In April of 1953 my Dad was drafted into the US army. Young and in love and not wanting to be separated , he and my mom got married and packed up to go to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.
I found all these images in an old scrapbook that my mother recently gave me
It was the first time either of them had been away from home.
They loaded up Puddles the dog and drove south from their small Illinois town to connect with Rt. 66 near Bloomington, Illinois.
It was a 450 mile trip that waa slowed by all the small towns they had to travel through.
It likely took over 12 hours
The trlp took them through the rolling prairies of central Illinois, eventually crossing the Mississippi River into the Ozark foothills of Missouri.
Luckily the war in Korea ended a few months later and instead of being shipped off to fight, at Fort Leonard Wood, soldiers received various types of instruction, including basic infantry, advanced engineer, and engineer specialist training.
The specialized courses offered included construction and earth-moving equipment operation (such as the crane shovel),
Class #3 Crane Shovel Course ~ 6th Armd. Div. Trains.
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. 2 Oct. '53
Capt. Morris W. Head Supt.
If was a career that he worked at until he retired.
They both had fond memories of the time they spent in Missouri and I had fun looking through the old scrapbook and knowing it has been safely digitized.
