Robert S. Rugeley was born in January 1925 in Dallas, Texas. He was raised in Wichita Falls, Texas. His father was the Director of Public Works. During the war, his mother taught nurses. She was a graduate of Johns Hopkins [Annotator's Note: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland]. When the war was over, she quit. The atmosphere he grew up was a family one during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. His parents were conservative with their money. There was some discussion about the Pearl Harbor bombing [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], but not much. He was looking forward to going to college after graduating from high school at age 17. He was with two or three friends that were visiting for the weekend to watch a high school football game. He heard of the attack while taking them to the train to go home. He knew it was war and he was of war age. He had a brother who passed away when he was seven. He has a sister too. He went to the University of Texas [Annotator's Note: University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas] in the fall of 1942. He got in a full semester and in the middle of his spring semester he was drafted. It did not upset him. A high school teacher he knew was drafted then too. He had no preference for service branch. His direction as a freshman in college was to be an engineer. That is where he ended up.

Robert S. Rugeley was sent to basic training in Mineral Wells, Texas. He was then sent to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey [Annotator's Note: in Monmouth County, New Jersey] to go to school in Morse Code [Annotator's Note: a method of telecommunication encoding characters in a system of dots and dashes] training. As a child, his ears had been lanced [Annotator's Note: a myringotomy; a procedure to create a hole in the ear drum to allow trapped fluid out] several times and he could not really do that. He was transferred to Camp Crowder [Annotator's Note: later Fort Crowder in Neosho, Missouri], Missouri into the pigeon organization [Annotator's Note: United States Army Pigeon Service, also called the Signal Pigeon Corps]. They got no training. He knew how to handle the birds [Annotator's Note: homing or messenger pigeon; a domestic pigeon selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances] and only had to learn regulations. They pulled guard duty too. He had raised birds as a boy, and he had put that on his draft form. He raised and raced homing pigeons and it was fun. A homing pigeon is a special type of bird. A neighbor got him interested. Rugeley built a pigeon loft [Annotator's Note: raised shelter or building where pigeons are kept] for himself. There were about five of them in a club and they began to take them further and further away from home to train them how to come back home. A teacher was really good at it. They had several 50 mile races. He had one 300 mile race. He can still recognize his bird. She averaged 45 miles per hour. A good pigeon can fly 60 or 70 miles per hour. They start out with a youngster in a screened-in environment. You start taking them a mile or less away at first. You then just keep increasing that distance. 50 miles was enough for him. It was fun. He thinks he knew pigeons had been used in World War 1. Rugeley was tickled to death to be placed in the homing pigeon section.

Robert S. Rugeley became a replacement after his training. He left Camp Crowder [Annotator's Note: later Fort Crowder in Neosho, Missouri] for Myles Standish Camp Myles Standish [Annotator's Note: in Taunton, Massachusetts]. He left there to go to Europe on a huge troop carrier with four to five thousand people on it. They got just outside of Boston Harbor [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] and returned due to engine troubles. His next ship was LST-281 [Annotator's Note: USS LST-281]. There were four officers and 26 enlisted men. They did not know each other at all. They left Boston Harbor and went to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Shortly after they stopped there with the convoy, a big storm came up. They had to stay there and get repairs. They then left with the next convoy, about seven days later. They headed to England. He was not going to any company as he was just a replacement. They landed at Chester [Annotator's Note: Chester, England] and were headed to France. He went to Ilford [Annotator's Note: Ilford, England] and he saw 500 ships in the bay that were part of the invasion. Not long after he went to Plymouth, England and then France. He cannot remember anyone from England anymore. He had anxiety about going to France. He landed in France on D plus 5 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944 plus 5 days, or 11 June 1944] in an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Higgins boat; landing craft, vehicle, personnel]. He had no idea what he was going to do. He stayed in the beach area for a few days. Ships brought in 105mm [Annotator's Note: 105mm artillery ammunition] and 155mm shells [Annotator's Note: 155mm artillery ammunition] and dumped them on the beach. Rugeley and others would put them on trucks to be taken to the front. 105s were okay. The 155s were heavy. The beach was just a beach. Back offshore you could see debris and sunken ships.

