2:26 | Will Crawford tells the story behing the formation of Foxy 29, an armed medical corps.
They fought hard to take and keep the top of that hill. Both sides had on white snow gear and you couldn't tell friend from foe. Glen Gooch describes the action which earned him a Bronze Star.
The officer stumbled upon a group of men hunkered down in a gully during the battle of Aachen. Where's the line? Right here. Where are the Germans? Right over there. Who's in charge here? Silence. Finally, they pointed to Antonio Mendez. He had put the ad hoc group of GIs together and rallied them to fend off the Germans, worthy of a Silver Star. Part 2 of 2.
Michael Mirson was a prisoner of the Germans but that was actually better than being in the Russian Army. He was a trained veterinarian so he was valuable to them as they retreated from the Caucasus. One day, an officer told him that the Americans were fifty kilometers away in that direction and the Russians were close in every other direction. That began a mad dash to the American line.
The ice at the Sauer River seemed like it would hold him up but, loaded down with gear, Glen Gooch broke through into the freezing water. He was OK but chilled to the bone. The objective was a hill that the Germans were using for observation.
As the fighting raged around Aachen, Antonio Mendez watched men fall all around him. The Germans had a tank with an 88 dug in and it was forcing them to withdraw. Antonio Mendez saw a perfect spot for cover and dove in. He yelled for others to join him and they soon had a good fighting position set up. Before it was over, he had earned a Silver Star. Part 1 of 2.
He didn't even notice that he'd been hit. A piece of shrapnel from a Japanese artillery shell found Harold Barber's leg but he kept right on fighting because of the adrenaline. The Corpsman bandaged him and he was right back in the battle for Peleliu. The Navy was able to stay and take part in the fight unlike when he was on Guadalcanal.
Because of illness, Glen Gooch didn't ship out with his friends from basic training. They were put through the wringer at Utah Beach and he would see the same kind of action when he arrived a few weeks later as a replacement.
In the middle of the night, thousands of paratroopers loaded into C-47's for the crossing into Normandy. Carl Beck was just a teenager but he was ready. His plane was hit by flak when it neared the drop zone and the jump was rushed, resulting in scattered men and equipment. Part 1 of 2.
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.
Glen Gooch recalls a man in his unit who had a personal vendetta against the Germans. He fought them viciously because of what they did to his brother. It was late enough in the war that they were taking many prisoners, although one in particular still had a little fight in him.
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.
Frank Pomroy prepared his last stand. He had a bayonet wound and three machine gun bullets in his leg but he was still ready to fight. He lined up his hand grenades on the coral ridge in front of him and waited. At daybreak he heard Japanese voices coming. Part 4 of 4. (Second interview)
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.
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.
The combat could be close at times with the Germans right up in your face. Glen Gooch was worried about one young soldier who wasn't very careful when the action started and, sure enough, he came to a bad end.
A veteran of the European theater, Clayton Byrd tells the story of a friend who escaped from a German POW road gang. He was on the verge of starving when he walked right into a German church to attend Mass.
Somewhere in the spotty mail he received as a POW, Marvin Russell got the impression that his father had died. After his liberation and voyage home, he called his mother and got a big surprise.
As soon as Glen Gooch left the chaos and destruction of the Hurtgen Forest, he ran right into the desperate German attack at the Battle of the Bulge. It was a running battle and his unit was nearly surrounded at times while playing cat and mouse with Tiger tanks.
Patton had promised that the 5th Division would be there in 24 hours. There weren't enough trucks so Arnold Whittaker and the rest of the infantry had to ride 100 miles on top of Sherman tanks to get to the Ruhr Valley. On the way, the news spread. There's a giant flask of cognac that's been liberated by an enterprising GI on a certain tank.
It was a wonderful childhood for Elizabeth Tilston in Southport, which was near Liverpool. When the air raids began, her father built an underground bunker for his family, complete with plumbing and beds.
Glen Gooch tells what it was like to capture a German soldier for intelligence purposes. You had to be fast and strong.
It was against the rules but he did it anyway. Murray Leff had traded some cigarettes for a camera and he began to document his unit's action as they pushed into Germany.
He'd had his feet frozen but Glen Gooch hadn't been shot yet. It was twelve days before the end of the war when German bullets finally found him near Nuremberg.
His missions completed, B-17 gunner Clint Henderson returned to the States and began an assignment he did not care for, as an instructor. He talked his way out of that and moved to another job that entailed managing a laundry operation. At least there he could secure a lifetime supply of khakis.
While he was fighting in Europe, Murray Leff marveled at the high turnover rate in his unit. So many casualties. He is baffled how anything as destructive and awful as a World War could ever happen.
Jim Sharp was in Bavaria when the war ended. It was a very happy time for all the men. When he went out with a patrol to search for a water source, he found a family in a farm house that was perhaps too friendly. They were so friendly, he and his men had to sleep it off. (Interview conducted in partnership with the Eisenhower Foundation as part of their Ike's Soldiers program. https://eisenhowerfoundation.net & http://ikessoldiers.com)
Glen Gooch describes how his company commander received a concussion during an artillery barrage and how he came to earn two awards during the Battle of the Bulge.
During a stop at the Admiralty Islands, Fred VanLaningham had a nice R&R. A little too nice because his buddies from his old unit were there.
At the air strip in India, there was a company clerk who was a real character. He was a good guy, he just didn't like to work all that much. Fred Eichenbrenner recalls the stunt he pulled after being reprimanded.
There was an incredible barrage from German 88s in the Hurtgen Forest but it wasn't the tree bursts that nearly killed Glen Gooch. A German hand grenade came his way.
