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Pvt. Mike "Junior" Pumphrey - Traffic Section
12638790
Baltimore, Maryland
Pre-war job: Baltimore City Police Sergeant
Mike Pumphrey originally hails from the farm country of Carroll County, Md. He
worked at his father's hardware store in Westminster,Md. from the age of 10 until he uprooted his family
and moved to Baltimore in 1934 to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Mike
joined the Baltimore City Police Department. He made the rank of sergeant in 1939, then enlisted
in the army in 1940. Mike attended basic training at Ft. Custer, Michigan. He was
assigned to the 4th ID MP Platoon in August of 1941.
T/5 Bob "Sparky" Buker - Driver/Radioman
20375817
Catonsville, Maryland
Pre-war job: Rail Car Pricing Manager, B&O Railroad, Baltimore, MD
Originally from Dorchester County Maryland, Buker attended Mt. St. Joseph
High School in Irvington, Maryland and graduated in 1919. Leading a lifestyle of debauchery during the height of the
flapper age, Buker lost his family fortune in the crash of '29. Desperate and broke he pretended to be
a WWI veteran and joined the Bonus March of 1932 in hopes of getting some money to pay off his bookie. The failure of
the March and his life in general prompted Buker to plan to jump off the Bromo Seltzer Tower. However on his way across Eutaw
Street he met a beautiful Japanese girl who was attending the College of Notre Dame. They met secretly over the
next several months and decided to get married in "No Questions Asked" Ellicott City, Maryland. A baby girl was born
in 1934 and another in 1941 . Buker attended the University of Baltimore part-time while working for the Baltimore &
Ohio RR on Charles Street. He earned a Bachelors degree in 1937 and a short time later, bought a house in Catonsville,
Maryland where he commuted daily on the No.8 trolley. To add adventure to a rather suburban life, Buker joined the National
Guard in 1940 with the hopes of boozing it up with his friends and neighbors one weekend a month and two weeks a year. The
Maryland National Guard was federalized in February of 1941 and put an end to that plan. The Louisiana Maneuvers showed Buker
that the life of the foot-slogging infantry was not in the cards especially when Cpl.Buker got into
a fight with his platoon sergeant, who is his office boy at the B&O. Broken in the ranks, he requested a transfer
to the 4th Infantry Division since Buker had met several members of the 4th during the Maneuvers. Pending the transfer, he
was at home when Pearl Harbor was attacked. By the end of December he was finally with the 4th at Fort
Gordon. Buker has been promoted several times since then, he even made 2nd Lt. once but his temper and drinking gets
the best of him.
PFC Kirk "Rooster" Gisiner
33401799
Palmyra, Virginia
Pre-war job: Teacher
Kirk was born and raised in Roanoke,VA. He became a teacher, married and settled into
the small town of Palmyra, Va. Thinking he was too old and established, Gisiner was quite surprised when he received his draft notice in February 1943. After a dubious start in basic training,
Kirk found himself assigned to the Ivy Division. He landed on D+3 at Utah Beach as
a member of service battery, 20th F.A. He was detailed to assist the MP's with guarding PW's. He wrangled
a permanent transfer to the MP platoon in August of '44.
PFC Jerry "Sunshine" Layton
20584507
Anderson, Indiana
Pre-war job: Bus Driver- City of Anderson, Ind.
Trying to make ends meet, Layton enlisted in the Indiana National Guard in 1937. He rose to the rank
of staff sergeant in his infantry company by the time they were activated in November 1940. This was the army. Somewhat different
from the weekend drill that Jerry was used to. His stripes didn't last long. He was an experienced man, but didn't take well
to authority. Layton was transferred out of the 38th infantry division after several reprimands and assigned to the 12th Regiment
of the 4th ID in 1941. While participating in amphibious training at Camp Gordon Johnston in Sept. 1943, Layton injured his
knee. Not bad enough to earn a medical discharge, he was assigned to the military police platoon.
