Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

And he got out before I did, but he went in much longer than I did. Rut he was out about
a month or maybe six weeks before I was because he came down and met the train, he and
my mother and sister came into St. Louis but . . . do you know Homer?
Q: No.
A: You know he lives in Springfield. He and his wife run the Calvary Cemetery for Bishop
McNicholas, and I was thinking, if you had to have it, you could call him. He's a very gracious
person, and I'm sure he'd he glad to tell you about it.
Q: No. I was just wondering if - you said that he was on lay duty and . . .
A: He was in the office. But they - they were in combat against - weren't there some
Japanese in the Aleutians. Didn't the Japanese get that far? Well, they had combat with
them. Now, as to what - you mentioned he was in the Thirtieth Division I think.
Q: No, Seventh Division.
A: Seventh Division.
Q: I was mistaken, Seventh Division.
A: Well he was attached to the headquarters company when they went to the
Philippines. And when they got out to the Aleutians, I guess it was early. I think that -
well, he was in before Pearl Harbor - whether they were at the Aleutians before Pearl
Harbor themselves - he went out to California. He made some friends out there. He was
up, like where I got discharged in Marysville, he was in that area. They went up to Alaska
from there. But when they went up there - I would assume it would be early 1942, I don't
know. Sometime in 1942.
But they were in combat up there, and they lost some men. When they were getting started
as a headquarters company - if you were there, and you had a gun, you had to shoot it,
I guess. That's about the best way I can describe it.
He didn't go to OCS [Officer's Candidate School] I don't think. 1 think he had an opportunity,
but he didn't go. He may have been a master sergeant; if he wasn't, he was a grade
under that. He was a warrant officer, is what he was, he was a warrant officer, that's what
it was. That's the rank he eventually achieved, a warrant officer.
After I got hurt, I had a couple of letters from him. If they had an opportunity to see
MacArthur - if that was considered an honor, I don't know. I would have considered -
maybe Truman wouldn't have. But . . .
Q: I see. (laughter)
A: But whether MacArthur had doubles or not, I don't know. I don't know that. The only
guy I heard who had any doubles was Churchill, and I think about that and laugh about
it all the time because - because if you hear one guy who talks, you hear them all. So
that . . . (chuckles)
Q: Yes sir. Did you say you had seen Eisenhower over in England?
A: Yes, yes. I saw Eisenhower. At St. Lo and with his driver - I wasn't aware it was
his lady friend. But it was that Kay something, whatever her name was.
Q: Summers.