With World War II raging and America soon to enter the fray, Luke Easter planned to enlist in the United States Army in 1941. However, while returning from a trip to Memphis, Tennessee with Sam Jethroe, Easter was involved in an auto accident that left him with a fractured leg. Luscious "Luke" Easter, serial number 37 368 805, was finally inducted into the Army at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis on June 22, 1942. Assigned to the Quartermaster Corps after basic training, he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, about one hundred miles southwest of St. Louis. Easter was separated from the Army at Fort Leonard Wood on July 3, 1943, and thereafter worked in the defense industry.