A chapter from “An Artist’s Story,” the life story Lee wrote in his eighties. In his words, as he wrote them.
The US Army called up married men with two children starting in April of 1944. My call up papers arrived the first of June and I entered service of my country on the 14th of June 1944. My army serial number is 36-986-791. It doesn’t mean much today but during my enlistment time it meant everything. I even wore this number around my neck day and night wet or dry, warm or cold in other words all the time.
When we climbed aboard the train at the Flint station I was handed a letter from the Director of the selective service board 6 of Flint, which gave me the authority over 16 other men. They were my responsibility and I was to see that they got to Fort Sheridan, Ill on time and in good condition. Each one of us were apprehensive about the trip. We got off the train in Chicago and a G.I. met us at the platform. He showed us where to get aboard a northbound train for Ft. Sheridan. We left the Chicago station heading north along the Lake Michigan shoreline and arrived at Ft. Sheridan just at mealtime, where the real army took over. We were all lined up at the barbershop for our first G.I. haircut and told to wait. When it was my turn at the barber chair, to my surprise it turned out to be Louis’s uncle from Dundie, Michigan. Prior to being inducted into the army he had been a barber in her grandfathers barbershop. Now he was in the army cutting my hair. Wow!! What a small world.
Transcription
Original spelling preserved; [brackets] mark uncertain or editorial readings.
Appointment of Leader or Assistant Leader — Office of the Director of Selective Service, Washington. D.S.S. Form 158.
To Whom It May Concern: Special confidence being placed in the integrity and ability of Leland Wales Mick he is hereby appointed leader [“assistant leader” struck out] of a contingent of selected men from Local Board No. 6 of Genesee County, in the State of Michigan.
He is, therefore, charged with the enforcement of the Selective Service Regulations governing selected men enroute to Induction Stations during the journey from Flint, Mich. to Fort Sheridan, Ill. and all men included within the contingent are directed to obey his lawful orders during the journey.
Date: June 13, 1944. By Order of the Director of Selective Service — [signed], Chairman of Local Board.
Our next instructions were to hurry up and wait for a place to sleep. We had only our shaving equipment in a small bag, the clothes we were wearing would be discarded when we got our G.I. issues.
It was already dark and we had not eaten yet, so the next thing was to hurry up and wait at a big warehouse. The next instruction was “take-em off” and “shower“, once we were dry and lined up the instruction was “what size you want?” The first thing we got was an olive drab duffle bag. Then underclothes, shirt, pants and socks with a G.I. cap. “Put-em-on, you can change-em-if they don’t fit“. “What size shoe you want?” “Lets go-move along-or you will be to late for chow- move it.”
We did get a bunk inside an eight-man pyramid tent. We stayed there for three days, without knowing where we were going or where we would be assigned. Yes there were lots of rumors all day long but nothing you could put your finger on. Hurry up and wait. That was the name of the game. We had been given the basic uniform and issued our dog tags and we looked like soldiers but it would take weeks before we would feel like one.
It was not long that we were told we would be moved by train to some place in Texas. We had everything together and waiting.
The call came to grab your duffle bag and line up by two’s; we got aboard the Santa Fe Train and headed south toward Texas. This trip was interesting for many reasons, first the trip was really a slow train ride because it was a troop train connected to a regular passenger train and every time it stopped we were put on a side rail sometimes for hours.
This train was made up with very old styled passenger cars of the 1800’s. The seats were bench type and could be moved so that 4 people could play cards. There was not enough room to stretch out and sleep so you had to sleep sitting upright.
The trip from Chicago to Dallas Texas took 2 days and a night. I spent much of my time on the platform between cars watching the passing countryside. When you went through a town very slowly, lots of black children lined the fence and along the tracks.
A few would wave to us but most just stood and watched. The homes of these black children most always had an open fire in their yards. The odors of their cooking could be smelled as we traveled through the Southland. It was different than anything I had ever experienced.
The train turned west form Dallas and we arrived at camp Walters late in the evening. There were some 1500 men who disembarked and made our way toward the staging area.
