Stapleton, Edward Patrick.

Born on Aug. 16, 1921 in New Berlin, Ill. At the age of eight the family house burned down, and the family moved to a farm in rural New Berlin. Pat discusses the many jobs his father took up during the great depression, including running the farm, working as a bar owner and running a dance hall, and running a small rodeo. Pat was attending a Bears game when he heard about Pearl Harbor and immediately tried to enlist, but was rejected for health reasons. He enlisted in Sept. 1943, and received his basic infantry training at Camp McClellan, Ala. He married Arlene Mae Thompson, his Illinois sweetheart, on Dec. 3, 1943, just days before sailing to Italy. Once there, he was assigned to Company I of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, a Texas National Guard unit that had already seen heavy combat in Italy. Pat first saw action at Anzio, participated in the liberation of Rome, then was shipped with the 36th Division to southern France, where he fought in the Vosges Mountain campaign before advancing into Germany proper. Pat recalled several brutal combat experiences, and the high casualty rates suffered by the unit during a long stretch of continuous combat. He also shared his vivid memories of liberating a concentration camp in southern Germany. He served on occupation duty in Germany for several months, and arrived back home in Dec. 1945, just in time for Christmas.