Chapter 23 - My Lame or Ruptured Duck Day
Finally on November 17th, 1945, my time arrived, and
I was Honorably Discharged from the Army of the United States. Pinned on
my "Lame Duck" emblem, drew my discharge and travel pay, took my discharge
papers and travel bag down to the train station, and bought a ticket home
to Reform, Ala. by way of Chicago, Ill. The train pulled out just before
nightfall, and began its run to Milwaukee and Chicago. It began to snow as
we left the station, and they were predicting the first heavy snowfall of
the season that night. Anyway we had trouble sometime in the night, and the
train was badly delayed, and didn't reach Chicago until eight or nine o'clock
in the morning, and I missed my connection on the train to Birmingham, and
would have to lay over until ten PM that night.
I wandered around the city and found myself in what
is called the Loop. I met another soldier who was also alone, and had time
to kill in the windy city. We bar hopped around and went to a burlesque show
and were passing the time very well. We were sitting in a bar, and had picked
up two girls, and were having a good time, when I suddenly realized it was
approaching ten PM. I ran to a phone and called the train station inquiring
what time the next train south to Birmingham would leave since I figured
I had missed the ten PM connection. The man informed me that the next train
would be ten PM tomorrow night, just one train a day running south from Chicago
to Birmingham.
On finding this out I waved good-bye to my new-found
friends and ran outside and hailed a cab asking the cab driver if he could
possibly get me to the train station in time to catch my train. The cab driver
said "if anybody can I can", and he took off full speed and ran every stop
light between there and the station, and I raced through the station and
jumped on an already moving train. My common sense had told me that it would
be far too expensive to spend another day in Chicago, and also I was very
anxious to get home.
I had to travel day coach because Pullman was too
expensive, and I was really tired and sleepy, so sometime in the night I
went back to the Lounge or smoking car, lay down on a sofa seat and went
to sleep. I woke up sometime in the wee hours, and found an old gentleman
sitting close to me. He said to me "Young man, I've been sitting here watching
you sleep. I was afraid someone would rob you while you were sleeping." I
thanked him profusely.
I finally arrived in Birmingham, and was coming down
the steps to the main lobby with my Ike jacket unbuttoned, when I met an
MP and he said to me "Soldier, button up that jacket". I pointed to my Lame
Duck emblem, and he said " Soldier as long as you wear that uniform you will
wear it right.", and I said "Yes, sir". I was much to near the end to let
anything interfere with my putting that thing in the closet. The trip from
Birmingham was most always made by bus since train service was very erratic
from there. My army years were over and I returned to life as a civilian,
with a thankful heart that God had spared my life.
DeLoyd Cooper is the Historian for the 275th Armored Field Artillery
Battalion Association. dcooper19@juno.com
Copyright © 1999, 2000, DeLoyd Cooper. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 3, 2004
