Pacific Island Ended

Tour Was No With

Purple
Tropical Vacation Submitted By
Heart
Amy Fiala

N orman Glen McGee Sr. enlisted to

serve in the Army as a mechanic. He
did his basic training, married his
sweetheart Erma, and was sent directly
off to the Pacific Theater.
His first deployment during World War
II was to New Caledonia and upon arriv-
al, he was asked if he was trained to shoot
a gun, which he was not.
He was teamed with a soldier who had
training and was asked to shadow that
soldier through the Islands of Leyte in the
Philippines.
Being a man strong in his Christian
faith and from a small town, the time he
spent in the islands was a very eye-open-
ing experience for McGee. Purple Heart
War Is Hell While on the Islands he also said he was
At one point, he was on a sweep of a walking and felt something wet trickle down
quadrant and turned around and much to his side. By the grace of God, a bullet had
his surprise (and to the other soldier), he hit his metal canteen, saving him from being
stared face to face with a young Japanese wounded. It was for those injuries he was awarded the
soldier. From the Islands of Leyte, he was then de- Purple Heart.
They both made eye contact, nodded ployed to storm the beaches of Okinawa, Ja- Stateside
and abruptly turned and walked away pan. When he returned home, McGee visited all
from each other, both too scared and star- It was there he saw all of his friends taken 50 states before settling down with his wife
tled to know what to do. The atrocities of down one by one. and family into his new life, where he worked
war that really shook his core were when As his unit moved inland, they hid behind on the railroad, owned his own photography
he was asked, as part of a unit, to go into tombstones in a graveyard for protection. studio and raised his kids.
a village and throw grenades into homes. It was here that he was hit by a mortar shell; This story was submitted by McGee’s grand-
Deep down he knew that he must have its impact threw him several feet into the air. daughter, Amy Fiala.
killed women and children as well, and McGee described the feeling of flying through “I cannot put into words how much my grand-
that never sat well and haunted him for a the air like everything was in slow motion and father meant to me,” Fiala said. “By sharing
very long time. it took a long time to hit the ground. his stories I feel like it keeps his memory alive.

The Missourian Page 4 November 8, 2017