Grandmother Maura Castellano stands with her two sons, Paco and Benny, who were both home on furlough at the same time.  The photo was taken in 1945 in the backside yard of the Palomares home in La Verne.

 Paco, 28 years old, was married with three children when he was drafted to the armed forces during World War II. He completed basic training at Fort Ord in Northern California.  He was stationed in Camp Robert in Northern California for more training and schooling.  Later he was stationed at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.  He was not sent overseas, possibly because of his three children.

 Benny quit high school in order to join the army and help the war effort.  Benny was 17 years old and lied about his age in order to join the army.  He enlisted only months before President Truman ordered the dropping of the Atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.   Shortly after the bombing, Benny was shipped to Okinawa.  He was assigned escort duty on a train delivering Japan’s South Korean prisoners of war to their home country.  He saw the devastation of Hiroshima, not realizing what he was seeing at the time.

 While at Camp Roberts, Paco recalls that he was cleaning his rifle when Benny called out to him and there before Paco’s eyes was his brother Benny in uniform.  Prior to this meeting, Paco had no idea that his brother was in the army.