PVT Fernando "The Spaniard" Bonmati
10461975
Williamstown, New Jersey
Pre-war job: Police Officer, Madrid, Spain
Born in Madrid Spain in 1912, into an upper
class family in the banking bussines. Attended college in Spain where apart from watching my favorite soccer team the Real
Madrid, I started to get involved in politics,favoring the newly elected Spanish Republic. Also at the University in Madrid
I met my wife an American student finishing her education in Spanish studies. Civil War in Spain breaks out an cuts
my
college education short. I joined the police force loyal to the Spanish Republic and remained in Madrid during the whole conflict.
In 1939 me and my wife are forced to leave the country, the rest of the family were loyal to the Franco forces. First towards
France and a month later towards England since we both spoke English. Me and my
wife spent 1940 in Cambridge England until
we manage to get a passage and a visa to America. In 1941 while living at my American in-laws home I heard about the attack
on Pearl Harbor, the next day I went to the recruiting station. Since I had previous experience as a police officer they send
me to the 4th MPs to fight fascism in Europe.
SGT Eric "Snaggle-tooth" Littlewood
14085638
Pre war job: Sgt. Baltimore City Police Training Acadamy
Sgt. Lilttlewood saw action in WW1 with the 2nd Div. After the war he joined the Baltimore City Police where he served undercover, closing down speakeasys in the 1930s. At the
start of WW2, Littlewood was a training Sgt. at Baltimore Policy Acadany,
where as it turned out, a young cadet by the name of Phumphrey came
under his training. After seeing him and so many other cadets enlist
or get drafted, Littlewood desided to reenlist as an MP in the Army. He
has the honor of being one of the oldest Sgt. MP's seeing service in the ETO.
Note: Sgt Littlewood would later be killed while falling out Staff Sgt.
Dicks' jeep while on leave in London. Staff Sgt Dicks survived
John Henderson, left and Joe Henderson, right
CPL John "Sunrise" Henderson
34035267
Pre war job: Ambulance chaser and sometimes driver
John Henderson was one of the first students to graduate from the Adjutant General school in Ft. Washington,
MD in 1943 and was commissioned a 2nd LT. He was assigned to the AGD in London in the Spring of 1944 as a lawyer
in personnel administration. Shortly after arriving, he initiated court-martial charges against a drunken
PFC who turned out to be a 3-star General's grandson. A long talk with his CO failed to change his mind.
When John decided to press on with the charges, he was 'offered' to resign his commission or face a court-martial (for
some minor transgression.) John resigned and was transferred to the 4th ID MP Platoon which was preparing to visit
France.
PVT Joe "Chip" Henderson
38017158
Pre war job: College student
Joe Henderson is considered the All American kid. Joe graduated
top if his class in high school, and was a two time letterman in football. He went on to attend Johns Hopkins University.
He lettered twice in football and decided to participate in Army ROTC. He was tops in his class at Hopkins
and was
expected to graduate Cum Laude. That was until he started to date a young lady from Harrisburg, PA. Joe later
found out that this young lady was a daughter of an Admiral in the Navy and she was under age. When her father
found out she was dating and withan ROTC student, he pulled in some favors . After graduating Joe was sent to the
ETO in Jan. 1943 as a 2nd Lt. with an infantry platoon.
He injured his knee while joy riding in a jeep with a buddy
from Hopkins and spent 3 months in a rehabilitation hospital in London. He was transferred to the 4th ID MP Platoon.
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Sgt. Cody "Hobo" McCauley - Squad Leader
13554186
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Pre-war job: Student
When the US was attacked on December 7th, Cody dropped out of
school and enlisted in the army at the age of 17. He attened bacic at Ft. Benning, Georgia. There, he requested transfer
to the corps of military police because of the friendship he had with a beat cop from his old neighborhood. While in England
he was promoted to sergeant because his squad leader fractured his leg badly while cutting a rug with a barmaid.
