The Squad 2

Max Karas, a 23 year old from Chicago. His father, Anton, (Polish by birth) served as a doughboy in WWI, and married and brought back a French girl from the countryside. Max was born soon after. Max' s father made his living as a musician (piano player) and sometimes actor in Chicago's theaters and music halls, and the family suffered hard times when the Depression hit, and many of these places closed.

Max's mother fell sick and died, adding to the misery. Things took a turn for the better in 1935, when President Roosevelt's New Deal programs to get the country working again included the Federal Theatre Project, which employed many theater workers and allowed the theaters to open up again. Max, having accompanied his father to the theaters many times, started with backstage, sewing, and prop work.

It was not long before Max was on stage playing roles, alongside his father on some occasions. Also, his tailoring skills improved, with more and more elaborate costumes needed for plays. But in June 1939, the Federal Theatre Project came to an end, and times grew leaner again. Max received his draft notice, and felt the call of duty to serve his country, his president, and see (and perhaps save) the country his mother came from.

Max Karas reported to Fort Sheridan, Highwood, Illinois in April 1942 for his Induction.


Malcolm Craig

Born in 1918, Malcolm grew up on the East Coast of the United States, spending his days fishing, reading, and working on the nearby Prout Farm. Around the farm, Malcolm was always helping to plant, tend and harvest the crops, which were mostly squash, peas, carrots, and cabbages, and he ran the tractor from field to field picking up the filled bushel baskets.

Malcolm is an only child, and his mother passed away while he was still a young boy. His father is in the Coast Guard, and is away much of the time. When Malcolm was young, he would often stay with an Aunt and Uncle nearby while his father was not at home. Once he reached his teen years, his father allowed him to stay at the family house by himself, taking care of the milk cow, the chickens, and their own small garden.

Malcolm hated gardening. He was so sick to death of being stuck out in the fields all day with a hoe that he dreamed of doing just about anything else. A decent student, Malcolm had a teacher, Mr. Pete Williams, who broadened his awareness of the world beyond their small town by loaning Malcolm books from his own collection. Malcolm read every book Mr. Williams had, and then went through whatever the library could find for him.

The school years passed and Malcolm spent much of his time reading and fishing, and puttering around the farm. There didn’t seem to be an end to the routine, though the rumors of trouble in Europe and Asia were beginning to reach even the fields of Malcolm's world. Malcolm's father was away more and more as the Coast Guard ramped up activities along the coast, spending more of their time investigating sightings of odd boats, and reports of odd people speaking with accents. They hadn’t found any conspirators, but they'd heard plenty of rumors of them. Malcolm's father said that one man swore he'd seen a submarine on the surface when out fishing one day. No one really believed the fisherman, but it did make folks wonder.

Malcolm watched the newspapers and listened to the radio for stories of the British fighting the Germans, and wondered when the United States was going to get involved. Having read all those books of far away places and adventures, such as the Boy Allies and Lawrence of Arabia, Malcolm was sure that he had to get out off the farm and into the real world.

One of Malcolm's friends, Scott Gilmore, had a father who'd served with the American Field Service, an ambulance and first aid corps in World War One, and so Malcolm and Scott listened to stories about the ravages of the trenches, of gas warfare, and of the service that had been performed for the French soldiers by the AFS. Malcolm and Scott decided that this was the way to get started in helping the coming war effort. With letters of introduction in hand, they made their way to Boston and found the office of the AFS.

Without much training, Malcolm and Scott were quickly sent off to North Africa with the American Field Service, which was attached to the British 8th Army. As an assistant driver, Malcolm was at the front lines providing care to the wounded, moving the wounded to field stations and army hospitals, and performing what services he could in a non-combatant role in keeping with the traditions of the AFS. . He was there when the Brits were pushing the Germans and Italians before them, and when running like hell from them. The desert war was a crazy, confusing place to be but it was good to be useful, to see a bit more of the world, and to get out of those damned crop fields.

However, Malcolm is done with being shot at and not being allowed to shoot back. With the United States ramping up wartime production and expanding the army, Malcolm decided it was time to get involved with the US forces. He left the AFS and returned to the United States where he enlisted in the US Army, was issued his rifle and made a grenadier.


Pascal Emile Dubois was born in Presque Isle, Maine to Emile and Lillian-Jean Dubois. Pascal’s father, Emile had served with the 2nd Maine Infantry Regiment (later to be re-designated the 103rd Infantry Regiment). The 2nd had been called up for action in WW I. During maneuvers in France in the early days of January, 1918, Pvt. Emile Dubois was wounded and sent home, where he returned to working in his farm equipment and vehicle repair shop. Pascal was born in November of that year.

