Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

Will Crawford | Foxy 29 Armed Medical Corps - Navy

2:26 | Will Crawford tells the story behing the formation of Foxy 29, an armed medical corps.

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WWII

Will Crawford | WWII | Foxy 29 Armed Medical Corps | 2:26

Will Crawford tells the story behing the formation of Foxy 29, an armed medical corps.

Showing : WWII Videos

Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. - Army +5 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

The Japanese prisoners built their own prison camp, under the watchful eye of Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. and the other GI's there in the Philippines. He explains how, during the fighting, the Japanese were hampered by the poor quality of their weapons. The GI's, on the other hand, had the magnificent M1.
Wes Ruth - Navy +6 Total Videos

Utility Squadron 1 (VJ-1)

Wes Ruth was eating breakfast when he saw the planes coming in. He thought they were ours until the bombs started falling. As he drove frantically to his hangar on Ford Island, he saw the USS Arizona hit. The Japanese had made their move. As a photo-recon pilot, he was dispatched as soon as the attacks ended to search for the enemy fleet.
Bill Livingstone - Army Air Corps +14 Total Videos

334th Bomb Squadron, 95th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

He bunked with regular B-17 crew members, but Bill Livingstone was a gunnery instructor who was there to keep skills sharp. He was also there to substitute for any crew member who was not able to fly. His very first mission turned out to be a memorable one. Part 1 of 5.
Henk Duinhoven +8 Total Videos

Dutch Civilian

Near the end of the war, the food supply in Holland had been disrupted and there was widespread hunger. Henk Duinhoven was lucky to be in the countryside, where gardens had been harvested. When he heard the sound of Canadian tanks, he knew that liberation was finally at hand.
Bill Adair - Army +4 Total Videos

Advisor to Philippine Army

Bill Adair was suffering from the effects of a concussion when the battle for the Philippines came to an end for him. Along with thousands of others, he was forced to surrender and was facing the prospect of joining what would become known as the Bataan Death March. Then fate intervened in the form of an ambulance without a driver. Part 1 of 2.
John Souther - Army +8 Total Videos

81st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Armored Division

John Souther was on reconnaissance patrol when he nosed his halftrack up over the edge of the gully in the Tunisian desert. A round from a German 88 immediately tore through the engine compartment, but left him unhurt. They paid mightily for that shot. With his radio, he began spotting artillery on their position, under fire the entire time. He was awarded the Silver Star for this action.
Bill Adair - Army +4 Total Videos

Advisor to Philippine Army

Bill Adair may have been the luckiest man in the Bataan Death march. With a commandeered ambulance full of casualties, he threaded his way through the ordeal thanks to luck and guile. At the end, though, there was a camp waiting for him just like all the rest. Part 2 of 2.
Henk Duinhoven +8 Total Videos

Dutch Civilian

Henk Duinhoven was in church with his family when the sounds of bombing started. The Allies had arrived in Holland. At first, there was jubilation, but that turned to fear as he hid in his basement for a week while the battle raged for Arnhem.
John Souther - Army +8 Total Videos

81st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Armored Division

On his first raid in North Africa, reconnaissance platoon leader John Souther captured a hundred Germans with no losses to his own unit. His job in the 1st Armored Division was to be out in front with his eyes open, and he was doing just that when a huge amount of enemy was spotted. Rommel's big push had begun.
Robert James - Navy +12 Total Videos

USS Keokuk (AKN-4)

Robert James was propped up against a bulkhead, going in and out of consciousness. The kamikaze had destroyed the starboard gun mounts and there were many dead and wounded. He was grateful when someone gave him some morphine to ease the pain from multiple shrapnel wounds. This was the beginning of a painful journey to healing. Part 2 of 2.
Jim Wicker - Army Air Corps +7 Total Videos

22nd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Photo Reconnaissance Group, 8th Air Force

When he had to bail out, Jim Wicker was literally sucked from the cockpit when he released the canopy because of his high rate of speed. He was just a hundred miles inland a few days after D-Day and the Germans caught him almost immediately. As he sat in solitary confinement waiting for interrogation, he was comforted by his faith.
Bill Garrison - Army Air Corps +6 Total Videos

