Interview conducted by Lynette Yeomans. Anthony Buemi was drafted into the US Army in September of 1944. He completed his basic training at Fort McClellan, AL, which lasted for 15 weeks, two weeks shorter than previously required. The shorter period was due to the Army's need for more replacement infantry men in the South Pacific. Buemi was then sent to California, where the soldiers thought they were to receive more training; however, they were put directly on a ship bound for Leyte, where the newly trained soldiers stayed for a month rounding up stray Japanese soldiers on the island. From there Buemi was shipped to Luzon, where he joined the 6th division of Company C. The 6th division encountered heavy combat resulting in many casualties. His division was also sent to Manila, which had been recently liberated, to work as Military Police for a time. Buemi was sent back to Luzon after his time in Manila. On August 5, 1945, just 15 days before the fighting in the Pacific ended, he was wounded by stray mortar fire. He spent the rest of his service, five and a half months, in the hospital. The shrapnel had severed arteries in his neck, and it took multiple surgeries to repair them properly. When Buemi was discharged in January of 1946, he returned to Connecticut and immediately began the spring semester studying at UCONN. He was able to obtain his undergraduate degree in three and a half years, and then went on to podiatry school in New York with the help of the GI bill.
Keywords: CCSU, VHP, WWII, WW2, veteran, interview, oral history, Interactive transcript
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