Our final combat mission occurred shortly thereafter when we made a sweep of a wooded area in the Hartz Mountains. Fortunately, there was no resistance and after completing our mission we withdrew to await further orders. The good news came on May 7, 1945 when the announcement was made that Germany had officially surrendered and the European phase of World War II had finally ended. There was no wild celebration in our area and it seemed somewhat ironical that as we prepared to bed down for the night in subdued silence there were reports that exuberant celebrations were going on in London, Paris, New York and other cities throughout the free world. Yet we knew that the war was not necessarily over for us because the war in the Pacific was still raging and as a combat division we would eventually be involved in the invasion of Japan. My main concern was that we would be shipped directly to the Pacific without having the opportunity to go on furlough at home before getting involved in combat again.

While waiting for further developments, our Division received orders to move to Czechoslovakia for occupation in the Sudetenland, a German-dominated area of the Czech Republic, which had been the focal point of the crisis in 1938. We arrived in Pilsen, a large city relatively undamaged by the war, and moved into a military barracks that had been previously occupied by German troops. After a short period of time, I was assigned to work at a German POW camp on the outskirts of Pilsen.

Our basic responsibility was the processing of paws for discharge and then transporting them to their home areas in the Sudetenland. Resentment toward the discharged paws by Czech civilians ran high, whenever there was any contact between the two groups as happened once when I helped to transport a group of some 40 discharged paws to the city of Eger which was a fairly large city in the western part of Czechoslovakia. After our truck had stopped somewhere near the center of the city and as we prepared to release the prisoners, a group of Czech citizens began to surround our truck and make threatening gestures. Concerned that there might be an outbreak of violence if we abandoned the prisoners at this point, I approached a German non-com who was one of the leaders of the group and asked him if he would prefer that we leave Eger and find some other village or town where they might receive a more hospitable accommodation. He quickly responded "Jawohl" and so we left Eger and drove for several miles until we reached a small village where we were able to locate a burgomeister (equivalent to a mayor in our political system) and informed him in our best authoritarian style that he was now responsible for the discharged German paws. After giving the surprised burgomeister no opportunity to object, we returned to our truck feeling satisfied that we had reached a satisfactory conclusion to our mission.

Time passed rather quickly and in August 1945, we heard an announcement on the Armed Forces radio network that the United States had dropped a bomb equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT on a Japanese city. As first, we had no inkling as to the impact of this new weapon, since there was nothing in our training or combat experience regarding the possible use of atomic weapons in the war that was still going on. When the dropping of the second atomic bomb in Nagasaki resulted in the surrender of Japan, only then did we begin to understand the awesome power that had been released by the new atomic weapons.

Whatever moral issues may have been raised later, there is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of GJ.s who would have been directly involved in the invasion of Japan supported President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb. As a possible deterrent to future all-out nuclear war, the destructiveness of the atomic bomb was also validated, not by theory, but by the actual bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now that the war was finally over and we had survived, we eagerly looked forward to returning to our homes and resuming civilian life again. Because it would take time to demobilize millions of service personnel, we knew that our return to the United States could not be accomplished immediately and that there would be a waiting period for many of us. But because the war was over and our combat experiences were behind us, it was not considered a big deal. Besides, we were well accustomed to the old Army routine, "hurry up and wait." At least we would be going home when our time came.

Shortly after VJ Day, the breakup of the Eighth Armored Division began. Those of us who had joined the Division relatively late in its overall existence were transferred to the 83rd Infantry Division which at the time was stationed near Passau, Germany. Other personnel who had accumulated a sufficient number of points which were used to determine the priority order for returning back to the States, began preparation for their best trip yet- the final journey home. In my case, I was assigned to the 83rd Division Reconnaissance Troop which was essentially similar to the mechanized cavalry unit in which I had served during my tenure with the Eight Armored Division. My tour of duty with the 83rd Infantry Division proved to be quite limited, however.

A lieutenant who was responsible for establishing an I & E (Information and Education) program asked me one day if I might be interested in attending a special university in England which was called the American University and was located in Shrivenham, England. The university had been created to allow interested GJ.s. to earn college credits while awaiting redeployment back to the States. I accepted the lieutenant's offer and shortly thereafter another ASTP buddy, Bill Healey, who had served with Troop B in the 88th Recon Squadron during combat (incidentally, Bill Healey became captain of the Georgia Tech football team after the war) and I traveled across Germany and France and finally arrived at Shrivenham and completed our enrollment at the university. Thereafter, life at the university turned out to be quite pleasant and fairly similar to life on college campuses in the United States. Military discipline was quite relaxed and housekeeping duties such as KP (kitchen police) were performed by German POWs. All in all, it was an aspect of military life that was totally different from the situation that confronted us one year earlier when we arrived in England and began preparing for combat.

The academic year ended in November, 1945 and the only question confronting me was whether I had a sufficient number of demobilization points to qualify for shipment back to the States or whether I would have to return to the 83rd Infantry Division, which was now on occupation duty in Austria and await further orders. Fortunately for me, I received notice shortly thereafter to report to Southampton, England, for boarding a brand new aircraft carrier, the USS Lake Champlain, for return to the United States. There were no aircraft on the carrier, and with some 5,000 G.I.s on board, it was more like a troop ship rather than its normal function of launching warplanes.

Despite somewhat crowded conditions and the necessity of avoiding a few bad weather systems, the return trip was much more palatable than the crossing which we made in a Liberty ship on our way to Europe a year earlier. Some ten days later, we reached New York and received a warm welcome when our ship docked. It was a happy bunch of guys who disembarked from the carrier knowing that they had survived the war and were now on their way to resume a normal civilian life.

From New York, we proceeded to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, the same camp from which we had begun our oversees journey a year earlier. But what a difference! This time, we were treated to a steak dinner with all of the trimmings and other goodies. 'Nothing was too good for the boys' seemed to be the motto.

After a brief period of recuperation at Camp Kilmer, I began the final leg of my military service by boarding an antiquated World War I troop train which would take us to Fort Sheridan, the very military installation where I had begun my Army career three years earlier. Processing for discharge went quite quickly and on January 23, 1946, I received my honorable discharge and attained that most coveted status of a civilian ready to assume the burdens of citizenship in a great and freedom-loving nation. I had survived the war and now it was time to move forward with my life.