2
50
140
-
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df351b5f677a4b9e5f541cd75b180bfd
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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
4.25" x 5.75"
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
Library
Description
An account of the resource
This card is in a booklet stamped "Souvenir Letter: Views of Rockford, Ill." This depicts the library with its dome on top.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wilson Bros. Co. Printers
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).923 10 of 12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
Rockford Public Library
West State Street
-
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d63166ddc97b8e5d728648cc84cd9650
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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
4.25" x 5.75"
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
Lundberg Building
Description
An account of the resource
This card is in a booklet stamped "Souvenir Letter: Views of Rockford, Ill." This three-story corner structure houses Ekeberg's and Fulton and Anderson Clothing, Furnishings, and Hats.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wilson Bros. Co. Printers
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).923 7 of 12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Ekeberg's
Fulton and Anderson Clothing
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
West State Street
-
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399e151b4ae76ea1dc8df047d1048ba1
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Lundberg Building, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Listed on the back as the "Geo. E. Holm, Lundberg Building," at 118 N. Main Street, featuring a "Vaudeville" sign on the side as well as "Sample Shoes" and "Orpheum" overhanging signs and one reading "CAMPBELLS 4 MARVELS 4 OF THE AIR." A livery is next door, far right.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).592
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Lundberg Building
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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a87919ac65739bd843910763f184d085
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main St. at Night, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
A color graphic rendering by night with moonlight and street lamps.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
S. H. Knox & Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).42
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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8f4ddfd869459b86ab3e6f1fea2afe01
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main St. Looking North, Showing Ashton's and Trust Bldg., Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
View down the street with an automobile and pedestrians on the right.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
75.59.8
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Ashton's
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
Trust Building
-
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22b75be9a5625d47e637dbd009b3ec0e
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main Street - Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Black and white street scene with people and a bicyclist crossing the street. The New York Life Building is on the left.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1907
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).35
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
New York Life Building
Rockford Illinois
-
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6b1e0f10013ff6e0eea48c3f5ebd2e16
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main Street, looking North from Nelson House, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
With a plumbing sign and A. R. Matts Shoes and Clothier on the left and a "Lunch" sign on the right.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).85
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
A. R. Matts
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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7d71bf15f95c61b837e47c58c0637c19
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main Street, looking South, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
A busy street with horse and buggies/wagons and trolley cars with A. R. Matts Shoes and Clothier on the left.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
S. H. Knox & Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).100
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
A. R. Matts
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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452a512febeef6416efba481c70c555f
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main Street, North from Peach Street, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Stately homes on a tree-lined street with automobiles parked at the curbs.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
C. T. American Art
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
81.136.199
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
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Original Format
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Postcard
Physical Dimensions
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3.5" x 5.5"
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Title
A name given to the resource
Main Street, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
With the Economy Store ("Clothing, Shoes, Furnishings, Ladies-Ready-To-Wear") and the Hotel Illinois on the left.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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jpeg
Identifier
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85.109(I).95
Type
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Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
the Economy Store
the Hotel Illinois
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Main Street, South of State Street, by Night, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Color graphic rendering with moonlit clouds and street lamps illuminating the nightlife with pedestrians on the sidewalks and cars on the street.
Publisher
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Paul R. Vogel Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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jpeg
Identifier
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81.136.198
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main Street, south of State Street, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
A bustling daylight street scene with people, cars, and a trolley car.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
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jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).99
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Main Street, South, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
A bustling daylight street scene with people, cars, and a trolley car.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Acmegraph Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1913
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).24
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
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PDF Text
Text
Max Rubin
Max Rubin
Quartermaster Corps in England
Transcribed by Lorraine Lightcap
For Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone – 815 397 9112
Page 1
�Max Rubin
Page 2
Max Rubin
Hi. Today is March 15, 1994. My name is Jim
Will. I am a volunteer with the Midway Village
and Museum Center which is cooperating with
the State wide effort to collect oral histories
from Illinois persons who participated in the
event surrounding World War II. We are at the
home of Max Rubin who lives at 630 East State
Street in Rockford, Illinois. Mr. Rubin 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.
RUBIN: Our families there were other kids that
went to school. My brother and I were out of
school at the time. My brother went to work
with my father in business after he graduated
from high school. I graduated from high school
in 1925 and in 1926 I enrolled in Lake Forest
College and was there for one semester. Then
after that I tried [anything] I could think of and
finally in 1941, I opened up a package liquor
store and ran that until the time that I went into
the service in October of 1943.
WILL: Max, can you give us your full name,
place and date of birth?
WILL: You mentioned that you got married
RUBIN: Got married in November of 1942.
RUBIN: Max, no middle initial, Rubin. Born
November 2, 1907, in Rockford, Illinois, Saint
Anthony Hospital.
WILL: What was your wife’s name?
RUBIN: Julie.
WILL: Would you like to give us the names of
your parents?
WILL: Maiden name?
RUBIN: My dad’s name is Henry and my
Mother’s name is Doris.
RUBIN: Julie Fletcher.
WILL: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
WILL: Did you have any thoughts about what
Hitler was doing over in the old country before
the United States got involved?
RUBIN: I have one brother, Isadore, and there
were 4 sisters, Esther, Tammy, Goldie and Edna.
The only surviving sister is Goldie.
WILL: Your brother is still alive?
RUBIN: Brother is still alive.
WILL: Are there any special details or events
that you would like to tell us about your family?
RUBIN: It was just a case of reading, listening.
You could make your own ideas of what the
__?__ situation when the war was in its infancy
and becoming worse as time went on. Same way
with the Japanese War, we had no control of that
but we were drawn into it.
WILL: Do you remember Pearl Harbor Day?
RUBIN: Yes.
RUBIN: Well, my father and mother and my
older sister came from the old country, Poland,
Warsaw. They came to the United States. My
father started into making a living in the scrap
business until he passed away. That was his endeavor.
WILL: What was life like during or just before
the war in the ’30’s for your family?
WILL: What were you doing when you heard
about it?
RUBIN: I was in the tavern business then in
1941.
WILL: I mean on that particular day.
RUBIN: It was
�Max Rubin
Page 3
WILL: Do you remember or not?
WILL: Do you remember the number of __?__.
RUBIN: No.
RUBIN: I don’t remember that.
WILL: What was your reaction of the Japanese
bombing of Pearl Harbor?
WILL: How old were you when you were
drafted?
RUBIN: Well, the old adage: If you kill an
American soldier, you’re into kill somebody
who killed them. That’s the start of big conflicts.
RUBIN: 36.
