BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

       PAUL F. TICE, JR.

      WORLD WAR II 

            Or:  How I Fought The War With A Typewriter!

 

 

How far back do I go?  Let’s go to October 16, l940 which was the date as I recall, that all males ages 21 and above had to register for the Draft…Not quite a year later, I had my final call to report for duty.  I had had two or three medical examinations for possible deferrable “handicaps” which might keep me out of the draft.  One was possible “Flat Feet” – I had worked in the Kroger store running behind the counter waiting on customers and in the process ruined the arches of my feet jumping up to reach items on the top shelves.  Also, when about 12 years old I had fallen on my open scout knife and cut the middle joint of my “trigger finger, and they thought this might impair my shooting ability.  I guess the third exam was the charmer, because after that the Doctor indicated I was “in!” 

 

   My induction date was July 7, l941 – exactly six months before the infamous Pearl Harbor day!  More on that later.  The Army fed my group of inductees in the Armory in Kalamazoo, Michigan – our first meal was sauerkraut and large (club) franks!  The experience in the Armory was unforgettable with hundreds of naked young bucks going from one table to another to answer questions, being physically examined, weighed, measured and what not, until we were all dressed in our G.I. “Fatigue Blues” (blue denim pants and jacket with a sloppy hat), then we were put on busses for Fort Custer, west of Battle Creek.  My second meal in the army at Ft.Custer consisted of  sauerkraut and club franks

Doris Juckett and Paul Tice

FT. Custer   July 1941

 

We stayed at Custer for just three short days, which entailed a lot of  “policing the grounds, picking up any scrap of paper, cigarette butts, matches or anything else we saw;  washing windows in the barracks and any other menial jobs they could come up with.  My girl friend Doris, later to become my wife the following April was able to come out to see me just once before I was shipped out via rail to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. 

The train trip to Jersey was uneventful with one exception.  After a meal, my seat got changed somehow, and I sat across from a handsome Dutchman from Holland, Michigan, who was softly singing hymns to himself…I joined in and we harmonized for quite a while and became friends.    

 Fort Monmouth Chapel #4

Chaplain Oleschewski

(Died when ship was torpedoed in a convoy) 

Chow Line   Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey

We were assigned to the Signal Corps Replacement training Center at Ft. Monmouth and after a “two weeks” Basic Training  (My Brother in Law, I think endured through two or three Infantry Basic Training sessions of about 13 weeks each, which were much, much more ridged and difficult than we had in the “Boy Scout Camp of the Army”  in the Signal Corps!

 

 Either during or after Basic Training, we were all tested for our Aptitudes and then had an  opportunity to select one of the training schools to be our  specialties...The Dutchman went to Radio School, and I went to Clerk School.   We also were given a pass to get off the Post for the week-end.     The Dutchman (Gordon VandenBrink) stopped by my barracks on Sunday and asked what we could do…Checked the Bulletin board and there was only one Church listed…We hitched a ride to Asbury Park, N.J. and the First Baptist Church became our Church home for about 18 months!

Gordon VandenBrink Officer Candidate

 One Sunday night in Church, five G.I.s were sitting in a pew, and after the service one man asked the rest of us if we would like to start a Gospel Quartet.   We did.  The one who asked was a Baritone from California (finest Christian I have ever met);  Gordon sat next to him, a Reformer from Holland, never sang below the actual Alto range;  I was a Methodist from Michigan and could sing all but Bass, and eventually sang lead, second tenor;  next to me a Baptist from Racine, Wisconsin with a slight German accent who was our Baritone; and beyond him a tall, dark and handsome GI from Sioux Falls, S. Dakota  (May have been Iowa) with his Bass voice way down in his shoes!!  Just a Natural Quartet…Five of us, and any one could be gone and we’d still have a well blending group!

 

Original Gospel Quartet in Asbury Park. N.J.

(Back Left)  Dick Cours  (Back Right) Lee Sundstorm  

(Front left) Paul Tice (Front Right) Erdman Teieber

Photo taken by Gordon VandenBrink

Most embarrassing – one Sunday evening the service was broadcast on the radio and we were asked to sing our signature song, “The Jericho Road”, which normally, I could start without a pitch pipe or other note, but our leader felt he should hit the key on the piano and I could not find it!  We had to start over five times!!  When I asked him to leave the piano alone I started out right and they said it was our best performance!

 

  I was stationed at Ft. Monmouth for  approximately 18 months during which many memorable experiences are etched in my mind – the first, of course was our marriage on April 5, l942 in The Urbandale Methodist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan…Beginning to walk the CHRISTian life while attending the Baptist church at Asbury Park….traveling all over the State of N.J. by “air”   (Hitch-hiking = “Air you going my way?”) singing Gospel songs with the quartet….Spending Monday evenings with some of the quartet and a wonderful CHRISTian family in Red Bank, N.J. studying the Bible with the Navigator’s study method, which included memorization of Scripture.     When I entered the army, I could not accurately quote John 3:16, but by the time of my discharge I had over 375 passages of the Bible memorized, including a few complete chapters.

Paul and Doris Tice 

Wedding Day April 5, 1942

   While at Ft. Monmouth, my Army job was Chief Clerk (Army Specialty Number 502) of the Motor Transport School which taught both truck drivers and mechanics…I had two excellent typists doing the typing while I, shuffled papers, and  attended to the wishes of the Officers of the school.   

Paul at his desk at the Motor Transport School,

Ft Monmouth, NJ 

 

We had a “Jeep” assigned to us which I was able to use frequently.

Paul,  January 1942 Ft Monmouth, NJ

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