Joyce (JW) Romberger entered the Army in February of 1942. He went first to Ft. Leavenworth and then was sent to Camp Walters at Mineral Springs, Texas, for training. From Texas he went by train to San Francisco, California, and Angel Island. He departed for Hawaii in June of 1942. He was stationed there about 14 months. He was assigned to the motor pool and tells stories of driving a jeep around the island nightly on patrols (with the headlights mostly blacked out). From Hawaii, he was sent to Brisbane, Australia, and they moved troops up the coast from Brisbane to Gladstone, Australia. They then moved to New Guinea (Dutch) at Hollandia (now known as Jaypura City). He was a part of the Philippine Liberation and was at Mindano and Leyte. His last stop in the Philippines was in Luzon and he would have been sent on to Japan but the war ended. He came back to the US via San Francisco and was discharged at Fort Logan in Colorado on Oct 3, 1945. A buddy picked him up in Denver and brought him back to Abilene, Ks and he married Gladys J. Greep on October 7, 1945, in his Army uniform. His decorations and citations included Philippine Liberations Ribbon with 2 bronze service stars and GO 23 Hq USAFFE 45 Distinguished Unit Citation and GO 21 Hq 19th Inf 45 Asiatic Pacific service Medal Good Conduct Medal. One of JW's vivid memories of his WWII days was being at Leyte and watching General McArthur stride ashore-after the board backed up a bit so the whole event would be more dramatic. He also fondly remembers the times when he would accidently run into guys from Dickinson County when he was so far away from home (he recognized Oliver 'Toots' Simpson by his laugh in a big encampment when he heard he was nearby). After the war, JW lived on the farm until he was 93. He farmed, drove trucks, sold farm equipment and was a part-time Pioneer seed dealer for 50 years before retiring from that at age 90.