Camp Walters was one of the largest infantry training camps in Texas. It was built to hold some several thousands of troops that rotated in and out on a seventeen weeks schedule. All of the buildings such as barracks for troops and the many warehouses for supplies were built around a large circle in the shape of a skull. It was 5 miles around this paved road and had only one entrance. The camp was approximately 12 miles from the town of Minerals wells Texas which in the old days was a tourist attraction for it’s many mineral baths. This was a favorite vacation spot for many Jewish people.
I took my basic training in the 62nd battalion with company B as a private. Many of the men who went through the basic training during this time were shipped over seas and became replacement personnel for the troops taking part in the combat during the German Bulge.
When I finished my basic training there were five of us who were assigned to become cadre or non- commissioned officers for the next basic training session. This kept me here in the states and I was made a CPL and was in charge of a platoon in company B.
I had a good friend during my basic training he was about my same height and weight his name was Clarence Maw and he came from Ogden, Utah. He and I sort of hit it off together we were the same age and we had some things in common. Although he was a Mormon we went to church together on the base. Some times he invited me to the Mormon Service in Mineral Wells. I could stay in the Sunday Service up to a certain point because I said that I went to a Congregational Church at home I was not allowed to stay for their full service. I felt this was somewhat strange but I did not know how strange until some years later. Clarence Maw was shipped out over seas at the end of our basic training and was killed during a battle at the close of the war in what was known at the German Bulge. His family owned a large clothing factory in Ogden Utah and his dad flew down to Texas to visit him twice during our basic training in their company plane.
I believe that Christ came into my life in the spring of 1945. I was 27 years old, and had become a drill sergeant of a platoon of men in the 26th battalion. I was not too pleased with my life style and I often felt that GOD would not be pleased either. I was doing my own thing among some five thousand men in this battalion. I was getting more and more dissatisfaction with the way I was living. The future looked bleak, no one was sure of what the future held or even if we had a future.
Well one day I asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord. I had known about Jesus even in my childhood but I did not believe in Jesus. All of my problems did not end at that moment.
It took sometime to acquire the new nature that I truly wanted because of the sin in my life but that old nature began to fade away and the Holy Spirit took charge of my heart and I slowly began to change.
Lois was a long way off, Rod was only a year old and Kenny was three and I missed them terribly. Texas was a long way from the ones I loved the most.
One Christmas I was able to finagle three, three day passes and along with an assignment to chaperon a troop train to St. Louis Missouri. I knew I was taking a chance with these passes and I felt with the Lord’s help I could make it home for Christmas if I hurried. Well I made it with a lot of help and I got home just at Christmas Eve in time to have 36 hours at home Wow!! What a great Christmas time that was. The trip was one of the hardest I ever made. I left the 300 men I was in charge of at the station in St. Louis. It was a bitter cold day in the Midwest and I started hitchhiking east toward Michigan. I was standing at the bridge looking for a ride east when a farmer in an old beat up truck stopped and gave me a ride in his cold front seat. He said that he could take me some 55 miles to a little town called Shobonier, Ind. The only problem with that was that his town was 7 miles off Highway 40.
I thanked him for the lift and he let me out at his corner. It was flat as a platter and you could see for miles, that is when it was not snowing and it was. I looked west and there was not a car in sight and I wondered what I was doing out there. I was wearing my heavy winter army overcoat with a scarf around my head to keep my hat on. It was cold. After an hour or two there were only a few people who turned at that corner to go to Shobonier it looked like no one was intent on going any long distance. Finally I saw a car approaching quite fast from the west it stopped after a few hundred feet and backed up to where I was.
He was an officer in the air corps with his wife and he had a sailor in the back seat. He said “Get In“, those were the best two words I had heard in a long time. They were on their way to Indianapolis, Ind, and wondered if that was my destination. I said yes, yes,yes and we were off. I soon fell asleep but not before I saw him glance out to his left window quite often. I realized that he was looking at the engine on his left wing, Ha! Ha!. It wasn’t long though and I was dosing peacefully.
