Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Bill Braddock

WWII | B Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division

The water was rough that day, recalls Bill Braddock. The LST was pitching up and down as the Marines loaded up for the assault on Iwo Jima as planes, bombs and smoke swirled around them. The first enemy troops he saw disappeared into a hole and the last one he saw that day crawled right up to him in the dark. (6:20)
Marine Bill Braddock made it ashore in the first wave at Iwo Jima, but as he fought to establish a line across the island, he could hear trucks and tanks from the second wave getting bogged down on the beach. As he came up the back side of Mt. Suribachi, he saw the first flag raised. Then on Hill 362, he turned down a Purple Heart because, "I did it myself." (4:13)
They looked like they were turkey hunting, just waiting with rifles raised, remembers Bill Braddock. Taking a look got his friend shot right between the eyes. The defenders of Iwo Jima could also pop up behind you from their elaborate complex of tunnels and caves. Before it was over, cooks and bakers were taking shifts in foxholes. (4:25)
Bill Braddock saw many Marines head for home after the Japanese surrender but it was off to Japan for him as part of the occupation force. They got the glory but he got to supervise the Geisha houses. How was that assignment? "Heaven." Less pleasurable were the faces of hungry children and the scenes of devastation from the atomic bomb. (3:51)
Bill Brezina

Vietnam | 95th Evacuation Hospital

Growing up in Ohio, Bill Brezina was drafted and got a switch from infantry to be able to work as a unit clerk. After that, he got assigned to Brooks Army Medical Center to work as a patient data coder where he thought he would stay, until he got the call to Vietnam. (5:25)
Bill Brezina had his first assignment at the MASH hospital in Chu Lai. Dealing with that quantity of casualties is difficult to see and takes time to adjust to. (7:01)
At the hospital in Chu Lai, Brezina and his team served people from all over - American soldiers, North Vietnamese, civilians. Amount of patients in the hospital would ebb and flow, leaving them with a lot of down time. (8:11)
Bill Brezina remembers the different types of soldiers that you'd come across while in Vietnam. Substance abuse was pretty common there and it soon became a problem. (5:48)
Working in an Army hospital, things would sometimes be disjointed and would require quick thinking. Brezina and his team made sure that they were prepared for any situation that came their way. After his time in the service, he found it relatively easy to transition back into normal life. (9:46)
Bill Brezina describes how many of the mistakes America made in Vietnam were the same mistakes made by the French and how war can propel society ahead in areas such as medical treatment. He reflects on his time in the military and the influences that it had on his life. Service can affect you in ways that you don't fully understand until you take time to step back and think about it. (4:08)