Editing Kurt Vonnegut (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Kurt-Vonnegut-US-Army-portrait.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Vonnegut in army uniform during [[World War&nbsp;II]]]]
The [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] brought the United States into [[World War II|WWII]]. Vonnegut was a member of Cornell's [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] unit, but poor grades and a satirical article in Cornell's newspaper cost him his place there. He was placed on [[Scholastic probation|academic probation]] in May 1942 and dropped out the following January. No longer eligible for a deferment as a member of ROTC, he faced likely [[Conscription in the United States|conscription]] into the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]. Instead of waiting to be drafted, he enlisted in the Army and in March 1943 reported to [[Fort Bragg]], North Carolina, for basic training.<ref>{{harvnb|Shields|2011|pp=45–49}}.</ref> Vonnegut was trained to fire and maintain [[howitzer]]s and later received instruction in [[mechanical engineering]] at the [[Carnegie Institute of Technology]] and the [[University of Tennessee]] as part of the [[Army Specialized Training Program]] (ASTP).<ref name="Farrell5Boomhower">{{harvnb|Farrell|2009|p=5}}; {{harvnb|Boomhower|1999}}.</ref>

In early 1944, the ASTP was canceled due to the Army's need for soldiers to support [[Operation Overlord|the D-Day invasion]], and Vonnegut was ordered to an infantry battalion at [[Camp Atterbury]], south of Indianapolis in [[Edinburgh, Indiana]], where he trained as a scout.<ref>{{harvnb|Shields|2011|pp=50–51}}.</ref> He lived so close to his home that he was "able to sleep in [his] own bedroom and use the family car on weekends".{{sfn|Farrell|2009|p=6}}

On May 14, 1944, Vonnegut returned home on leave for [[Mother's Day (United States)|Mother's Day]] weekend to discover that his mother had committed suicide the previous night by [[drug overdose|overdosing on sleeping pills]].<ref name="Farrell6">{{harvnb|Farrell|2009|p=6}}; {{harvnb|Marvin|2002|p=3}}.</ref> Possible factors that contributed to Edith Vonnegut's suicide include the family's loss of wealth and status, Vonnegut's forthcoming deployment overseas, and her own lack of success as a writer. She was inebriated at the time and under the influence of prescription drugs.<ref name="Farrell6" />

Three months after his mother's suicide, Vonnegut was sent to Europe as an intelligence scout with the [[106th Infantry Division (United States)|106th Infantry Division]]. In December 1944, he fought in the [[Battle of the Bulge]], one of the last German offensives of the war.<ref name="Farrell6" /> On December 22, Vonnegut was captured with about 50 other American soldiers.<ref name="Sharp1363Farrell6">{{harvnb|Sharp|2006|p=1363}}; {{harvnb|Farrell|2009|p=6}}.</ref> Vonnegut was taken by [[boxcar]] to a prison camp south of [[Dresden]], in the German province of [[Saxony]]. During the journey, the [[Royal Air Force]] mistakenly attacked the trains carrying Vonnegut and his fellow [[prisoners of war]], killing about 150 of them.<ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Vonnegut|2008}}.</ref> Vonnegut was sent to Dresden, the "first fancy city [he had] ever seen". He lived in a slaughterhouse when he got to the city, and worked in a factory that made [[malt syrup]] for pregnant women. Vonnegut recalled the sirens going off whenever another city was bombed. The Germans did not expect Dresden to be bombed, Vonnegut said. "There were very few air-raid shelters in town and no war industries, just cigarette factories, hospitals, clarinet factories."<ref name="TheParisReview">{{harvnb|Hayman|Michaelis|Plimpton|Rhodes|1977}}.</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0309-310, Zerstörtes Dresden.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dresden]] in 1945. More than 90% of the city's center was destroyed.]]
On February 13, 1945, Dresden became the target of [[Allies of World War II|Allied forces]]. In the hours and days that followed, the Allies engaged in a [[bombing of Dresden|firebombing of the city]].<ref name="Farrell6" /> The offensive subsided on February 15, with about 25,000 civilians killed in the bombing. Vonnegut marveled at the level of both the destruction in Dresden and the secrecy that attended it. He had survived by taking refuge in a meat locker three stories underground.<ref name="Boomhower" /> "It was cool there, with cadavers hanging all around", Vonnegut said. "When we came up the city was gone&nbsp;... They burnt the whole damn town down."<ref name="TheParisReview" /> Vonnegut and other American prisoners were put to work immediately after the bombing, excavating bodies from the rubble.<ref>{{harvnb|Boomhower|1999}}; {{harvnb|Farrell|2009|pp=6–7}}.</ref> He described the activity as a "terribly elaborate Easter-egg hunt".<ref name="TheParisReview" />

The American POWs were evacuated on foot to the border of Saxony and [[Czechoslovakia]] after U.S. General [[George S.&nbsp;Patton]]'s [[United States Army Central|3rd Army]] captured [[Leipzig]]. With the captives abandoned by their guards, Vonnegut reached a prisoner-of-war repatriation camp in [[Le Havre]], France, in May 1945, with the aid of the Soviets.<ref name=":0" /> Sent back to the United States, he was stationed at [[Fort Riley]], [[Kansas]], typing discharge papers for other soldiers.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Vonnegut |first=Kurt |interviewer=[[Michael Silverblatt]] |title=Kurt Vonnegut |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=538&v=4bclBnx4cpk |publisher=KCRW |location=Santa Monica, California |date=April 6, 2006 |work=Bookworm |access-date=October 6, 2015 |archive-date=April 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405004752/https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=538&v=4bclBnx4cpk |url-status=live }}</ref> Soon after, he was awarded a [[Purple Heart]], about which he remarked: "I myself was awarded my country's second-lowest decoration, a Purple Heart for [[frost-bite]]."<ref name="DaltonSEP">{{harvnb|Dalton|2011}}.</ref> He was discharged from the U.S. Army and returned to Indianapolis.<ref>{{harvnb|Thomas|2006|p=7}}; {{harvnb|Shields|2011|pp=80–82}}.</ref>