The summer of 1934, I came to Sherman County with a cousin of Ted Thompson. I got a job with Bert Davis who lived east of Monkland. Everything was farmed by horses, and we had 32 head on a pull combine my first harvest…
Marion Boynton
With World War II going full speed ahead in 1943, the government was desperately recruiting nurses to enlist. A classmate, Irene Linner, and I enlisted in December 1943, with the stipulation on my part for air evacuation only.
Chet Coats
Army for three years. This would enable me to choose an arm of the service, such as Infantry, Artillery, etc. Not knowing when my draft call would come, I enrolled in a sheet metal school in Hood River, but in a couple of weeks my draft notice arrived.
Howard Conlee
I was drafted into the service at Portland, Oregon, on December 3, 1941, and sent to Fort Lewis, Washington. When I was inducted, I was told that if I would enlist for three years, I could choose my branch of service.
John (Curly) De Moss
Leaving Portland, Oregon we were sent by train to Norfolk, VA, for basic training. While there we spent about a month assembling buildings for the incoming personnel. THIS WAS OUR BOOT CAMP!
Marcus and Eilene Eslinger
He became friends with a farmer from Iowa whose wife was with him, so Marc sent for me. What an experience — my first train ride, so far from home and pregnant!
Paul A. Fraser
I spent one year at Fort Lewis, Washington, with the Third Infantry Division, and was then sent to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii to become a part of the Twenty-Fourth Infantry Division.
Thomas H. Fraser Jr.
As I look back at four years of Reserve Officer Training at Oregon State College and twenty-eight years of active and reserve military service, it seems only yesterday that all of it happened. For Sherman County lads, it sure wasn't like rounding up cows and doing the evening chores.
Mac Hall
I entered the Army March 1, 1944 and ended up in the light tank division. I boarded the Ile de France (a former luxury liner) on the 11th of September 1944 and arrived at the Firth of Clyde, Scotland (where my grandfather Nish was born) on the 19th of September.
Joseph L. Heater
Joseph enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January 1943. He attended boot camp at Farragut, Idaho. Upon completion he was sent to the Great Lakes Illinois Naval base, where he attended Motor Machinist School.
Lloyd V. Henrichs
My first service with the army was during my college days at Oregon State University from 1936 to 1940. The first two years of Reserve Officers Training were required at OSU.
Dan Kaseberg
ON OCTOBER 16, 1940, Dan Kaseberg and Jack Hines, graduates of Wasco High class of 1940, joined the U.S. Navy. A new program, allowing you to pick the type of duty and training you desired, was available.
At dawn on December 3 1, 1944, while the Battle of the Bulge raged, two young airmen took off from Thorpe Abbotts, England, and flew their Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress in formation with hundreds of others in what was to be a "maximum effort" over Germany by every available flier…
To the right is a complete animated rendition of the “Piggyback Flight”
Stuart Macnab
I had been attending Oregon College of Education at Monmouth for two years when it came time for me to enlist. I wanted to go into some construction battalion because I planned to come home and farm. The Army, Navy, and Marines all insisted because I'd been to college that I go into the Air Corps.
Tom Macnab
It must be remembered that this is being written 50 years after the facts. Memories dim under the best of circumstances, but those in the armed forces were often ill and nobody wrote anything down.
Malcolm McDermid
Some time ago an article was printed in the Veterans of Foreign Wars magazine urging all veterans to record their military experiences. At the time it did not seem to me that I had much to write about, but as time passed I recalled some interesting people and incidents that were encountered only because of being in the military service.
Owietus (Neal) McDermid
It was snowing in Medford, Oregon on the evening of January 19, 1943. I had taken the oath of office to be an Ensign in the United States Navy Nurse Corps about a month prior to receiving the order to proceed to the U.S. Naval Hospital, Treasure Island, California.
Phil O'Meara
I was in school at Linfield when I got my draft notice on December 10, 1941. With forty-some other men I went into Portland where I entered the service in January 1942. A master sergeant said, "I am putting you in charge of these 42 people going to Fort Lewis."
Frank C. Sayrs
9/8/42 Frank was inducted into the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington, in August of 1942. He was sent to Camp Wolters, Texas, which was 30 miles northwest of Fort Worth.
I was sworn into the Navy December 26, 1940 and on the 27th was put on a train along with a lot of other men going to San Diego. On the train with me was Rodney Truitt of Moro who had enlisted at the same time.
Wallace Stark
I graduated from Dufur High School in 1933 and stayed with Pop Sam on the Ranch until 1938 or 1939. Then I enrolled in business college in Portland but after a couple of months said, "Forget it".
Robert W Tatum
After Robert W. Tatum finished basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, he was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for motor pool (diesel mechanic) training. His wife Geraldine, who was in the Shell Oil Office, Terminal Sales Building in Portland, would take the train to Tacoma, Washington every weekend to visit.
Glenn Virtue
First, a little background history on Glenn's early life. His father was a Canadian from Ontario, Canada, where he worked in a silver mine. He came to work at the Greenback Mine in southern Oregon, where Glenn's mother cooked, and they eventually married.
Donald von Borstel and Jacque Jenkins
I graduated from Kent High School in 1939. There were four students in my class. I am the only one still alive. I worked at home on the ranch during the summers. The first winter I attended OIT (Oregon Institute of Technology) in Portland, Oregon.
Nellie Wilson Meade
I was in the Navy almost two years, and was a pharmacist mate second class when I left. Boot Camp was in New York City. I was scared spitless of the subways, but did have the pleasure of being taken sightseeing by a distant cousin.
Clarence A. Young
I enlisted in the Navy and was sworn in on July 10, 1939. After about three months in the San Diego Naval Training Center (Boot Camp), I was assigned to the U.S.S. Sturtevant DD 240.
Harry W. Young
I entered the service on January 20, 1943 and was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington. I left on the train for Fresno, California for basic training on the 25th, my 20th birthday. Then after an appropriate time for basic training, in the heat of Fresno, California, I was put on a troup train for Ama- rillo, Texas for basic aircraft training.
