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Arnold Meltzer

  • Sergeant Arnold Meltzer is show here seated in the front row, seventh from the right, of the Camp Edwards Company G photo in 1941. Source: Edward Monahan Collection.

Arnold Meltzer was unique among the men of Company G at Camp Edwards, in that he had 3 years of college education, at the University of Iowa. He was a Staff Sergeant during the transit of Task Force 6814, which afforded him a better bunk, on a deck above the crowded berthing areas below. Meltzer was selected for the Officer Candidate School on New Caledonia, and upon completion was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. Per military protocol, he was transferred out of Company G upon being commissioned. He was a veteran of the battle of Guadalcanal, and vividly remembered the fierce pyrotechnics shattering the night sky in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He contracted malaria on that fetid jungle island, and was eventually evacuated back to the United States. After the war, he took advantage of the GI Bill, and finished his degree, at Boston University. In Photo #1, Meltzer – a sergeant – sits in the front row of the Company G 1941 unit photo at Camp Edwards.