Poese shipped out from New York City to Le Havre, France. His camp was called Camp Lucky Strike. As he recalls al the camps were named after cigarettes. He was part of the 54th Hospital Unit. The war ended the next year. He then decided that the medical front wasn't for him so he joined the infantry. In 1946, he was discharged with the rank of Corporal and signed up for inactive duty. He was told he wouldn't be called up again, but years later during the Korean War he was. He left from Washington D.C. for Japan.

While in Japan he experienced his first earthquake at night. Then he was off for Korea. When he arrived there were only fourteen men left in the infantry from the original forty men. Fighting was tough and it was often the medics who were left behind the lines. They would retreat in trucks that would take them away. In Korea, he says "you were safer in the infantry than if you were in the medics or the cooks. The Chinese would hide in the mountains. The infantry would leave everything where they had stopped that night and move twenty miles up the road. Nights they would be set up on hilltops".

It was mostly the winter months that Gil was there. He recalls that they had guard duty in four hour shifts. They had trip flares that would go off if the enemy would get to close. "One night one of the flares went off and everyone started shooting. It turned out to be a cow that had crossed the trip wire".

The mail was free for him but it could take as long as three weeks to get mail after it was sent. Their entertainment was cards and sometimes the USO would send entertainers over like Bob Hope. They had plenty of supplies during WW 2, but during the Korean War everything was rationed. "Grown men would fight over a candy bar".

In 1961, Gil was discharged from the Army. He then went to Missouri where, while in Kansas City, he saw an ad that said, "You too can be a radio announcer." He liked the idea so enrolled in a school for 6 months. His teachers were radio announcers and TV anchors. His first job was a copywriter in Indiana. He recalls that he had a great manager, however, that manager told Poese that "he would never make it as a copywriter". Undaunted, Gil said he "could announce". That afternoon he did the noon news. His boss told him, "Well, you wouldn't make it as a radio announcer either."

Over the years, Poese has crossed paths with this man many times; working for him three different times. Gil finally proved himself to his old boss when he bought KBRX from him. The rest is Holt County History.

Gil belongs to the American Legion still and says that he has the highest respect for the men and women in the Armed Forces. He doesn't like war, but is something that occurs. He sees his military experience as a good one. He wouldn't take a million dollars for the experience, but wouldn't like to do it all again.

Our Sincere thanks to Jeanne Crumly and the American Literature class of 2005-O'Neill High School for their gift to the community---stories about men and women who sixty years ago offered their all.--- More stories will follow.