Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:08 | When Mel Plate was assigned to an anti-aircraft battery in the Aleutians, the weather conditions were so bad, the Quonset huts had to be buried to resist the wind. Communications were not so great, either, and he tells of the frustration surrounding the news of the birth of his son.
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Draftee Mel Plate was assigned to quartermaster training and then languished as a "casual" while the Army tried to figure out what to do with his unit. They were shipped to Alaska and finally he wound up at an AA battery in the Aleutians.
While serving at an anti-aircraft battery in the Aleutians, the closest that Mel Plate ever came to real action was a submarine alert sounded during his trip home for his first furlough. He got a taste of action of a different kind when he decided to try his hand at boxing.
After the danger from the Japanese had passed in the Aleutians, Mel Plate was rotated back to the States and served in an artillery battalion and at Army HQ. He had something to say to the officer who broke the news of Japan's surrender
