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by J. D. Lankford (Author)
"I'm Sergeant First Class, J. D. Lankford. U.S. Army, Retired. 87 years old, an EX Prisoner of War, WW II. I am the author of the book,"WALK WITH ME." It is about me growing up during the great depression "1930"s serving in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Tree Army, better known as the Civilian Conservation Corp, (CCC) from 1939 to 1942, the CCC was under the control of the military, there were over three million of us young men in the Corps our pay was ONE DOLLAR A DAY, ($30.00 A MONTH) $25.00 of that went home to help feed the family, we had $5.00 a month for our personal use. when the Corps closed operation, in 1942, I started working in the officers exchange club, Fort Benning, Ga. I remained there until I went into the U.S. Army, I took basic training at Camp Walters Texas, from there back to Fort Benning for Para-troop training. It didn't take very long for me to realize jumping out of a Air Plane wasn't my thing.The Army was putting together the 106th Inf Division at Fort Jackson South Carolina and I was assigned to company B 423 Reg of the 106th Division, after completing our training here in the States the Division was shipped overseas . Ten days later we were in battle, one of the bloodiest battle of the war THE "BATTLE OF THE BULGE." If you want to know how wars are fought, walk with me in battle, if you want to know how it is being a prisoner of war, having every right you ever had stripped from you having to live worse than an animal trying to survive on ONE LOAF of black bread mixed with sawdust four inches wide, five inches high and eight inches long, divided between twelve men for one days ration I weighed 188 pounds when captured as a POW, when liberated 188 days later my weight was 93 pounds. Had we "POW's" not eaten grass, weeds roots, bark off trees, bugs and anything else we thought had any nourishment in it, no way could we have survived, only by the grace of God we made it. if you want to see how prisoner are treated, "walk with me in prison." Walk with me in battle, after battle, and see just what a price was paid for this freedom we have, I can assure you of one thing! You will know that Freedom don't come free someone had to pay and we paid dearly. I was given four Bronze Battles Stare for what I did in battle.You will find most all your questions in the book "Walk With Me." The book can be read from the pulpit of you church or Sunday School Class, there is no fiction in it, not only did I write every word if it, I lived it."
