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Al Thielke

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While Thielke and his comrades were back in reserve, they used a helmet to wash their socks. A British soldier came upon their invention and praised their ingenuity. A few days later, the men were cooking a stew over a fire, and when the same British soldier realized what the men were using to cook their stew, he ran off in disgust. (1:38)

Al Varner

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Al Varner describes the "hang fire" issue that could occur to battleship turrets, and the dangerous job of disarming them. (2:39)

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Al Varner remembers watching Marines invade Guam from aboard his Navy ship, and remarking at how different their situations were during the war. (:47)

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Al Varner describes his job as a naval gunfire liaison aboard the USS Idaho. (:53)

Alan Kinder

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Alan Kinder grew up in a small coal mining town in the mountains east of Seattle. When he came of age during World War II, the Army found out he had myopia and sent him home but he came back. They fitted him with glasses and sent him along to training. (5:25)

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He remembers hearing President Roosevelt on the radio in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Alan Kinder had two more years until he was draft age. During that time, he and his mom and dad were part of the great outpouring of can-do spirit that swept the nation. Everybody pitched in to do what they could. (4:14)

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A year of college got Alan Kinder tagged as a possible operator for a new sound ranging system the Army was using to spot enemy artillery. Microphones picked up the firing and the source location was plotted. The unit didn't do all that well during training but, once they were in Europe, it all fell into place. (8:08)

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The 14th Artillery Regiment was heading to Europe. D-Day had succeeded and Alan Kinder boarded a huge converted ocean liner bound for England. He was still an inexperienced country boy so he wasn't on the hunt for British ladies but he and some pals did discover Stonehenge by accident. (4:46)

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They landed at Utah Beach. It was after midnight and Alan Kinder never really saw the beach until he returned to Normandy decades later. It was a couple of months after D-Day when he made that night landing and the fighting was 30 miles inland at that point. His unit moved rapidly across France until they stopped at the Moselle River. (5:42)

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The Germans had a big artillery piece and brought it out every day to fire at the Americans who had taken over the French city of Nancy. Alan Kinder was part of a sound ranging artillery unit that was trying to locate the gun using microphones. (5:18)