More than 58 years later, World War H veteran George Cason can still remember the five-mile walks before breakfast at Camp Fannin and the heaviness of a 10-pound rifle.

"The (infantry) drills were a lot harder than I expected," Cason said, "After the five-mile walks, we would march in front of the barracks and stop. You could hear the clanks of rifles all over the place as people passed out and their guns hit the ground."

Today Cason, a resident of Dallas, serves as president of the Camp Fannin Association and returns to Tyler each spring to meet up with other former troop members trained at the camp.

But it is what Cason did after he left the camp that makes him a hero, said Millie Coppedge, a researcher and freelance writer who will include Cason's story in "War Memories are Forever," a book profiling war experiences.

Cason, then a 19-year-old U.S. Army solider assigned to infantry, arrived at Camp Fannin in March 1944.

The Army infantry camp was in charge of training replacement troops for those killed, wounded or recalled from battle, he said.

"The training was responsible for keeping us alive," Cason said. "They trained us to survive in combat, marksmanship and to dig fox holes, things that go along with infantry."

The 14,000-acre camp was located on and around the property where The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler stands today.

"We went through 17 weeks of training before being assigned to units," Cason said.

After being assigned to a division in Gainesville, he was shipped overseas to France and later to Austria. While in Austria, Cason's unit received orders to proceed to the town of Telfs.

"As a simple soldier, I naturally was not aware of all the details that led to the advance from Seefeld to Telfs," Cason said.

"But I knew the town had been occupied by Germans and they had rigged the Telfs bridge with explosives," he said. A guard was also stationed at each end of the bridge.

"They told us, 'The Telfs Bridge is the key to Innsbruck,'" Cason said.

Its possession would allow the advance to Innsbruck, which had been declared an "open city," a place where troops could ride in on tanks and take it over without firing a shot, Cason said.

"The Americans knew that the Germans had prepared the, bridge for demolition, and we had to hurry.

On the night of May 2, 1941 troops of the 409th Regiment's Company proceeded along "Moserner" street, which was covered in snow.

"To top it all, the accompanying tanks got stuck in the craters that the Germans had bombed in the street," Cason said.

The company was the instructed to advance by foot without tank support, he said.

"It was still dark when w reached Telfs and arranged ourselves next to a retiree home Cason said.  "At dawn, it got serious.”

The unit could see the arches the bridge in the morning light from a distance. The company commander sent a 15-man strong platoon, including Cason, toward the bridge.

Cason said the U.S. troops managed to get close to the bridge, but two German posts guarded it.

"The head of the platoon had an odd idea," Cason said.  He stood up, walked quietly to the first post and said in perfect German, 'Der Krieg ist fertg' (The war is over)."

The surprised German replied “Gott sei Dank!" (Thank God) and handed his weapon to the American, Cason said.

It was at this time, he said, three members of the platoon seized the opportunity and cut the ignition wire of the explosive.

The shootout across the bridge lasted the whole morning and ended with the deaths of two civilians.

The Americans took many German soldiers prisoner, including some found under their beds in a restaurant where they had set up camp, Cason said.

The company left Telfs later that day and marched toward Innsbruck, he said.

On the day of the German surrender on May 8, 1945, Cason was stationed at Wattens, Austria, as a guard near the western city limits.

"I was in charge of checking the paperwork of passersby,' Cason said.

"My fondest memory during that time while I was standing guard was of two little kids," Cason said. 'They would come running up to be with me."

The brother and sister, ages 12 and 10 respectively, would run ahead and gather paperwork from people standing in line and then bring it to him, he said.

Despite language barriers, Cason said a friendship soon developed.

'The army gave soldiers chocolate bars for energy,' Cason said. 'The children there didn't have candy, so I would share mine. They loved it."

After returning home from his two-year service in the U.S. Army, he said he had lost contact with the pair until an article about Cason appeared in a German newspaper in 1995.

The young boy, now a middle- aged man, read the article and contacted the newspaper for Cason's address.

Cason said he was overjoyed when he received a letter stating, 'I was that little boy, and my sister (now deceased) was the little girl.".

“I felt on top of the world,' Cason said.  We stay in contact and send Christmas cards every year."

Although Cason was disappointed to learn on a return trip to Telfs in 1982 "his" bridge had been torn down, he said he was proud to have been a part of the operation.

'It was all worthwhile,' Cason said. 'We had accomplished our mission."