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Robert Persinger
Interviewed by Jim Will, January 1994
Transcribed by Lorraine Lightcap
Edited by Martha Byrnes November 2018
For Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone 815 397 9112
www.midwayvillage.com
�Robert Persinger
Today is January 31, 1994. My name is Jim
Will. I’m a volunteer at the Midway Village and
Museum Center, which is cooperating with the
statewide effort to collect oral histories from
Illinois citizens that participated in the events
surrounding World War II. We are in the home
of Robert Persinger whose address is 3411 Constance Drive, Rockford, Illinois. Mr. Persinger
has served in a branch of the United States
Armed Forces during World War II. We are going to interview him right now about his experiences in that War.
WILL: Was this in Iowa?
PERSINGER: In Iowa. And my father died
when I was 13 years old, so it left me, being the
oldest boy, kind of the head of the family. We
moved to Illinois to live on a farm with my uncle. And (I) studied in Marengo prior to World
War II. I worked in a factory there.
WILL: When did you graduate from high
school?
PERSINGER: In 1941.
WILL: Okay. Can I call you Bob?
WILL: 1941. From where, Marengo?
PERSINGER: Yes.
WILL: Can you give your full name and place
and date of birth?
PERSINGER: No. From Holcomb, Missouri.
We moved to Missouri. That is located in the
northeastern part of Missouri, just across the line
from Iowa and Illinois.
PERSINGER: I am Robert Persinger. I was
born in Weaver, Iowa, on September 29th, 1923.
WILL: And your job in ’41, after graduation?
WILL: Can you give us the names of your parents?
PERSINGER: My father’s name was Charles
and my mother’s was Lucille Persinger.
WILL: Did you have any brothers or sisters?
PERSINGER: Yes. I had two brothers and two
sisters. One of the brothers has passed away recently.
WILL: What were their names?
PERSINGER: William and Charles. Fern and
Darlene.
PERSINGER: Well, I worked in a small factory in Marengo doing metal products. I worked
there until I was drafted. I was offered a deferment because of being the supporter of my
mother and the rest of the children but I waited
until I was drafted and then I wanted to go at
that time even though I knew I should be at
home. I thought I should go.
WILL: On December 7, 1941, how did you hear
about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
PERSINGER: I was listening to a football
game between the Chicago Bears and, I believe,
it was the Cardinals. It was interrupted in announcing the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
WILL: Now is there any special thing about
your family that you would like to tell us anything that you remember?
WILL: What
thoughts?
PERSINGER: We were born and raised on a
farm. My days, as a child and youth, were being
with the farm.
PERSINGER: I was surprised, but we had been
hearing about the War and the things that were
happening so we knew. I thought then that we
were definitely in War and that was it. I looked
was
you
reaction?Your
�forward, really, to getting a chance to get into
the service.
WILL: You mentioned you were drafted. That
was after Pearl Harbor?
PERSINGER: Yes. That was after Pearl Harbor. Yes.
WILL: Do you recall anything before Pearl
Harbor about what was going on over in Europe? Have you opinions of that?
PERSINGER: Well, like I said, by just the
news and following the newspapers that we
knew something was going to happen with Hitler doing what he was doing and Japan. We just
knew it was going to come. It was going to
break into a War sooner or later. The time was
up.
WILL: Okay. You say you were drafted. About
when was this? Do you remember the date?
PERSINGER: I can’t exactly [remember] the
date. I guess March of ’43. It was in that month.
PERSINGER: I was living in Marengo.
WILL: Do you remember anything about that
when you finally got it?
PERSINGER: I was inducted in Woodstock,
Illinois, and came right over to Camp Grant here
in Rockford, and spent about three days before
we were shipped to Camp Gordon, Georgia.
That was where our basic training was.
WILL: At Camp Grant you had your physicals?
PERSINGER: Physicals and tests. I think
you’re classed by the tests; classed by what they
thought, maybe, you could do. Were you mechanically inclined, whatever. So I was sent to
Camp Gordon, Georgia, and joined the 3rd Cavalry “reconnaissance” squadron mechanized, as
a tank company. I learned to drive a tank after
my basic training.
WILL: You had basic down there?
PERSINGER: Yes, basic training. Then we
started preparing to learn how to operate tanks.
My first job was to learn how to drive a tank.
WILL: You were roughly what age?
PERSINGER: Just coming on to 20 years old.
WILL: What was the response of your family
when you got your draft notice or before you got
your draft notice? Were they in favor of you going into the service?
