Arnie spent three years in the Army during World War II. He was inducted in June of 1943
and after Basic Training was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP).
Those in this program were sent, as organized units, to various universities throughout the
country. There they studied engineering under an accelerated program with the objective
of receiving Bachelor of Engineering degrees after an eighteen-month period.
In March 1944, when Arnie was six months into the course at North Dakota AC in Fargo,
North Dakota, the Army made the decision to close the program This determination was based
on the anticipated need for unlimited replacements for the D-Day invasion and drive across
Europe.
The ASTP unit he was with was sent as a group to help fill the ranks of the newly
reactivated 42d Infantry Division, "The Rainbow". The Rainbow was located at Camp Gruber
in eastern Oklahoma. After months of training as a division it shipped out to the European
Theater of Operations (ETO) in late November 1944. The division entered the lines in late
December near Strasbourg, France.
Arnie was a member of the Ammunition and Pioneer Platoon (A&P) of Headquarters Company,
2nd Battalion, of the Division's 242nd Infantry Regiment. The A&P duties were to maintain
an ammo supply from the rear areas to the individual GIs in the fox holes, as well as doing
demolition work, removing and laying minefields and light construction.
When the war ended in May 1945, the Rainbow was near Munich, Germany in the Tyrol. It
assumed the duties of Army of Occupation in the Austrian Alps. In April of 1946, after
eleven months of leisurely occupation duty, Arnie returned to the USA and was discharged,
enlisting in the Inactive Reserves
"Spoils of War - The V-2 Rocket", relates his experiences upon recall to active duty in
November of 1950. Having married Charlotte M. Shroder September 13, 1947, she joined him
at White Sands and worked as a civil service employee at the post. Upon release from
active duty in October of 1951 he returned to Dayton, Ohio. He bought a home, settled
down, and "Chotty" and he raised three children, Rik, Terri and Jeff. With the early on
exposure to aerospace, he continued in that field for the rest of his working career.
