|
Noel served in the U.S. Army during World War II with the 98th Station Hospital in India and Burma. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was Medical Technician. He arrived in CBI on October 21, 1943, remaining until October 1, 1945. He arrived back in the United States on October 22, 1945. He participated in the Central Burma and India-Burma campaigns, earning the American Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and Asia Pacific Service Medal.
In February of 1945 Noel, along with three other soldiers, was photographed for the theater newspaper, CBI Roundup, as part of the "Jungle Joes Support Chinese Drive" story in the February 24, 1944 issue. A clipping of that article, along with the snapshots that Neil took, are shown below. A link is included to view a recreation of the newspaper containing the full story and all photos.
Following his service in CBI, Noel also served as a medic in post-war Germany and later in Japan. He met his future wife at a dance organized by a German-American Club in one of the Bavarian towns he visited during his time in Germany. They married in September, 1948 in Stuttgart, where Noel was stationed. A month later, Elizabeth and Noel arrived in the United States. Elizabeth was one of the last of the more than 100,000 American War Brides who arrived in the U,S., as the program ended in December, 1948.
Noel, who retired from the Army in 1964, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1909. He came to the United States as a teenager in the mid-1920s. Elizabeth, who was born in Prutting, Germany, in 1926, was raised during the rise and then dominance of the Nazi regime. Her four brothers were drafted into the German Army. Two of them died in 1942 while fighting Russia on the Eastern Front.
Both Noel and Elizabeth were immigrants to the United States. They raised two first-generation American sons after leaving their homelands behind for reasons of poverty, conflict and war. While this was surely typical at this time in history, it is testimony to their resilience and resolve to create a better life for themselves and their children.
CLICK ANY PHOTO OR SCROLL DOWN TO CONTINUE
