Bill True - An Autobiography
Bill's high school graduation picture,
June 6, 1941
I was born in Omaha, Nebraska on November 11, 1923 and spent all my youth there. The years of the Great Depression were difficult for my family, as they were for most. But added burdens for me included my parents' divorce and my father's bout with tuberculosis, which he eventually overcame. Carrying several paper routes with the Omaha World Herald helped fill the financial gap, and as my father grew stronger we made plans to travel west to California after my graduation from Central High School on June 6, 1941.
This was a seminal event and time, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor just months away, and the largest military invasion in history-one in which I would participate-exactly three years to the day in the future.
After World War II broke out it became increasingly apparent that I was destined to play some role in our country's defense, though I was not sure what that role would be. When the glamorous dream of being an Army Air Corps pilot evaporated (everyone wanted those jobs!) I found myself at a recruiter's office looking for alternatives. The paratroops had just been formed and seemed itself to have a rather dashing cache, so I signed up. The rest of that adventure is told in print as "The Cow Spoke French," the book which I co-authored with my son Deryck.
Bill, parachute training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Fall 1942 |
June 5, 1944, stick #76 ready for the jump into Normandy on D-Day. Bill is barely visible behind another trrooper, on the right hand side of the plane, holding a cigarette to his lips |
Sergeant True, studio portrait, Mourmelon le Grande, France, March 1945 |
June, 1948, Bill at his graduation
from San Diego State College,
holding baby son Deryck
When the war ended and I was repatriated to the states, I was three weeks late in enrolling at San Diego State College for the fall semester of 1945. An exception was made for the returning veteran who was among the very early enrollees taking advantage of the G.I. Bill. I was determined to reverse the poor academic showing I had in high school, and to excel in college. My success in that aim was achieved as I graduated in June, 1948, With Honors, and With Distinction in Economics. I completed the full four-year course in less than three years through attendance at summer school.
Wedding of William True and Clarissa Jane Tufts,
September 6, 1946
In the interim I had married Clarissa Jane Tufts in September, 1946, and our first child, Deryck Tufts True, was born in January, 1948. I was studying for final exams at the hospital the night Deryck was born, and received A's in all five courses that semester.
Following graduation we moved to Richmond, CA, so I could attend graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. During the summer of '48 I worked for Armco Drainage Aluminum Company while waiting for the fall semester to begin. I found myself the most highly educated of the labor crew, loading and unloading every conceivable configuration of pipe from railroad flat cars and trucks heading in and out of the plant. The work was heavy and exhausting. It gave some real incentives and significance to my educational desires.
Graduate school was a degree tougher than my work at San Diego State, but I managed to keep an A- average, even while working to supplement my veteran's allotment. However, our second child appeared to be on the way in the summer of 1949, and the G.I. Bill money was about to run out. I decided to forego my goal of a PhD. and settle for a Master's Degree in Economics. So in January, 1950, I received the M.A. from Cal and went to work in the real world.
My first job was Budget Analyst with the California State Department of Finance in Sacramento. I spent more than ten years with the State of California and the Cities and Counties of Los Angeles in financial and administrative positions. During this time my family expanded to eventually include three sons and a daughter, and we bought our first home using the G.I. Bill. Watching that home being built in the San Fernando Valley, and knowing as we visited its progress weekly that it would soon be ours, gave us heartfelt pleasure difficult to exaggerate.
Dean Leslie, Janey, Deryck Tufts,
Devin Paul, Dedra Lynn, Bill, 1958
I played a major role in the merger of the Los Angeles City and County Public Health Departments in the 1960's. This led me to a career shift away from government and into the management of health care delivery in the private sector. That's the field where I found my ultimate success and satisfaction as I managed both for-profit and non-profit hospitals. I served as CEO of the San Gabriel Valley Medical Center for 17 years and was active in professional and community organizations, publishing numerous articles in professional journals.
Bill as CEO of San Gabriel Valley
Medical Center
I departed the work force in 1988 at age 65 with great expectations for a productive retirement. Among other interests, I became passionately involved in reforming the health care system in America. I wrote numerous op-ed pieces for the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Valley Daily News, and others. (Compensation ranged from $250 for Times' articles, to $30 from a small local paper in Ventura County.) I also worked with community groups, giving frequent talks at their meetings and participating in televised panel discussions.
