Fay’s War
It seemed that Fay’s war service was doomed from the start. He was considerably older than most of his fellow inductees and he was drafted in to the newly formed 106th Infantry Division, the last of the US Infantry Divisions to be activated during WWII. This new Army division was activated at the same time that Fay was drafted and neither the division nor Fay were quite ready for all that happened over the next two years.
The 106th Infantry Division was formed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in response to the growing American presence in the European Theater of the war. By March 1943, the German advantage was starting to flounder with their surrender at Stalingrad and their losing position in North Africa. The Allies were starting to win in the air, but they needed more boots on the ground and ships on the seas to really make the difference in turning the war around.
With the Nazi surrender at Stalingrad and their defeat in North Africa, the Allies were gaining confidence that the war was going their way
This newly activated division would suffer during its short tenure from constant attrition that began early on and didn't stop until it was too late. Because it was new, the 106th was the go-to division when other divisions needed manpower and specific skills that were required elsewhere. More than 7,000 men and 600 officers were ultimately transferred from the 106th to other divisions between its inception and its landing in Europe in late 1944. This meant that the division was constantly drafting wet behind the ears kids and that they were always training, never quite ready for action. When they finally did get to Europe, it was both disastrous and heroic.
As many scholars have pointed out, the war years honed the notion that homosexuality was a psychiatric disease that needed to be treated. There are a myriad of horror stories about military men who were caught in indelicate situations with other men and the treatment and punishment they endured. Throughout time, gay men have found one another by using secret language and codes, by behaving suggestively and by taking chances. In the WWII military, if a man was found having sex with another man, or even writing letters of love to a man, the punishment was swift and vicious.
And at the same time, for many gay men (as well as lesbians in the military) from small towns, a whole new perspective opened up to them with the revelation that they were not alone and that there were many people like them in the world. For many it was life changing. Some went home with a greater sense of themselves and others just never went home again.
In this world of potential danger, Fay didn't seem to be even mildly affected. He was older than most of his comrades, he was quickly promoted to an NCO and his endearing good nature kept him in a favored position with his superiors. Fay had been covering for years and he was an expert at it. He was the proud father of two grown daughters.
In other photos, Fay also shows up in uniform in Chicago and Charlevoix and later in Grand Rapids, where my mother was in nursing school, so he also had some leave during that training time. Here he’s often more subdued, always standing somewhat formally with his arms around his daughters and their friends. And even though he was probably worried, it seemed to everyone else that the war would end before his regiment even got involved.
However, unknown to the Allied Army, Hitler was moving a massive force of 200,000 men in thirteen infantry and seven panzer divisions plus almost 1,000 tanks and 2,000 guns along a 60-mile front to wage a counteroffensive. The ambitious goal was to divide the Western Allies, seize the port of Antwerp and force them to rethink their strategy. 
