Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

Clarence Irwin | 25th Infantry Division - Army

:31 | Brigadier General Clarence Irwin finds himself in a precarious position on a Pacific island

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WWII

Clarence Irwin | WWII | 25th Infantry Division | :31

Brigadier General Clarence Irwin finds himself in a precarious position on a Pacific island

Showing : WWII Videos

Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

After they had to ditch their B-17 in the ocean between Naples and Sicily, it was the Germans who got to them first. Bill Couch and the rest of the crew were now POW's. They were sent to Stalag Luft III, a huge camp in occupied Poland. It was no country club but at least they weren't abused by the guards. The SS and the Gestapo, though, you wanted to steer clear when they were around. Part 2 of 3.
Don Scott - Army Air Corps +8 Total Videos

560th Squadron, 388th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

Two engines were out, a third smoking, and they were were losing airspeed and altitude, but they were flying level and pointed home. Then time ran out for the B-17 and Don Scott had to slip down the hatch into the slipstream. Part 2 of 3.
Clyde Burnette - Army Air Corps +13 Total Videos

713th Squadron, 448th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

It was their third mission over Berlin and they were heading home. Four German fighters pounced on the B-24 and it was engulfed in flame and going down. Clyde Burnette fought for consciousness as the other crew in the back of the plane bailed out. He woke in free fall with no idea how he had made it out, and soon he was in German custody. Everyone made it out of the plane except George "Danny" Daneau, the nose turret gunner, who went down with the aircraft.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

The weather had to be clear for the mass bombing technique used by the Allies. B-17 bombardier Bill Couch recalls several missions that had to be scrubbed because the target wasn't visible. If you were lucky, you had an alternate target you could hit. If German fighters came at you, you had to man a .50 cal machine gun.
B.E. Vaughan - Navy +9 Total Videos

USS O'Brien (DD-725)

After a nerve-wracking mission to bomb Tokyo and a typhoon, B.E. Vaughan and the destroyer O'Brien suffered a second kamikaze attack which killed all three of his hometown pals who served with him on board. Then, began the grim task of collecting the personal belongings of the dead and preparing them for burial at sea.
Ed Harrell - Marines +12 Total Videos

USS Indianapolis

Ed Harrell describes in detail the sinking of the USS Indianapolis from Japanese torpedoes, which left nearly 900 Sailors and Marines in shark-infested Pacific waters. Part 1 of 4.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

It was a drab place but at least Bill Couch was among his own. Stalag Luft III was in occupied Poland and life at the huge camp proved to be bearable. There was athletic equipment, a library, and an orchestra. He even developed a taste for the infamous German black bread.
LtGen Lawrence Snowden - Marines +16 Total Videos

23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division

The first operation for the 4th Division was the landing on Roi-Namur. Lawrence Snowden remembers that, though it was an easy victory, valuable combat experience and important lessons were imparted on the Marines.
George Barber - Navy +1 Video

USS Denebola (AD-12)

He chose the Navy because of the bunk and the chow. George Barber was an experienced welder so he was assigned as a metalsmith on a destroyer tender. He left the ship in Sardinia for a time attached to a motor torpedo base, maintaining PT boats. He was touched by the hungry children who would gather at the chow hall and he made friends with sailors from the Italian navy, who were also hungry.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

Veronica Lake's films about aviators had a lot to do with it, that and the draft. Bill Couch thought his survival chances would be better in the air so he went for the Air Corps but, once he was in training, he realized there were a lot of ways to die up there.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

If you ran out of hand grenades, you could just pick them up on the battlefield because they were everywhere. That's one memory of Iwo Jima for Phillip Gamache. Another is the many scenes of heroic action from his fellow Marines, such as the time the smallest man in the unit carried the largest man to safety. One of the bravest was their Corpsman, who suffered the indignity of losing a rank once they were back aboard ship. Part 3 of 3.
George Barber - Navy +1 Video

USS Denebola (AD-12)

After serving off Italy and southern France. the destroyer tender USS Denebola sailed all the way to Kwajalein in the Pacific. There, metalsmith George Barber worked on repairing destroyers that had been damaged. The Denebola would also take on wounded sailors for transfer to a hospital ship. He remained in the reserves after the war but had more important things to do than go to Korea.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

The first mission was a milk run, no flak and no enemy fighters. B-17 bombardier Bill Couch was glad for that, but the mission failed to achieve the objective. The German sub pens on the French coast had something that protected them from aerial bombing.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

