About the Hoback Boys-- Part 2: The Bedford Boys

Raymond received a Bible from my mother as a Christmas gift when he was eighteen.  Receiving your own Bible  was to undergo a rite of passage, and we took it seriously.  Raymond certainly did, and he kept his Bible close at hand.  I know he took it with him when the Bedford company mobilized in 1941.

Before the mobilization, the company would go off to this or that army camp to train for a week or two.  When they came back from the end of  maneuvers, everyone would turn out to welcome them home.  One of my strongest memories is the joy in the faces of those boys  as they climbed off the trucks, because they knew their lives could get back to normal.

Once the company mobilized, though, the boys did not come back except as individuals whenever they could get a pass or furlough.  Their joy of coming home was real enough, but the army a greater reality.

After Pearl Harbor, so was the war.

--GreGen