Henry Bodson went to West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy in West Point, New York]. It was a lot tougher than he thought it would be. He managed to get along with all the other first-year students. He had three roommates and one of them did not make it the first six months. His grades at the academy were nothing to be proud of, but he passed all the courses and managed to stay within the first quarter of the academic ratings each semester. He managed to complete all the military aspects along with the academic aspects. At the end of four years, his rating was 106 out of a class of 424. He had just made it at the bottom of the top quarter for overall proficiency. He graduated with the class of 1941 on 11 June 1941. Six months later World War 2 broke out when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. At that time he was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina with his wife whom he married in July 1941. Uncle Sam [Annotator's Note: Uncle Sam; a common national personification of the federal government of the United States] had already prepared for World War 2 and increased the military forces considerably by the time Pearl Harbor was bombed. He stayed with the 9th Infantry Division with an artillery until an order came out from the department of the Army. They only wanted two Regular Army [Annotator's Note: Regular Army of the United States, now a component of the United States Army] officers in any battalion. At the time he was a Second Lieutenant. He was pushed out and reassigned to the 30 Infantry Division which was a National Guard Division that was moved to Camp Blanding [Annotator's Note: in Clay County, Florida] in the spring of 1942. He stayed with the artillery of the 30th Infantry Division for about a year and then transferred to Missouri to help form a brand-new battalion of artillery [Annotator's Note: 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division] at Fort Leonard Wood, [Annotator's Note: Fort Leonard Wood in Pulaski County, Missouri]. They were training new people, new recruits, and new selective service people. They were to be located in Anzio, Italy, just north of Naples, Italy. He was selected as the only captain at Leonard Wood at the time to go.

Henry Bodson was born in 1917 in Dobzyn, Poland [Annotator's Note: Dobrzyn, Poland]. His family left Poland in 1921 and moved by way of England to the United States. He has four brothers. In 1921, Russia was moving aggressively toward its western neighbors. They were leery about Russia taking over Poland, so they moved to New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. He grew up in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. His father was a baker. His mother was a housewife. As a baker, his father had no problem keeping his job through the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. They lived in an apartment building and managed better than many of the neighbors. When he was a teenager, Bodson went into newspaper delivery. His three older brothers had small paying jobs. His high school was two miles from the apartment building they lived in. He would walk or ride the trolley car. His family would get newspapers as the main source of information about the war. Occasionally they would get some mail from the old country. His family was too poor to send him to college. None of his brothers went to college. The first thing he did was take exams to go to college for free, and he passed. He was to go to school in Manhattan [Annotator's Note: Manhattan is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. The school was Cooper Union Institute of Technology. It was once visited by Abraham Lincoln [Annotator's Note: Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, 1861-1865] they encased the chair he sat in a big glass enclosure. He passed the exam and got admitted. He went there from the fall of 1935 to the end of that academic year. Although, he had good grades in high school, particularly in math and science, his grades were not good at Cooper Union. He ran out of money, so he dropped out early in his second academic year to look for work. He could get low-paying jobs in Manhattan, so he decided he was going nowhere unless he did something to advance his career. He decided to try for West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy in West Point, New York]. He wrote a letter to his congressman, who wrote back and told him to take the exams to qualify. He did that but failed to get his nomination. He tried again the next year and he made it. He went to West Point on 1 July 1937.

Henry Bodson [Annotator's Note: with 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division] was shipped out from New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York, in 1944]. While he was still at Fort Leonard Wood, [Annotator's Note: Fort Leonard Wood in Pulaski County, Missouri] his daughter was born. He took his wife and daughter back to New York City. He to Oran, Algeria. He had figured his battalion would go overseas. Algeria was primitive. It was not modern for that year. It was the spring of 1944. They stayed at Oran because they could not sail the Mediterranean [Annotator's Note: the Mediterranean Sea] because it was under the control of the Germans. He spent a month in Algeria before it was safe to sail. He sailed around April 1944 to Naples, Italy. He stayed in Naples for a couple of days and then went to Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy]. He joined the 3rd Division there at a beachhead. He stayed with this unit for the rest of the war. There was a bit of tension with him being new and taking over from the old-timers. He managed well. Mussolini [Annotator's Note: Italian fascist dictator Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini; also known as il Duce] who had been head of the government had built an area of farmhouses with attached barns. He worked in the barn with the fire direction center for the battalion. All the good places to sleep in the barn were already taken. He noticed there was a feeding trough. He put his bedroll inside the feeding trough just as Jesus [Annotator's Note: Jesus Christ] had done. All the troops called him little Jesus. That is how he got started with the 39th Artillery. There was always some tension. He tried to be friendly and work with the people there. Eventually, toward the end of May the 3rd Infantry Division and many other divisions, US [Annotator's Note: United States], British, and French units broke out of the Anzio beachhead and headed north to Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy]. They made it to Rome on 4 June 1944 [Annotator's Note: Liberation of Rome, 4 to 5 June 1944, Rome, Italy] which was two days before the landings on D-Day at Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. A lot of Americans think the US entered World War 2 on 6 June 1944, but a lot of the war had gone on long before then.