My plan was to ride the train to Detroit so they dropped me and the sailor off at the Railroad Station in Indianapolis. It was 8:00 pm and all trains were late or full. So we headed upstairs to the USO Travel Agency, everyone was sleeping anywhere they could find.
The people in charge were announcing that they had put out a call to any trucking company in town to find any trucks going east that would take riders. It seemed that all the trucks were full.
Many GI’s were laying where ever they could find a warm place to lay. Most of them had a written note pinned to their coats with their destination written on the note. You could see that they were all going in different directions. My note said “Detroit“.
About 1:00 am someone handed me the directions for a ride going my way. I was to take the streetcar to a bar in a bowling alley that was some 4 miles south of downtown Indianapolis. There was no name or license plate number I just had to go on faith. That was the longest streetcar ride I ever made. There was no one left but me in the car after the first mile. When I arrived at the bowling alley it was at the end of the line, it was 2:30am and it was the last streetcar for the night.
I entered the darkness of the bar and saw only the bartender there was no one waiting for a GI going to Detroit.
The bartender gave me a cup of hot coffee and I wondered what would happen next. At nearly 3:00 am a sailor came hurrying into the bar saw that I was the only patron there and asked if I was “the guy going to Detroit“. I said yes, yes, yes his only words were, “Lets Go” He took off like a police car with me barely into the front seat. It was obvious that he knew the way.
Five and a half hours and 2 stops later we were in downtown Detroit.
He was hurrying to get back to Selfridge Air Base by 12 noon the day before Christmas. I think he just made it.
I went to the USO in the downtown Detroit YMCA. Had a good shower and shave and found the next to last seat on the Grayhound bus for Flint. I walked in the front door of our house at 4:00pm Christmas Eve 1946. What a wonderful Christmas party we had. I had two three day passes left, and 36 hours to be home with the people I loved the most.
By the end of my basic training I was in much stronger condition and it was my job to help this next group of men show improvement.
It took about three weeks for them to learn close order drill. They were then given their shots and all the equipment needed to become a ground soldier or a “Grunt“. It didn’t take long to separate the men from the boys. There were about 3% of the recruits who never made it beyond three months.
We had one or two who died of heat prostration during the few 5-mile speed hikes. By the end of our basic training at 15 weeks we were able to march around the full 5 miles carrying most everything we needed for combat.
Our commissioned officers made it a habit to have this march once or twice a week, rain or shine, just before evening chow. This speed hike was mostly done after a hard days work in the field. This was meant to toughen us up and it sure did. There was usually an army ambulance at the rear to pick up any stragglers that fell by the roadside. We were often too tired to eat.
As the weeks progressed so did the training. By this time everyone had become proficient using their M-1 rifle. This was one instrument that we became to know very well. We lived with it every moment of the day and night.
We had a close call one day while teaching the use of the rifle for firing hand grenades. You installed a grenade launcher on the tip of the barrel and by placing the butt of the rifle on the ground and leaning it about 20 degrees to the front, by pulling the trigger a grenade would be launched into the air and fall, exploding, some one hundred yards in front.
On this particular day I was laying prone on the ground along side of a new recruit. Giving him explicit instructions in the procedure when he became excited pulled the trigger but the gun misfired and the armed grenade fell to the ground within a few feet of both of us and exploded. This all happened within a few seconds and neither of us were hit but our ears rang for a few days. We discovered that the grenade and rolled into a small depression and the fragments from the explosion passed just over our heads. We were glad that we had our helmets on. I often felt that I would be safe if I could just crawl into that helmet.
Whenever something like this happened during a training exercise it was best to have the recruit try the same thing over again, which he did, and it was successful this time.
By the end of our 17 week basic training program each platoon graduated by going through a two week exercise using live ammunition with every type of equipment. This was done in that part of the camp called, “Hells bottom“. It was known as the most realistic training area in the U.S. You didn’t want anyone around that didn’t have his head on right when you went through this training.
