Benjamin Albert Glusing was born in February 1916. He was born in southeastern Kansas on a farm near the town of Redfield [Annotator's Note: Redfield, Kansas]. The family rented the farm and raised sheep and planted crops. The terrain was hilly. The nearest big city was Fort Scott [Annotator's Note: Fort Scott, Kansas]. Glusing was born without a doctor being around. Instead, his father performed the cuttings. He lived at the farm until he was five years old. He has several siblings. When his sister started high school, the family moved to Topeka, Kansas. Glusing's aunt married a man who lived next door to the family. Glusing attended school in a small schoolhouse. There were only four teachers teaching eight grades. After second grade, Glusing started taking both third and fourth grade classes. When he reached fifth grade, he only had to take one class. His aunt's husband manufactured ice cream. All of Glusing's friends wanted to go to his house so they could get ice cream. Glusing attended the city's new high school when he became of age. He liked mechanical drawing. After graduating in 1933, Glusing attended Washburn College [Annotator's Note: now Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas]. When he graduated from college in 1937, he visited his sister's family in Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Corpus Christi, Texas]. In 1937, Glusing moved to Corpus Christi. Glusing left his girlfriend in Kansas and moved into the extra bedroom of one of his brothers. At the time, his brother was working for a chemical factory. Glusing started working there as well. At the time, Corpus Christi was starting to flourish from the oil and gas prospects of the area. Glusing was able to use his drafting experience. He had a year of typing experience and used it for work. He majored in economics and minored in journalism while in college. His brother worked for a newspaper in town. Glusing eventually started hanging out at the newspaper building.

There was one radio station in Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Corpus Christi, Texas] at the time Benjamin Albert Glusing started working there as an announcer. While working at the radio station, announcers would come and go. He worked 12 hours a day. Eventually, Glusing became the program director. The station was an NBC [Annotator's Note: National Broadcasting Company] "Blue" station. He was working in the radio station when selective service started, which was his introduction to military life. In early 1941, register selectees were being deferred [Annotator's Note: postponement of military service]. It was easy to get a deferment for the one-year mandatory training. By March [Annotator's Note: March 1941], there were not enough people in the service, and Glusing was chosen to enter the service after a lottery drawing. By that time, his brother-in-law started working for a congressman in Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.]. When his number was called, Glusing went to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio [Annotator's Note: now JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, part of Joint Base San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas]. He tried to get a deferment from Congressman Rayburn [Annotator's Note: Congressman Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn] but was not given it. He arrived at Fort Sam Houston in March 1941. Glusing's year of training was extended after Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did his basic training at Dodd Field, San Antonio [Annotator’s Note: Dodd Army Airfield at Fort Sam Houston].

Camp Bowie [Annotator's Note: in Brownwood, Texas] was a major camp that could handle several regiments. At the same time, the 208th Military Police Company was formed, which Benjamin Albert Glusing later joined. A division would have its own military police. They were established by military command. The Corps of Military Police or CMP, was created in February 1941. The 208th was created for men to specifically be policemen. It did not belong to any other unit but served as an independent unit for the general. A person had to have graduated high school to join the military police. Officers were trained for military justice. The 208th was stationed in San Antonio [Annotator's Note: San Antonio, Texas]. The 2nd Division [Annotator's Note: 2nd Infantry Division] already had military police. The 208th bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary camp] on the edge of Camp Bowie. Glusing was trained at Dodd Field [Annotator's Note: Dodd Army Airfield at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas] and the company had everything it needed. He trained with the 2nd Division military police and did guard duty with them. In April 1941, the company was moved into Camp Bowie. He immediately had to do maneuvers in Rising Star, Texas. There were around 170 selectees for the company. When the company was sent to the South Pacific, it remained on Noumea, New Caledonia, for 35 months. They arrived on the island in March 1942. Glusing then went to participate in the Louisiana Maneuvers [Annotator’s Note: a series of major US Army exercises in 1941 in northern and west-central Louisiana]. He had to control all troop movements during the maneuvers. When not on maneuvers, Glusing was in regular training. Later in 1941, he was in the Carolina Maneuvers [Annotator’s Note: series of US Army exercises held around southern North Carolina and northern South Carolina in 1941]. The 208th was reassigned to a different corps and dispatched to Chester, South Carolina. Glusing was given a three day pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and visited Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Corpus Christi, Texas], where he contracted a lung infection. At the time, Glusing was the company clerk. When he felt better, Glusing returned to his camp, but the company had left. There were a few men remaining and they worked as guards. He received a telegram from a friend in the unit telling him to leave for Chester, South Carolina. The small group of men did not have an officer and Glusing was worried about leaving. He found a master sergeant who told him to leave, but he never left.

