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Of these early days of training, the story of 2nd Lt. William B. "Bill" Miller (tagged "Bull" Miller by his men for his stocky appearance) is a classic example of the period of adjustment the 702nd was going through as its ranks filled and everyone got to know each other.  In a statement forty-five years later, the now retired Col. Miller would say;

". . . when I first joined the unit in May, 1943, Frank (Ream, Staff Sgt.) was the platoon sergeant.  There was another officer of the platoon.  I think his name was Maddox.  He was not designated as the platoon leader.  He was just an officer in the company.  I reported to the company and (then) Lt. Grimm was acting Company Commander.  Capt. Stover was on leave.  Lt. Grimm assigned me to the platoon (3rd) as just a training officer and said that Sgt. Ream was the platoon sergeant and would be the platoon sergeant.  The platoon was filled, overfilled with personnel and that I would get together with Sgt. Ream and Lt. Maddox and get with the training program that was to be prepared on a weekly basis and become familiar and be ready to do the necessary assignments.

I went forward to see Sgt. Ream and as I recall the first meeting with him, the unit was in a shaded area out in the cantonment area and they were having a lesson on the M-1 rifle.  This was a platoon assignment.  The platoon sergeant was responsible for giving the necessary instruction for the M-1 rifle.  I walked to the platoon and Lt. Maddox was there.  I introduced myself and he told me that Sgt. Ream was presenting a period of instruction and would be doing so for the entire day, as they were taking up the M-1 rifle.  I thought to myself that I didn’t realize why it was necessary to have the M-1 rifle as a requirement for the battalion, but I later learned that it was a requirement.

L-R: Floyd Stewart, J. “Buck” Weaver, Pappy Ream, John Licar & Tony Farber

I remember standing there throughout the morning and when he finished whatever instruction he was doing, he had the platoon tank sergeants helping him.  It came time to fall in and march back to the cantonment area and the mess hall where the company messed at lunchtime.  He had the men to "Right Shoulder Arms, Sling", had them fall into formation and turned the platoon over to one of the tank sergeants (I forget which one now) and came over and I met him for the first time there in the field.  I complimented him upon his instruction.  It was very good.  In fact I told him that I thought it was outstanding and it was a real fine job and that I would be joining the platoon.  Not as platoon leader, but just as an officer of the platoon and would be working with him, according to Lt. Grimm.

I told him that I had just graduated from O.C.S. (Officer Candidate School) and had taken their battle training and was in the first unit to take the O.C.S. Battle Training of four weeks up at Fort Knox and told him what we had gone through, and so forth.  He seemed to be very well pleased." (Author's note:  My Uncle was probably a little bit envious as his dream was to be an officer.)

"From then on, it was almost an every day acquaintance and discussion.  For a couple of weeks, it was platoon type instruction, then it got into company type instruction.  Capt. Stover (Company C.O.) came back after about a week because he was on leave, I think.  Then we started getting into company type training and instruction.  Captain Stover assigned me several subjects so I became involved in instruction in the company.  And on occasions, when I had Company Instructions, I would want to get off to myself someplace and practice.  I can remember, on several occasions I would ask Sgt. Ream to come along and sort of critique my presentation and he did.  He was quite, quite good at critiquing and this went on for the better part of a month.  Then one day Captain Stover called me in and told me I was going to be the platoon leader of the Third Platoon.  Each platoon in the company had extra officers.

At that time, Frank Ream and I became very close as far as instruction and caring for the men and watching after them.  Sergeant Ream lived off-post and so did I.  I had my family; my wife and my son and we lived with a farm family about 15 miles northeast of Camp Campbell.  I had an old Ford that I drove to and fro.  I drove back and forth to camp.  So really, other than when we would have some engagement, such as volleyball, softball or some recreational engagement, I never really got to know Sgt. Ream, other than to know that he had a family, his wife, as he was living off-post.  He did eat certain meals as I did with the company.  As I recall, we paid for these separately, so much a meal, at that time or at least the officers did and I think that the enlisted men who were authorized to live off-base also had to pay.  Then we proceeded to go on our training for road marches out to the field (first platoon then company then battalion type training for driving).  He (Sgt. Ream) was always a very punctuous, very complete, never failing to carry out an assignment, and was quite determined.  Everything he did he was driven to do it perfect, do it good and accepted responsibility without any equivocation at all."