PERSINGER: My mother never said. She never did say that I should stay home and help support her or help support the rest of the children,
my brothers and sisters, because at that time they
had no work. I was the only breadwinner, so to
speak.
WILL: What did you think of the training? Was
it
PERSINGER: The training was
WILL: Adequate or was it
PERSINGER: It was good. It was in the sands
and Camp Gordon, Georgia, was very hot. It was
a lot of loose sand and under the sand was red
clay. It was trying. We were doing close order
drill and training out in the sand.
WILL: Do you remember anything special
about the training.
WILL: What were their thoughts on the War?
PERSINGER: I don’t recall. We just had to
accept it like you do with everything in life. I
guess. I am sure that my mother was concerned.
PERSINGER: No, I reallyActually I really
enjoyed it, the training. Really, I went along
with it. I never fought it. I tried to learn everything I could that made it easier for me.
WILL: And where were you when you got your
draft notice. Were you in Marengo?
WILL: Did you get out with any passes?
�PERSINGER: Oh, yes. We were given a weekend pass to go to Augusta if you wanted to. But I
never did go much. I really didn’t. I stayed at the
base most of the time and attended the theaters,
movies there on the base. That’s about it.
WILL: How about after your training? Did you
get a furlough home?
WILL: You were immediately sent overseas?
PERSINGER: No. From then [Tennessee] we
came back [to Fort Gordon] and were transferred
to a camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina,
where we were on a firing range for 30 straight
days.
WILL: When were you shipped overseas?
PERSINGER: Yeah, we did. After basic training that amounted to about 13 weeks, I got a
week off, I think. Yes, it was a week. I enjoyed
that. I came home by bus. Rode a bus all the way
from Augusta, Georgia to Chicago and then on
to Marengo on a bus and I returned the same
way. That was a big experience. I never ever had
to do that in my life or had the opportunityride
a bus, but I did.
WILL: Now this was the 3rd Cavalry?
PERSINGER: Yes, it was the 3rd Cavalry. The
mechanized cavalry consisted of 2 squadrons. It
was the 3rd and 43rd squadrons which made up
the unit.
WILL: What were your assigned duties?
PERSINGER: I became a tank commander of
the tank and when we went overseas
PERSINGER: Then I was shipped over in July.
I remember we were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on July 4th, 1944. I can remember that.
We came back the following July 4th, 1945. I
was on my way back on the high seas again.
WILL: What did you think of the nation’s efforts up to this point?
PERSINGER: Tremendous. Our Countryeverybody wasknew what we had to do.
WILL: Everybody pitched in?
PERSINGER: Everybody pitched in. It just
made you want to get this thing over. Everybody
was pretty patriotic, I’d say
WILL: Nobody dragged their feet.
PERSINGER: No.
WILL: Which squadron?
WILL: Objected?
rd
PERSINGER: 3 Cavalry Squadron?
WILL: You weren’t transferred out to any other
unit.
PERSINGER: No. I was in that unit from
WILL: After the training, where did they send
you?
PERSINGER: After Camp Gordon, they went
to Tennessee maneuvers for three months
November and December of ’43 and January of
’44 so there were 90 days there living and
getting used to living outside, bivouacking, playing the war games, giving us training for what
we were eventually going to meet.
PERSINGER: No, there were very few conscientious objectors that I remember.
WILL: Upon arriving overseas was it France
orthis was after D-Day?
PERSINGER: Yes. I went with a convoy, the
last big convoy that went across the Atlantic. We
landed in Liverpool, England, and then we went
across the English Channel at South Hampton on
a landing ship tank. There were 64 tanks in that
ship. This is after D-Day, August 7th, 1944, was
when I landed in France.
WILL: How about when you landed there?
What was the first thing you had to do?
�PERSINGER: Well, we went in just getting
close to nighttime. We actually had a bivouac.
We spent a couple of miles inland and there was
no resistance because it was beyond . We met
our first combat at St. Lo so it was quite a few
miles of no resistance. So we justeventually,
we were given assignments and missions to help
General Patton’s 3rd Army.
WILL: Let’s see. In chronological order, I guess
they want the approximate number and types of
casualties and how they occurred?
PERSINGER: Well, the number of casualtiesour unit, our squadron, had about 750
men. The other squadron, the 43rd, had about the
same. I’ve heard since then when the War was
over, the deaths and men wounded was found to
be about 82%. So itYes quite a few deaths. A
lot of men killed in action but more so wounded
than killed.
WILL: How were they treated? Did they have
adequate treatment at that time?
