Patrol duty for World War II veteran

Learning of an opportunity to see Austria, Joe Riley took it.

Joe Riley and three of his high school buddies signed up for the Army right after graduating. His service took him to Europe.

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The year was 1947 and Riley was in the U.S. Army serving as a member of the 796 Military Police Battalion.

He was in Germany when the offer came his way and since he had never been to Austria, he figured, “why not?’

Austria was occupied by troops from Britain, Germany, France and the United States.

Patrol of the area was completed by a representative of each country on patrol with Riley. 

“I always drove. I wanted to be sure we ate at the American commissary,” he said, explaining he didn’t like shepherd’s pie or Russian food.

Patrol duty meant looking for soldiers that may have gone AWOL, breaking up a scuffle in a bar or insuring soldiers were not in night clubs they were not supposed to visit.

Riley also played basketball. His team won the Vienna Championship and then went on “to beat the sailors” before losing in the European Theatre championship game.

His basketball skills got him an invitation to teach Austria children different sports. Not wanting to sign up for more time in the service he got out and headed home to Massapequa, Long Island, in November 1947.

Riley and two of his buddies had signed up for the Army right after graduating from high school.

“We figured we’d get drafted anyway, so we might as well get it over with,” Riley said.

His two buddies were sent to Japan and Riley went to Germany. Riley served for 18 months, from 1946 to 1947.

Before he went into the service, Riley had already met his future wife. He met her when they were both 16. The couple married in January, 1948 and had 10 children.

Riley spent 30 years working for the Daily Mirror, which later became the Daily News. He was in charge of seeing that all the advertising inserts were collated together for the Sunday paper.

With retirement, the couple started looking for a new place to call home. Their first stop was Myrtle Beach and from there they worked their way south - even putting a deposit on a home in Spring Hill – before finding Ocala Palms. The golf course was appealing to Riley. Today, he still plays golf several times a week at 83 but with “no hurry.”

Riley was one of the 104 veterans on the Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial on Tuesday.

He went to see the memorial for his four brothers who saw combat in the European Theatre operations and his sister who served her country as cook in Texas and his brother who went into the Coast Guard during the war.

“I came in at the end of the war –my part wasn’t that big,” he said.

No matter his role, Riley still served his country when needed.

“Our parents were proud of us. We did the right thing,” he said.