My maternal grandfather was in the army in France, along with his brother-in-law. He never talked about the war, but we did learn a little about what happened afterwards. He was in a unit in France that was told it would be as long as a year until they could ship home, or they had the option of joining the Merchant Marines and leaving immediately. My grandfather took that option, and ended up serving 4 years in the Merchant Marines after the war.
When he finally got home (Colorado), he found out he had been listed as AWOL in France, and had been given a dishonerable discharge (which at the time was a very damaging thing). He couldn't get regular work, couldn't get any welfare, GI benefits, federal housing or bank loans. Nor could he get anyone to care (even though he had documentation from the Merchant Marines which included his discharge info from the army in France). We finally (2000) were able to get that dishonorable discharge changed to honorable posthumously. (His brother-in-law stayed in camp, was home in less than seven months, and had no such problems.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Flash for programmers - Flash MX Pro http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=56 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:169191 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
