This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cox, Livergood, Raven, Johnstone, Thurman, Hull, McCluskey Classification: Military Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xYB.2ACE/1662 Message Board Post: "May 1945 - Just after World War II ended in Europe, I, along with other sailors, was ordered back to the United States. We were all U.S. Navy Corpsmen and were scheduled for rehabilitation in some Navy hospital near our home. At that time we were on duty at the U.S. Navy Hospital Manadon Field, Plymouth, England. Most of us lived in Quonset Hut #10. All of us had served on LST's, LCT's or LCIs, landing ship tanks, landing craft tanks and landing craft infantry. We were all D-Day Veterans - Omaha or Utah Beaches. We treated the U.S. Army 82nd and 101 Airbourne soldiers and took the wounded back to hospitals in England. We all made from 25 to 45 trips across the English Channel with the wounded; American, British and Canadians and German prisoners. Most of the dead were buried there near Omaha Beach; all were buried facing America, not to the east. Later the U.S. Army had field hospitals in France and cared for their own. We were a close-knit bunch of sailors and wanted to take orders from one of our own. This got us into trouble more than once. We were called Medical Beach Batallion, Amphibious Medics or Combat Medics but were just U.S. Navy Corpsmen. The Navy had plans for Quonset #10 that we knew nothing about. Most of us held resentment for these orders when we got them. We were also fearful of going home because we had made a dramatic change in ourselves. I guess we thought this change would not be acceptable by our friends and loved ones. Not a very good explanation, but this is how it was. Our Chieft called a meeting in our hut. He thankedus for serving under him. He then told us to prepare for going home. We were in shock for a short while. Then Clarence Raven said, "Thanks a h... of a lot Chief!" Raven's hair was solid gray from stress and fatigue. Most of us were 20 years old and had been in Europe almost two years. We thought we were doing fine, our social life was satisfactory and we had adjusted somewhat to the British ways. We reacted in different manners in regard to our new orders. Some went out and got drunk, some went out and had fights, I went AWOL for two days and guess what ... some did all of the above. As usual, we all took our orders and ran with them. Sometime in late May of '45, we boarded an LST for the trip back to the U.S. We went from Plymouth, England to Le Harve, France and picked up some Airforce men who had been prisoners of the Germans. I think they were from the 8th Airforce, but what made us see red was their condition. They were just skin and bones, hollow-eyed and looked awful. The officers quarters were just below the upper structure and ours were below theirs. Each morning I came topside and stood at the rail near the officers quarters. After we left Le Harve, we stopped at the Azores Islands and picked something up at the U.S. Navy base there then continued on toward Norfolk, Virginia. After about two days at sea, an officer who had been a P.O.W. would come out and stand near me at the rail. His name was Lt. Johnstone. Usually my buddy, D.G. Livergood, was with me and we talked about our lives in England and friends we left there and wondered what it would be like back home. Lt. Johnstone talked some about his prision life, especially about his diet which amounted to just watered down soup, very and little Red Cross food that got by the guards and very little sweets from loved ones back home. He talked about how bad the Russian prisoners were treated. Nearly every day one or more Russian POWs would be marched away a short distance and when they heard shots they knew some more Russian POW's had gone down. Lt. Johnstone gained about 16 pounds of the 75 pounds he had lost as a POW. It took us about 16 days to reach Norfolk. The last morning before reaching Norfolk, Lt. Johnstone came out of his quarters and shook hands with us, wished us luck, as we did him. We never saw him again, but he looked me straight in the eye and said "Good Luck, Doc." I can still hear his soft spoken words. After we had weighed anchor at Le Harve, the Chief Boat-swain had warned us about having any kind of war souvenirs. He would confiscate them in a day or two. He waited until we were underway before notifying us. We knew he would keep most everything for himself and give the rest to the ship's crew and ship them home at the first opportunity. Just before we tied up in the dock at Norfolk, a few of us who had given this Boatswain some back talk on the trip back to the States were put on detail