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Vincent Keller's Memories
I was originally notified to report for a physical and induction into the Army in January 1942. When I notified my employer of the date they requested my draft board's number and location. The following day, I received notice from the draft board to wait until I heard further from them. A few days later I received notice that they granted me a deferment until they notified me. The railroad said they had few qualified people for the job I was doing. They did not call me again until May 1944. Consequently, I was only inducted into the service in June 1944.
After induction I was sent to Camp Plauche at New Orleans, Louisiana for basic training. Ten weeks later to Camp Millard in Bucyrus, Ohio for technical Training. When the Battle of the Bulge broke out in late 1944 we were given a two-week furlough and told we would soon be going overseas. After furlough we were sent to Camp Shanks at Orangeburg, New York, then on to our ship Cristobal for deportation. We departed New York on March 23, 1945.
Our voyage was uneventful until we were a few days off the coast of France, then the submarine alerts began. Our ship was one of many in our convoy well protected by several destroyer escorts.
Two days before we were scheduled to arrive in France our ship was involved in a collision with a tanker in our convoy. We spent about three hours on deck with the possibility of having to abandon ship. At 5:00 AM we were told our ship was seaworthy and we could return to our bunks. The following morning we were picked up by a British Trawler who escorted us to Southampton, England where we were transferred to a British ship named Dunnator Castle for the trip across the English Channel. Under darkness we made the trip to France, to the port of La Havre.
I was assigned to help guard a trainload of equipment across France which took two days. We arrived in Strausburg, France on the Rhine River about midnight only to be greeted by artillery fire coming from across the river.
Strausburg is in the center of the Alsace Lorraine province. Since I spoke Alsation (their native tongue) my services were in demand. The people of Strausburg insisted I had lived there before, but I finally convinced them I had been there only a few days. Since I spoke some German and Spanish I was also used as an interpreter in Germany where we moved at the end of hostilities to Frankfurt-on Main. Seven
months later we were transferred to Karlsrhue, Germany where we were working about 500 German Prisoners of War. Surprisingly, when they were released as POWs they came back to us as civilians because they were assured of having three meals a day which were furnished to them.
I returned home in June, 1946 on the Army transport George Washington built in Germany and taken as a prize of war in World War I. Alongside the George Washington the ship Cristobal (the one I went over on) was berthed. It had been repaired and placed back in service. Going home was easy, five days from France to New York. We processed through Camp Kilmer, New Jersey then rode a troop train
(converted boxcars) to Fort Sam Houston where I was discharged.
My involvement in WW II was minor but quite an experience. I was happy to provide a little help.
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Vincent, thank you for your service , and thank you for sharing your Memories.
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