Cpl. Rodney "Straps" Davis
16783221
Pekin, Illinois
Pre-war job: Firestone Tire Manufacturing
Davis initially enlisted in 1942 with the dream of becoming a paratrooper. During jump school, a lapse in
concentration left him with an unflattering nickname and dismissal from the program. Excited about his first training jump,
Rodney hurriedly threw his equipment on and left several straps hanging loose. Although unintentional, this was a clear safety
violation; causing him to be dismissed amongst the taunting of other trainees to the tune of "STRAPS"! Transferring to the
4th Infantry Division in 1943, Davis was promoted to corporal and assigned to the MP platoon. His nickname still follows him.
Pvt. Mike "Skee" Charnisky
36052579
Belleville, Illinois
Pre-war job: Market Clerk/ Catcher for the Cardinals class D Farm Team
Charnisky tried out for his
hometown St. Louis Cardinals in 1942. Although he wasn't the most gifted hitter or fastest base runner, he proved he had Moxie.
The club liked what they saw and gave him a spot on their class D farm team in Johnson City, Tenn. His career in the
minors was interrupted when he was drafted in 1943 and assigned to the 4th infantry division. He was plucked out of a line-up
from his company and re-assigned to the MP platoon. It must have been the same Moxie that the Cardinals had noticed. When
he's not pre-occupied with his duties, he's usually chatting up his buddies with box scores and the latest major league
trades.
Staff Sgt. Rusty "Stinky" Dicks
33627085
Lititz, Pennsylvania
Pre-war job: Fuller Brush Salesman
Pvt. Dicks hails from Lancaster County, Penna. After finishing high school in 1937 and kicking around
doing odd jobs, Dicks settled in as a Fuller Brush man in 1939. With his brown suitcase in hand, and going to door to
door in the county it took Rusty less than a year to became the top salesman at The Fuller Brush Company. Fuller Brush scaled back its operations at the outbreak of the war forcing Rusty to enlist in the army in 1942.
He completed basic training at Camp Lee, Virginia; followed by driver and vehicle maintenance training. (Basic took longer
than expected due to a 8 week stay in the infirmary after a weekend long furlough in Richmond, VA.) Rusty requested a posting to
a military police unit, and was assigned to the 4th Motorised (now infantry) division's MP platoon in March 1943.
CPLTravis "Houdini" Harry
13778254
Lansdowne, Maryland
Pre-war job: Railroad Policeman, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
Born in 1910, Travis grew up in the farming community of Mt. Airy, MD. After
school and work on a local farm, he joined his father and grandfather working for the B&O Railroad first as a laborer.
Later he joined the B&O Railroad Police Department moving closer to Baltimore where he meet his future wife. In 1943,
he heard the Army was looking for skilled law enforcement officers so he joined up and after basic training was assigned to
the 4th Inf. MP Platoon.
PVT Neal "Irish" Pizzano
13363684
Wallingford, Pennsylvania
Pre-war job: Sales
Neal was born in Washington, DC and lived in Silver Spring, MD until
the age of 12. The family then moved to Revere, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. In 1928, while studying accounting
and weather at Boston College, Neal needed to terminate his studies due to the Depression. Neal joined the family business,
the Pizzano Furniture Company in Chelsea, MA. In 1938, while working as a salesman for the company, Neal traveled to Chicago
and Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia, he met his wife, Mary. They married in October of 1940. In the
fall of 1941 while in Chicago on a sales trip, Neal dined with Harold Florsheim, of the Florsheim Shoe Company and his wife
Claire. Mr. Florsheim encouraged Neal to join the war effort. Later that year after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor,
Neal enlisted. Neal’s Basic Training took place at Camp Lee, VA in 1942. Although he had received some college
education, Neal failed to get the nod to join OCS. While at Camp Lee, Neal learned that Mr. Florsheim was a member of
the Quartermaster Corp. Neal then contacted Major Florsheim and was assigned to EURUSA HQ in Paris as a file clerk.
After the horrific losses in Malmedy, Neal was trained as a replacement and given papers to join the 4th ID MP Division.
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