US Army Lieutenant Peter Lafitte knew where he was going, but streaming into an uncountable number of passenger cars five months after Pearl Harbor, many of the thousands of men, who boarded this Troop Train in April 1943, did not know if they were headed to the European Front or the Pacific Theater.
Lieutenant Lafitte carried a bag and his skis with him. He was the only soldier riding to his destination aboard this train and would soon board a car of fellow soldiers going to other isolated units. Observing soldiers crowd into train cars, unit by unit, he was aware that in this respect, he was lucky.
Soldiers kissed their sweethearts, waved from the windows of the train. A young woman was bidding goodbye to a solder, as if he was her brother. Pete recognized the blue land girl uniform, the visored hat with the Women's Land Army insignia. His sister was a land girl.
He was not in a hurry to board the train. Given the empty flat cars and the many army vehicles lined up to board them, it would be a while before the train pulled out of the station.
