"There was a combination of solemn gratitude along with jubilant celebration." (Memoir, page 14)

Arthur B. Scattergood

Arthur Scattergood, Camp Lucky Strike, France, 1945 War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: Company R, 49th Armored Infantry Battalion, 8th Armored Division Service Location: United States; Europe Rank: Private First Class Place of Birth: MN

Arthur Scattergood's memoir begins with an innocent family outing in the fall of 1939; when his father learns of the invasion of Poland, he points to 15-year-old Arthur to say, "This is the beginning of World War II. And you will serve in it." Four years later, Arthur was inducted into the Air Corps, but in the wake of D-Day he was reassigned to the infantry, which needed more troops. His unit, assigned to Patton's Third Army, drove hard toward Berlin, then veered south toward Czechoslovakia, where they marked VE Day. Many of the photos in his memoir were taken there in the immediate aftermath of the war, revealing a country grateful for its liberation from the German fascists but also apprehensive about its new ties to the Soviet communists.