Robert Harvey Heinly was born in February 1924 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He remembers using ink wells in school. The teacher would pour ink in the well and then they dipped their pens in it. Rationing had started. Everyone above the age of 18 years had to register for the draft. He had one brother and three sisters. His father stayed employed during the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. This was during the time of the WPA [Annotator's Note: the Works Progress Administration was a federally sponsored program that put unemployed Americans to work during the Great Depression] and the PWA [Annotator's Note: Public Works Administration]. He graduated in May 1941. He worked for a surveying group. They had two government projects at the same time on Lake Ontelaunee [Annotator's Note: in Berks County, Pennsylvania]. One project was along route 73 from the dam heading east. They called it riprapping [Annotator's Note: a range of rocky material placed along shorelines, bridge foundations, steep slopes, and other shoreline structures to protect from scour and erosion], and it kept the mud from going into the dam. The PWA furnished the materials and the WPA furnished the labor. The second project was also on Lake Ontelaunee. The work was on Peters Creek one of the biggest supplies of water to the lake. The water would flow over the fields from the creek. They built a contained channel out of stone that was 18 feet deep. Where they crossed the highway, they built a bridge. Heinly was in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] at a restaurant when he heard about the attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. At 18 years old he had to register for the draft. He got his draft notice on 6 March 1943 and reported to the draft board. He passed his physical examination, and then reported to the New Cumberland Army Depot [Annotator's Note: in Fairview, Pennsylvania] on 13 March 1943. They had ten days to close out all of their civilian responsibilities and then head out to service.

Robert Harvey Heinly reported to New Cumberland, Pennsylvania on 13 March [Annotator's Note: 13 March 1943]. Once there he received his Army clothing. He was there for four days. Then he went on a train to Camp Lee [Annotator's Note: now Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia]. After basic training, he went on a train to Atlanta, Georgia for auto mechanic school. After graduation, he took a train to Camp Shenango [Annotator's Note: Camp Shenango, later Camp Reynolds in Transfer, Pennsylvania]. It was a replacement depot for overseas. He was there for six weeks. He had a GI [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] license so he could drive. He worked in the depot driving things around. Then he went to Camp Rucker, Alabama [Annotator's Note: now Fort Rucker in Dale County, Alabama] where he joined his company, the 3463rd Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company. He was a sergeant technician at this time. He received driver training, convoy training, and night driving training. For a convoy, they all lined up. When the signal was given, they started their engines. When the second signal sounded, they all moved simultaneously. For night driving they learned to drive with cat eyes which were very small lights. When they were driving if they saw two lights divided by a bar, they were right. If they saw one light, they were too close, and if they could not recognize it they were too far away. His company had 10 sections. He was in the instrument section. He had a six-by-six complete workshop. He was the second driver because he had his GI license. In December 1943, they sent him to Aberdeen Proving Ground [Annotator's Note: adjacent to Aberdeen, Maryland]. He went to school to be a watch repairman. He graduated from that in 1944. Then he returned to Camp Rucker, Alabama where he joined his company. They learned how to make rope ladders on a sinking ship. They learned how to cross a rope over a ravine. He froze in the middle. They went through a gas chamber without a gas mask on. One afternoon he had to sit for a dentist to drill out all of his cavities.

Robert Harvey Heinly had to get ready to go overseas in April 1944 [Annotator's Note: with the 3463rd Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company]. They had to turn their vehicles in and get ready to ship out. They took a train to New Jersey. Then they were transferred to New York, New York where they boarded the RMS Queen Elizabeth. It was the fastest ship afloat at that time. It crossed the Atlantic without an escort. It took a submarine seven and a half minutes to site and fire on a ship. Every seven minutes the RMS Queen Elizabeth would make a 90-degree turn zigzagging [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] across the Atlantic. They arrived in Scotland seven days later. Then they were transferred to England. They were in England before the invasion of France [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. The Germans were sending buzz bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] over. If they heard the buzzing, they were safe, but if it was quiet, the bomb was coming down. On VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] they went to work like they normally did. He worked near an airfield. The planes would take off full of soldiers. He worked for 48 hours filling orders. They had half-track [Annotator's Note: M3 half-track; a vehicle with front wheels and rear tracks] vehicles and once they left the depot, they were battle-ready. The trucks were loaded with parts and crossed over to France. His company commander saw that the P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] had black and white stripes painted on them. They did this so they would not shoot down their own planes during the invasion. On invasion day he worked 48 hours with no breaks. They got the orders to cross the channel [Annotator's Note: the English Channel]. They had to get their vehicles ready to go. The invasion was in June. They landed on Utah Beach [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France] in August [Annotator's Note: August 1944]. The beach was secured. They crossed the channel on an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. The bow of the ship dropped down as a ramp into the surf and then they drove into the surf and onto the beach. The first thing they did when they landed was clean the Cosmoline [Annotator's Note: name for petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors]. They were assigned to the 3rd Army and the 26th Infantry Division. They were in line every day to do repair work. If they could not complete it there, they would take it back to the base and then return the next day. Right before the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter-Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], he came down with the mumps [Annotator's Note: a viral disease]. He was sent to a hospital and put in quarantine in France. When he was released, he had to be picked up by an officer from his company or he would be sent to a replacement depot. Fortunately, upon release, he found an officer from his company that knew where the company was, and he returned to them.

The Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter-Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] was just starting and Robert Harvey Heinly's unit [Annotator's Note: 3463rd Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company, 26th Infantry Division] only had about 150 men. They had to give up 10 percent of them. They had an old-fashioned eye chart and the only thing he could see on it was the large E. They sent him back to the base hospital to get checked out. He took the test again and could only see the large E. They asked how he made it this far in the service. He had his GI [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] license in the United States, England, and France. They issued him a pair of glasses. This kept him from being transferred to the infantry. The personnel that were transferred were never heard from again. During the Bulge, he was with the 26th Infantry. He was then reassigned to the 89th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 89th Infantry Division]. He completed the Bulge with them. When he went to Germany, he was assigned to the 99th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 99th Infantry Division]. He never saw combat. He was on the front lines every day, but he did not have any contact. His company was involved in four different battles. Their vehicles had a safety switch to keep them from turning the headlights on. The headlights were painted dark brown in case the switch did not release. They were on the road all the time. Before he went to Germany, he and several others wanted to see the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River]. They saw several soldiers and waved to them as they went by. They kept going and noticed there were no more soldiers. They went back and asked where everyone was. The men told them they had gone in front of the line. A few days later they crossed the Rhine on a pontoon bridge. After they crossed the Rhine, they were assigned to the 99th Division. They got word that there were wine cellars near where they were going. The men made sure to get some wine. He traded his for candy. He did not smoke either. He would trade his cigarette rations for candy bars. He had a K-ration [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] he carried with him. The first ration was a D-bar D-bar [Annotator's Note: Army Field Ration D; chocolate bar intended as snack food] which was a solid block of chocolate. They had to take a knife and scrape pieces off. He almost got hit by their own artillery while going up and down a hill.

Robert Harvey Heinly [Annotator's Note: with the 3463rd Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company] got orders to turn all his equipment in in June 1945 [Annotator's Note: after the war in Europe ended]. They were going on a 30-day redeployment to the United States then on to Japan. They were on the high seas on 4 July 1945. They were going back to the United States on a Liberty freighter [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship]. It was the first time this ship had traveled without an escort. They had bunk beds in the halls. Everyone in the company except Heinly got seasick. He worked KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] the entire way back to the United States. They were on the liberty freighter for 14 days. When they landed in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] they were treated to a steak dinner. Then he was transferred to Fort Indiantown Gap [Annotator's Note: in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania]. He could go home, but he had to report back in 30 days. His report back date was VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. He took the bus as far as it would go from Reading [Annotator's Note: Reading, Pennsylvania]. Then he hitchhiked the rest of the way to Fort Indiantown Gap. When he got there, he was quarantined. They took a train to Oklahoma. Half the division was from the East and the other half was from the West. They were quarantined in Oklahoma as well. Once they had served overseas, they were disqualified to serve in Japan, so he was discharged in Oklahoma on 31 October 1945. He had graduated from high school in 1941. He wanted to go to college. On 1 November 1945, he went back to high school to take courses to qualify for college. In June 1946, he completed his college entrance exams. He applied to the VA [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs] for college entrance. He attended Penn State [Annotator's Note: Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania] and graduated in February 1950 with an industrial engineering degree. The Japanese thought they had destroyed the Navy and the Air Force [Annotator's Note: after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Everything for the Japanese was suicide. He is thankful the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] saved them from further invasion.