Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

Bill Callahan | 459th Bomb Group - Army Air Corps

3:37 | Bill Callahan remembers landing with two engines out in Northern Europe

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Keywords : Prague Czech Republic flak Me 163 Linz Austria B-24 Liberator Bomber ground loop strategic bombing

Showing : WWII Videos

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
Dorothy Managan - Army +4 Total Videos

US Army Nurse Corps

Dorothy Managan was at nursing school when the news came about the attack on Pearl Harbor. That made her even more determined and, she joined the Cadet Nurse Corps while still at school.
Harry McMahon - Marines +12 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division

The Japanese were at the top of a cliff with machine guns and mortars and a group of Marines were trapped directly below them in the sugarcane. If they moved, heavy fire would rain down. The decision was made to send a jeep with water and ammunition through the gauntlet. Harry McMahon's friend was chosen to drive and he volunteered to ride shotgun. It was a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the mortar rounds.
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.
Tom Dill - Navy +7 Total Videos

USS LST-1050

It was a brand new LST that Tom Dill was on for his second trip from California to the South Pacific. Ships and men were assembling at Guam, waiting for the word to proceed with the invasion of Japan. He was elated when the atomic bomb made that unnecessary. Many men were sent home but he had a little business to attend to in China.
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.
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.
Marvin Russell - Army Air Corps +13 Total Videos

407th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

In the prison camp, cigarettes were currency and the guards loved them. Marvin Russell didn't smoke, so with his packs from the Red Cross parcels he could get more D-bars. Next to his compound was the Russian POW compound, where conditions were nightmarish and grizzly.
Burt Vardeman - Army Air Corps +17 Total Videos

824th Bomb Squadron, 484th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force

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.
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.
Fred VanLaningham - Navy +9 Total Videos

Multiple Units

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.
Clayton Byrd - Army +11 Total Videos

302nd Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division

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.
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.
Dick Arnold - Army +14 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Dick Arnold was out of the hospital and on his way to be reassigned. Before he and the others could get out of the truck, a man with a clipboard shouted at them to stay on it. General Patton needed three men right now four miles down the road. You're going to a place called Buchenwald. Part 1 of 2.
Emil DeDonato - Army +12 Total Videos

47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

Emil DeDonata was lucky. He came back from the war and went right back to his old job. He wasn't so lucky readjusting to civilian life. The bed was too soft and even things that should please him caused him stress. It took a falling out with his boss to make him strike out on his own, which led to much success for him.
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.