I WAS STATIONED at Fort Banning Ga. and was in Eufaula Ala. on the second day of a three-day pass. I was riding in the passenger seat of a Cadillac with a tiny beautiful blonde, Ilene Ludlam, on my lap when the news came over the radio about Pearl Harbor along with orders for all military personnel to return to their bases immediately, all leaves and passes canceled.
   A number of us soldiers had return bus tickets but no buses [were] running. A taxi driver offered to drive us back for our return bus tickets, no money (which at $21 per month we had little of) which he did.
   That night numbers of us were ordered out of the base to protect bridges, oil storage facilities, etc. Soon air raid drills were a daily occurrence and we had set up 30-caliber machine guns partly camouflaged all over the base and lookouts were posted on the roofs of barracks day and night. Training increased a lot over the next few months but it was routine. Eventually I volunteered for the paratroops, got my wings in December 1942, joined the 508th Parachute Infantry, shipped out to Ireland to the 82nd Airborne Division and jumped into France the night of June 5 1944 Fought across Europe to war's end.

 J Frank Brumbaugh
Bradenton

[The Bradenton Herald, Bradenton, FL, 02 Dec 1991, Mon, Page 16]