Following the 10th- Home Life

This is part of a series following my father's 10th Armored Division in World War II seventy years ago. He was a medic with the 80th Medical Battalion assigned to the 10th Armored, part of Patton’s Third Army.

The war is over. On October 20, 1945 my dad (Buddy) arrived back in his northern Pennsylvania hometown with his new wife of 17 months, 13 of which he was overseas. He was, no doubt, looking forward to settling down, working in his pharmacy, probably starting a family. He was nearly 40 years old. My mom was 32.

The next two entries in my grandmother's diary show the every day life they were coming back to. After a year in a war zone, it was well-deserved.

• 10/25- Buddy and Dora unpacked his clothes
• 10/26- Buddy, Dora, and I went to the game. Our team lost

The simplicity of it is striking when comparing it to the past year.

But that was not to last. The diary again tells the tale.

• 10/29- Ruth [Dad's sister] called at 10.45 to say that they took Fred [her husband] to the hospital with a bad heart
• 10/30- Dad [my grandfather] and Buddy went down to Ruth’s. Fred is better
• 10/31- Buddy came home at 10. Ruth called at 11:45 to say Fred passed away last night
• 11/1- Ruth and her father came at 2 o’clock. Then we went to the cemetery and bought a lot. O God.

Her son is home; her son-in-law is gone.
When it looks like life can go on, it changes.