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Show WORK.MA 2 J 2003 JC: Well, what I found out, the research I've been doing on World War II nth barrage balloons, they were designed to entangle low flying airplanes. KW: I found that out the hard way. This is why I tell that. Okay, so then we went back after maneuvers in Tennessee, we went back to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and then we went back to Tennessee again. I was on two maneuvers in Tennessee. In the meantime, they promised us in six months w~'d get a furlough. So at ten months I got my first furlough, and only furlough, and that was ten days to get from the middle of Tennessee to Vernal, Utah, see my folks and get back again. So it was sort of an ugly train ride both ways. JC: The main transportation was ... KW: Troop trains. Yes. So from there we went back to Wisconsin and made preparations for overseas movement. We shipped out from New York in January of '44, went to England, arrived at Liverpool at night and we marched off the ship and down the street, blackout conditions, so it was quiet. But my first impression being a kid from the country, this is really something. I could hear those people singing their bloody songs, you know, in the pubs. I was really enthralled with that. Just the aura of all this was really wonderful. Anyway, we were given an assignment where we were training at a place called Sutton Benger in England. I call it a two-pub town. JC: It was that small? KW: Oh, really small. Thatched roofs and everything. JC: So it was like one of those farming communities? KW: Oh, yes. It was very quaint. Very quaint. We were given a place to live that had a palace and a country home there and the quaint little cemetery and little church. And the 5 |