On 7 December 1941, Benjamin Albert Glusing was at Camp Bowie [Annotator’s Note: in Brownwood, Texas] without an officer over him. He never received orders. His friend had him in the books as being in Chester, South Carolina, which saved him from being in trouble. Glusing knew he had to do something. Word came that the 208th [Annotator's Note: 208th Military Police Company] would be arriving on 10 December [Annotator's Note: 10 December 1941]. When the unit arrived, everything went back to normal for Glusing. When the war started, the military started real maneuvers. The men of the unit would do anything for one another. They did everything together, causing a brotherly attachment. When Glusing moved to Corpus Christi [Annotator’s Note: Corpus Christi, Texas] in 1937, he received a letter from his girlfriend saying she had started dating someone else. When the war started, he was a single man. After the maneuvers finished, Glusing applied for OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] and started his courses. By that time, the military police had become a separate branch in the Army and needed officers. After being sent to OCS, Glusing had a physical done and they found a problem. After some time, Glusing applied again and went to Fort Benning [Annotator's Note: Fort Benning, Georgia]. When he arrived, he had to fill out a waiver saying he did not have any health issues. He was then assigned to his barracks on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.

At Fort Benning [Annotator's Note: Fort Benning, Georgia], Benjamin Albert Glusing was shown how to get the Cosmoline [Annotator's Note: name for petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors] off an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. Everyone was rated as a buck sergeant [Annotator's Note: the lowest rank of sergeant in the military; E4]. More second lieutenants were created because the military was going to need them during combat. After cleaning his M1, Glusing had to sight in the rifle. He did not have to do any modifications to the gun. Glusing was a good shot because of how he was raised. Glusing was given the expert marksman rating. He was taught how to fire all the different types of weapons. In Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.], Lord Mountbatten [Annotator's Note: Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma], Sir Marshall Dill [Annotator's Note: Chief of the Imperial General Staff], Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill, Mark Clark [Annotator's Note: US Army General Mark Wayne Clark], and George Marshall [Annotator's Note: US Chief of Staff and General of the Army George C. Marshall] met up for the first time to decide how the American and British forces would operate together. Mountbatten was in charge of naval forces. They all arrived at Fort Benning one weekend to watch a demonstration of a river crossing. Six candidates were picked, including Glusing, for work with Mark Clark. The six men were told to go to the jump towers, but nobody was there. Across the field, they saw some men walking towards them. Mountbatten was in his white naval uniform but remained farther back from the men. Mark Clark spoke with the men and asked them some personal questions. Meeting those two men was a high moment for Glusing. He thought both men were cordial, and they put him at ease. Mark Clark's position changed, so Glusing never heard from him.

After graduating from Officer Candidate School, Benjamin Albert Glusing became a second lieutenant and was given orders, but his name was not mentioned. They did not know what to do with Glusing. Finally, he was returned to his original unit [Annotator's Note: 208th Military Police Company] when a letter came through from his prior commanding officer. It took several endorsements, including a two star general, for the orders to be legitimized. He was given a ten day delay en route [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a specified period of time] to make it to the 208th Military Police Company. He later found out he was named executive officer. After making it to his unit, Glusing was put through another maneuver in Louisiana, this time as an officer. The unit was in good operating shape. During the maneuvers, Glusing received a phone call from the chief of staff and was told to take some men and jeep and pick up a half-track [Annotator's Note: M3 half-track; a vehicle with front wheels and rear tracks]. He was to take live ammunition to Baton Rouge [Annotator's Note: Baton Rouge, Louisiana] and pick up some cargo, then return it all to Leesville [Annotator's Note: Leesville, Louisiana]. He was not to tell anyone or stop for anyone. In Baton Rouge, he found there to be little formality. He picked up eight mail bags and loaded them into the vehicle. At Leesville, Glusing unloaded the bags and returned to camp, where he resumed sitting by the phone. The bags contained the payroll for all the troops.