Henry Bodson [Annotator's Note: with the 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division] felt protected in the fire protection center in the barn. He was in a brick building. Normally they were miles behind the front lines. He did not feel threatened. They made it into Rome on 4 June 1944 [Annotator's Note: Liberation of Rome, 4 to 5 June 1944, Rome, Italy]. It was a major effort getting there. They were rewarded by being assigned the occupiers of Rome for three weeks. They maintained law and order. Afterward, they moved back south toward Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy]. He was the commander of a battery unit with the 39th Artillery. One of his missions was to train them in artillery practices and procedures. He had about 30 non-commissioned officers to train. He found out during this process there was a guy named Audie Murphy [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Audie Leon Murphy]. Within six months he had become the most decorated soldier in World War 2. Bodson thought Murphy was good at artillery firing and rifles and machine guns. He trained Murphy and then he did not see him again for about six or seven months. Murphy was commander of an infantry battalion that Bodson supported. Murphy got into a fight with the Germans who were attacking his company with infantry and tanks. Murphy used the artillery training that Bodson had given him to call for artillery support. They gave him that support. At the time he did not know it was Murphy. They stopped the German attack. Bodson has always felt since Murphy received the Medal of Honor [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Honor is the highest award a United States service member can receive who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor] for his service he helped him get it because he trained him all those months in Italy. He thought Murphy was a fine chap, he was good, honest, friendly, cooperative, and naturally quite bright. They trained north of Naples. They did that training until early August [Annotator's Note: August 1944].

Henry Bodson [Annotator's Note: with the 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division] set sail for a destination unknown. They ended up assaulting the Germans on the beaches of Southern France near Saint-Tropez [Annotator's Note: Saint-Tropez, France]. He was a commander taking his battalion to take the beach. This was on 15 August 1944. He was happy the Germans were weak at this point. Their assault did not have a lot of resistance. They were able to make it through the barbed wire and other impediments that were off the beach. They crossed the beach rapidly without being stopped and moved inland, west and then north to the Rhine River [Annotator's Note: in Germany]. They fought northward for many months. There were not many heavy battles. It was light and they were moving rapidly. They would pick up and move to a new location once or twice a day. They would put their guns in place and support their infantry. In early fall after fighting through the French Vosges Mountains [Annotator's Note: a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany] by Thanksgiving time they reached Strasbourg [Annotator's Note: Strasbourg, France]. Then they fought south from Strasbourg to eliminate the Colmar Pocket [Annotator's Note: Colmar Pocket, area in Alsace, France held by German 19th Army, November 1944 to February 1945]. It took several American and French units to get the Germans out. This is where Audie Murphy [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Audie Leon Murphy] had his action stopping the German attack. In the artillery, there were few casualties, and they were the ones who would join the infantry to call for artillery support. They would lose the observers. They were few and far between. By the end of February 1945 the Allies, including the French, pushed the Germans out of Alsace. The mission was accomplished. They gathered their troops and decided they no longer needed to be in that part of France. They moved to Nancy, France.

