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Frank Fancher

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It was cold and the snow was up to your waist. Your skin would stick and "burn" if you touched metal. You couldn't see through the fog during the day and you huddled together at night in snow caves because it was twenty below. That was when you weren't fighting at the Battle of the Bulge, recalls Frank "Lindy" Fancher. (This interview made possible with the support of RICHARD & BARBARA ROSENBERG.) (2:39)

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Frank "Lindy" Fancher had to get his unit across a mine field into some bunkers where they would guard a Ruhr River crossing. Halfway across the mine field, someone sneezed, a flare went up and the machine gun fire started. He inched his way out of there, but before it was over, he would cross that field several times to aid the wounded, repair the telephone wire and get his men into the bunkers. He would also be on the receiving end of a Screaming Mimi barrage and the earned end of a Silver Star. (This interview made possible with the support of RICHARD & BARBARA ROSENBERG.) (7:03)

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After recovering from his wound, Frank "Lindy" Fancher was assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division in Paris, where he investigated crimes of US personnel and local civilians on the black market. It wasn't as dangerous as the front, but he did get shot at. He remembers the huge celebration in the city on the day Germany surrendered. (This interview made possible with the support of RICHARD & BARBARA ROSENBERG.) (3:28)

Frank Aiken

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Frank Aiken joined the Army to go fight in Korea, but the Army wouldn't cooperate. They tried to get him to stay on as an instructor and then they sent him to Germany. Disillusioned, he left the service after that tour. But he rejoined and finally made it to Korea as a post-war advisor. After two tours there and another in Germany, he would taste combat in Vietnam. (5:38)

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His first stop in Vietnam was the "Repo Depot," the replacement center where your assignment would be decided. They sent Frank Aiken to an artillery battery near Bong Son in support of a Special Forces group and a Montagnard civil defense force. In addition to the big guns at the base, they had mobile weaponry to protect them on the roads. (4:40)

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Frank Aiken found his Montagnard allies to be somewhat lawless and wild, though he says they were good fighters and they were lucky to have them. The enemy was everywhere, trying to get through the wire at night and taking potshots at them on the roads. He joined the locals for meals, though he says you couldn't be sure what you were eating. (5:58)

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Back in a Stateside assignment after his first tour in Vietnam, Frank Aiken knew it wouldn't be long before he was sent there again. He was a veteran sergeant and they were sorely needed. In a headquarters battery the second time instead of a firing battery, he saw much less combat. The snakes were just as poisonous, however, and the rats just as aggressive. And latrine duty is eternal. (5:41)

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Vietnam was an experience he will never forget, says Frank Aiken, and he hopes we never have another situation like it. Thirty five years old when he deployed on his first tour, he thought it would not affect him like it affected younger soldiers, but it did. Back home amid widespread hostility to soldiers, he was still in the Army and had two more stops in his career. (2:43)

Frank Bertino

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Former altar boy Frank Bertino was drafted into the army in 1942 and was called upon for that role during Christmas mass while in training. While waiting with his unit in England, sudden orders came through to pack up and move out, right in the middle of another Christmas preparation. By sheer luck, he missed boarding the ill-fated SS Leopoldville. (This interview made possible with the support of CHARLES A. KOFFLER.) (5:28)

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Frank Bertino had occupation duty in France prepping troops for shipping out to the possible invasion of Japan. He describes the appreciation of the German prisoners who were working for the American victors. (This interview made possible with the support of CHARLES A. KOFFLER.) (3:18)