Albert Edward Fitzgerald, Jr.

Birth date	October 19, 1925
Age they entered the service	15
Hometown	Havre, Montana
Branch of the service	Army
Rank	Major
Name of their unit	At the time of his death, my grandfather was the Commanding Officer of the Transportation Division of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, located in Washington, D.C.
When did you serve?	He served from December 1940 through December 1963: 23 years.
Where did you serve?	His 1^st assignment was in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. He was there before, during, and after the bombing of the harbor. He also served in the South Pacific during World War II, in Germany following World War II, and in the Korean Conflict in 1950-1952. Over the next eleven years, he continued to serve his country as an Army pilot and a Transportation Officer in the following locations: Texas, Oklahoma, Germany, Georgia, Virginia, Japan, Colorado, and Washington, D.C.
Did you enlist or were you drafted?	He quit school and ran away from home, then, when he enlisted, he told the Army Recruiting Officer that he was 18 when he was really only 15.
How did you feel about going to war?	My grandfather was very patriotic; He wanted to preserve America’s freedoms at all costs, even if it meant going to war.
Did you have any family members that went to war? If so, did they survive?	Yes. My grandfather’s father enlisted and served in the Navy during World War II and survived.
Were you ever wounded? How and where?	No.
Did you receive any medals? Which ones?	He received numerous medals including the "Combat Infantry Man’s Badge" and the "Army Medal of Commendation" with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

Do you have a war story you would like to tell?	My grandfather had his appendix removed just after Thanksgiving 1941; He was in Pearl Harbor. On the morning of December 7, 1941, he was still healing from the surgery but rushed to help shoot down the Japanese planes. While moving sandbags to protect the gunners, he ripped out the stitches in his side.
What was your reaction when you found out the war was over?	Jubilee!
What was the most frightening event of the war for you?	He was the most scared during World War II when he was on a South Pacific island. He and his buddy were asleep on night in their fox hole and a Japanese soldier snuck up on them while they were sleeping
What was the most cherished memory of the war for you?	Information not available.
Do you have regrets about your service in World War II?	My grandfather didn’t have any regrets about his service until 1960 in Desert Rock, Utah. He and 300 other soldiers were human guinea pigs for a pointless testing of the Atom Bomb. It was pointless because the military already knew the effects the bomb’s radiation would have on their soldiers because of the bombing of the two Japanese cities. So they set the soldiers three miles away from the bomb in jeeps with the windows rolled down. All 300 men in this experiment were diagnosed with cancer very soon after, and all 300 men died within six months to three years after the bombing. My grandfather was one of the last to die. He passed away a few days after Christmas on December 29, 1963. The pointless "Operation Smokey" had claimed the lives of 300 American men, husbands, fathers, and sons.
How do you feel about America today?	Comment unavailable.
How do you feel about the war with Iraq?	Comment unavailable.
Is there anything else you would like to add?	The attached photo of my grandfather, age 16, and his father, age 39, was taken in 1942. My grandfather served in the Army, while his father enlisted in the Navy during the War. The second attached photo and article honors my grandfather. He enlisted at the age of 15 in the Army, and was the youngest combat veteran on record who fought in World War II.