The previous posts were all about my Uncle Leonard and his experiences in World War II. Today I start posting about my father, Arnold Hasting Nevis. Leonard is the older of the two brothers, and there were two younger sisters as well. My dad went by Arnie his whole life, except that his parents nearly always called him Arnold, rarely Arn. He was born in 1921, so he was twenty when the war started for the United States. Like his brother, he was keen to sign up and defend his country and to see battle against the enemy. As his son, I was truly surprised at his youthful fervor to serve in the military since later in life he seemed rather embarrassed by it and rarely spoke of his time in the Army. I learned of his eagerness to sign up only from my mother.
Arnie graduated from Herbert Hoover High School and was attending California Institute of Technology at the beginning of the war. His parents convinced him to finish college before enrolling in the Army. But he first had to clear up an attendance problem with his physical education class.
He enrolled in Officer Training for the U.S. Army in July 1943. The City of Glendale honored his enlistment:
The earliest letters to the family have not turned up; the first is from November 1943. But a letter from Charles "Chuck" Cutler dates from July 20, 1943:
undated photo of Arnie Nevis with unidentified friends,
probably from the late 1930s or early 1940s
next post September 25, 1943