Robert S. Rugeley moved into France to a holding area. He then went to Etampes [Annotator's Note: Étampes, France], south of Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France]. He was assigned to a Pigeon Company. That was gift of God to him. He had been with a replacement depot for quite a while. Rugeley pulled Charge of Quarters [Annotator's Note: an enlisted man designated to handle administrative matters in a unit especially after duty hours] at night there and he thumbed through a box with orders in it. He found his. They had missed it, so he got to go to the 285th Signal Pigeon Company in Luxembourg. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Rugeley to explain what a Signal Pigeon Company does.] They had trailers they pulled with jeeps. The trailers had pigeon [Annotator's Note: homing or messenger pigeon; a domestic pigeon selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances] lofts [Annotator's Note: raised shelter or building where pigeons are kept]. They were put towards the front. In a matter of a few days, you carefully let some of the birds sit outside to learn their surroundings. If needed, they are sent to the front. Messages could be put on the bird's leg, and they would fly back from the front. He is not sure they ever used them beyond taking them to the front. They used a little aluminum tube for the message. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Rugeley how they trained the pigeons to get used to the shooting.] They did good to just train them to know where their home was at the time. It was an accelerated learning class for the bird. From training and raising them in the past, he knew it took time. If they fly too far, they will not come back. The bird has a particular instinct, but it has to be trained. He felt reasonably successful at first. After that, they moved so fast, he never tried to customize another bird. They followed the Army they were assigned to. The other soldier with him was a nice guy and was older than him. He belonged to a pigeon racing club in New York. They were all over the Northeast and a lot of money was bet on the races. Rugeley believes he is the last living member of his group as he was the youngest of them.

Robert S. Rugeley was in Luxembourg [Annotator's Note: with the 285th Signal Pigeon Company]. He and another guy had the trailer [Annotator's Note: for their homing or messenger pigeons; a domestic pigeon selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances] and loft [Annotator's Note: raised shelter or building where pigeons are kept]. They crossed the river at Bitburg, Germany which was totally destroyed. It was just piles of rubble. The passage through had to be bulldozed open so they could pass. They were heading northeast and turned back south. They crossed the Mainz River [Annotator's Note: Main River at Mainz, Germany] and did not stay very long. He then went to Grafenau [Annotator's Note: Grafenau, Germany], outside of Regensburg [Annotator's Note: Regensburg, Germany]. They were just moving and following the Army. They ate K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals]. They had their own kitchen and a cook with them. The pigeons stayed in the loft in the trailer. They had to keep it clean, but it was not a priority due to them moving so fast.

Robert S. Rugeley had some exposure to Germans. After the war was over, his company [Annotator's Note: 285th Signal Pigeon Company] was assigned to guard prisoners. They went to Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany]. Dachau made Rugeley angry. There they gassed people, and this was just one of those camps. They would shake down the prisoners before taking them to Dachau to be sure they did not have weapons. They would have scraps of things they could use to make knives. He thinks they went to Fritzlar, Germany and then he headed home. When he left the replacement depot to join the pigeon company, he was accompanied by a man who had been in the D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] who had been injured and could not go back to the front. He became a very close friend of Rugeley's. After the war, Rugeley's parents invited Mike [Annotator's Note: no last name given] to spend a week with them in Wichita Falls, Texas. Rugeley lost track of him until two or three years before this interview. At the replacement depot, they were watching a war movie and Mike completely collapsed. What he saw reminded him of what he had seen. It took a long time for Rugeley to quiet him down.

