Veteran's History Project

The Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

Registering for the Selective Service was very mandatory in the 1940's. Once signed in, a young man was subject to being called up for service just about anytime the Armed Forces were in need.

When he reached eighteen, Earl was all set to go into the Army as a draftee. Earl's older brother Lee had already had a year in college. The Foster brothers just knew one of them was going to war. They decided that Lee would enlist while Earl stayed back to help with running the family farm near York, NE.

When WWII ended, the Draft Board relaxed a little... by 1950 however, the sabers of war were again rattling. Early in 1950's Earl was notified he was to go to Omaha for a physical exam at the Armed Forces Induction Center. He hadn't been drafted officially, but this step was taken care of.

In the following October, he boards a troop train for Fort Riley, Kansas. There, he and others obtain uniforms, a haircut, and a little peek at what was to come. The BNGs (Brand New Guys) were available for normal duties as well. Earl was on KP for a day. The next day was his birthday. Sure enough, as Earl was relaxing on his bunk, someone from the mess hall came asking him to help another day!

After being on-hold for a couple of weeks, he and many of his new best friends boarded a train for a three-day trip to Camp Cook, CA. (This site became Vandenberg Air Force Base.)

Yes, the Sergeant wearing a funny looking hat, met them at the gate. The Sergeant introduced the recruits to new terms and new ways of saying things! In that most of the new men already had their clothing issues and haircuts, training could get underway fairly soon.

There was an issue with one of the new soldiers. He was inept at personal hygiene. It turned out that his mother actually bathed him until the day he left. When he became an Army trainee, he hadn't quite made it to the shower for a few days. Some of the other guys showed him all about a scrub brush and soap. Earl thought it taught the man a lesson. This particular person didn't know what to do most of the time and became considered to be useless.

Once the platoon filled the barracks, another smaller group came into the same rooms so this was a cramped place to live.

Training here was the fore-runner of one station unit training. The men learned the basics of soldiering, and the advanced part of their education. This was a site that trained the infantry. Here, the training was focused on weapons. There were three companies of riflemen and one company of heavy weapons. Earl, like his brother Lee, was in the heavy weapons unit. Among those were the machine guns, recoil less rifles, and mortars. Earl was a forward observer for the Mortar unit. In the scheme of things, the heavy weapons were a certain base of power. But the things were quite heavy. The weight of these items would become a factor in a few months.

Once the training was completed, the deploying soldiers formed up. The ones who would/could deploy were sent on to San Francisco where they would board a troop ship. The number of men formed a Battalion. Once they were on the ship, some kind of mistake happened and another unit came aboard as well. It was danged crowded as the ship sailed to Japan.

Most of the men had not even heard of sea legs. Someone figured out that 93% of the men aboard got sick. Finally the ship landed and eventually its distressed passengers got on land. Soon, Earl's group boarded an old train that took the 60 miles to a live training site. Using real bullets and mortars, the early morning fog rolled in. As the training went on, one soldier lost his life trying to find his way. Training was halted just a little too late. Earl had reached the rank of Corporal during this training.

Training shifted to a different site south of Tokyo. The men worked on assaulting a beach head from the Higgins boats. The training included duty on the lower edges of Mount Fuji. As time marched on and the men became proficient with their responsibilities, they moved back to a small installation called Camp Zama. (This is close to Zama City and is now the Headquarters for US Army Japan. The golf course there is fabulous!)

At Camp Zama, in this time frame of about 1951, the men were staying in a large building. A boiler was used for heating it. One afternoon, the boiler caught fire. The proper agency responded and put out the fire. Later the same day, the fire re-kindled. The men, including Earl, were ordered out of the building "RIGHT NOW". Earl got his clothes, boots and a jacket and ran. Many others didn't grab that much clothing. From this fire, two Companies lost everything. They had to be re-issued all their clothing, gear, and weapons.

Fairly soon the Battalion was sent on to Korea. During the Korea mission, Earl's unit was sent to the front lines fairly soon. The fighting was fairly intense. The number of mortar rounds sent down range was astounding. Fortunately, the rounds were delivered in trucks and trailers.

The battles and climbs for more fights and battles went on and on. They were accentuated by the cold temperatures. The clothing issued to these men on the front lines was not the best, but adequate. The fighting was horrendous over land that was even worse. One of Earl's radiomen was scheduled to get back to the States. Things were all set and the departure date was announced. The man wanted to go to the front to say good bye to friends and was killed in the process.

Earl stayed in touch with home by writing letters. The only other communication about back home came from the operations office. No USO tours came around where these men were. At one point there was a bout of hemorrhagic fever. In this case, rats had found out where the soldiers stashed their candy. The rats liked it as much as the soldiers but just their being around it, spread the disease. This illness can cause fatalities. Luckily, the staff caught it before it was too late.

Earl moved up in the ranks fairly quickly. Someone made pretty good money changing the rank insignia on his sleeves. He did the admin chores and kept the unit together. In about August 1953, Earl and the others around him were notified that their part in the war was ending and they were being replaced. It was time to re-assemble and get aboard a troop ship for the trip home. The mood of the troops is a whole lot different than the mood going over. As a Master Sergeant, Earl's life was just pretty darned good!

The troop ship returned the men to San Francisco, CA. After waiting in the San Francisco area, the men moved on to Camp Carson, CO. While the men waited to out-process, several Master Sergeants had pooled together and were biding their time when a much junior soldier approached them to say he had work for them. As the junior soldier led the men from place to place, one-by-one, the Master Sergeants kind of disappeared. By the time the walk was ended, the junior soldier was talking to himself!

Another of Earl's brothers drove Earl's car to Camp Carson to get the returning soldier home. His part of the service was over.

Earl earned the Combat Infantry Badge, medals for the Army of Occupation, Korean Service and UN Service, Good Conduct and National Defense Service. He also earned the Expert Badge for rifle marksman-ship.

Master Sergeant Earl Foster, your Country called on you and you served in an exemplary manner. Thank you for that!