(My Dad told this story a few times when my sons had Veteran day honoring vets at school) I was born in 1919 and raised in Bridgeton New Jersey. My parents had very little. After high school I got a job as a bank teller in Bridgeton. Eventually I saved enough to buy a car, a 1936 Ford. When the draft was going for the Army and in early 1941I tried to sign up for the Navy as I had been in Sea Scouts and would rather be in the Navy over Army but they would not take me because I was color blind and could not read the colored signal flags between ships. (Couple years later they stopped that color blind rejection because once the war started and with losses they would take anyone able bodied) So in the spring of 1941 I received a letter that said congrats your friends and neighbors recommended you for the draft and to report for 1 year in the US Army. After I showed up a Officer asked the group to hold up hands if you had ridden horses before. I had not. Then we were sent into different groups and the Officer told my group, you are going to Ft. Riley Kansas to train for the US Calvary. I went up to him and said there must be a mistake I have not ridden horses before. He said yes we dont want anyone that think they already know how to ride a horse, we will train you the Army way. I went to Ft. Riley Kansas and was in Troop A 2nd training squadron and learned to take care of horse, ride, shoot from horse back, use a saber, train in calvary tactics etc.then Pearl Harbor happened in December of 1941and the US was now officially at war. After training was over, for a short time I was sent to the D.C area to be part of the Calvary doing military funerals at Arlington with horses. Then I received a new letter from the War Department that said we are informing you that your 1 year draft assignment in the Army has been extended, "for the duration of the emergency" (Which turned out to be 5 years for me!!) We went to Tennessee to do training as Calvary against mechanized units and although we did well in the rougher country, ...