WW II Vet Ray "Pops" Merrick-- Part 3: Beer, Tokyo Rose and Roy Rogers

While in the service, his orders were to "Take charge of this post and all government property in view."

One day, while in a tent, one of the guys had a banjo and they were all having a grand time singing and drinking beer, though that was warm.  Then, one guy poured his beer into a fan and it went all over the place.  When they were stationed near the Irrawaddy River in Burma, they would put their beer in the water and since it was coming down from the mountains, they would have cold beer.

One of their favorite pastimes was listening to "Tokyo Rose" over the radio.  They ignored what she would say about "the 4-Fs taking your wives and girlfriends away," but she played all the current hits being heard in the United States and they loved the music.  Her records were supplied by Japanese spies in the United States.

One time, he saw Roy Rogers who was an officer on a transport plane.  He was told not to say anything to him so he wouldn't be pestered.  Ray did salute him and had the salute returned.

--GreGen