WILL: What events led you into military service? I mean you mentioned you were drafted.
RUBIN: Well, 38 was the limit at that time.
Then they lowered it after that.
RUBIN: Drafted. I was given a pre-induction
physical because I had trouble with my eyes. I
was given a pre-induction physical. Went to
Chicago, passed with flying colors and I came
back and waited until I was actually drafted.
WILL: Okay. Do you remember your basic
training?
WILL: That’s pretty old for
RUBIN: Yes, but
WILL: Any special memories?
WILL: You mentioned you were drafted in October
RUBIN: October 1943. Short 6 months.
WILL: Where did you go from here when you
were drafted?
RUBIN: Yes, when we got on the rifle range,
Christmas time, and snowing and freezing. The
day I started to shoot at the target. I’d never had
a rifle, firearm or B-B gun in my life. When I
got through that course, I got a medal for the
record shooting record.
RUBIN: I went from here to Camp Grant and
from Camp Grant I was designated to go to
quartermaster in Virginia.
WILL: Sharp shooters?
WILL: Okay. You had a physical induction and
test there in Camp Grant?
WILL: Now what were you trained to be, I
mean basically.
RUBIN: All my basic was in
RUBIN: Basically, I was qualified for salvage
collection that was a part of the training at the
camp. But I wound up being a clerk. I don’t remember the classification but that’s where I
wound up.
WILL: In Virginia?
RUBIN: Quartermaster was in Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Spent 6 months there and was
transferred to __?__.
RUBIN: Yeah. I still have it.
WILL: What did you think of the training? Was
it adequate or was it boring?
WILL: Do you know the name of your unit?
RUBIN: Was the Quartermasters’ unit that I
was drilling to and training for Class 2 and Class
4 commodities, which was with food and clothing. After we met the basic training there, I was
transferred overseas.
RUBIN: No such thing as boring. You have 18
and 20 year old to do the direction. I’m a 36year old and the captain of the companyjust
had to do the best you can. With that attitude,
that’s what I did on a field fact trip and such.
The officer in charge knew that I wouldn’t be
�Max Rubin
the first in line to be up there. I got back all
right. You learn to shoot, you learn to exercise
and all that.
Page 4
WILL: Now, you say you don’t remember your
unit number or anything?
RUBIN: No, I don’t.
WILL: What other training camps did you attend?
WILL: Were you transferred at all?
RUBIN: That was the only one.
RUBIN: No.
WILL: That was the only one?
WILL: You stayed with the same unit? Okay.
Where did you go after completing basic training?
RUBIN: __?__
WILL: Did you get any leaves or passes, furloughs or anything at that time?
RUBIN: No, you could have a leave but you
had to have 6 weeks of basic training or you
couldn’t leave the camp. All you had was the
PX, recreation and movies. That was it. I guess
after 6 weeks, if you were married your wife
was allowed to come in and could be over night
off the bases. But that was it.
RUBIN: We were sent to Port of Embarkation.
That way you were put into a unit that was composed of various sections and from there we
went overseas to England.
WILL: By ship?
RUBIN: Yes, by ship.
WILL: Do you remember about when this was?
WILL: You don’t recall where you were stationed.
RUBIN: 1944, I would guess. Yes. We were in
an area waiting for D-Day.
RUBIN: In Richmond.
WILL: Now, you were over in England before
D-Day?
WILL: That’s Richmond, Virginia?
RUBIN: Yes.
RUBIN: Yes.
WILL: Okay. Did you meet special friends
while you were in training that you remember?
RUBIN: Yes, I met a GI whose name was Edwin Rush. He was the president of State Farm
Mutual Insurance of Bloomington, Illinois. He
was right behind me when we were inducted.
We went through our basic training. He could
have gotten out. All he had to do was say the
right word but he went along with all the rest of
us and he never asked for special privileges. I
thought very much of him. I met him when I
came back from the service. He has now passed
on but he was one of the finest individuals that
you ever wanted to meet. He went through just
like he was another number.
WILL: What happened? Was there lot of waiting?
RUBIN: They had a definite date set for invasion but they had to postpone it 24 hours because of the weather conditions. We were stationed in England and after the invasion we were
relocated and went over to France.
WILL: Where at in Englandremember that?
RUBIN: Well, I don’t recall these times.
WILL: So when you went to France, was it
immediately after D-Day.
RUBIN: Shortly after they had gotten further
into France so we could establish stations and
that. Then we went over to France. We left Eng-
�Max Rubin
land and got into Rennes, France. That was the
headquarters for quartermasters at that time.
WILL: Well, okay.
RUBIN: Stayed there during the duration as a
quartermaster.
WILL: You said that your duties were food and
clothing?
RUBIN: Yes, in deed. In the army called it
Class 2 and Class 4 that is food and clothing of
the Army. We supplied different units, Italians,
armies and requisition orders.
WILL: Okay. You kind of outfitted them.
RUBIN: Yes. They came in for requisition
units. We supplied them.
Page 5
gave anything away free as far as food was concerned, if they had a van and they were out in
the field away from any city, if there were units
there, they would give them the donuts and coffee free.
WILL: Rather than letting it spoil?
RUBIN: No. That was part of Red Cross operations. If they were run out into the field outside
of being in the city, they would give donuts and
coffee. Anyway, I’m saying if GIs came into the
city, as the English say “Queue up” in line to get
and pay for donuts and coffee. I never will forget that.
WILL: Why do you say that they did that? Do
you have any idea?
RUBIN: Part of the routine. When I came back
home, if the Red Cross ever came to me for
money, I showed them where the door was.
WILL: Okay. That was what you were assigned
to do.
WILL: You never saw any combat?
RUBIN: Right.
RUBIN: No.
WILL: What did you think of the United States
war efforts up to this time?
WILL: Did you ever see any casualties?
RUBIN: We had no way of hearing what was
going on other than the briefing that which we
wouldn’t get first hand any how. But one thing
that I still remember in being over there is that I
disliked the Red Cross.
RUBIN: No. We had a hospital in the city that I
was at but we never got to visit them at all. They
came back from the front lines and that, I don’t
know.
WILL: Never had to supply any of the hospitals
with food?
WILL: Would you like to explain that?
RUBIN: I’ll give you details on that. When we
__?__ arrived in warehouses that included food
and clothing we also stored the items that were
necessary to the Red Cross such as donut flour,
sugar, coffee and those things, we supplied
them. They would come inthe ladies, would
try saying that was their job. I don’t ridicule
them a bit. They would come in with requisition
orders we would supply them. We would take
their goods back down town. Whenever any of
the GIs from wherever they came, come into a
city, they had to pay for donuts and coffee. To
this day I disliked that way of doing it but that
was such. The only time that the Red Cross ever
RUBIN: Yes. The hospital in our area, they
drew their rations from us.
