World War II began for the United States on Dec. 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Young men and women readily volunteered to serve but many men had been drafted into the military prior to Dec. 7. The population of Dickinson County in 1940 was 12,185. Before WWII was over, 1,000 men and women served in the military from this county.
The honor roll for each community in the county was proudly displayed on its Main Street. I recall the honor board in Milford was located a bit north of the local drug store, which is there today. A local sign painter made a small metal plaque with the name when they entered the military. After that fellow was drafted, my father, Ray LaFoy, took the responsibility for adding the names. Dad volunteered my services and I painted the names until July of 1943 when I entered the military. I am not sure who continued to paint the names. Milford had 321 on its honor roll, Arnolds Park had 83 names on a honor roll board on the northwest corner at the stoplight, Terril had 106, Lake Park had 110 and Spirit Lake had over 400. This adds up to over 1,000 men and women serving in the military from Dickinson County in the military in WWII. Wow!
Many of the individuals volunteered for service and many were drafted. The conscription or draft was passed by Congress and signed by President Roosevelt on Sept. 16, 1940. All men between the ages of 21 to 45 years old were compelled to register. It was later that the age was changed to 18 years old. When you became 18 you were required to go to the Dickinson County Courthouse and register. Soon after that, you were given a physical examination and presented with a card. Many men waited to be called and while many others volunteered for the draft. We were at war and were eager to do our part. I became 18 in June 1943 and volunteered for the draft because I could choose where I went. I enlisted in the Aviation Engineers — Army Air Corps, March Field, Riverside, California.
Wayne Christenson and his mother, Alice, compiled a scrapbook with articles from the Milford Mail during the war. Wayne was the printer's devil that took my job over in the summer of 1942. The editor of the Milford Mail was Art Schuneman during WWII and sent the paper to each service person. There was nothing more valuable than to get the Milford Mail at mail call when you were on the other side of the earth, India-Burma-China. A letter or mail from home was wonderful! During the past month or so I had the opportunity to stroll through that great scrapbook.
Strolling through the scrapbook, it was a history book of the men and women from Milford in the war. We were all over the globe and oceans fighting the Germans and Japanese. Each person who served in the military has a story. There is no way to write about each and every person and yet we all had similar experiences. After being inducted and sworn in to protect the U.S. we went to basic training.
Each branch of the military had their own methods but talking to many of the ex-service persons it was tough regardless of what branch of the service. The military had to convert civilians to the way of taking orders, learning new skills and the order of things. My basic training was at March Field with the Nineteenth Platoon. There were 45 of us and the ages were from 18 to 49 years old. There were three fellows in my platoon that were 49 years old and two of them had been in WWI. Remembering when I became 49 and looking back, I marveled at how those fellows stayed with us 18- and 19-year old kids. But they did and never shirked their duty. The experiences of the over 1,000 area men and women who served in the armed forces in WWII would be a large order and unfortunately many did not write or pass their experiences on in history. My father was in WWI, but he seldom spoke of his experiences in France — much to our regret.
The scrapbook is full of articles about the experiences in WWII but I chose one or two that seemed interesting to me. There were some who didn't survive the war. Some were shot down, prisoners of war and some were in naval battles in the Pacific and fighting in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. My war experiences were in China-Burma-India, but we all were dedicated to winning the war.
I selected one of the many from Milford who wrote about his experiences in Europe in WWII: The soldier was Jim Fuller who was born in Milford, graduated from Milord High School in 1940. He was a good athlete and a good friend. Jim was in the infantry and in the Battle of the Budge.
From the Milford Mail — 1945:
"Fuller is one of the soldiers who got captured in the Belgium 'Battle of the Bulge' last December. But his story is a little different. He was with a group of 800 soldiers who had been surrounded and surrendered. The entire company was reported missing Dec. 16 and that is what his mother's message said. As a matter of fact, they did not surrender until Dec. 21 after they had been cut off from the Army for several days. The first thing the Germans did was relieve them of their overshoes and started them marching eastward into Germany. They went east and southward after walking five or so days they were put on trains and taken to the border near Czechoslovakia.
They were in a camp near Dresden, Germany and were assigned to work details in small towns. Jim was put to work digging ditches. He did this through January and February. The guards were either old men or businessmen who were forced to guard them. The worst job was unloading coal. That helped to keep them warm, at least. They had plenty of water and could bathe and clean up after work. Prisoners who had been there awhile were issued new clothing by the Red Cross."
The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Toward the end of the war at the POW camp Jim was in, the guards left so he and several other G.I.s took off seeking the American Army. That is a story by itself and it was some adventure, according to Jim. They finally found the Americans and eventually arrived back in the U.S.A. This is only one of the many stories the men and women of Dickinson County could tell of their military career in WWII.
What a history this scrapbook is and it means a lot to me, as a historian, serving in the Armed Forces in WWII and a friend of many who served. Thank you to the foresight of the composers who compiled this scrapbook!