"There was a notice on the bulletin board that volunteers were needed for a hazardous mission… Anything being better than what I was doing, I signed up immediately." (Memoir, page 3)

Kermit A. Bushur

Kermit A. Bushur, Calcutta, India War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Army Unit: Khaki Combat Team, 3rd Battalion, 5807th Composite Unit Service Location: Bombay and Calcutta, India; China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater; Scott Field, St. Louis, Missouri; Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Little Rock, Arkansas; Camp Lion, Mt. Oran; HMT Rohna; 20th General Hospital; Miami, Florida; Camp Shelby, Mississippi Rank: Private Place of Birth: Neoga, IL

Kermit Bushur had an identity problem that nagged him throughout World War II—and likely saved his life. His draft board turned him down several times, granting him exemptions he didn't want, so he finally requested voluntary induction. He missed his outfit's departure for the European Theater and was thrown in with another unit headed for India. His papers were lost when a transport ship carrying him was sunk. Arriving in India with no orders, he was assigned to pick up corpses (a famine was sweeping the country) for funeral pyres. Volunteering for what was described as a hazardous mission, he soon found himself part of Merrill's Marauders, the composite unit of guerrillas sent into Burma to harass the Japanese. He would later learn that his original company was almost completely wiped out on the beaches of Normandy.