WILL: Okay.
RUBIN: We had them all
WILL: What did you think? What is you opinion of the medical treatment at that time?
RUBIN: The medical treatment was excellent.
WILL: Excellent.
�Max Rubin
RUBIN: I had a Supply Sergeant that would
come in for whatever they needed for the hospital with a requisition order we gave them for
whatever they needed. At one particular time my
back was killing me. It justwell, I don’t know
what it was. The Supply Sergeant from the hospital brought an officer in with him one day and
I explained the situation to him. The officer got
me a pass from my company to go into the hospital and give me heat treatments on my back.
They would take a barrel, a round 65- gallon
drum and cut it in half, so we had a half-barrel.
(Will interrupts. Inaudible)
Page 6
WILL: __?__ anybody or just to Patton?
RUBIN: No, just were, these were designated
for his 1st Army. He had an order to go from his
location to advance 75 miles.
WILL: In what direction?
RUBIN: I never forgot that.
RUBIN: I don’t know. We were to follow with
our food and clothing to that point. The trucks
were loaded and on their way when they get to
the point 75 miles away from the starting point,
‘blood and guts’ didn’t stop there. He saw clear
sailing so he went on further. So beyond the 75
mile point, that’s where they cut him down.
__?__ he didn’t want the boots. It was mud galore, but the General said, “No, you take an extra
pair to his men. Take an extra pair of socks, and
put them inside of your shirt that when the boots
and socks you are wearing gets wet, take those
out and put the dry ones in. You had time for
that but you haven’t had time to put your boots
on.
WILL: What was your attitude? What did you
think of the war up to that point?
WILL: Your unit never really supplied Patton
with anything else?
RUBIN: You don’t do any thinking. When you
put a uniform on, the government does the thinking for you.
RUBIN: Oh yes. We advanced food and clothing to him.
RUBIN: That was up and down. They put tubes
in itelectric tubesfastened and put that up
over my back, turned the electricity on and the
heat came to my back. Did that a couple times
and my back was just as good as I was 12 years
old.
WILL: High tech treatment! (Laughter).
WILL: I mean, were you aware that the United
States and Allies were winning the war?
RUBIN: We wouldn’t know anything. The only
thing that I can remember of that war in France
was the “Battle of the Bulge”.
WILL: Oh, okay. What do you remember of
that?
RUBIN: We had in our possession, I say we I
mean the warehouse had in our possession 4 car
loads of __?__ designated for this ‘blood and
guts’ General.
WILL: Patton?
RUBIN: Patton. We got TW, which is a telegram “don’t issue the boots.”
WILL: Okay. I thought
RUBIN: Our designated location was to furnish
him wherever they were going into Germany,
Belgium but when he went in beyond the point
of 75 miles, that’s where the Bulge took place
and that’s where we lost a lot of boys.
WILL: Where were you at that time?
RUBIN: __?__, France. That was the only location I had after I got located from coming into
England and into France.
WILL: They didn’t ship you around?
RUBIN: Yes, after we had captured Germanyafter the war was completed in Germany
we went from Rennes, France, our unit went
down to Marseilles, France. That’s the southern
�Max Rubin
tip of France on the Mediterranean. We were
earmarked to go to CBI (China, Burma, India)
with all our gear, all our records, everything was
at the point of debarkation, Marseilles, ready to
go on to ships to go to CBI and the war was
ended in CBI.
WILL: Okay.
RUBIN: So we went back to Marseilles into a
gathering area on our way
WILL: When you were over there, did you get
any letters from home?
RUBIN: Oh, yes.
WILL: From your wife probably, your sisters
and parents.
RUBIN: Yes. I got them occasionally.
WILL: How often?
RUBIN: That is hard to say.
WILL: Once a month, once a week?
RUBIN: I’d say once a month, I was getting
letters from the family. Friends of mine would
write. Of course I always had time to write because I was not one to go to the PXs and all that
for drinking purposes and that sort of thing. I
wasthat didn’t bother me.
WILL: How often did you write?
RUBIN: About twice a week.
WILL: How about as far as packages? Did you
get many packages?
RUBIN: No, I wrote and told as far as the food
was concerned we had the best there was and we
were supplying kitchens, we were supplying
units and food. It was there. If you didn’t like it
you didn’t take it. We had no problem there.
WILL: Did the others guys in your unit, did
they write a lot or no? Did they get a lot of mail?
Page 7
RUBIN: The unit I was in went over from the
states. It was made of youngsters from the south,
Tennessee and Kentuckyas they were named
‘hillbillies’. Well, we didn’t call them hillbillies
because they knew how to shoot a rifle from the
hip (Laughter) and anytime you can do that, I
said, “You’re a good man”. I had one occasion
while I was in this unit in France. There was a
hanging to be held in that area.
WILL: A hanging?
RUBIN: Yeah. A colored GI as the terminology
is, ‘shacked up’ with a French white. The French
man happened to come home unexpectedly and
the GI shot the Frenchman. Well, the law of the
Army is if there is such a thing __?__ trial and if
he is convicted he is hung in that area. Well the
head of the company that I was with picked me
out as one to witness the hanging. They’d take
this GI and he is dressed in an American uniform but they took all the buttons off. The United States buttons and they take him up on a scaffoldwe were standing at attentionput a hood
over his head and a noose around his neck. The
old Buck Sergeant standing there with a knife to
cut the cord from __?__. Well, we had to stand
at attention until an officer goes out and around
to check the scaffolding to check and see if the
boy is dead. That was the worst part of what I
saw over there.
WILL: Hm.
RUBIN: Yes, it is, but that’s routine and that’s
one of the things I did see. There were areas in
England over there before we got to the invasion
that you wouldn’t believe it until you saw it. If
you had an American colored company stationed
in an area, you had a white boys stationed in
another area, you never let the two units go into
the city the same night. Alternate.
WILL: A lot of segregation?
RUBIN: Most of the units there that would
drive up or handle food or was transporting was
the colored boys. They managed to do real well.
WILL: How many were there over there?
�Max Rubin
RUBIN: I don’t know.
WILL: Okay. How about any friends outside of
that one fellow you mentioned earlier.