Chinese-American Composite Wing (Provisional)

Bill Garrison was standing in a chow line when a man up the line suddenly dropped, shot dead by a sniper. That was only one hazard at the air fields in China; the others being Japanese air raids and infiltrators. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Robert James - Navy +12 Total Videos

USS Keokuk (AKN-4)

Robert James was in the shower aboard ship when the alarm went off. He scrambled to his gun mount to man the 20 mm gun and then the threat became apparent. Kamikazes had broken through the air cover and were headed for the convoy. He heard some firing from another gun and turned around just in time to see a horrifying sight. Part 1 of 2.
Bill Toombs - Army Air Corps +8 Total Videos

8th Air Force

B-24 flight engineer Bill Toombs was over Germany when bad went to worse. One engine was shot out. Then an 88 round went right through the number four wing tank. It didn't blow up the plane, but they lost all the fuel for that engine, so now they had two engines out. They made a desperate run for Brussels, which had been liberated.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wes Ruth - Navy +6 Total Videos

Utility Squadron 1 (VJ-1)

Wes Ruth piloted one of the first aircraft to take off from Pearl Harbor following the Japanese attacks. He was a member of a photographic squadron, but his task became determining the location of the enemy fleet. For his actions this day, he was awarded the Navy Cross.
Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. - Army +5 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. was one of the GI's tasked with constructing a huge prison camp in the Philippines. He was skillful at adapting and repairing the electrical equipment they found there and this became a career path for him after the war.
Wes Ruth - Navy +6 Total Videos

Multiple Units

The devastation of the Pearl Harbor attacks could have been mitigated had clear warnings been acted upon. Wes Ruth explains these shortcomings as detailed in the book, "Pearl Harbor Betrayed."
George Nelson - Army Air Corps +2 Total Videos

386th Bomb Group

His first mission was a milk run. B-26 co-pilot George Nelson did not have that luxury on the rest of his missions. He recalls a rare low altitude bombing run on German submarine pens and describes the make up of his crew, who varied in age between nineteen and forty.
Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. - Army +5 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. recalls how green soldiers mishandled the machine guns in the Philippines and how an ice machine was procured for adult beverages. He may have been preparing for the upcoming Japanese invasion, but he was also concentrating on conquering the dance floor and meeting Filipino ladies.
Wes Ruth - Navy +6 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Navy pilot Wes Ruth served with a photographic squadron based out of Pearl Harbor until 1944 when he became a transport pilot between the West Coast and Pacific islands. After the war, he enjoyed a number of training and photographic assignments that sent him around the world.
George Nelson - Army Air Corps +2 Total Videos

386th Bomb Group

There was almost always flak when B-26 co-pilot George Nelson flew missions over Europe. Milk runs were rare. Near the end of the war, the Germans sent up the very first jet fighter, which was extremely limited in range and could be countered by pincer maneuvers.
Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. - Army +5 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

The draft came for Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. There was still some war left to fight and he was sent to infantry training to prepare for deployment to the Pacific. After a month of zig-zagging across the ocean, he landed in the Philippines.
Wes Ruth - Navy +6 Total Videos

Utility Squadron 1 (VJ-1)

It was a way to get into the airline industry. Wes Ruth figured that experience as a Navy pilot was the best way. After training, he was assigned to a photographic squadron in San Diego. The year was 1939 and, in 1940, he was transferred to Pearl Harbor.
George Nelson - Army Air Corps +2 Total Videos

386th Bomb Group

George Nelson was a freshman at Notre Dame when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He had scrimped and saved to afford the tuition and when he found out what pilots made in the Air Corps, he thought that would do the trick. He passed the tests and went off to flight school.
Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. - Army +5 Total Videos

25th Infantry Division

While Lon Edgar Morris, Jr. was serving in the Philippines, his camp was hit by a tidal wave, something he never wants to experience again. A different kind of problem vexed him with the local population, sorting out the Japanese from the Filipinos.