COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

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Showing : WWII Videos

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  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.

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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Harold Barber - Marines +14 Total Videos

  7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  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.

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  Carl Beck - Army +12 Total Videos

  501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

  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.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  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.

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  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.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  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.

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  Frank Pomroy - Marines +35 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  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)

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  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.

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  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.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Newton Riess - Army +7 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  It isn't often in war that you are sent to a place you could describe as "heaven." That's exactly what happened to Newton Riess while he was recuperating from wounds in Algeria.

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  Clayton Nattier - Army Air Corps +20 Total Videos

  369th Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

  When he got to the interrogation center, he was placed in solitary confinement, interrupted only by repeated questioning. Downed B-17 pilot Clayton Nattier was determined not to reveal anything, not that he really knew much. After a week of this, he was taken to a train station where he was reunited with the surviving members of his crew.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  Glen Gooch tells what it was like to capture a German soldier for intelligence purposes. You had to be fast and strong.

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  Elizabeth Tilston +2 Total Videos

  British Auxiliary Transport Service

  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.

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  Newton Riess - Army +7 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Newton Riess did not like the position where his platoon was placed and he mentioned it to a captain to no avail. Sure enough, his unit was nearly routed by the Germans. He was hit by shrapnel again and sent to the hospital where he saw some ladies from the Red Cross doing something deceitful.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Murray Leff - Army +6 Total Videos

  137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Andy Negra - Army +7 Total Videos

  128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 6th Armored Division

  He might dig three foxholes in one day. Andy Negra's field artillery unit was moving so fast, he would have to leave his newly dug hole and hit the road again. He got an amazing Christmas dinner when he reached Metz, then was sent to help at Bastogne.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  John Mahmarian - Navy +6 Total Videos

  LCI-L 677

  It took John Mahmarian quite a while to get home from the Pacific because he was afraid to fly. Then, when he got to San Francisco, he opted for a train instead of a plane to complete the journey. You can guess what happened to the train. He decided against the medical career he had intended and joined his father's business.

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  Fred King - Army +7 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  After recovering from what the snow and ice did to his feet, Fred King was assigned to Fort Belvoir, where he worked with the payroll until the atomic bomb ended the war. He went back to college and wound up in a career he had never considered.

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.

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  Roy Rowland - Army +8 Total Videos

  16th Armored Infantry Battalion, 13th Armored Division

  It was a great feeling of relief. No one wanted to be the last one to die in this war and Roy Rowland remembers those days when potential death was no longer a threat. While waiting to be sent home, he was able to tour Hitler's Eagle Nest retreat.

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  Arnold Whittaker - Army +14 Total Videos

  10th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division

  The house had no heat but it was still shelter. Arnold Whittaker was in the German village of Riesdorf during the back and forth of the Battle of the Bulge. One of the guys found a chest full of memorabilia in the attic and one of the items was a picture of an American doughboy from the last war. What was the story behind this?

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  Glen Gooch - Army +9 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division

  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.