RUBIN: Well, he wentRuss went to a different area. I never saw him after that. In basic
training, I never had any close friends in the unit
I was with because most of them were from
Kentucky, Tennessee, youngsters 18 – 19 – 20,
always got into problems.
WILL: Did you feel like, you weremight be
the ‘old man’ of the unit?
RUBIN: Could be. I was 38 years old when I
went over, 20 years difference, you know. I
didn’t associate with them. I kept my place.
WILL: Okay. When you were over there, were
you aware of any concentration camps.
RUBIN: Oh, sure.
WILL: Their stories or hear
RUBIN: Well, we had German prisoners that
were doing our basic work. In our area, the officers would go to the camps and bring these
prisoners for physical packaging and physical
work in the warehouses. They __?__ and move
cars and once in a while you’d get to be the older fellow, a German prisoner. We would ask
them and he’d talk very understandable English.
I said to one in one particular instance, “How
come you, at your age, you had to work in uniform. He said, “That is how we lived. That’s
how you do it.”
WILL: I suppose they put the Germans who
could speak a little English on work detail probably so they could understand them.
RUBIN: We had one guy that was a cook with
the enlisted outfit that was as good a cook as we
ever had in the army. But the officers’ mess
found out about him and they wanted him. We
wouldn’t transfer him. We had fellows that were
__?__. I said, “How long do you have in basic
training in order to qualify with a rank. He said,
Page 8
“Five years.” __?__ Electrician or carpenterthen they went through basic training.
RUBIN: But the funny part of all of this, and it
still goes on in Rennes, France, if they captured
the camp that had Russian soldiers in as prisoners held by the Germans, we would take them
and get an area for them to eat, sleep and did
nothing. They would be given rations. We would
give them uniforms, GI uniforms but they took
the buttons off. The brass buttons.
WILL: Kind of a non-existent, noncombatant
RUBIN: The only other thing we put a red star
on a hat that he wore, showing he was a Russian.
They could get a job __?__. We used to issue
them new shoes. They’d go outyou see they
were actually an army in quarantine.
WILL: United States liberated them?
RUBIN: United States did a pretty good job. We
gave them a new pair of shoes to him and he
sold them tonight. Next day he got new shoes
from us. Requisition order. They always allowed
that thing. These were Russians held by the
Germans.
WILL: Now did you talk to any of them?
RUBIN: Not so much the Russians. The German prisoners talked to us because they too were
doing the work. Not the Russians. The Russians
were just as free as we were. We had to feed
them and all that. I’m talking about the Russian
prisoners who became the duty boy service of
whatever work they did. They had a good life
same as these prisoners down here in Rockford.
They went out on work release __?__.
WILL: Out on the farms and stuff
RUBIN: They did pretty good.
WILL: Okay. How did you guys celebrate holidays, like say the 4th of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving?
�Max Rubin
RUBIN: Christmas and Thanksgiving you had
the same thing. December 25th we had whatever
the food was plus entertainment. Every once in a
while they would bring over some __?__ service. (Will interrupts).
Page 9
there to home. We got home on the Billy Mitchell.
WILL: That’s the name of the ship?
RUBIN: Yeah.
WILL: USO?
RUBIN: USO was areas here in the States that
you went to for shows and things like that. But
over there, like turkey, came Thanksgiving,
Christmas we had regular menus, the boys had
back home.
WILL: Well, okay. Where did you arrive in the
United States?
RUBIN: I don’t remember.
WILL: Were you discharged right away?
WILL: How did you supply the feed to the front
lines for their meals?
RUBIN: Oh, no. You were discharged at the
station where you went in.
RUBIN: We didn’t supply front lines.
RUBIN: They sent us back to Camp Sheridan.
WILL: You didn’t. You supplied as they requisitioned.
WILL: In Chicago? Did you have a rank when
you were over there?
RUBIN: Right.
RUBIN: Not interested. I didn’t want it. You’re
just a private and when you get discharged, you
get discharged with one rank higher then when
you went in. They wanted to send me to OCS
and I didn’t want to because of mytested me
and I was qualified as for that but didn’t want
any part of it.
WILL: You didn’t (Rubin interrupts).
RUBIN: Whether there were units in the areaMotor vehicles, we supplied those units.
The infantry we supplied them. Just like I say,
when Patton went forward 75 miles that’s where
we brought the food up to 75 miles but no
“blood and guts”, he was over in the
WILL: Okay. You weren’t injured or anything?
RUBIN: No.
WILL: Didn’t come back for his meals.
RUBIN: But then to top it off, old “blood and
guts” got killed in an automobile accidentin a
jeep.
WILL: Yeah. That’s right. When and how did
you return to the United States?
RUBIN: Well, being down in Marseilles when
the war was over with I supposed they start making out the rules and regulations for who was
going home when. While I was still in Marseilles, they start making up the units of the older guys, the longest ones in and sent us back to
the northern part of France. Then we went from
WILL: Okay. Do you remember VE Day? Were
you over there in Europe yet, VE Day?
RUBIN: What day was that?
WILL: That was May 8th, I think 1945, I think.
RUBIN: I was still over there. I was discharged
__?__ but I don’t remember the day, VE Day.
WILL: When you heard the war in Europe was
over?
RUBIN: That’s when they started figuring out
how to get us home.
�Max Rubin
WILL: Okay. So you were over in France yet.
What did you think of that day? What were your
thoughts?
RUBIN: How far away am I from being home.
(Laughter)
WILL: How to get home fast. How about VJ
Day in Japan? First of all, did you have any
thoughts of being shipped over in the Pacific?
RUBIN: Mostly we were alreadywhen the
war in Germany was over with and we had all
our company units, books and everything, in
Marseilles. Japan was still going on. We were,
our books and everything, were on ship in the
Mediterranean waiting for us, the personnel, to
come in when the war in Japan was ended.
WILL: Do you remember the day?
RUBIN: No, I don’t.
WILL: Any celebrating going on?
RUBIN: Well, we were ready to go over there
to help them finish, I guess. And then we were
ready to go over there to help them finish it. But
they finished it before we had a chance to get on
the boat. We came back to the northern Part of
France segregated to go on home. I left from
France to go home. I didn’t go over to England.
Page 10
RUBIN: __?__ once again someplace else in the
next 50 years from that date on, I don’t believe
humanity would allow that. They would put a
stop to that.
WILL: Let’s hope so. Is there anything that
stands out that was your most difficult thing that
you had to do while you were in the service?
RUBIN: When you put a uniform on and you
got a corporal giving you orders and a 2nd Lieutenant gives the corporal the orders, there is only
one thing to do
WILL: Hear the end result.
