An ROTC Cadet who graduated from Stillwater's Oklahoma A&M College in June 1943, and then (following the wartime cancellation of A&M's ROTC summer camp & commissioning) also graduating from & commissioned at OCS (Officer Candidate School aka "The Benning School for Boys") at Fort Benning, Georgia, on September 18, 1943...Infantry Second Lieutenant Harvey D. Hesser was assigned to the Infantry replacement center at Camp Fannin, Texas, later serving with General (later 5-star General of the Army) Eisenhower's HQ ETO USA until his return Stateside and transfer to the reserves on February 5, 1946, as a First Lieutenant.
Deployed to London on August 1, 1944, Lieutenant Hesser accompanied Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army to Paris, and then on to Berlin where (following the German surrender) he was detailed to the Harnack Haus Officers Club, thereby putting his bachelor's degree in hotel & restaurant management to work for HQ ETO USA/SHAEF.
Between World War II and the Korean Civil War, Lieutenant Hesser continued serving in the reserves, while among other endeavors, pursuing a career in the food service field, e.g., catering with American Airlines' Sky Chefs Inc., and briefly owning "Harvey's Cafe", both in the Texas Panhandle where his only daughter was born in 1948.
A popular family rumor was that "The Singing Cowboy", Gene Autry, happened to be riding by "Harvey's" one sunny morning, dismounted and tied up "Champion" at the hitching post & then dropped in for a hearty breakfast.
Recalled to active duty as an Infantry Captain in 1950 with the 5th Armored Division at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas ( adjacent to the city of Fort Smith), Captain Hesser branch transferred to the Quartermaster Corps upon completion of QMC Career Course at Fort Lee, Virginia, and then deployed to U.S. Forces Austria in 1952...first with HQ USFA at Salzburg, Austria, and then south to Livorno (Leghorn), Italy in 1953.
The dazzlingly lovely Birdie Fay, mother of his three children, having suddenly died on Christmas Eve of 1951 at Camp Chaffee's hospital, Captain Hesser found himself remarrying the following May.
His newly reconstituted family joined him at Salzburg, after arriving at Leghorn on December 10, 1952, aboard the USNS General Hodges, and then accompanied him to Livorno in 1953.
Captain Hesser was transferred to the reserves a second time in 1954, after returning Stateside with his family from Leghorn aboard the USNS Geiger.
/s/
The Second Son
Deployed to London on August 1, 1944, Lieutenant Hesser accompanied Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army to Paris, and then on to Berlin where (following the German surrender) he was detailed to the Harnack Haus Officers Club, thereby putting his bachelor's degree in hotel & restaurant management to work for HQ ETO USA/SHAEF.
Between World War II and the Korean Civil War, Lieutenant Hesser continued serving in the reserves, while among other endeavors, pursuing a career in the food service field, e.g., catering with American Airlines' Sky Chefs Inc., and briefly owning "Harvey's Cafe", both in the Texas Panhandle where his only daughter was born in 1948.
A popular family rumor was that "The Singing Cowboy", Gene Autry, happened to be riding by "Harvey's" one sunny morning, dismounted and tied up "Champion" at the hitching post & then dropped in for a hearty breakfast.
Recalled to active duty as an Infantry Captain in 1950 with the 5th Armored Division at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas ( adjacent to the city of Fort Smith), Captain Hesser branch transferred to the Quartermaster Corps upon completion of QMC Career Course at Fort Lee, Virginia, and then deployed to U.S. Forces Austria in 1952...first with HQ USFA at Salzburg, Austria, and then south to Livorno (Leghorn), Italy in 1953.
The dazzlingly lovely Birdie Fay, mother of his three children, having suddenly died on Christmas Eve of 1951 at Camp Chaffee's hospital, Captain Hesser found himself remarrying the following May.
His newly reconstituted family joined him at Salzburg, after arriving at Leghorn on December 10, 1952, aboard the USNS General Hodges, and then accompanied him to Livorno in 1953.
Captain Hesser was transferred to the reserves a second time in 1954, after returning Stateside with his family from Leghorn aboard the USNS Geiger.
