When my Dad was going through basic at Camp Roberts in the latter years of World War II, they took a graduation photograph (click on the image to enlarge) culminating 17 weeks of training. Fortunately, on the back of my copy, someone took time to write the last names row by row of all 64 people in the photo including officers (click second image below to read the names.) 
It even looks like the handwriting of my Mom, who moved from Idaho to Paso Robles CA to be as close as she could to Dad until he shipped out for Europe. When he could, a soldier identified on photographs as Andy gave Dad a lift into town to see my Mom.
Unfortunately, the unit ID isn’t fully captured in the photo. I’ve searched and searched but can’t find the numbers that do show on that pennant anywhere in the units that went through Camp Roberts but then again, Dad was only one of more than 400,000 soldiers trained there as U.S. Army Infantry replacements during World War II.
I hope by just posting this, I can make it available somehow to some of the people pictured who, unlike my Dad, may still be alive and probably in their early to mid 80s. But mostly I hope someone(s) searching the Internet can help me get these images to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who may not be as fortunate as I am to have this photo with the names handwritten on the back.
No comments:
Post a Comment