My father, Daniel Ralph Conning (1897-1971), served in both World War I and World War II. During World War I he was a runner who carried messages between the gun emplacements in France for the Canadian Field Artillery. He was exposed to mustard gas.
"The sulfur mustards, or sulphur mustards, commonly known as mustard gas, are a class of related cytotoxic, vesicant chemical warfare agents with the ability to form large blisters on exposed skin. Pure sulfur mustards are colorless, viscous liquids at room temperature. However, when used in impure form, such as warfare agents, they are usually yellow-brown in color and have an odor resembling mustard plants, garlic or horseradish, hence the name. Mustard gas was originally assigned the name LOST, after the scientists Lommel and Steinkopf, who developed a method for the large-scale production of the agent for the German Army in 1916." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_mustard
During World War II he was an officer in the U.S. Army. He was a member of the second special class, Pacific Coast Transportation Corps, Officers Training School, at Camp Stoneman on December 29, 1942. He was assigned to the Transportation Corps at Fort Mason in San Francisco.
"Fort Mason, once known as San Francisco Port of Embarkation, US Army, in San Francisco, California, is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay. Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense site and subsequently as a military port facility. During World War II, it handled most of the cargo for the Pacific campaign." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mason
My brother, Stanley, and I used to get our "Army style" haircuts at Ft. Mason for $0.75 cents. You could buy gas for $0.19 per gallon.
"The Camp Stoneman site is located in Northern California, in Contra Costa County, in the City of Pittsburg, 40 miles northeast of the city of San Francisco. The site was used as a staging area and rifle range for troop training by the United States Army, and was established as a Class I installation (later used as a personnel replacement and reclassification depot). The site was also used as a facility of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, known as the West Garrison Area of Camp Stoneman."
http://www.militarymuseum.org/CpStoneman.html
My father died at 2210 Cecilia Avenue in San Francisco on April 1, 1971 at the age of 73. He had mowed the back lawn with a hand mower and was sitting on the couch in the front room, when he had a heart attack. I was attending the Berkeley High School vs. El Cerrito High School track and field meet in El Cerrito, when I saw my wife come in with our three children. She was bringing news that my father had died. There were no cell phones in those days.
Hale Roach was the track coach at El Cerrito High School for 29 years (1944-1973). Willie White was the track coach at Berkeley High School coach for 18 years (1966-1984).
My father was buried at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon, because there was no more room in the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California. The Golden Gate National Cemetery had filled up as a result of the Vietnam War.
My father was born in West Oakland, California on August 20, 1897.
He married Veda Beresford Young, the Secretary of the San Francisco Playground Commission, in 1934.
My brother, Ralph Stanley Conning, was born in San Francisco on Septermber 29, 1935. He lives in Palatine, Illinois.
I was born on March 16, 1941 at St. Mary's Children's Hospital in San Francisco.
My mother was born in San Francisco, California on March 7, 1902. She died in Berkeley, California on August 1, 1998 at the age of 96. She was buried next to my father in the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon on August 11, 1998.
Willamette National Cemetery
Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon
Conning, Daniel Ralph, b. 08/20/1897, d. 04/01/1971, US Army, MAJ, Res: San Francisco, CA, Plot: K 0 4884, bur. 04/09/1971
Conning, Veda Young, b. 03/07/1902, d. 08/01/1998, US Army, MAJ, Res: Berkeley, CA, Plot: K 0 4884, bur. 08/11/1998
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