Radio man recounts service with 1060th Signal Service Company in World War II

Radio man recounts service with 1060th Signal Service Company in World War II

When Pearl Harbor was bombed I was in college, and at Christmastime I was back in Vermont and enlisted.

When I enlisted most of the fellows wanted to be "fly boys," but I wanted signal corps. I liked radio, had gone to a National Youth Administration project and had some radio training, so I got what I wanted.

On July 16, 1942, men from various units were gathered together on the ship Pasteur designated for parts unknown. We became the 1060th Signal Service Company, a part of the 323rd Air Service Group.

The ship was a fast one, and we went down around Africa and up the Red Sea to the lower end of the Suez Canal, arriving there Aug. 22, 1942. From there we went by land transport to Rayak, Lebanon. As at that time there was no U.S. Air Force command there, we worked under the British and were issued British uniforms.

As a radio operator, I maintained radio and land-line communications to various headquarters. The equipment there in Rayak was obsolete, even then.

If our unit hadn't been in the Middle East, there would have been a good chance Germany would have gotten the Suez Canal.

As the Germans were pushed back to the west, our units advanced through Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Italy.

The 1060th was unique in that it was not "G.I." Though many of us had stripes, we all worked together. We even called our CO by his first name if there were no other officers around. If the first sergeant needed a detail, he always got it, as he would be working too.

The outfit had several parts: motor pool, mess, telephone, radio and radar repair and communications. We high-speed radio operators handled traffic between headquarters and various bomb groups.

As we moved west, we joined the 9th Air Force, then the 12th Air Force and then the 15th Air Force. We earned the European, Middle Eastern and North African service ribbon with three service stars.

After 32 months overseas, I took a furlough with the return date scheduled for May 10, 1945. I was waiting for my ship when Germany surrendered May 8, 1945. Instead of returning to Italy, I got my discharge May 13, 1945--one of the first five Vermonters out under the point system.

I stayed with radio until I retired at 62. I was technical director of several radio stations and finally recording technician at The Voice of America in Washington, D.C.

After I retired I returned to Vermont and joined Legion Post 76 in Barton, Vt., where I served as chaplain for about 20 years.