I led four basic groups through this training until the end of the war. When Camp Walter , Texas was shut down at wars end I was in one of the last companies to leave this camp. It was a strange thing to drive through this entry army camp with all of the barracks closed and secured.
There were a number of rifles that came up missing from their gun racks in some of these last units at the end. Nearly all of them were recovered when they were found in the storm sewers a few feet below the metal gratings that were the covers over the manholes along the curbs of the streets. Evidently they had been placed there many weeks before waiting to be picked up at a later date. A day or two before we were scheduled to leave camp they brought in a number of cattle cars and unloaded a huge herd of long horned steers that were set free to graze throughout the camp. It was strange to see them wandering around the manicured lawns of the camp headquarters.
This camp was later reactivated and converted to a Helicopter training center in the early 1960’s.
The great army base that was used to discharge thousands from, was Fort Bliss Texas and that’s where I was sent next. I was hoping to get home now that the war was over but this was not to be. There were so many soldiers returning to the US it took weeks and months to process them into civilians.
I had to wait in line until my number came up. Until that time I was assigned to the M.P.‘s (military police) in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. I walked a beat in town with a partner, we went into every bar and brothel in town. There were some places that we just would not enter (for our own health) unless we had other MP’s for help.
I received my separation papers on April 15, 1946 and boarded the Santa Fe train for home on the 17th. I could not get home fast enough and the train was the only way.
Transcription
Original spelling preserved; [brackets] mark uncertain or editorial readings.
Enlisted Record and Report of Separation — Honorable Discharge. WD AGO Form 53-55, 1 November 1944.
Mick Leland W — Army serial no. 36 986 791 — grade T Sgt — arm or service INF — component AUS. Organization: Co B 62nd Bn Inf Repl Training Ctr, Camp Wolters Texas. Date of separation: 17 Apr 46. Place of separation: Sep Ctr Ft Bliss Tex.
Permanent address: 1922 Nebraska Ave Flint 6 Gennesse Mich. Date of birth: 4 Nov 18. Place of birth: Flint Mich. Eyes: blue. Hair: brn. Height: 5′9″. Weight: 149 lbs. Dependents: 3. Married; U.S. citizen; civilian occupation Draftsman Mechanical O 48.18.
Military history: inducted 14 Jun 44; entered active service 14 Jun 44 at Ft Sheridan Ill; local S.S. board #6, Gennesse Mich. Military occupational specialty: Rifleman Instructor 745. Qualification: Expert Infantryman Badge. Battles and campaigns: none. Decorations and citations: American Theater, Good Conduct, Victory Medal. Wounds received in action: none. Immunizations: smallpox Jul 44, typhoid Dec 45, tetanus Dec 45, flu Nov 45. Service outside continental U.S.: none. Total length of service: 1 year, 10 months, 4 days continental; no foreign service. Highest grade held: T/Sgt. Prior service: none. Reason and authority for separation: AR 615-365 15 Dec 44 (RR1 1 Demobilization) Conv of Govt. Education: grammar 8, high school 4, college 0.
Pay data: mustering out pay total $200, this payment $100; travel pay $83.55; total amount $220.68, W C Howell Lt Col FD, disbursing officer. Insurance: premium $6.80 each month; allotment discontinuance effective 30 Apr 46; next premium due 31 May 46; intention of veteran: continue.
Remarks: Lapel Button Issued. ASR Score (2 Sep 45) 39. Signature of person being separated: Leland W. Mick. Personnel officer: Calvin J Sassarini, 2nd Lt CMP.
Transcription
Original spelling preserved; [brackets] mark uncertain or editorial readings.
Army of the United States — Honorable Discharge.
This is to certify that Leland W Mick 36 986 791 Technical Sergeant, Company B 62nd Battalion Infantry Replacement Training Center Camp Wolters Texas, Army of the United States, is hereby Honorably Discharged from the military service of the United States of America.
This certificate is awarded as a testimonial of Honest and Faithful Service to this country.
Given at Separation Center, Fort Bliss, Texas. Date: 17 April 1946. A S Imell, Lt Col Infantry.
