Bill was drafted January 22, 1942 from Queens Village, L.I., NY and sent to Ft. Eustus, VA for basic training. In June 1942, rather than go to Officer Candidate School (O.C.S.), he accepted an assignment as Sgt. Agent, in civilian clothes, in the Counter Intelligence Corps (C.I.C.), Third Service Command, Baltimore MD.

     At the CIC training, his roommate in the lower bunk was Fred "Dusty" Rhodes, a young law school graduate from Baltimore MD and Washington DC. They became friends and a few months later, Fred received orders to go to O.C.S. The commanding officer asked Bill to give Fred a one-week crash course in the "basics" of military training, because Dusty had never been in uniform or had any prior military training.

     In September of 1942, Bill was transferred to the Pittsburgh, PA C.I.C. office, and remained there until the summer of 1944. He received a number of special assignments including background investigations for personnel in the Manhattan Engineer District (M.E.D.). Knowledge about these cases was to be strictly limited to his CO.

     Other assignments included providing discreet surveillance of civilian personnel as they moved through the Pittsburgh airport. During one such case he was shadowing a man dubbed "the absent-minded professor" who was changing planes in Pittsburgh. The scientist's code name was 'Nicholas Baker'. Sitting in the waiting area, he immediately became lost in a book and seemed to disregard the re-boarding announcements made over the loudspeaker, calling him by name. Afraid the professor would miss the flight, Bill decided to move in and "accidentally" stumbled across the professor's feet to get his attention. Then, as Bill helped the professor to stand up, Bill told him quietly he had "better get on the plane" and directed him to the gate Bill found out after the war that his charge at the airport was the Danish scientist - and Nobel Prize winner - Niels Bohr, who had been smuggled out of Denmark to England. He played a significant role in the early research and development leading up to the creation of the atomic bomb and was a frequent visiting consultant at Los Alamos.

     In the summer of 1944 Bill was ordered to Baltimore for an interview regarding attendance at a Military Police Officer Candidate School. Intending to turn down the OCS offer, he and his pregnant wife, Emily, - a native New Yorker who had just learned how to drive - drove to Baltimore. However, his friendly interview with the Lt. Col was terminated with the comment that the Transportation Corps needed privates on the ALCAN Highway in Alaska, if he was not interested in MPOCS. Bill laughed, shook hands, saluted, and accepted orders and tickets to leave that night on the train for Fort Custer, Ml. Emily had to drive back to Pittsburgh alone.

     At OCS, which moved to Fort Sam Houston TX in October, there were rumors of some special assignments to be made at graduation. Bill and a new acquaintance, Larry Smith, a young lawyer from Brooklyn, NY, agreed that this would be worth trying for. After graduation, quite a few of the new 2nd LTs.. including Bill and Larry, were sent to Camp Ritchie, MD to attend Military Intelligence Class #25.