When he was six, Pascal’s mother Lillian-Jean was admitted to the Northern Maine Sanatorium as a result of TB. She resided there until her death a year later. After the death of his mother, and being an only child, most of Pascal’s time was spent at school. When not at school, he could be found at his father’s shop. He would also spend the occasional summer with his paternal Grandparents. Pascal’s Grandparents choose to forgo English and spoke almost exclusively in their native Acadian French. To be able to effectively converse with them, he was forced to learn the language through total immersion.

Spending so much time with his father and around machines, Pascal’s natural aptitude for all things mechanical, and his instinctual sense for how things worked showed itself. The elder Dubois was only to happy to encourage his son, showing him the workings of every piece of farm equipment and truck or tractor that came into the shop, to include teaching him some driving and operations skills; even welding. Pascal’s mechanical ability is only surpassed by his complete inability to handle social situations and girls are a complete mystery to him (more so than the rest of us). He places women on a ridiculously high pedestal. They are almost untouchable.

After high school, Pascal joined his father in the shop where he honed his repair and driving skills. It wasn’t too long before he would claim “S'il est fait de métal, je peux le fixer. S'il a un volant, je peux le conduire.“ (“If it is made of metal, I can fix it. If it has a steering wheel, I can drive it.”)

Three days after his 24th birthday, Pascal received one of those infamous brown envelopes from the War Department, calling him to duty. With a silent nod, the elder Dubois helped his son pack up put him on a train to the nearest assembly point. Pascal arrived in Fort Devens just after April 1st, 1942



Lee Lewis seems to always be aware of what is going on in the squad between its members. When there is a practical joke afoot, he seems to know about it, but he is just as likely to look the other way as long as there’s no danger of any physical harm coming to someone.

He has the reputation for having disdain for the younger officers of the Company, especially the, “Wet behind the ears Lieutenants who strut around like they are so smart when they weren’t even born when I was fighting and shedding blood in this regiment.”

This attitude has definitely put SGT Lewis in a position where he has not been popular with some of the junior officers, but the older Non-Coms, and a couple of the more senior officers have been seen to stifle a chuckle, and quickly turn away to hide a smirk, and “not see” when Lewis is teasing, or slightly lampooning one of the “stuck up” Lieutenants behind his back, or making a goofy face when they aren’t looking.

When an officer is competent, and puts the welfare of the men first, then Lewis will fiercely back him, as he will the regiments reputation on any and every occasion. Anybody who bad mouths the “Blue Spaders”, or minimizes the regiments’ achievements within earshot of SGT Lewis is in for trouble. Lewis knows how to use his fists, and will take a fellow who bad mouths the regiment behind the barracks and teach him the folly of that. “Oh, he fell down… Too bad…”

Next to the younger guys, on the tougher confidence courses, and road marches, Lewis doesn’t fare so well. He always carries the required combat load, but will start to sweat, and breath harder sooner than just about anybody else. When the circumstances allow he will strap his gas mask, shovel, field glasses, and bayonet to his pack. If the march goes on long enough he will slow down, and drop to the back of the column. If anybody makes a wisecrack, Lee is stone cold silent, sets his jaw, and keeps on going.

On the range, SGT Lewis is on PAR with anyone else with the M1 Rifle, but can strip and clean it faster than most. He carries a M 1911 Pistol, and can shoot it better than most of the other Non-Coms, but not so well as the ones who are on the competition pistol team. On the automatic range, Lewis seems very knowledgeable with the .30 Cal Browning guns, and has an affinity for the light Browning, which he likes to strip the carrying handle and bipod off of (to save weight). “We didn’t need that stuff in the last war.”

If asked about his vocation, he will say he worked for the Soo Line railroad in Wisconsin, and into Minnesota. Ran a locomotive in his younger days, and did some blasting for the railroad when they were extending their lines through mountains and to mining areas before the hard times of the depression.
When work for the railroad slowed down, Lewis will relay he supplemented it by delivering supplies, workers, and the occasional well-to-do sportsman to remote worksites, mining sites, and hunting areas in Northern Minnesota, Canada, and even upon occasion into upper Michigan by small floatplane, landing in various lakes, and ponds.

If asked how he came back into the army, SGT Lewis will relay how he got an invitation in the mail in early 1941 to return and help train National Guardsman, in newly federalized army units in training exercises in the South for that year. When Pearl Harbor occurred he demanded transfer to his old WW 1 infantry unit, because “Once a Blue Spader, ALWAYS as Blue Spader”.