RUBIN: Do it or else. It doesn’t make any difference if the kid is 18 years old telling a 39 year
old fellow what to do you aren’t going to go up
and slap in the face or talk back to him. You
might as well make up your mind to do the best
you can and
WILL: That was difficult. What was your most
successful accomplishment?
RUBIN: Getting home, of course.
WILL: Getting it over with.
RUBIN: Yes.
RUBIN: Right this minute, I don’t.
WILL: If you had to do it over again would you
have done the same or gone to some other unit
or branch or, if the war started all over again and
you were drafted?
WILL: Did you have any opinion of it when
you first
RUBIN: I’d do just like the President of the
United Statesdraft dodger.
RUBIN: In the first place, if you don’t know
anything about it, what it’s supposed to do or
what it could do or that sort of thing, you got to
wait and see the answer. The answer wasn’t to
explicit.
WILL: Oh. Okay. You’d head out.
WILL: Now do you remember the atom bomb?
WILL: As youhave you had any thoughts
about the atom bomb in the past 50 years up to
the present? If it did the job what it was intended
to do or
RUBIN: You betcha. If we can have a President
of these United States today that was a draft
dodger and I’m just as good as he is, I want to be
non-drafted, too. Anyone ever tells me now l
you __?__ calling a draft dodger, I don’t care
what he’s doing, he’s doing right, wrong or indifferent, if he’s the Commander in Chief, he’s a
draft dodger.
�Max Rubin
WILL: Do you remember when and where you
were officially discharged?
RUBIN: Yes, October 1945, in Fort Sheridan,
Chicago, Illinois.
WILL: Now you never had any disabilities in
the service?
RUBIN: No.
WILL: Do you have any opinions about the
Veterans’ Administration?
RUBIN: I think they’re doing wrong to some
parts of the Veterans’ Administration Operations. It just doesn’t make sense, in my own personal view; I still get examination of my eyes at
the Veterans’ Administration Hospital. I know a
few years back, I had some tests for detached
retina in the left eye. They sent me to Madison
to the Veterans’ Administration Hospital and
they corrected it. They did what they had to do.
Since they’ve given me once year schedule to
come in and check and see how it ishow the
eyes are doing. Here within the last 3 years or so
I got a notice that I’m not allowed to be examined at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital
because that my injury was not inflicted during
the war. I didn’t go for that. So now I go, finally
found somebody that sends me up to the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in North Chicago.
As a matter of fact I was there last week for an
exam of my right eye. I do get examined for
that, but other than that they’re not doing well
for theVeterans’ Administration is not doing
well for some of the boys. I asked them here
recently about my teeth. I have a partial bridge
and part of the bridge fell out. I asked if the Veterans’ Administration in North Chicago if they
could put that which fell outif they could put
it back. He says, “The law is if it isn’t service
connected, you don’t get any help.” When you
do go to that hospital in Chicago, I want to tell
you, see some real sights there. Now recently I
see that they’re going to put the Veterans’ Administration Hospital here out on East State
Street instead of going to the medical center in
Parkview. So I thought to myself, what are you
taking, you’re going to have to put an office up
or building. They said, “It’s more convenient for
Page 11
transportation,” which it is, than going out to the
medical facility. If you got to put a building up,
you’ve got to spend some money. Why don’t
you spend some money on the people instead of
the building?
WILL: Have a couple of more here. How did
your family support you while you were over
there outside of the __?__. Were they in favor of
you going in?
RUBIN: Jim, you don’t make decisions. They
make the decisions. If you once get a number,
you’re it.
WILL: And as far as your family were they
RUBIN: My wife? I don’t remember the dollars
and cents that was allocated to me. They took, I
think, now I’m just guessing, they sent $50 a
month to her and the balancethere were deductions for my laundry and
WILL: How did she feel about you being over
there?
RUBIN: She had no choice. She didn’t make the
decision.
WILL: Okay.
RUBIN: Jim, I gave the liquor store upI
didn’t want my wife to run a liquor store. I gave
it away.
WILL: You didn’t sell it?
RUBIN: When I say “gave it away”, I paid $200
for a liquor license. In those days during the war
they were getting 20 and 30 thousand dollars for
a liquor license.
WILL: Oh my gosh.
RUBIN: The guy that I sold it to was another
4F’er. He’s still here. But the point is, my wife
was a very good secretary. Before I married her
she was a top secretary. She managed to work
while I was away. If I remember correctly, I got
$50 per month pay. I sent her that. I got like I
�Max Rubin
say for the necessities. Of course, I never drank.
I never smoked. As a big shot, I’d get ice cream.
That was it.
Page 12
WILL: How about the red box express? Were
you involved in that? Know anything about it?
WILL: One other thing, since you were in the
quartermasters, was there a lot of black marketing going on? You’d hear stories about it but
you can’t stop it.
RUBIN: No.
RUBIN: One boy in particular in our unit was
going into townthat was in Rennes, France.
He’s walking into town and ran across a vehicle
that an officer was driving and it conked out on
him. The officer says to the GI, “Would you stay
here, there’s something wrong with my car. I’ll
send mechanics down to get it fixed.” So the GI
waited a couple, 3 or 4 hours there. Then it registered. So he went out. It was a vehiclehe
went out in the back of it and lifted up the back.
It was loaded with coffee. The officer was going
to make a killing. Well, see every vehicle that’s
in operation, there is __?__ in the operations,
company operations. It’s got a name on the front
of the bumper. So he took the name down
andI don’t know how long after that he found
out where that officer was located. He got permission to see the Commanding Officer. He
walked in to him, explained the situation and
says, “Now I’ve got $50,000 dollars in French
francs. I want it sent to my mother.”
RUBIN: We use to see some funny things going
on there. We had a 2nd Lieutenant in our company. He was as useless as that machine out there.
He was drunk all the time. We all covered over
for him because he was a good boy. But I neverany time a guy got drunk and I have to work
with him __?__ never had any use for him. (interruption by Will) because I’m not a drinker so
I don’t care whetherWe had a unit, Jim, that
was one of the best in France. The captain was
the head of the company. He used to get excellent reports and he didn’t do shit. He sat around
on a table and did the planning and delivery and
the supplying and that was it.
WILL: I think we’ve covered about everything.
Have you got any other comments or thoughts?
WILL: And got the credit?
RUBIN: Yes, sir. I would like to have him work
for me when I got out. That’s how good he was.
WILL: Do you remember any of your comrades
while in the service?
(Some of this is inaudible)
RUBIN: No, never.