PERSINGER: Yes, we did have. Tremendous!
Our medics and the field hospitals everything
was… I’d say they did the very best possible
job.
WILL: How did your mental attitude change as
the War progressed?
WILL: Did you write home a lot? Or did you
WILL: I did as much as I could. I probably got
a letter off to home at least every two weeks.
WILL: How about receiving mail?
PERSINGER: Sometimes it was prettydue to
our outfit and what we were doing, we’d get
mail in bunches. So it wassome days quite a
few days would go by before we got mail. But it
had to catch up with us. Being that we were a
reconnaissance unit for the 20th Corps, the 3rd
Army, we were on the move day in and day out.
WILL: You were out in the front more or less?
PERSINGER: Exactly. We did do a lot. We
were in the rears many, many times of the German Army. I think one time the deepest was 70
miles, in behind German lines. We were the eyes
and ears of the .
WILL: Did you in your experience over there
with other fellows did you establish friendships?
PERSINGER: Oh, yes. Those fellows that I
was with, in my own platoon, in my own company, we became so close. We used one another’s mess kits, their forks, their spoons whatever.
They were like brothers.
WILL: Do you remain in contact?
PERSINGER: Mental attitude? It changed I’m
sure. I never smoked until I gotI guess probably in the middle of thegoing across France
took about 39 days, I think it took us, and I started smoking probably about in that time because
you know, you wondered about how many days
or where you were going to be and what your
next… You really never really knew and it was
something to relax you a little bit. That’s why I
started smoking.
PERSINGER: Oh, yes, even to this day we
have a reunion every year. This next reunion
coming up in August of 1944 or 1994 will be in
Buffalo this year, and next year we hope to be
back in Fort Bliss where our 3rd cavalry is at the
present time.
WILL: Did you ever have to retrieve a wounded
buddy from the field?
WILL: Do you still smoke?
PERSINGER: Oh, yes, I did. I did do that. I
saw my buddies get killed.
PERSINGER: I quit smoking in 1968. Smoking through all those years, but I did quit. I was
thankful I did.
WILL: Did you ever capture any enemy prisoners?
�PERSINGER: Oh, yes. We got many prisoners.
WILL: You were talking earlier your unit went
up into Germany.
WILL: Can you explain some of this?
PERSINGER: Yes.
PERSINGER: Yes. Whenever we got missions
that whatever our mission was, why being a reconnaissance unit we would take Germans by
surprise. Many prisoners were taken because
you were on them and they had no way of escaping. We had them and we would simply get
them back to our headquarters and they’d go on
to the rear. I remember one time we were going
down a street in a small town and talking about
getting prisoners easily. There was artillery coming in. Our lead tank turned around and as he
was turning around his muzzle pointed right to
the basement door of this one building and here
walked about 19 or 20 Germans out because
they thought we had them dead right and we did.
It was to our surprise too when our tank
WILL: Then you headed south.
WILL: The gun pointed …
PERSINGER: That sort of thing seemed to
happen …
WILL: I can imaginelike the Germans probably didn’t want any more of the War than
PERSINGER: Oh, no. The Germans knew, I
guess a lot of them knew, that when we got in
Germanywhen we got on to their home
groundwhy they knew then that the War
would soon be over. The end was in sight for
them and us.
WILL: Okay. There’s a question here… Prior to
the end of the War, were you aware of any civilian concentration camps?
PERSINGER: Yes, for sure.
WILL: Before
PERSINGER: Oh, before the end of the War
and I just heard about concentration camps. I
never really knew exactly what they were, what
was involved.
PERSINGER: We went into Germany, probably we have it on record in our history book here
we were the first troops into Germany itself, the
20th Corps, the 3rd Army. The first troops of the
3rd Army to enter Perl, Germany. And we did go
across the Rhine, proceeding north and east, and
we were up in the north part of central Germany
and then turned and went south along the
Czechoslovakian border and down into Austria.
WILL: Near the end of the War?
PERSINGER: Yes, as we came south we
helped take the town of Regensburg. I remember
that was a long dash, and we proceeded on to
Bavaria and went into Austria at the end of the
War.
WILL: Can you tell us about liberating this
concentration camp in Austria?
PERSINGER: Yeah.
WILL: What the name of it was?
PERSINGER: The concentration [camp] was in
Ebensee, Austria. We entered that town of
Ebensee on May 6th. The War ended May 8th.
