The United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. My dad was already in the service having enlisted on January 21. He planned to be discharged after one year of service in January of 1942. The declaration of war altered his plans.
Dad was assigned to Fort Brady at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The fort was originally established to guard against potential invasions from the British through Canada. By the time he arrived, there was a “new Fort Brady” with the primary responsibility of guarding the Soo Locks
My uncles told stories about my dad returning home “on leave” for the week-end. The stories told of a man who, more than once, stayed home longer than his scheduled leave. He showed up with a duffle bag full of booze and an eye on partying. He would check into the family home at 173 Barbara Street in Mt. Clemens to visit Ma and Pa Tebo. After that he’d head to his best friends’ house, my Uncle Harry and Aunt Ruth. He was dating Ruth’s sister, Kate, who eventually became my mom. He returned to the fort when the duffle bag was empty. As the story continues, he cycled through being a private to a private first class and back to a private.
While none of the story tellers remain to confirm, or deny, his alleged exploits, I doubt their authenticity. The thing I know for sure was Dad was an MP at Fort Brady, and as such, would have been familiar with “the stockade” either as a client or a guard. After war was declared, the 2nd Infantry Division conducted cold-weather training at the fort to determine what equipment would be necessary during wintery conditions. Dad was one of the instructors.
I know he celebrated his final peacetime Thanksgiving on November 20, 1941 with the 702nd Military Police Battalion at Fort Brady, because he saved his program from the dinner. He and the 114 men of the battalion listed in the program ate well that day. Seventeen days later they were at war. A few months later, the 702nd was transferred from guarding the locks to Baltimore, Maryland, then to California, and inactivated in Pennsylvania in 1946. Dad didn’t make the trip to California. By the time the group was headed there, he had been reassigned to the Army Corps of Engineers and was heading to the Philippines. They didn’t eat as well there.
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I love the cigars and cigarettes at the end of the menu. When I served there was a saying any time we were waiting for our next order. It was”light’em up, if you’ve got’em, if you don’t smoke; start.”
Doubt you’d hear that today.