Benjamin Albert Glusing’s unit [Annotator's Note: 208th Military Police Company] was given secret orders. The orders were to go overseas to the South Pacific. The unit was being sent to New Caledonia, APO-502 [Annotator's Note: Army Post Office 502], nicknamed "Poppy" [Annotator's Note: White Poppo was the code name for Noumea, New Caledonia]. All of the overseas bases had nicknames like Poppy. The port of Noumea had been established as a shipping point for the military going into the South Pacific. There was so much traffic at the port that it was difficult to account for all of the material going in and out. Pilfering was a problem. PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange] merchandise was going missing quicker than it could be replaced. The military police were sent to stop the pilfering. At one point, there were 87 water vessels in the harbor at one time. Natives of the island were used to as a workforce and the military police were supposed to stop that. They boarded a World War 1 troop carrier, the Republic [Annotator's Note: USS Republic (AP-33)] and set off for Fort Mason in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California], where they boarded another ship for the rest of the journey. Eventually, Glusing was given the coordinates for New Caledonia. A liaison officer was sent forward ten days before the arrival and the officer chosen was Glusing. He went to Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] and then to Oakland [Annotator's Note: Oakland, California], where he worked with headquarters to get the needed materials for the unit. When the rest of the unit arrived, they did some marching, then boarded the Republic. That is when they learned their destination. While he was in San Francisco, Glusing saw war bonds [Annotator's Note: debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war] being sold. As his ship went out of the by, the cruiser San Francisco [Annotator's Note: USS San Francisco (CA-38)] joined the Republic for the trip. It took 22 days to reach the island. Glusing arrived on 21 March [Annotator's Note: 21 March 1942]. They made their way to Magenta [Annotator's Note: Magenta, New Caledonia], where there was an airfield. The area was mountainous and the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] were there building the unit's camp. The company occupied that camp for 35 months.

Benjamin Albert Glusing lived near some hills that blocked the nearby city [Annotator's Note: Magenta, New Caledonia]. On the other side of the hill was the areas general hospital. There was only one ward in the hospital, and it was guarded. Barbed wire covered the top of the fence. Some Marines would walk around with jars full of gold teeth. Guards would help administer medication. Prisoners of war would also help the medical staff. As soon as Glusing's unit was ready, they started working at the main docks to help stop the theft of war goods. Beer was one of the principal items that was stolen. Trucks were used to move the materials up and along the island. The Marines used a different kind of truck from the quartermasters. There were four motorcycles in Glusing's unit, which were the heart of the unit. If the Marines took beer, the motorcycle police would go after them. The jeep would have "MP" [Annotator's Note: military police] stamped in white letters on it. One night, Glusing parked his jeep outside a building and while he was inside, his jeep was stolen. Days later, the jeep was found where the 1st Marine Division had been bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary camp]. The jeep was stripped, so Glusing was given a new jeep. At some point, a captain was being considered for transfer home. Glusing was being considered for a promotion to commanding officer at the same time. Despite the promotion being approved, Glusing never received his orders. The captain returned home, and the unit was without a commanding officer. Glusing decided to take command of the unit without the order.

By the end of October 1943, Benjamin Albert Glusing was sending in payroll to get his men paid. He commanded 40 men at the main docks and 20 men at the other docks. He had the men get into formation and suddenly there was an explosion across the hills and a ball of black smoke in the sky. Glusing drove over to see what happened. Glusing dropped off his men farther up the road on his way to the dock. The island of New Caledonia supplies the world with aluminum. By the time Glusing arrived at the dock, all the men were trying to save themselves and their buddies. The dock had a wharf made of concrete but was not big enough to handle all of the shipping, so smaller piers were built. Four ships were docked and needed to be unloaded. The main dumps were inland. When the freighters were going to their destinations in the Pacific, they would stop at the docks. The fire was very hot. The fire could not be allowed to spread to the four ships docked nearby. The ship closest to the fire took the most damage of the four. There were 20 men in the area of the explosion. The explosion happened on 1 November [Annotator's Note: 1 November 1944], which was a French holiday. Most of the personnel of the dock was home celebrating when the explosion happened. The dock was under the administration of Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions]. The men of the unit were scattered all over, so the military police came to the area to help. Glusing ordered as many steel helmets to be gathered as possible. The police helped the fire fighters run the hoses that put out the fire. It took five hours to put out the fire. The following morning, the dock was working as it normally did. At the head of a ship, Glusing found a motorcycle policeman under his bike on fire. The man was not hurt. Of his 20 men, who did various dangerous stunts that day, Glusing had no casualties from fighting the fire.

