| − | Ichter was born as one of two sons to Harold Lester Ichter and the former Harriet Ellen Tremayne in Nanticoke, a small [[coal]]-mining community near Reading, [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name=familysearch/> Harold Ichter was an employee of the [[United States Postal Service]] and the Pennsylvania [[National Guard]]; the family was hardly impacted by the [[Great Depression]] because of the father's two paychecks. With the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] in 1941, the senior Ichter was sent to [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], [[Louisiana]], to be an umpire for the war games at nearby [[United States Army]] camps. As a result of this move, the younger Ichter came into contact with Southern Baptists. He graduated a semester early in 1943 from Bolton High School in Alexandria.<ref name=familysearch/> | + | Ichter was born as one of two sons to Harold Lester Ichter and the former Harriet Ellen Tremayne in Nanticoke, a small [[coal]]-mining community in Berks County near Reading in southeastern [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name=familysearch/> Harold Ichter was an employee of the [[United States Postal Service]] and the Pennsylvania [[National Guard]]; the family was hardly impacted by the [[Great Depression]] because of the father's two paychecks. With the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] in 1941, the senior Ichter was sent to [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], [[Louisiana]], to be an umpire for the war games at nearby [[United States Army]] camps. As a result of this move, the younger Ichter came into contact with Southern Baptists. He graduated a semester early in 1943 from Bolton High School in Alexandria.<ref name=familysearch/> |
| | He served from February 1944 to June 1946 as a corporal in [[General]] [[George S. Patton, Jr.]]'s Third Army infantry in [[Europe]]<ref name=familysearch>{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/28101155|title=William Ichter - Oral History Project - World War II (1944-1946)|publisher=Familysearch.org|accessdate=March 18, 2017}}</ref> and participated in various [[music]]al groups with the Allied Army of Occupation. His book, ''Who Me, God?'' reflects in part on his military experiences.<ref name=bio/> Harold Ichter was mobilized as part of the 28th Infantry Division but failed his overseas physical because of [[arthritis]] and was instead sent to administer [[prisoner of war]] camps at Camp Livingston in Louisiana and other facilities in [[Texas]] and [[New Mexico]], while son Bill sailed overseas from Fort Dix, [[New Jersey]], and arrived in [[England]] on February 6, 1945, soon sent thereafter into Patton's army. After the war, he toured [[Rome]] as part of an Army choir and saw first-hand the devastation and rampant poverty of postwar [[Italy]].<ref name=familysearch/> | | He served from February 1944 to June 1946 as a corporal in [[General]] [[George S. Patton, Jr.]]'s Third Army infantry in [[Europe]]<ref name=familysearch>{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/28101155|title=William Ichter - Oral History Project - World War II (1944-1946)|publisher=Familysearch.org|accessdate=March 18, 2017}}</ref> and participated in various [[music]]al groups with the Allied Army of Occupation. His book, ''Who Me, God?'' reflects in part on his military experiences.<ref name=bio/> Harold Ichter was mobilized as part of the 28th Infantry Division but failed his overseas physical because of [[arthritis]] and was instead sent to administer [[prisoner of war]] camps at Camp Livingston in Louisiana and other facilities in [[Texas]] and [[New Mexico]], while son Bill sailed overseas from Fort Dix, [[New Jersey]], and arrived in [[England]] on February 6, 1945, soon sent thereafter into Patton's army. After the war, he toured [[Rome]] as part of an Army choir and saw first-hand the devastation and rampant poverty of postwar [[Italy]].<ref name=familysearch/> |