Limited Duty is a uniquely compelling memoir of my father’s life leading up to and through WWII. His personal triumph of overcoming a severe physical disability as a child, to eventually changing others perception of him and his handicap, and proving himself worthy of serving his country. As a soldier from the north he witnessed first hand the racial tension between the whites and those blacks he … he befriended. His surviving a botched appendectomy, operating a lucrative gambling enterprise on base, dancing with Judy Garland at the Hollywood Canteen, experiencing the initial test of the atomic bomb to his discharge from the military in January 1946. These are just some of the historical events that provided a fascinating, and often times humorous look into his military career of a stateside soldier.
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I ordered and received the book you wrote about your father’s life. I have read it now and found it to be very interesting especially since I knew and worked with your dad at Ford Motor Co. for several years. There are several interesting coincidences between your dad’s WWII experiences and my family’s. The major one is that when your dad was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso TX, my father was there too being trained to operate the radar controlled large anti aircraft artillery. Prior to being drafted my father sold his personal business after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor assuming he would be going into the military soon. I was born on October 24, 1941, so he had a pre-Pearl Harbor baby which delayed his induction for some time. My mother’s father owned 2 Ford-Mercury dealerships in two small towns in northern Wisconsin so he employed my dad to supervise the WWII Ford car and truck engine reconditioning operation that they were officially doing for Ford Motor Co. since no new car or trucks were being produced for sale to the public during that time of which I’m sure you are well aware. Our dealership was one of three that serviced Wisconsin and Michigan’s UP. The other two were in Madison WI and Escanaba MI.
My father had participated in the Federal CMTC program in the late 1930’s. That was the Civilian Military Training Camps where military training was conducted from 1921-1940. I believe because of that training my father said that prior to being in the military he was several times from 1942-1945 officially in charge of and escorted groups of military inductees from our Price county down to Milwaukee where they continued their military training. Eventually he too was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Bliss.
During the summer of 1945 my mother, grandmother and I drove to El Paso in our 1941 Ford convertible! We had enough gasoline ration stamps to buy the gas because as car dealers my dad said they received an abundant supply of gas ration stamps for some reason. My mother’s brother Harry who was also involved with the dealership had a reconditioned Ford V-8 engine installed in our car prior to the trip and had put many spare parts in the trunk just in case we had any failures!!! My mother said the gas station attendants just stood and drooled over the brand new engine they saw when they checked the oil!
On the last day of our drive to El Paso we stopped in Alamogordo NM to eat lunch. My mother recalled in later years that she looked around that restaurant and saw people that she was sure were not normal citizens of rural New Mexico and of course many were not as they were there working on the Manhattan Project to get the first atom bomb in place for the test at the Trinity Site in July 1945!!
The photo of the San Jacinto Park in downtown El Paso in your book reminded me that when we were first in El Paso we stayed at the Hilton Hotel which was located near that park and my mother would take me there to see the Alligators that were in the pond. The Hilton Hotel was the one that kept Conrad Hilton in the hotel business as he had lost all his hotels except for that one during the depression. I heard that he said he would never sell that hotel as it was his last hope in the late 1930’s.
My parents happened to know a woman their age who was from our home town and was married to a prominent lawyer in El Paso. That lawyer was Joe Dunigan and he had a dentist friend who happened to own an apartment building and one apartment became available so we moved from the Hilton into the apartment at 410 West Yandell. We were so fortunate to get that apartment as during WWII it was nearly impossible to find one to rent. That apartment building is still there today. I-10 is just south of it and nearly took it out.
I celebrated my 4th birthday in El Paso that year. My dad and mother were both 29 years old at that time and your dad was 24. Since my dad had had prior military training as a citizen he told me that he was an acting Sargent at Fort Bliss but was only officially paid as a private. Like your dad my dad never serviced in combat as the atom bomb ended the war before he was to be sent to the Pacific. He was discharged in November 1945 if I recall correctly and we drove in our 1941 Ford back to northern Wisconsin where I grew up. My father continued to work at the family Ford-Mercury dealership eventually becoming the manager until he retired in 1980. My brother Bob ran the dealership until the mid 1990’s when it was sold. My dad passed away in December 2010 at age 94.
I was amazed to read that Frank Webb, the El Paso car dealership owner, offered your dad a management job running one of his dealerships. Your dad and mine both supervised mechanical operations involving cars and trucks and your dad almost had a career in the car dealership business like my grandfather, uncle, father and one brother had. Our family Ford dealership was started in 1916 selling Model T’s.
I found it a real adventure reading about your dad’s life and I wish we had discovered that we had both been in El Paso at the same time in 1945 when we worked together. As I commented previously I found it a great pleasure to know and work closely with your father for several years at the Ford Development Engineering activity. Thanks for writing the book.
Sincerely,
John Kranig