The Germans at that time were surrendering to
us as we proceeded to this town. We were two
days ahead of that. On the way to this town our
mission was to get to this concentration camp
which was in Ebensee. Now the Germans were
giving up and they didn’t want to be in contact
with the Russians. We were meeting the Russians, and so, rather than to surrender to the Russians, they were coming to us.
WILL: [Interruption] Meeting or beating?
PERSINGER: Meeting, yes. They were giving
up. The War ended like on May the 8th. On May
the 6th we entered this town of Ebensee. My tank
and another tank in my platoon I was platoon
�sergeant I was given the job of going up to
the gates of this concentration camp. The two of
our tanks, mine and the other one, entered this
concentration camp. The only resistance was the
German Volkstrom. They were the civilian army
that they had to control the people. They were at
the gate and I remember taking the gun away
from this old German Volkstrom
WILL: He didn’t resist?
PERSINGER: No he gave no resistance. He
handed me the gun and broke it over the… I can
remember breaking it over the muzzle of my
tank. They opened the gates and we drove in.
WILL: What did you find there?
PERSINGER: It was estimated that between
14- and 16,000 prisoners dying naked, skin
and bones. Maybe if they did have something to
wear it was just a robe, and rags was all they had
on. What a horrible place.
PERSINGER: The Army gave them all the
medical treatment right away, what our unit
could. Then the Army hospitals moved in right
away. Within a week they were all there and
then being taken care of very good. But many of
them died as soon as we entered the place. I
suppose they were so happy to see [us and] that
they were liberated. When they did get a chance
to eat something [they] just [gorged] themselves
and you couldn’t control it. I can remember that.
WILL: You couldn’t tell them to eat slower?
PERSINGER: Oh, no. There was no way. So
many… near the crematorium where they
burned them in the furnaces they were piled up
like cordwood. The sicker they got the closer
they moved them to the furnaces so when they
did die they would be near there. They would
just burntheir remains were put in a freight
car, shoveled in. Their ashes were put into those
cars, the freight train.
WILL: Any records of who they were?
WILL: What was your duty then?
PERSINGER: What we were suppose to do
then, and our unit along with all, immediately
progressed with the rest of the army. [Headquarters] was notified as to what was there, so our
unit started getting food to try to feed these people. They hadn’t eaten anything. I do remember
in two days within 24 hours I’d say, we
[it] was our first…. The following evening we
did have soup prepared for these people, and it
was prepared in these big kettles, heated and
made soup. I remember those people were
sothey wanted to get to that so bad we had to
fire our machine guns over their heads to calm
them down because they were just like animals.
PERSINGER: No, we had no records. We did
have
WILL: The camp kept records?
PERSINGER: Yes, the Germans kept records
and I think they probably… a lot of people were
identified by their records. After that we left
them, within two weeks after we liberated that
camp, so that was the last of my experiences
with the concentration camp. But I know it was
a horrible one. The very first day when we went
in the camp I got out and walked around with
this prisoner that could speak English. That’s
Garcia. And the night crew
WILL: Desperate?
WILL: With a name like that was he a Jew
PERSINGER: Yes, desperate for food. Many
of them that evening, I remember after that they
[gorged] themselves so it didn’t take much to
make them sick, and many of them died there on
the spot. Within hours after they were fed.
PERSINGER: He was a Jew but he was born in
Spain and the family way back in ‘14, I think it
was ‘92, Spain, if you were Jews, you had to
adopt a Spanish name. That family did. They
took on the name of Garcia. But anyway, we
walked around that camp. When I got back in
my tank and got back to our edge of this little
WILL: How about medical treatment?
�town, I discarded my shoes. I put my other pair
of shoes on. They were so filthy and the stench
was so bad. [Will made a comment.] It brings
back many memories. Every once in a while I
get to thinking of that, especially when we have
reunions.
WILL: Well, let’s see here. When and how did
you return to the United States at the end of the
War?
PERSINGER: I was in the States yes; I was
home again on furlough. That was our first 30
days home. [We] got home in July. The middle
of July [I] was given a furlough just getting
ready to go back to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
That was the camp. [I] Was ready to go back to
there when VJ Day happened. I did go back and
then was discharged from the Army in October
of 1945.
WILL: Now, you weren’t married at this time?
PERSINGER: We got back on a train back to
Camp Lucky Strike at LeHavre, France. We
came back on a liberty ship. Our whole unit
came back by itself, back to Camp Kilmer, New
Jersey.
PERSINGER: No, I wasn’t married. I was single.
WILL: What was your rank at the end of the
War?
WILL: Of course, this was after the War?