WILL: Hear stories like that?
WILL: Like you said, they were all younger.
RUBIN: Oh sure. We hadthere would be endless amount getting back to supplying the area
that would supply food and clothing. We always
__?__ and we loaded them up and they’d take
off for where they were going to go __?__ distribution at night. Always traveled at night. The
biggest sight you ever got was as big as the machinery. Every once in a while one unit would
unit would break down and it would stop. We
had an officer in front and an officer in the back
of the jeep. The rest were in convoys. They
would mark the guy off as having problems.
Three or 4 days later he would come back to the
unit but he couldn't find his truck, you know
with all its equipment.
RUBIN: Well, you never made friends if you
didn’t go to socialswhether or not like you
didn’t go to the PX, sit down and drink beer.
Whatever they did well, that was all right with
me. I wasn’t __?__, I’m just like that the same
way now. You know, I’ve been a widower for
35 years. I have no family. Two months after my
wife passed away at the young age of 50, I
bought a business down here and I worked 24,
not 24worked 7 days a week, kept my nose to
the grind stone. I had no time to horse around.
WILL: What did you do right after the war,
when you got out?
�Max Rubin
RUBIN: Came back home and my late dad and
my brother were in the lumber business.
WILL: Okay.
RUBIN: We couldn’t get good lumber after the
war. So the various areas in the country, Uncle
Sam started selling camp buildings.
WILL: Barracks and stuff, right?
RUBIN: Right. Well, when my dad first started
in the lumber business he was getting his lumber, used lumber, from Chicago. But you
couldn’t get new lumber during the war. That
was all allocated. But when I got home, my
daughter was still working for him. It was easy
going, explained to me the measurements, what
various size was, and that sort of thing. She
learned how much lumber is in a 2 x 4s (Will
interrupts). So when Uncle Sam started selling
these buildings, the first place they went for sale
and I went along with them was these pre-fab
buildings down outside of Peoria. They had a
camp down there, Camp Ellis. We had 3 sectionswas a floor to make a 20 x 20 building,
floors. They had 2 sections each. They had a
bunch of them for sale down there and we put an
order in for a billion(?) and we got them. We
loaded them up down there. We didn’t have any
trouble where the sides were or anything and the
roofs were all in sections.
Page 13
RUBIN: So after that then we started building
the buildings. Well, I went from Camp McCoy
up in Wisconsin. I bought some buildings there
and go up there and hire guys and take them
down, board for board and I was selling them. If
you wanted to buy a building and you paid me to
take it down the lumber was yours. So I got sort
of athe biggest job I had was in 1956. I bought
12 buildings, standing warehouses, theaters, and
barracks __?__ at an old base in Orlando, Florida. My little wife was still alive. We were there
for six months. I had 200 million feet of lumber
to take down.
WILL: You got it done in 6 months. We’re sorry you had quite a struggle
RUBIN: Since then my wife passed away, of
course, __?__, my wife passed away and I
bought a junk yard down there on Kishwaukee
Street. It was an old junk yard, the owner had
passed away and had run it for years and years
and years but he had the only machine in Rockford that can compress a bale of carbide.
WILL: Okay.
WILL: They had torn them all down.
RUBIN: He had a crane operator, just a little
guy. In the first place take off the motor, take
off the __?__, take off the __?__ set it down in
the machine and squeeze half of it. Then he’d
lift it back up again __?__ so when we got all
through with it you had carbide in a package of
24” by 24” by 4 feet high.
RUBIN: They separated them by sections.
WILL: Compressed!
WILL: By sections?
RUBIN: I bought that company from the bank
who were the trustees for the estate. There right
behind me __?__ that I bought __?__.
RUBIN: Right. So that’s the beginning of the
deal of learning how to measure feet in 20 x 20
building or a warehouse or in the hospital. They
were small __?__ and that sort of thing. So we
learned how to measure the lumber and put bids
in. We were getting them. The ones that came
from Camp Ellis, those sectional ones, we had
no problem selling those. Anybody that wanted
a 20 x 20 house why __?__.prefabricated.
WILL: Right.
WILL: What was the name of it?
RUBIN: Rubin’s Junk Yard on Kishwaukee
Street. Just before you get to Broadway. The
Illinois Central was just up the street and
Broadway starts here __?__. So it’s down here
near to McDermaid Roofing Company.
WILL: Okay. So that’s the general area.
�Max Rubin
RUBIN: Yeah. I bought it, ran it for 6 years.
The Behr’s couldn’t run it. They had all kinds of
money but they didn’t have the machine. That
kept me going 6 days a week. I forgot roughly. I
had about 10 guys working when I first took the
place over. I chopped it down to 3 men besides
my brother-in-law. I wasn’t doing a big volume
business but I was making a dollar because if
you keep your overhead down, I don’t care what
kind of a business you got, if you keep your
overhead down, you’re bound to make a buck. If
you spend it by overhead you __?__. Well that
really ranI sold that place and then went on
my own. I’d been a follower government’s real
estate surplus.
WILL: Oh. Okay.
RUBIN: I bought a place in Winston-Salem.
Now this is after 1975, I bought an outfit down
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which is as
large as Barber Colman is down in South Rockford, if you know that area, used to be in the
middle of the citymillion dollars of equipment
there. Bought it and sold it to a guy that was
supposed to be a good manager. He was going to
check the place out and that sort of thing so
WILL: __?__
RUBIN: Yeah, I bought I started that, the bank
down there offered me three quarters of a million dollars for it. I wanted a million and a quarter because I had $3,000,000 evaluation with the
equipment in there. Anyhow this guy that I got
in there was going to rent out sections of it to
various companies and that sort of thing. Then it
got to a point where the payments were still be
made by me and he formed himself a closed
company. He signed me out of it instead ofI
was going to sell it to him and he was going to
take possession and transfer the title. I never
signed papers to that agreement and he claimed
he had a company that was going to buy it an
exclusive on it. So what he did, I signed the
agreement to sell it to a company. He in turn,
after I signed that, he took and scratched it out
Page 14
and put his name into it. He sent that to Uncle
Sam’s and Uncle Sam and Uncle Sam approved
it. I still have a case on that yet. Then I had a
lawyer in Chicago that was going to take the
case. He set it all up as a federal case and he set
it all up and it was put on the docket. It kept on
being stalled off and stalled off and stalled off so
I finally went to Chicago to the federal courts
there. I find out that the attorney that I had, had
just died.
WILL: Oh, my gosh.
