THE RETURN HOME

Chapter 13

As noted in a previous chapter, every single member of the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) survived World War II and made it home. They all lived long lives and had wonderful families. My grandfather made a promise to my grandmother that if he survived the war, he would marry her and take care of her for the rest of her life. He wrote about his love for her and this promise in the dozens of letters he sent throughout the war. Well, my grandfather did exactly what he said and he married my grandmother and had eight children. They had four sons and four daughters, dozens of grandchildren, and great grandchildren. A good wholesome Irish family! My mom is my grandfather’s youngest and she named me after him. My middle name is Paul. My name is Daniel Paul Ramey. The highest honor I could ever have is to share my name with my grandfather.

Elmer Peterson, a member of Detachment A (2nd Platoon) was the only 2487th member to receive the Purple Heart. He was wounded on December 26, 1944. Larry believes it was when the Airfield was attacked by German planes. Every member of the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) made a promise to each other to meet up throughout the rest of their lives. They lived up to that promise. They had various Army reunions throughout the years and attached in the back are some of the photos that we were able to acquire from those reunions.

The last reunion that my grandfather attended was the one at Al’s house in Minnesota in 1992. The same reunion that there is a newspaper article about. There is one final award that my grandfather received in his life that a lot of people don’t know about. In that newspaper article it talked about my grandfather receiving a “True Grit” award but it didn’t mention why. Well, I figured it out.

At that reunion, my grandfather received the “True Grit” award from his friends. He received it because he still made it to the reunion despite being diagnosed and suffering from Leukemia. I remember when my grandfather passed away because it was the most difficult