PERSINGER: Yes. We were going to, well, the
War in Europe was over but
WILL: When the War ended in Europe, what
did you think?
PERSINGER: I was, at the end of the War I
was a Staff Sergeant and overseas I was until I
was made a Platoon Sergeant. I was what you
called a “duck” sergeant. Every tank Commander had that rating.
WILL: Did you receive any decorations at all?
PERSINGER: Well, General Patton on the 19th
of May ’45 told us he was glad the War was
over in Europe and he did not want to take us to
Japan. That was his
PERSINGER: Oh, yes, we had the European
Theater, four battle stars and all the othersGood Conduct, the Victory Medal, Purple
Heart. I have that.
WILL: [Interruption. Some double talk.]
PERSINGER: We all thought we were going to
because we knew
WILL: [Interruption.]
PERSINGER: Yes, it had to be done. We did
come back to the States, [I] was given a 30-day
furlough and went back to I can’t think of the
name of the camp for the life of me, I can’t think
of North Carolina and we went on a back on
preparation for movement overseas for training.
WILL: And VJ Day? Do you remember?
WILL: How did you get the Purple Heart, for
what?
PERSINGER: That was for shrapnel wounds
that happened in Germany oin December 15th. I
think, of ’44. That was the Siegfried Line. We
were just kind of
The [Battle of the] Bulge was on and the Germans were to our north of us and we stayed
there. We were transferred from there and
moved towards the Battle of the Bulge. We were
spread awful thin. I think our 3rd Cavalry unit at
that time covered the front at 40 miles. We were
[Interruption]
PERSINGER: VJ Day. Yes, I remember it
well.
WILL: How many tanks were there?
WILL: You were in the States then?
PERSINGER: A tank company had 17 tanks,
five tanks to a platoon.
�WILL: Do you remember how many campaigns
you were in?
PERSINGER: Well that’s [hard to] say. We
had four different campaigns. There’s France
and Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, and Central Europe.
WILL: Okay. How did you get alongthis is
before your return to civilian life. I ask this
question. How did you get along with the men
with whom you had the greatest contact? How
did you get along with them?
PERSINGER: Civilians, you mean?
WILL: No, in your unit.
PERSINGER: How did I get along? To me the
ones that were kind of “goof offs” or whatever,
“sad sacks”, we laughed at them. They were part
of us, I guess.
WILL: It’s obvious the ones you keep in contact with were the ones you got along well with.
PERSINGER: Yes, but we did have a few
thatvery few. But we did have a few that kind
of “goofed off” and that was in the States before
we actually had a solid 3rd Calvary unit that went
overseas. The ones that did kind of “goof off,”
they were weeded outtransferred somewhere
else. We were a unit that was sent to combat.
WILL: As far as your experiences
PERSINGER: No.
WILL: Would you have gone into some other
branch?
three meals a day if they were on a ship or something. No, I really have nothing against the service, I thought that… We had very good officers; we had all of that and, of course, General
Patton was the greatest.
WILL: What is the most difficult thing you had
to do during the service?
PERSINGER: Well, spending
WILL: Physically, mentally or emotionally?
PERSINGER: Well, the most difficult was contending with the weather, especially in the winter at the time of the Bulge and living with the
very cold weather and all the snowtrying to
keep yourself alive. All that, along with a lot of
course, times when your life you didn’t feel was
worth too much, I guess.
WILL: Just never knew about the situation.
PERSINGER: No, you lived for 24 hours a
day. Many a dayonce in a while we got relief,
got pulled off the line. We were in a reconnaissance unit that just neverand the 3rd Army
never stopped. If we hadn’t run out of gas we
probably could have won the War much quicker.
WILL: What was the most successful achievement?
PERSINGER: Well, I guess thatjust that we
won the Warwe whipped the Germans.
WILL: Let’s see here. You mentioned VJ Day
you were in the States. Was there a lot of celebrating?
PERSINGER: Yes, there was.
PERSINGER: If I had to do it over, I guess my
other two brothers when I was in service, I suggested to themthe first thing that wasI
thought he’d get better food. My elder brotherby that time the third one went in. Both of
us were trying to get him to take the Navy. My
second brother also took the Navy, so I guess I
won out in convincing them that may be if they
get in the Navy that maybe they’d have at least
WILL: Where, in Chicago?
PERSINGER: No, I was in the small town of
Marengo. There was a lot of celebrating over
there in that little town. I remember that.
WILL: Do you remember the atom bomb?
�PERSINGER: Oh, yes.
