WWII Baby - Eighty Years Ago from Today!
Asked by any agent for a security question on my birthday via a video interpreter, I always answer “July 16, 1944” and suddenly pause, “I am the WWII baby.” (Agents and interpreters burst into laughing.)
According to Wikimedia Commons, I am one of 2,794,800 babies born in the United States in 1944. (3,591,328 babies were born in the United States in 2023.)
I was born in the building below on July 16, 1944. At that time, it was the Holzer Hospital in Gallipolis, Ohio. (Actually, my first hometown is Point Pleasant, West Virginia. At that time, Point Pleasant had no hospital, so this hospital was the closest one - five miles away - across the Ohio River.)
After my birth, my mother mailed the announcement below to my father in Italy.
This letter was delivered late to my dad in the area near Rosignano, Italy, where his 337th Infantry Regiment of the 85th Infantry Division was engaged in a training program that stressed weapon firing, mountain combat, physical conditioning, scouting, and patrolling.
I found an interesting story in my father's letter to my mother dated August 3, 1944. He wrote:
“Well, Darling, I really hit the jackpot on the mail situation last night. I received one of your old letters written on July 10th that must have gotten lost somewhere. One from you wrote the 21st, the 24th, and the 25th, and last but not least (except in size) was the announcement. It really was lovely, Honey, & I shall carry it in my billfold with me. I didn’t get to write again yesterday, but I got the birth certificate the day before yesterday. So I had quite a time reading last night & want to re-read them again this morning.
The fellows in the Company D & officers in the Battalion have a lot of fun kidding me about the son. The other day the Lt. Colonel saw my shit trench before it was completed & said it must have been for the baby. Then, last night at the mail call, Capt. Isom said I must have gotten a letter from the son because of the size of the letter. One of the “cutups” in the company nicknamed me “Scratchy” a while back, so he calls him “Itchy”. My! My! What a time! He is the one who kept thinking we should have twins.
Honey, they do kid me a lot, but I take it in fun and know that they are happy, too. I guess they are jealous he isn’t theirs. “
One month later, on September 16, 1944, the 337th Regiment resumed warring near Mount Pratone.
Six months later, on March 5, 1945
The U.S. War Department declared me “a wonderful little twelve-point rascal” and awarded 12 points to my dad.
Click on “WWII Baby Howard's Worth Was 12 Points” to read the Adjusted Service Rating Score explanation.
Six months later, in September 1945
That was the first meeting between Dad and his “wonderful little twelve-point rascal” (at the age of 14 months) in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in September 1945. Interestingly, my mom broke the news by telling him about my deafness. My dad was shocked.
Could I tell any agent asking for my birthday that I am “the WWII baby and the wonderful little twelve-point rascal”????
Great story Howard! I guess I know what your lucky number is :-)