My name is Desi Arnaz I was born March 2, 1917 in Cuba. I’ve done many things in my life but my greatest accomplishment was my service in the United States Army. I was drafted in 1936 to fight in World War II. This is the story of my time in the military.

When I found out that I wasn’t able to be deployed overseas I was devastated but luckily I was still able to serve my country from where I was. The doctors said that I wasn’t able to go overseas because I had something called hypertension which basically means I had high blood pressure and some other medical complications. I was first deployed to Birmingham General Army Hospital in California. While I was there I saw a lot of injured soldiers coming home from the war. It was one of the most depressing things, to think that that could have been me. One day I remember a ship pulled in from France and the hospital was like a bee hive, everyone was running around both soldiers and doctors. One of the soldiers told me that when he was first deployed he went to Okinawa Japan and he was shot but the doctors there told him was “You’ll be fine, get back out there soldier”, he was there for 5 more months before he came home and found out that the bullet that hit him in the leg had traveled and ended up right next to is heart and the doctor said that he would have died in the next month I he hadn't gone to the hospital.

I wasn't a doctor but I did help the soldiers feel more comfortable I remember one man just wanted a cold glass of milk because it was one of his favorite things and he hadn't had milk in over 2 year and he started to cry and I started to cry too because it made me realize what these men had gone through so much that the smallest things made him so happy my warm tear rolled down my cheek and that was one of the most memorable days in my service. After that I was going to check up one another soldier but when I started to walk away he said, “Wait! Can you stay and talk for a little while?” I turned around and said, “Of Course what do you want to talk about?” After that we had a one hour conversation just about life and family. Then he went on to talk about how he went to every Yankee game before being drafted and how he always dreamed of being a catcher and playing in the world series. And that was the moment I realized that this was what I was meant to do. And that I want to do this for a long time even though it was really emotionally tolling.

Another thing I remember is when I shadowed a doctor going on his rounds and I met this one family that was grieving because they lost their son that was sent to England and didn’t come back and the family just found out that the soldier's wife was pregnant and that her husband wouldn’t be able to help raise the baby. They couldn’t believe that they would never see him again. And the mom would have to raise their child alone. After the check up the family came up to me and told me “The loss of our loved one is hard to believe but I’m glad you helped us because you made us feel comfortable. Thank You.” and even though it was a hard day I knew that we did everything that we could to make the family more comfortable.

When people hear my name they think of my acting or music career but I’ve done so much that people don’t know. The thing I want people to remember me as is a father and a Veteran because those were the best things I’ve done in my lifetime. I was also a donator to multiple charities and taught classes at San Diego State. That is what I want people to remember when they hear the name Desi Arnaz.