22-Year-Old 2nd Lieutenants War-Bound

Eugene. My college roommate. In 1941, he came by my parents home in Valley Forge, we sat up all night in the summer of ’41. Two 22 year-old kids. Knew more about what was happening in the world then anyone else. And at daybreak, we concluded, there was a war coming and we were going to go in ahead of everyone else.

Called Fort Meade. And they were happy to hear from two 2^nd Lieutenants. They said, “Come on down! Right away!” “Well we’ve been up all night, so how about tomorrow?” “Okay, come in tomorrow”. So we went in tomorrow, and they interviewed us. At the conclusion of the interview, they said to Eugene “Lt. Forquer, we’ll take you today. Lt. Busch you have to wait 60 days, you’re doing Engineering work for the War Department, they have priority on you for 60 days and they won’t release you for 60 days. So we can’t take you for 60 days.” So Eugene and I talked and talked and talked. Ya know, we were two kids, we were going to go in together, and all that things. We decided that Eugene would go, and I would have to stay. And I would catch up with him! This is the attitude of a 22 year-old kid! And the bad news of course, is that we were both infantry. Eugene went to the Philippines, was on the Bataan March and died on a prison ship on the way to Japan. Horrible death. 

This story has already been published earlier in the blog. This is retold at a separate time.