American Soldier at 13 Yrs Old Wwii

At the age of 13 I served in the United States Army during World War II. I lied about my age to the local Draft Board, was inducted, went through basic training and served for a year before it became known by my superior officers that I was only 13 years old. I grew up in a large family during hard times. The depression was just coming to an end. My father was an alcoholic, but my mother was determined to keep the family of seven children together and she brought us up as good Americans, and to have a sense of patriotism for our country. Those were hard times, but we were lucky too because we had Franklin D. Roosevelt as our president. Young men were running to draft boards to join one of the services. Older citizens were volunteering their services to the Red Cross or giving blood to the blood banks. People accepted shortages and doing without. We all wanted to win the war and back up our servicemen. This book is about those early years of my life and my service in the military, from World War II to Korea, and then to Vietnam. I will never forget the strong patriotism that all Americans felt during the war with Germany and Japan. I served in the Army for about a year and was discharged when I was 14. After my discharge I was inducted into the American Legion in 1944 as the nation's youngest Legionnaire. As a civilian I began to realize how much I missed military life. I had made up my mind while serving that I wanted to be a career soldier. But after that first year, I knew that I would have to wait until I was 17 years old. I'm glad I made the service my career, and I'm happy to have had the opportunity to serve with so many patriotic and brave men, from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. I've been asked whether I would do it all over again if I could. There are two things I would change. First, I would stay at home and finish high school and then go into the service. The other thing I'd change is that I would not go back to Vietnam as a civilian while the war was still raging. I found out the hard way that the enemy is just as willing to kill American civilians as they were to kill American soldiers. I have no regrets about my military service. My exposure to war will be forever in my memories. But there are times when the joy of life replaces despair and the scars of war, and in those times of joy we go on with our lives.