Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Fred King

WWII | 45th Infantry Division

He was unable to move. That was the concussion. The bleeding was from shrapnel. Once Fred King came around and got some medical attention, he was right back at the front. In addition to the German artillery, he was nearly done in by an ox. Part 3 of 3. (4:55)
Even before the push on Rome began, Fred King's feet were in terrible shape. He kept going anyway and he narrowly escaped, again, his entire unit being nearly wiped out, this time by a German plane. He went back for supplies and took over the BAR when no one else knew how to clean it. These things got him a medal and he nearly made it to Rome before his feet gave out. (5:31)
It was at a hospital in Naples that Fred King was able to meet his brother. He had been evacuated with trench foot and nearly lost one of them before he recovered. That would come back in the States and it would be a long struggle. (4:14)
After recovering from what the snow and ice did to his feet, Fred King was assigned to Fort Belvoir, where he worked with the payroll until the atomic bomb ended the war. He went back to college and wound up in a career he had never considered. (3:09)
He thinks about the war sometimes but it could just be odd details. How did he find his way through a maze of barbed wire? How does a concussion wave do what it does? Fred King prayed a lot while he was there and it must have helped. He survived three different disasters. (4:46)
Fred Kroesen

WWII | 63rd Infantry Division

General Fred Kroesen grew up next to a National Guard armory with a horse drawn field artillery unit. His first job was exercising the horses, but when World War II came along, he became an infantry officer in time to join the push across Europe. (3:02)
After working in the Pentagon with the Assistant Chief of Staff Force Development Office to build up manpower in the Army, General Fred Kroesen got a combat assignment as a brigade commander in Vietnam. The enemy faded away on his first operation, making it the greatest training exercise he had ever seen. By the time his tour was over, he was sure that the war was won. (6:51)
On his second Vietnam tour, General Fred Kroesen returned to command the troubled Americal Division, which was still receiving a lot of negative attention in the wake of the My Lai incident. As the war wound down and the division had returned to the States, he remained with the dwindling and restrained American force and was saddened when the enemy overran a town that he had restored during his first tour. (8:19)
As a longtime commander of troops, General Fred Kroesen knew the rotation scheme during the Vietnam War was a terrible decision. Of particular concern was the use of untested NCO's which made the commander's job a lot more difficult. (3:34)
General Fred Kroesen has some vivid memories of Vietnam including a huge typhoon and a soldier who would have gotten the Medal Of Honor if he had only been killed. He also recalls visiting an allied Korean Marine unit and leading a successful reaction force operation that was only spoiled by getting wounded. (5:49)