| DRAFTED
Turning 18 on 10-1-43 I got my draft notice about 7 days later. We were
required to have a physical to determine our status and I was scheduled
for Cleveland. I wrote to the Cleveland Draft Board and asked them if
I might have a physical in Massachusetts. A few weeks later they answered
and said yes and I was told to go to Ware Massachusetts to the exam. I
was of course classified ‘one-A’ and told to report to Boston
for induction. I again wrote to Cleveland and asked if I couldn’t
be inducted through there rather than Boston. For some reason the finally
replied and said yes and I had to come home before Xmas to go into the
service. That delay enabled me to finish my freshman year and assure my
being accepted when the war was over.
In the meantime I knew I didn’t want to go into the army and my
Dad helped by talking to a friend of his who was an officer in the Navy
stationed in Cleveland. He told Dad not to worry when I went through the
line my service jacket would be marked Navy—and it was. I have often
thought that if that had not happened I would definitely have been a part
of the D-Day invasion in the army and me thank God that didn’t happen.
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