From a Log Cabin to the Corporal of the Guard

Joe Lambert was born on October 28, 1925 in Ava, Missouri. His father was a Free Will Baptist Minister, a dairy farmer, a mechanic, a carpenter and a blacksmith. His mother was a farm wife and mother of ten children. Joe was a middle child and he, along with his siblings, were raised during the Great Depression. Times were really hard but families on farms were so much better off because they could grow their own food. Joe remembers raising crops and growing vegetables, and his mother canned and dried fruits for them to eat all winter. They had a root cellar where foods didn't freeze in the winter or spoil in the summer. His father bought 160 acres of "unimproved land" in the Ozarks. He and his sons made the cabin by hand, which became their home for many years. They cut logs and laid them the pioneer way. Also, they made their own rafters and prepared the ground by creating fields and meadows. In February of 1945, Joe was drafted in the Army and went off to basic training in Jefferson, Missouri. With many other men, he was then sent to Fort Hood, Texas. Joe says he felt like if the United States was a mule, Fort Hood would have been the tail end. He missed the hills of the Ozarks. From there, they went to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey, which is where the men departed to go to Europe. He shipped off to Le Havre, France which was very close to Normandy. One day, he and a buddy went over to the beach where the Allies had begun an invasion on June 6, 1944. He said it was an awesome sight. The soldiers traveled in French box cars called 40 and 8 because they held 40 men or 8 horses. They were shipped to Nuremberg and assigned to 1st Division, 29th Infantry as foot soldiers. The war had been won, so his orders were to pick up German arms and ammunition and destroy it. So, the troops walked from village to village almost to Berlin. His unit walked past Stuttgart concentration camp, but they weren't allowed to go in. They had no idea how severely Jewish people were treated there. The soldiers were stationed in private homes and Joe remembers his German lady who was very nice. She felt like a mother to him, doing his laundry and, in return, he bought her items at the American PX she couldn't get in Germany. She wanted American washing powder, cosmetics, and Hershey bars. The occupational forces were assigned to the barracks near Bremen, Germany. These were built by the Germans and taken over by the Allies once they won the war. The United States renamed it Camp Grohn after the part of Bremen in which it was located. Joe was promoted to Corporal and selected to be part of the honor guard. He was Corporal of the Guard and part of the dress platoon. He bleached his leg irons, and his ammo belt always needed to be bleached nice and white. His boots were polished and his brass shined. He had to be snappy. He was on guard when General Eisenhower came through the area. Along with four soldiers, Joe took his turn conducting the physical exercises for the soldiers. He lifted weights, boxed, played baseball, and basketball, and enjoyed many competitions between the various companies. Joe ran the mile in less than six minutes. The biggest impact on Joe was meeting the German people. He liked doing the humanitarian work that needed to be done. He said the Germans were kind and treated the Americans very respectfully. He saw fellow soldiers who intentionally treated Germans badly. He said those soldiers earned the nickname of "Ugly Americans." To this Joe says, "There are bullies in every crowd."