ALBRIGHT: Column takes reader back

Syd Albright always writes an excellent article, which is always enlightening. His mention of the 148th. Field Artillery and the 41st. National Guard Division brought back memories. I enlisted at age 16 in Company “E,” 116th Regiment of the 41st Infantry Division based in Twin Falls. It was a Combat Engineer Unit. This was in 1938. In June 1940 I quit school at the end of my junior year and enlisted in the Navy. At that time I received my Honorable Discharge from the 41st Division, the Sunset Division. While I was on “Boot” leave from the Navy in early September the 41st was mobilized for active duty. I missed life in a foxhole by about eight weeks.

Mr. Albright’s article was the first mention of the 41st Division, that I have read about, since its deactivation more than 50 years ago. The things I was taught, while a member of that unit, made my transition to and through my 30-year Navy career much easier.

Thank you Mr. Albright for the brief, but not forgotten bit of my past.

FRED HAMELRATH

Hayden