1:27 | Rudy Grunfeld talks about having to become a United States citizen before he could become an officer in the United States Army.
Keywords : HQ(Headquarters) citizen
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
A crew that was ready to leave was short one gunner so Jim Deer left the crew he'd been training with and headed for Europe a little early. On their first night off the plane, the crew was hosted by some local girls at a pie dinner. That was nice but it was over too soon.
If you enlist together, you can serve together. Like so many others, Marvin Russell and his buddies joined up, only to be split up almost immediately. He went to aircraft mechanic school and became a flight engineer on a B-17 crew.
Jim Sample set out for Europe in a convoy, but the third day out, the ship was dead in the water. Hobbled by a bad propeller shaft, the craft limped back to New York. His unit made it to Europe in a bigger ship in another convoy and made its way inland from Le Havre.
They were ready. All radio operator Dick Arnold needed was clear weather and he and the forward observer he had found in the woods outside Bastogne could be an effective team. December 24th dawned bright and clear and it was just in time because the Germans were bringing in their Tiger tanks. Part 4 of 6.
Jim Murphy was lucky to grow up at the Masonic Home of Georgia, an orphanage near Macon. He was not one of the orphans, rather his father worked there as a printer, running the print shop and teaching the trade. There was a farm for food, a nice thing to have during the Great Depression.
Harlem in the Roaring Twenties was a great time. Then came the crash. It meant that Lyle Gittens' father was out of work and the immigrant from Barbados, like all the men in the neighborhood, was unable to support his family.
Frank Pomroy was on a raft with another Marine after their troop transport was consumed by fire. They were fortunately rescued by a US destroyer just in time to witness the Battle of Savo island, a disastrous defeat for the US Navy. Part 2 of 2. (First interview)
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.
Alan Kinder was part of an artillery sound ranging unit which sought out enemy artillery using the sound of the guns firing. They were attached to different units as needed. Eventually, they crossed the Rhine into Germany and occupied an abandoned German air base.
Would it be Europe or the Pacific? When Burt Vardeman's crew was sent to Virginia, they knew it would be Europe. They crossed the Atlantic on a Liberty ship and went ashore in Italy. They would be flying their bombing missions from there.
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.
Clayton Nattier was headed for Stalag Luft I on Germany's Baltic coast. His first three weeks were spent in the camp hospital, where he was treated for burns received when his B-17 was brought down by flak. The original bandaging of his wounds, which was done by a German medic near the site of the crash, proved to be a first rate job.
Drafted out of high school in 1943, Burt Vardeman went to basic with the Army Air Corps. He scored high on radio aptitude and trained as a radio operator on a B-24 crew. Flying out of Italy, he had a close call when one engine after another failed on the return flight. The order came from the pilot, prepare to bail out!
Emil DeDonato was an advertising errand boy when his name appeared on the front page of the New York Times as part of the first draft of 1941. That was in January, and in December, war came to America. Soon, he was being trained for amphibious landings in anticipation of the work that had to be done.
Roy Rowland was relieved when the captain stopped sending men across the Isar River. Some had crossed already and some of them were trapped on the other side. He doesn't remember volunteering but, somehow, he ended up with two other men going across to search for wounded. For this action, he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Jim Sharp rode on a tank toward the village of Honsfeld in Belgium. Just as soon as he jumped off to join the attack, a German 88 blasted the tank and the blood began to run red in the snow. The Germans were better trained and had better weapons. This was going to be a real fight. (Interview conducted in partnership with the Eisenhower Foundation as part of their Ike's Soldiers program. https://eisenhowerfoundation.net & http://ikessoldiers.com)
He was flying spare. George Stamps and his crew were in the extra plane that was along a mission in case one of the squadron had to drop out. None did, so, he was returning to England when something amazing caught his eye, a vapor trail going straight up moving faster than anything he'd ever seen.
The Russians were coming. Jim Deer and the rest of the POWs were forced into a road march that lasted three months. It was long and unforgiving and many men were left dead on the side of the road. The SS guards were replaced by old men in the regular Army and it got a little easier.
Two days after he got to the Philippines, Nollie Carpenter was mustered on the beach when he saw a mob of people. Douglas MacArthur was wading ashore. He declined to reenlist but later had second thoughts about that. He did come back to the Army after a year of logging.
After being adrift on a raft and then witnessing the stunning US Navy defeat at the Battle of Savo Island, Frank Pomroy was at New Caledonia trying to find passage back to his unit on Guadalcanal. Some sailors helped him out and then cleaned him out. Part 2 of 2. (Second interview)