/s/
The Second Son
An ROTC Cadet who graduated from Stillwater's Oklahoma A&M College in June 1943, and then (following the wartime cancellation of A&M's ROTC summer camp & commissioning) also graduating from & commissioned at OCS (Officer Candidate School aka "The Benning School for Boys") at Fort Benning, Georgia, on September 18, 1943...Infantry Second Lieutenant Harvey D. Hesser was assigned to the Infantry replacement center at Camp Fannin, Texas, later serving with General (later 5-star General of the Army) Eisenhower's HQ ETO USA until his return Stateside and transfer to the reserves on February 5, 1946, as a First Lieutenant.
Deployed to London on August 1, 1944, Lieutenant Hesser accompanied Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army to Paris, and then on to Berlin where (following the German surrender) he was detailed to the Harnack Haus Officers Club, thereby putting his bachelor's degree in hotel & restaurant management to work for HQ ETO USA/SHAEF.
Between World War II and the Korean Civil War, Lieutenant Hesser continued serving in the reserves, while among other endeavors, pursuing a career in the food service field, e.g., catering with American Airlines' Sky Chefs Inc., and briefly owning "Harvey's Cafe", both in the Texas Panhandle where his only daughter was born in 1948.
A popular family rumor was that "The Singing Cowboy", Gene Autry, happened to be riding by "Harvey's" one sunny morning, dismounted and tied up "Champion" at the hitching post & then dropped in for a hearty breakfast.
Recalled to active duty as an Infantry Captain in 1950 with the 5th Armored Division at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas ( adjacent to the city of Fort Smith), Captain Hesser branch transferred to the Quartermaster Corps upon completion of QMC Career Course at Fort Lee, Virginia, and then deployed to U.S. Forces Austria in 1952...first with HQ USFA at Salzburg, Austria, and then south to Livorno (Leghorn), Italy in 1953.
The dazzlingly lovely Birdie Fay, mother of his three children, having suddenly died on Christmas Eve of 1951 at Camp Chaffee's hospital, Captain Hesser found himself remarrying the following May.
His newly reconstituted family joined him at Salzburg, after arriving at Leghorn on December 10, 1952, aboard the USNS General Hodges, and then accompanied him to Livorno in 1953.
Captain Hesser was transferred to the reserves a second time in 1954, after returning Stateside with his family from Leghorn aboard the USNS Geiger.
/s/
The Second Son
Deployed to London on August 1, 1944, Lieutenant Hesser accompanied Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army to Paris, and then on to Berlin where (following the German surrender) he was detailed to the Harnack Haus Officers Club, thereby putting his bachelor's degree in hotel & restaurant management to work for HQ ETO USA/SHAEF.
Between World War II and the Korean Civil War, Lieutenant Hesser continued serving in the reserves, while among other endeavors, pursuing a career in the food service field, e.g., catering with American Airlines' Sky Chefs Inc., and briefly owning "Harvey's Cafe", both in the Texas Panhandle where his only daughter was born in 1948.
A popular family rumor was that "The Singing Cowboy", Gene Autry, happened to be riding by "Harvey's" one sunny morning, dismounted and tied up "Champion" at the hitching post & then dropped in for a hearty breakfast.
Recalled to active duty as an Infantry Captain in 1950 with the 5th Armored Division at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas ( adjacent to the city of Fort Smith), Captain Hesser branch transferred to the Quartermaster Corps upon completion of QMC Career Course at Fort Lee, Virginia, and then deployed to U.S. Forces Austria in 1952...first with HQ USFA at Salzburg, Austria, and then south to Livorno (Leghorn), Italy in 1953.
The dazzlingly lovely Birdie Fay, mother of his three children, having suddenly died on Christmas Eve of 1951 at Camp Chaffee's hospital, Captain Hesser found himself remarrying the following May.
His newly reconstituted family joined him at Salzburg, after arriving at Leghorn on December 10, 1952, aboard the USNS General Hodges, and then accompanied him to Livorno in 1953.
Captain Hesser was transferred to the reserves a second time in 1954, after returning Stateside with his family from Leghorn aboard the USNS Geiger.
/s/
The Second Son
Inscription
CAPT US ARMY
WORLD WAR II KOREA
