NOTE: This should have been posted in February as the final and concluding chapter in Love Solly.  It got lost in the shuffle, as they say.  But here it is nonetheless. 

February 4, 1946 – Date of Discharge
As has been said a number of times already Solly hated the Army and even after he became Sol, and for that matter throughout his entire life, my father kept two envelopes of record in his bottom desk drawer and later in a file box: one contained his discharge papers and separation records and the other a group of photos and notes which were 90% pictures he took and kept from his time in the army.

Perhaps, I wonder, had he hated the army so much there was never going to be a mistake about his status?  The documents and photos to prove that he was out forever were, apparently, always near by.

Observations
The Honorable discharge and report of separation documents shown below:
1.  List his final organization as HQ Co. 115 4th Engineer Combat Group;
2.  Show that his “mustering out pay”, what the Government owed him for 3 years        and 2 days of active service, was $300;
3.  Indicate he was paid $149.80 of the $300 on the day he signed the documents;
4.  Give an address for him in Brooklyn;
5.  Show that he was paying $6.55/month for insurance

On view: 3 document proof records of Solly’s discharge and separation from the U.S. Army along with the envelope that contained them.   Images below include: the envelope; Honorable Discharge papers front and reverse sides, Feb 4, 1946; discharge and notice of classification card front and reverse sides, Feb 8, 1946; 

During the first year after his death the Army reminded us they were still thinking of Solly even if he hadn’t called them in decades.  They sent me the following honor and memory certificates.

These are his medals from the war.  Sometime in the 1990’s I read an article about WWII soldiers who never received their medals and how to contact the DOD and retrieve them.  I went ahead to surprise him not realizing until they arrived after two years of waiting that he was not one of those who were forgotten but that he had refused them when offered to him back in 1946.  My mother eventually framed them and gave them to me after my Dad had passed.

This is the next step for some of Solly’s letters.