Henry Bodson [Annotator's Note: with the 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division] entered Germany through Zweibrücken [Annotator's Note: Zweibrücken, Germany]. They crossed the Rhine River there in the spring of 1945 and headed into the heart of Germany. They went by Frankfurt [Annotator's Note: Frankfurt, Germany] and through Schweinfurt [Annotator's Note: Schweinfurt, Germany]. They went further east to Nuremberg [Annotator's Note: Nuremberg, Germany] and then south to Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. Then they entered Austria. He had the opportunity to go to Berchtesgaden [Annotator's Note: Berchtesgaden, Germany] to visit Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] Eagle's Nest [Annotator's Note: Kelhsteinhuas, or Eagle's Nest, Nazi Party building on the summit of Kelhstein, Berchtesgaden, Germany]. It was not grand. It was small and comfortable for a mountaintop retreat. Bodson liberated some dish towels and circular hand towels from there. He is giving them as a wedding gift to his grandson. He still has some souvenirs from there. They were starting to ship some troops back home. The war was over for them. This was the start of a big exodus of the US Army in Europe. In west Germany they were put in charge of operating and securing enclaves of many Nazis [Annotator's Note: a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party] that had been rounded up by US government people. This ran anywhere from a camp of six thousand people to Darmstadt [Annotator's Note: Darmstadt, Germany] which had 25 thousand inmates. They had to keep them locked up and from escaping and destroying each other. Bodson had been promoted to Major and he was the executive officer of the field artillery battalion. These were not prisoners of war; they were political prisoners. They had been rounded up for their Nazi activities they had done before the war ended.

Henry Bodson [Annotator's Note: with the 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division] got leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] before Christmas in 1945 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1945]. He stayed a couple months and left around the end of January [Annotator's Note: January 1946]. He returned to his artillery unit. He was still in the 3rd Division, but in a different artillery battalion. He was transferred into the US Constabulary [Annotator's Note: United States Army military gendarmerie force] in early April 1946 in Schweinfurt, Germany. He stayed there for about a year, and his wife and daughter joined him there. He was the executive officer, second in command of the Constabulary squad. They maintained law and order. His tour in Europe terminated in May 1947. They went back to the USA [Annotator's Note: United States of America]. He ended up in the artillery center in Fort Sill [Annotator's Note: in Lawton, Oklahoma]. He joined an artillery battalion there. It was a short stay. In January 1948, he was transferred. He applied to get into the guided missile business in artillery. He thought that was the next big transition. Instead of sending him to school for guided missiles they sent him for practical work at the General Electric Company. They sent him there to be a part of the guided missile program they were working on. He stayed with them for two years and then went to White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico [Annotator's Note: now White Sands Missile Range]. Before that he went to Advanced Artillery Course at Fort Sill. He also spent some time at Fort Bliss, Texas. Then he had orders to go to Alaska in April 1955. He spent two years in Alaska, before spending another four years at Fort Sill. His daughter started and ended at the same high school which was unusual for a military child. He left for Cambodia in June 1961 and came home in July 1962. He was providing assistance to the Cambodian Army for training and equipment. It was primitive and basic in its military capabilities. They had a son born at Fort Sill in 1953. He had respiratory problems so they thought they should not take him to Cambodia. When he went to Cambodia his family moved to Reno, Nevada. It was warm with a mild climate. They stayed in Phnom Penh [Annotator's Note: Phnom Penh, Cambodia] the main city. The mission was to assist the Cambodian Army getting them better trained and getting new equipment from the US [Annotator's Note: United States]. Cambodia at the time was at peace. They were beginning to show warlike activities after the French pulled out of Vietnam. He did not care for the US getting involved with the Vietnam War [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. It was a war to keep the Communists out. He did not personally support it. He left Cambodia in 1962.

Henry Bodson headed back to the US [Annotator's Note: United States from serving in Cambodia with the US Army]. He ended up at the Pentagon [Annotator's Note: the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, located in Washington D.C.] working in various offices until he retired from the Army in 1969. There was too much direction from senior US government officials. This made the military decisions hard. He got a real lift when the 3rd Army Division captured Nuremberg [Annotator's Note: Nuremberg, Germany during World War 2] and the American flag was raised in the central square. He was already in the Army he had no choice but to serve [Annotator's Note: when the war broke out]. It was a major event in his life. It had impacts on his activities for many years. World War 2 indoctrinated that the Army needed to be ready for any battle at any time. He became more conscious of US foreign relations, and foreign affairs policies in the international field. He is proud of his service in World War 2. He refers to it from time to time. He is willing to discuss with anyone his experiences during the war. He thinks they should show the things they did right and the things they did wrong. He thinks young people need to learn from history and that is not something that is happening. In his youth they learned history.