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Herman Krum

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While Herman Krum was stationed near London, he had two memorable encounters with British civilians. One was a young boy who was awestruck by a simple piece of fruit. The other was a wealthy gentleman with several estates who wanted to meet a typical GI. (3:48)

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While serving occupation duty in Berlin, Herman Krum almost got to meet General Eisenhower and Mickey Rooney. He showed some mercy to German workers who were unloading sugar and he learned a song that was a lament directed to Harry Truman. (6:05)

Hershel Williams

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Hershel "Woody" Williams grew up on a dairy farm in West Virginia. No one in his family had yet served, but he knew he wanted to be a Marine. The dress blues worn by Marines on leave were mighty attractive, perhaps something on the minds of Marine commanders. (5:54)

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His older brother had joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and was not far from home. As soon as he was sixteen, Hershel Williams signed up, too, but he wound up in Montana, fencing in range land. He was there when Pearl Harbor was attacked and many of the boys who were of age went right into the Army. Hershel had to wait, which was fine because he wanted the Marines. (6:04)

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Hershel Williams had no trouble in boot camp, thanks to the upbringing by his no nonsense father. He did have trouble realizing he may have to actually kill someone else. Later, in combat, he would come up with a way to get past this. His training wrapped up at Camp Pendleton where he nearly missed shipping out with his unit. (6:58)

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The ship was crowded and hot. Marine Hershel Williams was headed to a destination unknown in the Pacific and he had worked out a system with his girlfriend to get past the censorship of letters home. When he learned the names of his first two destinations, he knew he was going to be writing some long letters. (6:28)

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The first stop for the new Marines was New Caledonia. They were only in transit so they had some free time and Hershel Williams and some buddies decided to go to the beach and get a coconut. Bad idea. (6:16)

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On a secured Guadalcanal, Marine Corporal Hershel Williams was selected to be a flamethrower and demolition operator. When the weapon was unpacked, it was a big mystery, but through trial and error, an effective method of use was devised. The results were deadly. (6:18)

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His gunnery sergeant was named Albert Daniel Hemphill. Hershel Williams remembers him as a "China Marine." They were a different breed and this story about a drunken leave in China comes straight from the source. (4:44)

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The flamethrowers were useless on Guam. There were no caves and pillboxes to speak of, just deep jungle. Hershel Williams set them aside after two days and got an M-1. Also, there were frogs, really big frogs. (4:18)