RUBIN: He wasn’t disbarred on this particular
case of mine but he had been disbarred on something else. So now he had something going to
__?__ the case. You see, in the law if you don’t
start a law suit in a certain length of time then
WILL: (interrupts)
RUBIN: It all depends on what kind of case it
is. The statute of limitations, if you don’t start, it
is TSwe had already started it, it was on docket and its got a number and I’m working now to
get the case reopened. I’ve got a lawyer to handle it
WILL: Good for you. Do you have any more
comments?
RUBIN: Do you have any more questions?
WILL: Want to say goodbye?
RUBIN: So long, Jim. Nice to have met up with
you.
�
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
Max Rubin
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
Max Rubin
Date
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15-Mar-94
Description
An account of the resource
Born November 2, 1907, Max Rubin was drafted October 1943 by the British Army as a clerk. Died August 4, 2002.
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Midway Village Museum
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
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Maxine EckPage 1
Maxine ECK
Transcribed and Edited by Margaret Lofgren
Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Telephone 815 397 9112
�Maxine EckPage 2
Maxine ECK
Today is March 16th, 1994. My name is Jim WILL.
I’m a volunteer with the Rockford Museum Center
participating in a state wide effort to collect oral
histories from Illinois citizens that participated in
events surrounding World War II. We are in the
home of Maxine ECK who lives at 1944 Wisteria
Road in Rockford, Illinois. Maxine participated in the
war effort as a civilian on the home front during
World War II. We are going to interview her now
about her experiences.
WILL: Maxine, could we start off by giving your
full name, date and place birth.
ECK: My name was Maxine Kittinger and I was
from Warsaw, Indiana, in the heart of the lake region,
northeastern section.
WILL: You were born there?
ECK: Born there on the 6th month, 12th day, 1919.
WILL: Can you give your parents full names?
ECK: Yes. My father was Jud H. Kittinger and my
mother was Maud.
WILL: Her maiden name?
ECK: Her name was Maud Young from Watseka,
Illinois, originally.
War, the War of 1812, the Indian War, the Civil War,
fighting on both sides, World War I and World War
II. We’ve been involved in all of those.
WILL: Okay. Thinking back in the 30s before
World War II, what was life like back then?
ECK: Well, in our little town, Midway Village here
in Rockford, Illinois, reminds me somewhat of it.
This is on a much smaller scale. Life was very
simple. No one locked their doors. We had a general
trust in one another. I grew up in a very happy go
lucky atmosphere, I would say.
WILL: This was in Indiana?
ECK: In Indiana, uh huh. And no one was privileged
with a lot of luxuries and yet we didn’t miss anything
because we had never had to give up anything.
WILL: When did you graduate from high school?
ECK: In 1937.
WILL: Did you have a job after graduation from
high school?
ECK: Well, right after I graduated, before I went
away to school, I wrote for a newspaper part time. I
was the society reporter there and in Warsaw a fill in
and sort of a helper.
WILL: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
ECK: Yes. I had one brother. He came out of World
War II as a Major in the Air Force.
WILL: Do you remember the beginning of the war?
Say, for instance, before the war, do you remember
anything reading about what Hitler was doing over in
Europe? What are your opinions of that?
WILL: What was his name?
ECK: His name was William M. Kittinger. He was in
charge of all the aircraft from the Rocky Mountains
to the Smokey Mountains in the southern half of the
United States in air traffic control.
WILL: Is there any special things about your family
that you care to mention? I mean did your like for
instance did your parents did they immigrate over
here or were they born here?
ECK: No. On both sides of our family we are from
the original 13 states and have been able to trace our
histories to their involvement with the Revolutionary
ECK: Yes. We always took the Indianapolis Star and
the Chicago Tribune at my house so we were pretty
much aware. I remember before that all came up, we
were reading about the Great Wall in China. The
fighting of Chinathe Japanese and the Chinese
always fighting and quarreling and then the wall was
going up but as the war was coming on, I was
involved from 1938 to 41 in nurses’ training in
Chicago. I went right on to Chicago to school.
WILL: Okay. So you had your high schoolyou
knew what you wanted to do.
�Maxine EckPage 3
ECK: Yes.
WILL: Now for nurses’ training in Chicago, was that
two years?
ECK: No. It was three years with a month off each.
Once a year you could have one month off so
actually it was more than a four year college course
St. Luke’s Hospital was affiliated with Northwestern
University. A lot of our professors were from
Northwestern.
WILL: All right. When you graduated in nursing,
what happened after that?
ECK: Well, I was hiredI did private duty nursing
and for a little while, while I waited to hear from
American Airlines, because I had been interviewed
by them, they told meI graduated in May 1941 and
they told me that I would have a letter by July 8 th as
to whether I would be hired or not on American. So I
did private duty nursing and that was very interesting
in Chicago.
WILL: So in July of 41 you heard from them?
ECK: Yes. I called my hotel where I was living and
asked if there was a letter in my mail box from
American Airlines and they said, “Yes, there is.” I
said, “Would you open it and read it to me?” And
they told me I was hired and I was going to start
school at LaGuardia Field in New York. Very shortly
after thatI think in August maybe.
WILL: So in August …
ECK: I went to school and flew over to New York to
study.
WILL: How did they train you?
ECK: Well, we were taught quite a few things. As it
mentioned here in this paper we had flight, routing
people, miscellaneous types of conveyance to put the
air traffic control. We had food service, aeronautics
meteorology, ticketing, company procedure and
helpful hints to make passengers comfortable and
happy. Then we went on some preview flights to
observe and I went to Boston and to Memphis,
Tennessee and different place as an observer on the
flight to begin with. I had quite a remarkable
experience on my first flight that I was to take alone
as a stewardess. Would you like to hear about that?
WILL: Sure.
ECK: Well, it was always necessary to be in the
operations department for an hour before any flight
that you were assigned to fly. The flight plan was
being drawn up by the pilots with the meteorologist. I
knew that I was going to be flying non-stop from
New York to Chicago on my first flight so I told my
parents in Indiana when I’d be coming over
approximately on my first flight which was a night
flight. In New York we waited our full hour and at
the last moment I was put on the second section
which was to leave five minutes after the flight that I
was to be on. So we took off and the first flight went
out and then my crew and I left five minutes later and
when we got into Chicago, we learned that my flight
that I would have had went down over Niagara Falls.
A flock of wild geese went through the fuselage of
the plane and brought it down over Niagara Falls. So
my father was standing at his friends in the
newspaper office in Warsaw, Indiana, by the ticker
tape and he saw, as they were standing there, that
American Airlines flight such and such has just gone
down over Niagara Falls. Our plane came on into
Chicago and we waited 2 ½ hours for that flight to
come in and it never did. I called my parents and told
them that we had made it.
