11/11/2022
By Kate Stone Lombardi
I’m writing this on Veteran’s Day, one when I always think of my late Dad. Like so many of his generation, he fought in WWII, and had, as they said back then, “a hard war.” I know my Dad liberated at least one concentration camp, but he only talked about his service towards the end of his life.
He was the most loving and caring father imaginable. Still, I remember when I was a little girl, if I came to my Dad in the middle of the night after a bad dream and woke him from a deep sleep, he would jump to his feet and shout, “Who goes there?!”
He’s pictured above with his own father. (Dad is on the right.) I’m guessing the photo is from 1943, though he’d enlisted the year before.
Recently I came across an amazing treasure in an old box in my Mom’s attic. It is small brown leather book, with a military seal and the word “Buddies” embossed on the cover. The title page reads, “My Record of Friends in the Service.”
Above it, my Dad has scribbled:
Sworn in August 29, 1942, Inducted March 24, 1943, at Ft. Devens, MA.
April 2 to 710 (Claridge) aaFTTC, Atlantic City, N.J. May 22, ’43 Camp Crowder, Mo. July 20 to University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo. Aug.10 -to ASTP, Madison, Wisc. March 17, ’44 Fort Coster, Mich. March 27, ’44 to Camp McCoy, Wisc.
Later he would be in Germany, France and Poland, and then back in Germany. But his buddies’ signatures were all from the time he was still stateside. They include names, home address, service address, and comments. My favorite are the entries for “service address,” because these boys didn’t yet know where they’d be shipped.
Here’s a sampling: “Ask the Father, the Son and the ol’ Holy Grail,” “The world at large,” “Somewhere cold.” “I wish I knew,” “Hell if I know, Don. We’re all acquainted with the inscrutable ways of the army,” and finally, the straightforward: “Hell.”
The dates of the entries begin in July of 1943 and end in October of 1944. My Dad would have been 19 years old at the start. Here are a few entries for the comments, which I think speak for the time, circumstances, and themselves.
“It was great knowing you, Stone. i’m sorry we had to part in such an abrupt manner. But as two great soldiers we must pursue our respective courses. We have responsibilities we must face. I’ll take the blonde on the right. Hope we may meet again.”
“Stoneface, you’re a good kid.”
“It’s always tough leaving after you get to know a guy you like. I’ll be expecting to hear from you and show you some California babes after the war. Good luck Stoney. KP Kid.”
“I love life. I love mating. I love beautiful things. But how I hate my draft board.”
“May the partnership always come out ahead, even after this mess called a war is over.”
“To my Roomie – may you be as lucky in every thing as you were in not getting caught by the O.D. after lights out.”
My favorite: “I think you’re already grown up, Don, if you give yourself a chance. In some ways you’re more of a man than I’ll ever be. Always remember your mind. That’s our one personal possession they can’t take away – and it’s priceless. Good luck!”
There’s so much more. Of course I don’t know which of these men survived the war. But I’m grateful to every man and woman who has defended our democracy.