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Outside Camp Fannin, a driver was looking for passengers to help
pay his way to California. Uncle Joe and four other discharged
soldiers ponied up $50 each for the ride west and two days
later, he was reunited with Angie in Phoenix. He wasted no time
getting on with life, enrolling at Phoenix Union High School the
following week. He finished high school in 19 months and
received his high school diploma in August 1947. The next month,
he enrolled at Arizona State College in Tempe using the GI Bill
and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration
with a minor in Accounting in January of 1951. He then moved to
California to start a career and a family with Angie.
Uncle Joe was one of 12 million Americans who served their
country in uniform during WW II. Those who survived returned
home to resume their lives and start families, the Baby Boom
generation of which we are a part of. The majority of WW II
veterans succeeded in life, building a prosperous America. But
most of them are gone now – there are about a million WW II
veterans still alive but their numbers are dwindling at the rate
of about 600 a day. Uncle Joe is one of those fortunate ones to
still be with us – and Aunt Angie too.
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