My retirement goals were more than met, and my wide range of interests now include writing, developing family history and photo albums, participation in local political issues, and semi-weekly bridge sessions. Add to that a weekly golf game (with rising handicap), and occasional guitar playing for the amusement (or amazement) of myself and friends, and I'm kept pretty busy these days.
Sometime back I read an article listing what the author thought were the 100 most important pieces of Congressional Legislation during the 20th century, and the G.I. Bill was among them. I don't recall if the bills were listed in the author's order of importance, or where the G.I. Bill fell if he did so, but I know it would be at or near the top if my family were ranking them.
1990, with their grandchildren, from left:
Janey, Colin Burnette True, Adam True Scheib,
Cadence Aleece True,Devin Paul True, Jr.,
Bill, Keenan William True, Kelly Jane True
I was the first of my family to attend college, let alone obtain a graduate degree, and the G.I. Bill gets full credit for that accomplishment. The professional success which followed was certainly due to my education. All four of my children have also gone on to obtain at least bachelor's degrees, undoubtedly influenced by my example.
Initial home ownership through a G.I. Bill loan, and the resulting healthy physical environment, undoubtedly contributed to the wholesome growth of our family. All four children are happily married and have produced a total of six grandchildren who have added greatly to the happiness of Janey and me. Alas, however, the new generation appears much slower to get into marriage and production of offspring. Great-grandchildren remain a fervent wish.
On the way home for discharge in August, 1945, I had joined the newly formed 101st Airborne Division Association. "Burr" Smith of E Co. ("Band of Brothers") was collecting dues and signing people up. After several years of busier and busier times, however, I dropped my membership and much time passed before I again became interested in things military.
In 1978 a chance meeting with a wartime buddy resulted in my rejoining the 101st Association, and I became active in the Southern California Chapter. Then in 1983 a story in the Los Angeles Times caught my eye. It was about a group of young World War II buffs who were planning a 40th anniversary parachute jump in Europe in 1984. I contacted them, and before I knew it I was not only involved in helping with their planning, but making practice jumps with them in preparation for the overseas trip.
On September 17, 1984, in cooperation with the Dutch Army, our group re-enacted Operation Market Garden, the invasion of Holland 40 years before. More than a dozen World War II veterans were among us. It was again a bright sunny day as I parachuted onto the very same field, just outside the town of Zon, as I did in 1944. A big difference, of course, was the absence of German anti-aircraft fire we had encountered then. But one thing was the same. It was the sincere welcoming of the Dutch people.
The 506th captured Eindhoven on September 18, 1944, the day after our landing. Every year since then that city has celebrated its liberation in a grand fashion. One feature of the festivities is a huge "Liberation Day" parade which includes presentation of the "Liberation Torch" to Prince Bernhart. On September 18, 1984, I was given the honor of leading the parade by carrying that torch, and presenting it to the Prince.
Bill passing the Liberation Torch to
Prince
Bernhart after leading the parade through
Eindhoven, Holland, September 18, 1984
I've returned to Europe numerous times since the war. On almost every occasion I've paid a visit to the American Cemetery at Normandy which is located just above Omaha Beach. Standing at the graves of fallen comrades brings forth emotions that were stifled and smothered when those men fell in those tumultuous days of combat. The essence of this is captured eloquently in the film "Saving Private Ryan," when the title character stands before the headstone of his protector, Captain Miller. Seeing that film literally churns my stomach nearly as much as my actual pilgrimages to that heart-breaking place of tranquil repose.
Thanksgiving, 2001, Deryck (far left) and
Bill (right, rear) with the whole extended family
I've now enjoyed 17 years of a very satisfying retirement. But tragically, my sweet wife and life-partner Janey passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on July 17, 2005. Words cannot express the emotional devastation I felt, nor the dimension of the hole this has left in my life. It was shortly before our 59th wedding anniversary.
Fortunately, I still have my 4 children and 6 grandchildren to enjoy and keep me looking forward. Perhaps great-grandchildren are yet in my future. Janey would doubtless share my utter joy, were that to occur.