Aug 2, 2019
My father joined the 712th Tank Battalion as a replacement in Normandy, but many of the battalion's original members were in the horse cavalry in California before the United States entered the war. Under the Selective Service Act, draftees were obligated to serve a year. Early in 1941 President Roosevelt asked Congress to extend the period of military service, leading to the acronym OHIO -- Over the Hill in October -- which became a popular saying among the recruits. When Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, many of those servicemen whose year was almost up, including Art Horn, who had just gotten married, found themselves in the service "for the duration," which would last almost five years. In this episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It, Art and Ed "Smoky" Stuever recall having their tonsils removed in a conversation both graphic and humorous.