'Rock' Merritt's Training and England-- Part 2

The recruiter put him on a bus to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where Merritt was sworn in October 14, 1842,  and immediately sent to Camp Blanding in Florida.

In Florida, the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment assembled, where Merritt went through basic and jump school.  And, earned his extra $50 a month.

After jump school, training continued at Camp Mackall in North Carolina for about 14 weeks, followed by a ten-day leave and repeating the training cycle.

Sent to Camp Shanks, New York, and later boarded the USS Parker on Christmas Eve and headed to Ireland for squad and platoon training.  By March 1944, his unit had relocated to Nottingham, England, in preparation for a campaign.

"We got over there and started this training again and making jumps -- night jumps and day jumps -- still didn't know where we were going, or when we was going,"  Merritt said in a 2020 interview.

Where Might They Be Going?  --GreGen