Wick, Robert (1913-2006)

https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/stc:8619#/kaltura_audio

Biographical Information: Robert Wick was born on January 23, 1913, in Mount Union, Iowa. He originally volunteered for service in 1941, but was turned away due to myopia. However, in 1942, he received his draft notice and reported to Camp Carson in Colorado. After graduating from basic training, Wick served as an officer in a signal information and monitoring company in Italy. Prior to the war, Wick was a teacher at Newton High School and lived with his wife, Alice, in Newton, Iowa. After the war, Wick went on to receive his PhD from the University of Iowa, and would serve as a faculty member and, later, president of St. Cloud State University from 1965 to 1971.

Transcript Summary: Robert Wick described his experiences serving with a signal information and monitoring group during World War II. He originally volunteered for service in 1941, but due to myopia, he was turned away. However, in 1942, Wick received his draft notice and reported to Camp Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado for basic training. Wick described his experiences as an intelligence officer working in a signal information equipment truck while stationed in Italy. He would often sit-in on a general’s briefings and report relevant information back to headquarters. He described the process of training to be an officer as well as his assignment to signal information and monitoring. He also discussed the process of memorizing communication codes. Lastly, he discussed what experiences he took away from his time in the Army as well as his thoughts of the Vietnam War.

Interview by David Overy