Homecoming GI - Saturday Evening Post Cover May 26, 1945I was born on this day at 6:30 in the morning. Nazi Germany surrendered in April effectively ending the war in Europe, but the war with Japan still raged on in the Pacific. My father, a Msgt. in the army, had been lucky enough to ship back from the Aleutian Islands in mid 1944. He was stationed at Camp Chaffy in Little Rock, AR as a drill instructor training new recruits.
I was born in Blytheville, a small farming town in the northeast part of the state about 100 miles or so from Little Rock. Both my mother and father had relatives nearby and my mom stayed with her parents during my father's overseas duty. I've been told that my birth was normal and unremarkable, but my father had to practically go AWOL to get to Blytheville to see me.
His company was on bivouac and wasn't allowed to leave the area. He was summoned to see the company commander who told him about my birth. The commander, a Captain who had known my dad ever since their National Guard days before WWII, asked him if he intended to go to Blytheville even though he was ordered not to. My Dad replied that he did. The commander then said he had better issue him a "special pass" so the MPs wouldn't pick him up.
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