Thirteen/WNET New York WLIW 21
New York War Stories : Your Memories. Your Words.

Untitled

Submitted by: Michael R Reape

'Oh what a beautiful morning.'

I was selected as a Cadet and was scheduled to be a 'fly-boy' in World War II. I got sick and when I returned to my barracks, there was no-one there. I was told that they could use me on the base. On the way to overseas, I stopped at North Carolina. One morning at our usual get up time of 6:00 AM the Clouds opened up and the rain came down like cats & dogs. At this time the bugler tooted out the tune from Oklahoma entitled 'Oh what a beautiful morning.'

When I got to Iceland I was put on guard on the overnight shift. There was not much traffic and I wound up reading a book at 1:00 AM out-of-doors. This is how I was introduced to the land of the midnight sun. I on VE Day I was in downtown London, England, and came home on the St. Elizabeth with thousands of others.