for the purpose of unloading all of our seabags. We were throwing them to a platform on the dock below. As ours came up from below deck, we just put them aside and would carry them when we left. In a short while, here came Mr. Boatswain's seabag and mattress wrapped seagoing fashion. It had a mailing tag addressed to an address in the States. We thought we knew it was filled with souvenirs and without hesitation, Livergood and I pitched it into the water of Norfolk Harbor. We could hear him screaming for a hook. We grabbed our seabags, ran down the unloading ramp, saluted the Flag aboard ship and hit the ground running. We succeeded in getting away by going behind a building and getting in front of the line of sailors leaving the ship. We could still hear the voice barking orders as we went through the gate. We boarded a shuttle bus going to the US Naval Hospital. Here at the hospital we were fed and assigned a bunk and we could go ashore that night. The next morning at 0800 hours, we reported for a physical and mental evaluation. Some of us were asked to check into that hospital or wait for orders to be typed and sealed the next day. Not one of us chose to stay, so the next day at 1500 hours, we had a roll call and were given a train ticket, meal ticket, sealed orders and taken to the train depot. Most of the sailors with me lived in the North Central or Northeast part of the U.S. I was the only one who lived west of the Mississippi River. We had a very sad parting, realizing that we might never see each other again. Glen Livergood and I would go together as far as Cincinnati, Ohio. He was going to Decatur, Illinois and I to Marietta, Oklahoma. We decided to stay in Cincinnati until our money ran out. Three days later we said goodbye through tearful eyes, never to see each other again. After I boarded the train, I sat in the first seat I came to with very little to say for hours. I was really going home and this thought made me very uncomfortable. I couldn't explain this feeling but it was there. When I arrived in Marietta I got a room at the VanSant Hotel. The next day I had breakfast there at the hotel, but when I was going to pay my bill there was no charge for anything. I went up town to a barber shop and sat around all day, sure that someone from Oswalt would be in town. I visited with people as they came in for haircuts. Just before closing time I decided to go back to the hotel for a room and got up to leave but Spooks Hull asked me when I was going to Oswalt. I told him I was waiting for someone to happen by and give me a ride. He said, "If you will hang around until I close and clean up, I 'm going to see my sister out there and I'll take you to your Dad's house." I didn't realize that he was doing me a favor until we reached home and he turned around and headed back toward Marietta. It was after dark when I walked into the house. I was thankful everybody was in bed. I eased my seabag beside the door and after a few quiet steps I bumped into a bed. Mom said, "Is that you son?" Her voice caused me to feel ill and I just barely said, "Yes, it's me." She was sitting up on the side of the bed and I could feel her arms reaching for me. I finally began to relax. She was saying something, I can't remember what it was. Her voice began tearing holes into my shield. My heart was breaking. I didn't want to cry but I was sobbing uncontrollably. I slipped to my knees but kept my arms around her waist. I just let it all go. She said the kids will be glad you're home. Later, I learned that my youngest brother, Jim, had said that he wished Hap would come home soon because he was getting tired of praying for me. The next few days, I kept pretty close to my Dad. He didn't say so much but what he would say to me was just like eating wild honey with the honeycomb. I walked over our place and visited places such as gullies, rocks, cowtrails, and a few landmark trees. The chirping of birds and barking of squirrels was a "welcome home." I would jump high up on a tree to check my jumping ability. Sometime in early July, I received my orders along with a train ticket and meal ticket to report to Camp Elliot, California Naval Hospital for tests and further assignment. I checked into the hospital and the first person I saw was Jack Thurman from Marietta. Hoyt McCluskey was also there at the hospital. With Jack's help, I was soon ready for new orders. They came quickly, I was ordered to the Pacific. I was proud to get a shot at the Japs. But that war was over before I could leave the States." W.G. Cox, Ha 1/c U.S. Navy Source: Marietta Monitor, Love County, November 11, 1994, page 4 [through the courtesy of Ray (deceased) and Mrs. Elreeta Weathers].