Benjamin Albert Glusing's men [Annotator's Note: in the 208th Military Police Company] saved themselves, other men, fought a fire, and controlled traffic on the island [Annotator's Note: after an explosion on New Caledonia]. The local Frenchmen would complain about the military police. There were some bodies totally burned up. Glusing's men took blankets and used them to pick up human remains. The platoon lieutenant was at the main docks checking out his men there when the explosion occurred. Glusing watched his men as they helped man fire hoses. He always tried to be with his men. Immediately after the fire, stories started circulating about how it started. There had been bombs and shells on the ships docked there. Each ship had a specific unloading area. All the explosives had been unloaded together. A truck would unload wherever it was told to go. Many of those men were enlisted and had no instruction on how to handle those explosives. The following morning, Glusing's unit was back on schedule. A couple of days after the explosion, a couple officers questioned Glusing about the incident. The colonel asked him which of the two docks were more efficient in his opinion. Glusing did not make a judgment about how efficient the operation was. In the South Pacific, everyone wanted to save their turf and it was a great time to show off their accomplishments. There were some irritations between the transportation units and port battalion. The commanding officer of the transportation unit thought he was in charge of the military police in the area. Glusing knew that man had ambitions. That man was with the colonel as Glusing was being questioned. He knew they wanted Glusing to say the main dock was the most efficient in the area. Glusing decided not to say what they wanted him to say. After he answered, a bomb exploded nearby. Without any delays, Glusing received orders to transfer to Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Solomon Islands], where he would serve as the executive officer for the 39th Military Police Company [Annotator's Note: 39th Military Police Detachment, 8th Military Police Brigade].

Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands] was taken on 1 November [Annotator's Note: 1 November 1944] the day Benjamin Albert Glusing worked on the explosion [Annotator's Note: on New Caledonia]. Soon, he was landing on the island as the airstrip was being worked on. Glusing spent an evening on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] before going to Bougainville. The 39th Military Police Company [Annotator's Note: 39th Military Police Detachment, 8th Military Police Brigade] was a small unit that was spread out across the island. The 208th Infantry Company [Annotator's Note: 208th Military Police Company] used to have annual reunions in Houston [Annotator's Note: Houston, Texas]. One of the officers had fought in the China-Burma-India theater. Later, that man was given a copy of Glusing's incident report from the explosion and sent a copy to him. The report was well written and signed by the lieutenant who had been a prisoner of war. Glusing remained with the 39th for very long. Bougainville received the XIV Corps, which was made up of many men Glusing trained with. The main job for the men was to bring the Korean translators to rivers to take baths so they would not be shot. The Japanese patrolled nightly. There was not much to do on the island. The lieutenant colonel had been in the 208th MP Company [Annotator's Note: 208th Military Police Company]. Another officer visited the 39th MP Company and asked to see Glusing. The officer was from the 13th Air Force and was searching for administration personnel. The officer decided he wanted Glusing and had him transferred to the Air Force.

Benjamin Albert Glusing was on an inspection trip on New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: as part of 39th Military Police Criminal Investigation Section, 8th Military Police Brigade]. A man came in from the radio room and he was informed he was promoted to captain. He was also promoted to inspector general. He was told he would be given anything he needed. That is what he was doing when the war ended. When Noumea [Annotator’s Note: Noumea, New Caledonia] was being built up, the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] were building the camps. One of Glusing's officer friends in the 13th Air Force had been there and helped the Seabees. They appreciated that man's help so much that they gave him a small refrigerator. Glusing shared a tent with two other men and all of them became majors at the same time. They enjoyed having select friends come to hang out in the tent. They were able to get good whiskey, which they shared. Glusing was on Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] when the war ended. He was able to get onto a ship that was heading back to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. Everyone ran out of whiskey. When news got out about the end of the war, every Naval ship fired off ammunition into the sky. It was a party on the island. Glusing wanted to leave the military when the war ended. He wanted to be with his sister because her husband died. Before his ship returned to the United States, it stopped in Samar [Annotator's Note: Samar, Philippines]. While on the trip, Glusing was asked if he would stay on the island as head of the section with a promotion in six months, but he did not want it. Glusing used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] when he returned home. His sister had worked for a couple of politicians in Texas. Glusing helped raise her children. He was told a new radio station had been built in Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Corpus Christi, Texas] and they wanted him to join the staff. However, he declined the job. Glusing decided to attend law school at Georgetown [Annotator's Note: Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.]. He first worked a job with social security at night. He then got a job in a law firm.

Benjamin Albert Glusing's friends operated the prisoner of war stockade on New Caledonia. Glusing liked to visit his friend in Noumea [Annotator's Note: Noumea, New Caledonia]. The prisoners liked to manufacture Japanese battle flags and Glusing managed to get one. One day while he was there, a sergeant started talking to him and pointed out one of the prisoners. The sergeant told Glusing that the prisoner liked to paint on cloth. The prisoner painted on a handkerchief for Glusing. The picture was of the sinking of the aircraft carrier Wasp [Annotator's Note: USS Wasp (CV-7)]. Glusing later gave the painting to a family friend. Glusing has given several of his things away to people he knows. Artist Tom Lea [Annotator's Note: Thomas C. Lea, III] made several sketches from his time in the war. They were crude, but he would try to draw what he saw.