Person:John Romsaas (4)

Technical Sergeant Romsaas is the son of immigrant Emil Eriksen Sygard Romsaas. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in March of 1943. His boot camp training was in Atlantic City, New Jersey where he was billeted on 7th floor of the Ritz-Carleton Hotel. From there he went to Fort Logan near Denver, Colorado for Technical School where he studied the Engineering and Operations specialty. After Tech School T/SGT Romsaas went to Tampa, Florida for deployment placement. He was assigned to the 7th Tow Target Squadron at March Field, near Riverside, California. After March he was assigned to Portland Army Air Base, Portland, Oregon. After Portland T/SGT Romsaas was assigned to a small base at Ellensburg, Washington. He recalls that a B-29 bomber did land at the base once after much speculation that the runway was too short. After Ellensburg T/SGT Romsaas was assigned to a small base near Redmond, Oregon. This was a training base for P-38 Lightning and P-63 King Cobra pusuit aircraft. One memorable event was a ride with a pilot in a P-38 Lightning. The P-38 was known for its capability to very rapidly execute a snap roll maneuver. This capability was facilitated by the twin fuselage design of the aircraft. Being a single seat aircraft there was not much room in the cockpit for both the pilot and T/SGT Romsaas. T/SGT Romsaas recalls being so cramped in the cockpit that it cut off the circulation to his legs. It took T/SGT Romsaas several minutes after landing before he was able to walk again. After Redmond, T/SGT Romsaas was reassigned to Portland Army Air Field, Portland, Oregon.
The Battle of the Bulge was raging in Europe and the Army needed as many Infantryman as they could get. T/SGT Romsaas volunteered for Radio School. He was sent to Truax Field, Madison, Wisconsin. From there he went to Camp Howse near, Gainsville, Texas for infantry basic training. From there he was sent to Ft. Meade, Maryland awaiting deployment to Europe. From Ft. Meade T/SGT Romsaas went to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. He deployed by ship to La Harve, France. He traveled by train to Frankfurt, Germany to become a replacement for the Army 5th Division (the Red Diamond Division). With the 5th Division, T/Sgt Romsaas traveled through Nurnberg and Passau, Germany on the Danube River. He then traveled through Feising and Vilshofen, Germany. Then back to La Havre, France where he stayed at Camp Chesterfield before redeployment back to the States. His boat arrived in the United States at Boston, Massachusetts. From there T/SGT Romsaas was assigned to Camp Campbell, Kentucky where he lived in Tennessee but worked in Kentucky. After completing his military service, T/SGT Romsaas was sent to Fort McCoy, near Sparta, Wisconsin where he was honorably discharged from military service on 2 February 1946.--Romsaas 18:42, 22 March 2009 (EDT)

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