Cecil was drafted into the US Army and was inducted on January 13, 1943. He was 19 years old.
He was the Gunny Sergeant and Section Chief with the 788Th AAA-AW-BN Battery A.
One of Cecil’s most memorable moments while in Europe was the day a German pilot surrendered to the US Army. It was well known during the war that the Germans would go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being captured by the Russians.
On this particular day, after the surrender of Germany to the Allies, a German fighter unexpectedly came out of nowhere and landed on the western side of the Rhine River. This was the side that the pilot probably figured was the American, or perhaps the British side of the river. As Cecil watched the pilot landed, flew open the canopy and threw up his hands in surrender! Cecil also remembers meeting the Belgium citizenry, which apparently welcomed the Allies with open arms!
Cecil was discharged from the military on February 17, 1947.
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