All that Robert S. Rugeley and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 285th Signal Pigeon Company] knew was that racing pigeons in the part of Germany he was in were common. It was a method of sympathizers or people trying to escape to communicate by pigeons [Annotator's Note: homing or messenger pigeon; a domestic pigeon selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances]. They would visit little towns and search out pigeon people with homing pigeons. They would try to see what they felt about their country and the United States. Rugeley brought back a racing clock. It used when you send the birds out and they come home. They have a number on their leg. When they come into the loft [Annotator's Note: raised shelter or building where pigeons are kept], you take the number off, put it in the clock, and roll it. It records the time the bird came in. The club knows when and where the birds were turned loose so they know the miles per hour they flew. Rugeley never came across any sympathizers in Germany. He went deer hunting in Regensburg [Annotator's Note: Regensburg, Germany] during this time. He went to an area where there were no pigeons. A man was there who was a cotton-buyer who had done business in Dallas, Texas. He spoke perfect English. He made a place for Rugeley to hunt deer from. The meadow was covered with deer. Rugeley took one of the deer into the town to give to the locals, but it was against the law to take it. He hunted in another place later on, and then returned one other time to the first place. He saw a big deer and it looked like the deer on the bottle of Stag Whiskey [Annotator's Note: a brand of alcohol]. He shot at it a lot and did not kill it. The man who owned the property was interesting.

Robert S. Rugeley [Annotator's Note: with the 285th Signal Pigeon Company] oversaw prisoners at Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] after the war. He did not think anything about keeping them there other than this is what they used to kill people so like it or not, this is where you eat and sleep. That did not last long thank goodness. He went then went to Fritzlar [Annotator's Note: Fritzlar, Germany]. Coming home made him extremely happy. He does not remember anything about how he got back to Myles Standish [Annotator's Note: Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts]. He left from Antwerp, Holland. From Myles Standish, he was put on a train home and ended up in San Antonio [Annotator's Note: San Antonio, Texas]. He did not want to stay in because he did not like the Army. He was also anxious to get back into school. He had not become attached to the pigeons [Annotator's Note: homing, or messenger pigeon; a domestic pigeon selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances] he trained in Europe. He 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] to go to school. It was very beneficial. He met a wonderful, beautiful girl he married. His sister was living in a boarding house at the University of Texas [Annotator's Note: University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas]. She had several friends and invited Rugeley to lunch with them. Somebody asked him what he did the day before and he said an idiot had run into the bus he was on. The idiot turned out to be the woman who would become his wife. She was a roommate of his sister. Rugeley did not discuss what he saw in the war. He was only interested in getting his education. He does not recall having any difficulty adjusting to civilian life. He did not raise pigeons. After he was employed, that disappeared.

It is hard for Robert S. Rugeley to choose his most memorable experience of World War 2. One, is that they were traveling so fast that they were not even picking up the dead. The other is his friendship with Mike [Annotator's Note: no last name given]. That has been a lasting blessing. He is sorry he did not keep up with him more. He has some memorabilia. Mike's wife wrote Rugeley a nice letter. He later gave Mike the memorabilia back. Mike did not talk about what he experienced on D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Rugeley did not ask him, and he is glad he did not. He thinks Mike was in the 49th Division. He was a real good, clean guy. The kind of person you want to be around. Rugeley had no choice but to serve and did whatever the Army told him to do from basic training all the way through. He came home to San Antonio, Texas. His parents were there. In the Army, you come into contact with many different people. You learn to like some of them, but some of them live a kind of life that you know you do not want to have anything to do with. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Rugeley what his service means to him today.] It is part of his prayers every day that he was a part of that and is very patriotic. It makes him angry about what goes on today that turns that all around. His experience was how he wanted to be or did not want to be over there. History says that World War 2 and the Allies winning had to be. He thinks this country [Annotator's Note: the United States] and the current culture has no desire for the knowledge of it, why it was, and what came out of it. That is sad and angering. He does not see anything that will change that. He thinks the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is important and he is a Charter Member. He does not know how to answer being asked about the museum teaching about the war. He thinks they should learn. The question is "would they give a flip about it?" It is discouraging that it is obvious that patriotism today is almost a no-no. Most of the people living today that come close to World War 2 hold that patriotism closely. The modern age cares less. When he was at Camp Crowder [Annotator's Note: later Fort Crowder in Neosho, Missouri], he drew guard duty in the middle of the night in snow and blowing wind. When he was on the flat-bottomed LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] going across the Pacific, he was assigned to the galley. He had to peel potatoes sitting on a steel stool. He would slide across the ship and then back again. He pulled guard duty in the LST's cargo area. There were crates and crates of food and machinery. He pretty well turned it off when he came back out of World War 2. He had a cousin or two in the war, one a doctor and one a pilot, but most of his family was not of age or were girls.