WILL: Did you spend any time in the field hospital?
WILL: What was your thought on that?
PERSINGER: Well, this was going to save us a
trip from going over there. When I heard that, I
knew that it was over.
PERSINGER: It was just over night in the field
hospital.
WILL: Do you have any contact with the Veteran’s Administration?
WILL: You didn’t know about it before?
PERSINGER: I had
WILL: What was your impression of what it
was?
PERSINGER: I couldn’t believe that they
could have that strong a bomb. I knew terrible
destruction of civilians. But somebody had to
wake up Japan; I guess that was the way to do it.
WILL: Has your opinion changed over the last
50 years?
PERSINGER: Not the Veteran’s Administration. No reason to.
WILL: Have you an opinion of it?
PERSINGER: Veterans’ Administration?
WILL: Or any organization?
PERSINGER: The organizations? American
Legion and the Veterans of Foreign War are
great outfits.
WILL: How about a VA Hospital?
PERSINGER: The only reason my opinion
would change, would be the way the young people look at the world today. If I had knownat
times I get so discouragedif I had known these
children were going to turn out like this I don’t
know if I’d have been so patriotic in those days
of 1943. It justI can’t believe we can have this
type of thing going on here in this countryall
the crime, drugs. Children with the wrong attitudes, no pride, it’s hard to believe this is what
we got today, 50 years later.
WILL: Yeah. I agree. When were you officially
discharged?
PERSINGER: October 29th in 1945.
WILL: And where?
PERSINGER: In Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
WILL: Did you have any disabilities when you
had that shrapnel?
PERSINGER: No, it was just my arm and my
handthe back of my hand and my side.
PERSINGER: Had no contacts with them.
WILL: Never gone for medical ?
PERSINGER: No, never. I’m glad we’ve got
them, what we do have now.
WILL: When you were in the service can you
tell us how your family supported you and your
brothers?
PERSINGER: Well, at home there was just my
mother. There were five of us altogether; five of
us children. Three boys went into the service;
two sisters that stayed home with my mother. I
am sure at that time they were getting along well
because my paycheck, which was hardly anything then. I was making, I think, $115 a month.
Being overseas that was called combat pay. We
got $115 a month and all of that money went
home to take care of my mother. My other
brothers did the same thing. They learned to live
with what they had.
WILL: [What], over the years, has this support
meant to you? From your family?
�PERSINGER: Given to my family? I always
thought of my family, my mother, supported us
children all the way through until she died in
1975, when she passed away. Whatever I gave
to her was never enough.
WILL: Do you have anything else to add?
PERSINGER: No.
WILL: Any comments? We’ve gone through
about everything here.
PERSINGER: Well, just glad I was able to do
what I didsaw a lotI visited the 3rd Cavalry
again at Fort Bliss [Texas]. I’ve been there
twice, and was lucky enough to be back there
last spring to a seminar we had. They were asking for a few Veterans of World War II. I did get
back there. I did see the new modern tanks, all
the equipment they’ve got. It was just tremendous. I hope they never forget that. I hope they
always have those units available.
WILL: Okay. I guess that about winds it up. Do
you want to say goodbye?
PERSINGER: I’ll say goodbye to you.
WILL: Okay.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Editor’s Note: Bob Persinger lived out his life
in Rockford, Illinois, where he was plant manager for All Rental Garment. In later years, he
frequently talked about his experience in World
War II and the Central European Campaign to
students and groups interested in history. He
also volunteered at the Madison, Wisconsin,
Veterans Hospital. He died November 19, 2018,
requesting memorials be directed to the Illinois
Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Skokie.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
World War II Veterans and their Stories
Description
An account of the resource
In the mid-1990s Midway Village Museum interviewed World War II veterans about their military experiences. The interviews were recorded on cassette tape and then transcripts were typed up. Those written transcripts are available here. In some cases parts of the interview were inaudible. These sections have been reflected with question marks or the use of square brackets around a word or phrase that is the transcriber's best guess. No audio files have been digitized.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Midway Village Museum
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Midway Village Museum
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-2001
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Language
A language of the resource
English
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Jim Will
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Robert Persinger
Location
The location of the interview
Rockford, Illinois
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Cassette Tape
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Robert Persinger
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
January 31, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born September 29, 1923, Robert Persinger was drafted in 1943 and became an Army tank commander. Persinger helped liberate the Ebensee Concentration Camp in Austria. He was discharged October 29, 1945. Persinger died November 19, 2018.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Ebensee Concentration Camp
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2