This is John Tedrowe, a picture he gave me. Its probably fall of 1943, and maybe Indianapolis, which was his home town. Probably between basic training and the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). What other way can you turn? A funny sign.
This is Al Mollan, who was in my squad. He was from Chicago, a few years older than I was. I think he was the mortar gunner. He was wounded badly on January 8, 1945 and did not return to rejoin the squad. I tried to contact him in Chicago after the war, but could never find him.
Margaret Schumann was a high school girl friend, and she's on the left in the picture. I'm not sure who the other two girls are, but its at Washington State College (now a university) in Pullman, Washington. She sent me the picture and I cut it out to fit in to the handle of 45 ca. pistol. I bought the pistol for 20 bucks in Paris from another soldier who was in the hospital when I was heading back to the front after recovering from being wounded. It was late March 1945. He had acquired it in North Africa, I'm not sure how, as it was a pistol only issued to officers and he was an enlisted man. He was short on cash and I was glad to get it, but a sergeant, First Sergeant Clark, later "borrowed" it from me and never returned it. The guy before me had remove the cover plate on the grip and cut out pictures of naked girls from the National Geographic and put them into the handle, and replaced the cover plate them with a piece of clear plastic from an aircraft canopy (I think). I put this picture, and the next into the handle, but I replaced them before the Sergeant took it.
Margaret Schumann in the center, see my comments above.
This is another photograph of "Pappy" Cromer. He was first in every chow line in the Army.