""My mother had to sign the papers for me to go in," he recalled. Initially, he hoped to join the Air Corps, but he was rejected for flat feet. "I said, 'I'm going to end up sitting in an airplane,'" he said, laughing. Instead, he entered the Army Specialized Training Program and attended Norwich University in Vermont before being called to active duty."
"Kaner's military journey began with 17 weeks of basic training, followed by a short furlough home and then transit from Fort Dix to Camp Kilmer. From there, he boarded a liberty ship bound for the Pacific. "We went through the Panama Canal into the Pacific and ended up in Hawaii," he said. After advanced infantry training in Hawaii, Kaner was sent to the 33rd Division in the Philippines, where the Battle of Baguio awaited."
Murray Kaner is a 98-year-old World War II infantry platoon sergeant with service in the Pacific and later decades of civic and professional achievement. He enlisted in the Army at 17 after high school, with his mother signing the enlistment papers. He hoped to join the Air Corps but was rejected for flat feet and instead entered the Army Specialized Training Program, attending Norwich University. He completed 17 weeks of basic training, took a short furlough, and moved from Fort Dix to Camp Kilmer before boarding a liberty ship bound for the Pacific via the Panama Canal. After advanced infantry training in Hawaii, he served with the 33rd Division in Luzon at the Battle of Baguio. He navigated dense jungle terrain and faced heavy Japanese fire.
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