Sunday, February 26, 2017

Family History Writing Challenge Day 22

St. Louis home
Once baby LeRoy gained a sufficient amount of weight, he and Catherine were able to travel by train to St. Louis, where they set up their household on the south side of town. The house was located in Lemay on Perrin Avenue, close to Notre Dame High School and Jefferson Barracks. Once a single-family home, this house had been converted to a rooming house to meet the needs of soldiers and their families. The Kublers made the most of their time in St. Louis, enjoying Forest Park and the zoo, among other attractions.
bear at the St. Louis Zoo

By October of 1943, Catherine was expecting a second child and received medical care at St. Louis University Hospital. Coincidentally her brother-in-law Kevin McGann, who was married to Roy’s sister Jane, was training as a family practice resident at St. Louis University. Catherine always requested not to be seen by Kevin. She thought it was a little too personal to share that kind of exam with Kevin!

In May of 1944, Roy was given his orders to report to Greensboro, North Carolina to prepare for overseas training. At this time the family had a car, so Roy drove Catherine and LeRoy back to Cincinnati. Most of the trip was made during the night. With the rationing of gas and tires, the long road trip found Roy patching and borrowing tires along the way due to frequent blowouts. At one point, the car was making a funny noise. As Catherine drove, Roy stood outside on the running board listening to the engine. Little LeRoy stood on the seat saying, “Bye-bye, Daddy. Bye-bye, Daddy.” Catherine thought he was waving to his daddy out the window. A few miles passed before she realized Roy was no longer on the running board but had fallen off. It probably was a pretty quiet drive back to Cincinnati after that. Catherine and LeRoy moved in with her parents, Michael and Mayme Crusham (who still had five children living at home!), and Roy headed off to Greensboro.
LeRoy and Roy

During his overseas training at the Eastern Overseas Replacement Depot in Greensboro, Roy’s daughter, Kathleen Mary, was born in Cincinnati. He was not given any leave time. Upon completion of his training later in June, he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia to ship out. 

USS Anderson
In late June, Roy boarded the USS General A.E. Anderson (AP-111), captained by William Miller. On 29 June 1944, his twenty-seventh birthday, the ship left port headed for Bombay, India. While on the ship Roy quickly learned that the food available to the troops was not that good. With his experience in cooking at Jefferson Barracks, he arranged to help out in the kitchen on the ship. He received much better food and was able to get to know the officers on the ship. 

The USS Anderson passed through the Panama Canal on the 4th of July, and crossed the Equator on July 8th and the International Date Line on the 18th. It made a brief two day stop in Melbourne, Australia before arriving in Bombay on 7 August 1944.




1 comment:

Mrs. Wryly said...

Cute story about falling off the running board! It is amazing that you know all of this!