Soldier Days: An Ohio GI in the Last Months of World War II and the First Year of the Postwar Occupation in Germany

In 1945, Tom Cooperrider was inducted into the U.S. Army at age eighteen, a few weeks after he graduated from high school. At the time, World War II was expected to continue for another two years, or more. He was halfway through basic infantry combat training when President Truman authorized use of the atom bombs, and the war ended abruptly. The Ohio boys from Cooperrider's basic training battalion were among the first replacement troops to arrive in Germany after the war's end. He served there for a year in the midst of the destruction left by the war. They were momentous and exciting times. The author uses excerpts from letters he wrote home to tell the story of his Army career. His memories provide background material for the excerpts and bring to life the people and events mentioned in the narrative of his days as a soldier.