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December 7, 1941--Hears news of Pearl Harbor, knowing this means trouble, comes to 'Aunt Lucy' Hanks's house to pick up Mary Lois, there for a birthday party
February 2, 1942--Leaves Lawrenceburg in a bus headed for Fort Benjamin Harrison, northeast of Indianapolis, Indiana, where he is inducted on February 4
February 8-9, 1942--Moved by train to Morris Field, near Charlotte, North Carolina, for basic training; afterwards assigned to the 1127th Quartermasters, Army Air Corps
May 9, 1942--Married to Mary Lois Moffett at York, South Carolina
August 12, 1942--Outfit 'trucked' to Waycross, Georgia, joins 41st Service Group
September, 1942--By train to Ft. Dix, New Jersey, preparing for overseas deployment
December 12, 1942--Sails on the USS Uruguay, arrives at Casablanca, Morocco, Christmas Eve, 1942, during a German bombardment; more bombs December 31
January 26, 1943--Moves to Ain M'Lila, Algeria, via WW I French 'forty and eight' railroad cars, so called because they could hold forty men and eight mules
March, 1943--Moved to Youk les Bains, an airfield near the Tunisian border; put in
charge of the Class I warehouse; promoted to Staff Sergeant on June 20
July 10, 1943--September 9, 1943--Service in Sicily; then moved to Italy, where 1127th remains for nearly a year; Battle of Anzio, January/February, 1944
February 6, 1944--Promoted to Technical Sergeant; Mt. Vesuvius erupts, March 22, 1945
June 30, 1944--1127th journal records that "T/Sgt. Birdwhistell received 31 letters, an
all-time record for one mail call"
August 27, 1944--Sails for southern France for a brief time, returning to Italy October 7
May 8, 1945--VE Day announced as Germans surrender
May 23, 1945--Sails from Naples, arriving Waller Field, Trinidad, on June 1
August 14, 1945--Flew from Trinidad to Miami, refueling in Puerto Rico; on the short flight from PR, announcement is made of the Japanese surrender, VJ Day!
Train from Miami to Louisville, arrives very late at night
September and October, 1945--Stationed in Miami Beach, FL; 'mustered out' at Patterson Field, Dayton, Ohio, after forty-four months' service, thirty-two of which overseas