Tuesday
Wayne was separated from service at the Separation Center at Fort Logan, Colorado. He received an Honorable Discharge from the Army of the United States. While at the Separation Center, he was likely visited by his grandparents, an uncle and his older brother who did not serve in the military. It is also likely that he telephoned Verne’s wife.
His Enlisted Record and Report of Separation shows that while in the Army he had been inoculated against small pox, typhoid, tetanus, yellow fever, cholera and typhus. He stood six feet tall and weighed 160 lbs. The Army owed him $300.00 mustering out pay, but he only received $100.00 of that upon separation. The documents also reveal that he was travel pay of 50. How the final sum was calculated is unknown, but he received $193.98 upon separation.
After being discharged from the Army, he boarded a train at Denver’s Union Station for Columbia, South Carolina and Bonnie. He last saw her on February 7, 1944. He was finally going home.
Meanwhile in England, Kenneth Cline wrote to his wife that he thought he was improving but was still confined to bed rest in the hospital. He also wrote that he had a fever of 102 degrees. He was worried that he would not be able to return to the States on the ship scheduled to carry the 392nd Bombardment Group home.1
Notes & Commentary
1 The last elements of 392nd Bombardment Group (H) returned to its base at Charleston, South Carolina on June 25, 1945.
Wayne's Journal 
Must have been a nice feeling to board that train knowing it was all over and he Wayne was going home.
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He had been in the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) for about three years and now all that was over. It was over for him, but he might still be subject to call back if the war with Japan drug on. I wonder what he thought about returning to wife he hadn’t seen for almost 15 months. I also wonder if he was worried, now, about how he was going to make a living.
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It must have been a real
Shock to many. Some I’ve heard, didn’t cope with civilian life / new jobs and turned to crime / became violent. Being away from a loved one must have been hard for him, but like many things they went through, they just got on and did it without making a fuss!
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Post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) was certainly an issue, but I don’t know if identified as such in those days. Sometimes shell shock was a term used to describe the syndrome of those who could not cope, i.e., the severely traumatized. There was, though, hope for the future and for most a return to their families’ love and affection. The
value of that cannot be overestimated.
As for a turn to crime, I have never heard that was a problem. As for becoming violent, yes, that is sometimes the case of those suffering from PTSD who drink to excess.
If you would know more about what life was like in the United States during World War II, you might look for Richard R. Lingeman’s book Don’t You Know There’s a War On? published in 1970 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. If your library doesn’t have it, they might be able to get it for you through interlibrary loan. There are almost always used copies available on the Internet.
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Thank you for the recommendation I will look out for it next time I’m at the library. PTSD is a big problem and thankfully now recognised. Support can help many of those suffering thankfully. War is a terrible thing not just physically. Thanks again.
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Well, we see Wayne safely at home – now do we find out about Ken Cline?
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Nothing in life is easy, is it? One man is worried about being really, quite ill, and the other has not been paid for risking his life on numerous occasions. I’m trusting that there will be a happy ending! And thanks, by the way, for an entertaining post.
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Seventy years later and “I” can’t believe it’s over…..he’s going home.
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Yay for Wayne. He seemed to really suffer mentally while away from Bonnie. Tell me they lived happily ever after!
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LOL about your uncle’s travel pay. My dad’s document shows $112.15. I wonder how they calculated that. My guess for dad’s fare was based upon Camp Stoneman back to Chicago where he enlisted. Like your uncle, dad got the same $300 – but that was in 1949.
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