COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

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Showing : WWII Videos

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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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  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.

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  Bob Polich - Army +8 Total Videos

  327th Field Artillery Battalion, 84th Infantry Division

  War is not all gory details. Artilleryman Bob Polich remembers some other things, like the Stage Door Canteen in New York City, a much anticipated shower in Belgium and a tense encounter on guard duty.

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  Harry Kone - Marines +5 Total Videos

  3rd Marine Division

  The Japanese on Guadalcanal were aggressive but US Marines persevered and sealed the victory. Harry Kone was relieved when it was over but was forced into a series of hospitals because of an injury. He headed for home on a ship full of wounded men.

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  Jim Sharp - Army +8 Total Videos

  18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division

  No one was supposed to know where they were, but as the men of Jim Sharp's unit were marching through the darkness on their way to board a ship for France, a lone woman followed. (Interview conducted in partnership with the Eisenhower Foundation as part of their Ike's Soldiers program. https://eisenhowerfoundation.net & http://ikessoldiers.com)

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  Clayton Nattier - Army Air Corps +20 Total Videos

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

  Transition training is the part of pilot training where you move from trainers to the actual aircraft you will be flying in the military. For Clayton Nattier, the move was a significant one. He would be flying the mighty B-17. The last training stop was crew training, where the men who trained in different disciplines leaned to jell as a unit.

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  George Stamps - Army Air Corps +11 Total Videos

  510th Bomb Squadron, 351st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

  They were like knights in armor. B-17 pilot George Stamps describes the multi-layered suits and flak protection used by the crew. He recalls a mission to East Germany which was just about at their maximum range. When they got there, the target was obscured by clouds and a secondary target had to be found. it was a very good one, especially if you were in the Russian infantry.

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  Bill Cruickshank - Army +8 Total Videos

  86th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division

  Bill Cruickshank explains how the ski troops were used as a ruse to get the Nazis to deploy their troops in Norway, where they weren't really needed. Eventually, they were given a real task, pushing the enemy off the high mountain ridges in Italy.

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  Phillip Gamache - Marines +6 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

  If you ran out of hand grenades, you could just pick them up on the battlefield because they were everywhere. That's one memory of Iwo Jima for Phillip Gamache. Another is the many scenes of heroic action from his fellow Marines, such as the time the smallest man in the unit carried the largest man to safety. One of the bravest was their Corpsman, who suffered the indignity of losing a rank once they were back aboard ship. Part 3 of 3.

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  George Sarros - Navy +5 Total Videos

  LST-515

  The LST carried Army engineers so it wasn't in the first wave of the Normandy landing. Once the beach was secure, it was time to unload men and equipment and load up with casualties to return to England. There were also paratroopers who had jumped before the landing and George Sarros listened to their tales and took a look at their souvenirs.

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  Nollie Carpenter - Army +11 Total Videos

  8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  The Philippines is where Nollie Carpenter first saw combat. He landed on Leyte near Samar and started tromping through rice paddies. From a rise overlooking the ocean, he watched Japanese planes attacking ships until the shrapnel got close.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  The Japanese had a large fleet of fighters to dominate the Pacific air space. Frank Troup describes his experiences against their fighters from when he piloted a Hellcat. He was engaged in so many events that he was able to achieve the status of Navy Ace during the war.

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  John Mahmarian - Navy +6 Total Videos

  LCI-L 500

  After D-Day, the ship was full of holes so John Mahmarian spent some time in a British dry dock while it was repaired. Then he made 25 trips back and forth delivering personnel to join the growing foothold the Allies had made. His most dangerous encounter was an episode of friendly fire, though he was almost shot by an ungrateful German pilot he plucked out of the English Channel.

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  Dorothy Managan - Army +4 Total Videos

  US Army Nurse Corps

  World War II took the lives of many, but Army nurse Dorothy Managan is confident that the medical care was as good as it could have been for the time. She recalls how that war united the country like never before or since.

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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

  It was the last test. Clayton Nattier's crew was aloft in a B-17 for their check ride, after which they would be assigned to a bomb group in England. The testing officer took them up to a higher altitude than they'd ever been and this contributed to an unfortunate situation which would separate pilot from crew.

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  Marvin Russell - Army Air Corps +13 Total Videos

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

  After bailing out over Germany, Marvin Russell couldn't find any of his crew where he landed. He found a Italian work crew and tried to get some civilian clothes from them, but he wound up in the hands of the Germans. He was taken eventually to a military base where he was subjected to a humiliating interview.

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  George Sarros - Navy +5 Total Videos

  LST-515

  LST-515 made 52 trips between England and Normandy after the initial one on D-Day. German prisoners were carried to England on the ship and George Sarros heard the younger ones saying that Germany was going to win the war but an older one was glad he was out of it.

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  Nollie Carpenter - Army +11 Total Videos

  8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  At the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the Japanese had been holding thousands of prisoners. Nollie Carpenter describes how the 8th Cavalry Regiment liberated them with little opposition. On the way into the city, they passed a gruesome scene where locals were torturing a Japanese collaborator.

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  Jim Deer - Army Air Corps +9 Total Videos

  445th Bomb Group

  All he gave them, of course, was his name, rank and serial number. Jim Deer was one of two men who survived when their B-24 was blown out of the sky. The man from the Gestapo let a civilian abuse him for a while before he was taken finally to a hospital. Then he was taken for more interrogation.

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  Bob Polich - Army +8 Total Videos

  327th Field Artillery Battalion, 84th Infantry Division

  The infantry and artillery worked together, with a spotter plane overhead. Artilleryman Bob Polich recalls how a method was devised to clear out German pillboxes. As his unit moved into Germany, they stayed in a series of civilian homes, being careful not to cause any damage.