After witnessing a Marine bravely pick up and throw a dropped, live grenade, Phillip Gamache and his "Guardian Angel" Corpsman Bob Rhodes fled and fell in with another group. He assaulted a Japanese position and relieved an officer of his Samurai sword. Because of the thermal activity on the island, digging in was replaced by piling stones. Part 2 of 3.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

It was Christmas in 1944 and the prisoners at Stalag Luft III wondered if they would see the next Christmas at home. A lot of uncertainty was added when the Germans forced them out on the road in a march southward into Germany. Bill Couch describes that trip and their short stay at the next Stalag.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

It was a long trip home from Peleliu to San Diego. There were no cheering crowds but Phillip Gamache didn't care. What he cared about was the plush Pullman cars they initially traveled in before being replaced by less comfortable accommodations. When he found out he was at the top of the list for promotion to corporal, he had to take action.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

The target was a Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg. That made it a labor of love for the B-17 crews. Bill Couch recalls that, once their fighter escort had to turn back, it was a running gun battle all the way to the target. There was heavy flak, too, and their engines took some damage. They lost one, then another. How long could they stay up? Part 1 of 3.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

When Phillip Gamache entered Sasebo for occupation duty, he was amazed at how clean the place was, despite repeated bombings. After scaring a few Japanese traffic cops, the Marines moved into the city and were greeted by the residents but they were puzzled by the Japanese latrines.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

For you, the war is over. That's what Bill Couch heard from the first German to speak when he and the rest of the B-17 crew were taken into custody. First they were held at a naval base where the piano playing radio operator entertained their captors. Then they were taken to Naples where an Italian mob posed an unexpected menace.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

After occupation duty in Japan, Phillip Gamache had one more stop before returning home and that was Peleliu. There were still a lot of Japanese on the island under the watchful eyes of the Marines but there were some who had not been captured.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

There were many escape attempts at Stalag Luft III. In fact, one ill fated mass escape was immortalized in the movie, The Great Escape. Bill Couch recalls his experiences as a prisoner at that camp and relates what happened in the aftermath of that incident.
Harper Brame - Navy +6 Total Videos

USS Besugo (SS-321)

Harper Brame had some cousins who served during the second World War, but the rest of his family was involved in the war effort back home. He describes his family’s military history that goes all the way back to the Revolutionary War.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

The first job for the 26th Marines on Iwo Jima was to bisect the island. They accomplished that but the terrain and the dedicated enemy meant that this battle would continue for a while. Phillip Gamache describes the chaotic situation as the combat split units apart and threw ad hoc teams together. He witnessed some brave acts that would surely have led to medals, if they were known. Part 1 of 3.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

The mission to Bremerhaven was rough. From his seat up in the nose, bombardier Bill Couch saw other B-17's going down with parachutes streaming out, some on fire. When German fighters were attacking, the leading edge of their wings seemed to have sparklers and he came to dread that sight.
Harper Brame - Navy +6 Total Videos

USS Besugo (SS-321)

Growing up in rural Virginia, Harper Brame was a member of a hardworking family. He recalls some of the people he grew up with and a doctor who treated his broken femur.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

As the advancing Russians were getting closer, the POW's at Stalag Luft III were forced to travel from occupied Poland into Germany. Before that, there had been an ill fated mass escape that was immortalized in the movie, The Great Escape. Bill Couch was one of those POW's and he gives his perspective on all that as the war was winding down. Part 3 of 3.
Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

It was 1942 when New York native Philip Gamache entered the Marine Corps. He had decided on the Marines because, if he had to fight, he didn't want to fight in the cold. He underwent a year of training in California and Hawaii before he entered the fray.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

Wake up time was 3:30 AM. This tended to make bombardier Bill Couch rather grouchy. No time for that. There was a briefing, there was breakfast and the gear had to be loaded onto the plane, including the bombsight.
Jack Wall - Navy +6 Total Videos

USS Pinkney (APH-2)

The USS Pinkney was an evacuation transport. It was designed to deliver troops to an invasion site and then evacuate the wounded. The ship participated in three memorable landings, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Pharmacist's Mate Jack Wall recalls an episode that unfolded in the psych ward regarding a suicidal sailor.
Bill Couch - Army Air Corps +15 Total Videos

349th Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

Bill Couch was heading into Germany but this time it wasn't on a bombing run. The newly captured B-17 bombardier was going to Dulag Luft, a collection and interrogation camp for POW's. His interrogator knew as much as he did about his unit and their operations. Well, not much point in questioning me, is there?