John entered the Army on Jan 7th 1943 at Fort Sheridan, IL where he took his basic training. Always called 'Jack,' he joined Battery A at Camp Stewart, GA and was assigned to one of the 50mm Quad Half Tracks. He received Desert Training at Camp Young, CA and Amphibious training at Camp Picket, VA. On Jan 13, 1944 he boarded HMS Esperance for Liverpool, England and then on to Exmouth, Devon, where they were boarded with the town families. After extensive live firing training, they were told they were to land on beach #46 Easy Red Sector of Omaha Beach at approximately 8:30 A.M. He sailed on 4 June, but returned due to weather, and then re-sailed at 0415 on June 5th. They landed on Omaha Beach around 10:30 A.M., where they experienced difficulties in getting ashore. Despite small arms fire and mortars or artillery, they managed to keep moving and that night they were in an assembly area amid hedgerows. Once organized, they advanced and provided cover for several new air fields, gasoline dumps, bridges and artillery units. On occasions, they had to fire their 50 caliber weapons at German aircraft. At first, the 467th was attached to Patton's Third, then to Hodges' 1st Army providing air protection for artillery battalions. They traveled through Martelange, Belgium; Lourigny, France; Krinkelt, Belgium and through the German Siegfried line near Hollerath. They were now with the 2nd Armored Division where they proceeded to Vassern and Ahrewiler, Germany. Most of their activities consisted of the firing at F W 190s that were strafing and a lot of confusion about P47s. Some thought they had been captured and were being flown by Germans. Of those who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, there was one thing in common and that was they were always COLD. In order to keep warm, a soldier who was dressed with summer and winter underwear, fatigue uniform, under woolen winter uniform, slip over knit sweater, covered with lined tanker pants and jacket, and topped off with a heavy wool overcoat. Their heads were covered with a knit wool cap covered with a helmet liner and steel helmet. The American Army was on the move through the Rhine River Valley and it was constantly moving through Germany. On May 8th, they were in Hradec, Czechoslovakia in the Russian Zone. Eleven days later they were in a convoy to Neufarhn, Germany. On June 6th, they celebrated the First Anniversary of our D Day Omaha Beach Landing with a Dress Parade and Memorial Service. They were then slated for occupation duty and relocated to Munich, Germany doing mostly MP Duty. In Late September, they departed for Camp Chicago at Reimes, France on their way home. Jack spent 1 year 19 days in the American Theater and 1 year 11 days overseas. He received the following awards: 3 Overseas Bars, American Campaign, European with 1 Silver Star, Good Conduct Medal, D-Day Normandy Ribbon with Arrowhead, the Gunner (593) Badge, and the WWII Victory Medal.