Lewis will not say so, but he has been demanding an opportunity to have a squad he will take into combat every since he reported to the regiment. Up until now these demands were ignored and he was set to training group after group of arriving trainees, only to see them broken up and sent off with some other Non-Com. Lewis blames the younger officers for this slight, and although gives them proper military courtesy, he does so grudgingly. Then at last there was a series of Officer, and NCO moves which brought someone he knew either in the first war, or just after, during his time in the occupation forces in Germany, into a position where they could do Lewis a favor, because he got a transfer, and it seems like he finally is getting a squad he will keep, and have the opportunity to take into combat.


Albert Greeley is 24 years old so if the year is 1944, he was born on October 3, 1920, in Danville Junction, Maine. He was born, and grew up on the family farm.

He began learning some of his letters before starting school because his grandmother would point to a letter making up part of the headlines in the daily newspaper and tell him what it was. He could recognize many of the letters in printed capital form before starting school, but could not read. Many stories had been read to him, usually children's stories such as "The three Little Pigs, The Little Red Hen, Chicken Little, Little Red Riding Hood”, and tales such as “Jack be Nimble Jack Be Quick, Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet”, and the “Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.”

Al started school in the fall of 1926, walking about a half-mile to get there with an older brother and older sister. It was a one-room school with a single female teacher responsible for all grades from kindergarten through eighth grade. There were four children in Al’s kindergarten class and that was the average number of children in each grade although some had more in some had less. That was a lot of responsibility for the teacher but she seemed to be able to handle it pretty well. School started at nine in the morning and ended for most at three in the afternoon, with an hour out for lunch.

Each morning the teacher gave instructions to her students, usually reading or arithmetic assignments to each of the eight grades. Then she spent some instructional time with the kindergarten children, followed by some focused question-and-answer time with each of the subsequent grades. By the time she finished with the eighth grade, it was noon. There were books in the back of the room that a student could take and read if they had nothing else to do, much better than being bored and tempted to do something that they shouldn’t do. Al liked reading these books.

After completing nine years of public education it was considered that the students had learned everything that they would need to know to have a successful adult life but some, more boys than girls, went on to high school. Al was a pretty good student. When he graduated from this one room school he went on to high school at a building about six miles away from home. He got to and from school riding a bicycle, whether it was raining or not. On bad snow days, he had to stay home.

Al completed four years of high school. He got some additional math, biology, chemistry, and physics, English and history. He played some basketball. He didn’t go out for football or baseball because he was needed to work at the farm after school. Al graduated from high school in June, 1939. Very few of the high school graduates went on to college Al was not an exception to this rule.

Despite the lingering Great Depression, Al was always ‘employed’ on the farm. There was always something that needed to be done for both boys and girls at the farm. He helped with the haying in summer. He learned how to harness the horses. He split wood for the kitchen stove before he learned to cut down trees with an axe or saw, cut off limbs, cut the trunks an limbs into four foot lengths. From time to time Al found work in Maine’s lumber industry cutting Pine trees. These trunks were left in long lengths and carried to a sawmill to made into boards and framing timber. Sometimes these products were sold, and sometimes they were taken back to the farm to construct a new building or repair old one.

The farm was all but self sufficient; with a big vegetable garden, which produced a lot of food that did not need to be bought at a store; and enough cows, chickens, and sheep to produce marketable goods. Al’s father was ultimately able to procure a truck which the boys including Al learned to drive promptly.

Al’s father liked to hunt and fish and he taught his sons, and those daughters who were interested how to do these things. The family owned several shotguns and a bird hunting dog. Al and his brothers usually hunted together, in the early fall for partridge, pheasant, and woodcock, each being found in a different kind of natural habitat. Sometimes they went duck hunting. Later in the fall they took rifles and went deer hunting. It was much easier to track the deer when there were a few inches of snow on the ground. Then one hunter could follow the tracks of the deer, which would keep it moving, while the other could run ahead to a place where it looked like the deer might be going, and where it would be possible to get a good shot at it. Al thought that this was a lot of fun. He preferred following the tracks to shooting the deer.

When Al was older yet, he practiced shooting hunting rifles at targets. Al liked the lever action .30 .30 pretty well, but his father preferred a bolt action .30 caliber rifle, one of the kind he used when he was a soldier during world war one. Al and his brothers and sisters had helped do the work on the family farm for as long as he could remember. When he got his high school diploma, he wanted to do something else. When he learned that the State of Maine was hiring forest rangers he was one of many applicants and he was one of the few to be hired.

Al had joined the Boy Scouts soon after he was twelve years old. He had learned that a boy scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, obedient, thrifty, brave, clean reverent. His motto was “Be Prepared”. He never made it to be a first class scout but he did learn a lot from the scouting manual. Many of these skills fit well into his job as a forests ranger. He had a chance to improve his skills in map reading and using a compass. He enjoyed spending a lot of time in the great outdoors.

Albert Greeley received his Notice to report for Induction, what everyone called a ‘Draft Notice,’ on April 30th, 1942. He