WILL: That was probablywhatin August,
September, maybe?
ECK: August, I think. Maybe September of 1941. By
then it was interesting to me in the flights that I was
starting to take that there was the talk of the war in
Europe and of Hitler and all of England being very
apprehensive as to what was going to be happening
next. France and all of the European countries were
very much alerted to Hitler’s activities. I was really
alarmed to see that we were cautioned to already start
rationing sugar in August and September of 1941
where President Roosevelt was saying in his
“fireside” talks that he was having that the American
sons would never have to go on foreign soil. Now
this was all before Pearl Harbor and I have a feeling
they knew.
WILL: Gee. This rationing-- what type of rationing
was it?
ECK: For one thing we carried little packets of sugar
that were placed on each tray that was passed out to
each of the passengers. If they didn’t use the sugar
then I was to retrieve those little packets and they
were returned for further use on other flights. That
was one of the things.
�Maxine EckPage 4
WILL: Do you remember any other rationing? Did
rationing have a big effect on your way of life?
on fire. We couldn’t believe it. We knew we had
been attacked by the Japanese.
ECK: Rationing did–—although I didn’t have a car,
one of my roommates had a car and as we got
involved in the war then, of course, we had to have
the stamps to get gasoline so that we all tried to help
her to find some tickets because she drove back and
forth.
WILL: What were your thoughts?
ECK: Well, we very alarmed because to be drawn
into another was with the Japanese as well as trying
to anticipate what would happen to us with the
European War, it seemed like it was a tremendous
thing to face.
WILL: So it did cut back on people’s activities.
WILL: Scared.
ECK: Oh, yes, it did. I had an uncle who was so
honest that when I went home on a visit once during
the war, he had a few extra gasoline tickets, stamps
they were called, and so he was so honest that he
passed them to me under a book in the living room so
God wouldn’t see.
WILL: Now these planes you were trained in. You
had class, I guess you called them. What kind were
they?
ECK: They were DC3s. That was the best and only
plane well not the only but it was the best
commercial plane in flight. We heard of some DC2s
that had been used prior to when I came on the line.
I’m not sure how many they had but those were all
disposed of by the Ferry Command. The Ferry
Command took them over and they were flying those
DC2s and some DC3s to across what they called the
“hump” to China, going across Africa and these were
pilots and people who were flying the Ferry
Command. We had quite a few friends. They wore
uniforms, too, and they were mostly made upthe
pilots were made up of those who had been rejected
by the commercial airlines. They had adequate
number of hours but for some reason they were
rejected by the commercial airlines so
WILL: You remember Pearl Harbor Day.
ECK: Yes.
WILL: Where were you? What were your thoughts
on that?
ECK: Well I wasat that time I was based in
Detroit. That was my first base for the airline and we
had gone out to Birmingham, a little suburb north of
Detroit, to spend that Sunday afternoon and evening
with a friend. There were four of us there playing
bridge and just listening to the radio. By evening time
it was started to come across the radio that Pearl
Harbor had been bombed and that a great part of our
fleet had been destroyed and it was in flames, it was
ECK: Mm. Hm. We couldn’t believe it.
WILL: Where you were stationed at at any time were
there military camps or anything nearby that you had
any association with.
ECK: Yes. The blackouts began and soon after
WILL: How soon did the blackouts begin? Right
after Pearl Harbor?
ECK: I’m not quite sure any more except that I flew
on the first blackout flight over Chicago. It was a test
flight to see how successfully they could blackout
Chicago, a city of that size, you know. The flight was
chartered by city officials and Jack Brickhouse did
the reporting from the airplane to the ground as to
how it was going and at the signal the whole city
became black below us as we circled around it. The
air traffic had kept the planes away so that we could
circle the city and it was a total success except for
one filling station on the south side of Chicago for
some reason forgot and it spoiled the whole black out
because on the top of the building it had printing
indicating what city it was. Every city that we landed
inBuffalo, Newark, Boston, New York City, of
course, Washington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, all had to be blacked out.
Our curtains were drawn on the plane before we
came into a field and no one was to even look out
those curtains. They stayed closed until the “all clear”
came when we took off again and was far enough
from the city, the captain announced that the curtains
could be opened.
WILL: This was just at night.
ECK: Uh. Huh. No all fields.
WILL: Daytime, too.
ECK: Mm. Hm. Then we went overwe were
carrying a lot of passengers who hadI’ve forgotten
�Maxine EckPage 5
what they called itvery high priorities to fly. It was
all military almost and then, well, people working
with the government officials and those working with
planes and everything that was being sent overseas.
Those people were the only ones. The higher priority
they held, they could bump people below them. So it
was very difficult to deal with people. You had to be
very cordial and nice and tell them that we’re
extremely sorry but they had to be removed at the
next landing because had a higher priority passenger
coming on board.
ECK: So whenever they commandeered one, I had to
take passengers to the hotel, feed them and then get
other transportation for them to get to their
destination.
WILL: Did most people understand, or not?
WILL: Just for a temporary amount of time and then
they returned them, I suppose
ECK: Well, I remember one perfume salesman who
was very belligerent and he fastened his seat belt and
said he refused to get off when he was to be removed.
WILL: This happened to you then.
ECK: Oh, many times.
WILL: What did the government do with the plane?
ECK: Well, they needed them for…
ECK: Well, as far as I remember, we didn’t see them
again. Maybe after the war they were returned. See a
lot of them were
WILL: High priority.
WILL: Maybe you just never flew in the same ones.
ECK: So he did. He leaned back in this seat and
strapped himself in and put his brief case and
everything on top of him and the __?__ agents had to
carry him off.
WILL: Oh, my gosh.
ECK: That was in Buffalo, New York.
WILL: Generally, most people understood, I
suppose.
ECK: Mm. Hm. It really made it very difficult for
them to go on but they had to get off. There wasn’t
any choice. The captain usually told me how many
I’d have to remove at the next stop.
WILL: Was American Airlines converted over, more
or less, towards helping military and the government,
outside of people bumping other people?
ECK: Well, no. Actually, all of our we remained a
commercial enterprise. However, if the government
calls for the number on the underside of the wing,
if they call it and we were in flight, wherever we
were in the United Statesif the government called
that plane serial number, then we had to land at the
first place on our route and we had to evacuate all the
passengers and turn it over to the government. They
took it from that point.
WILL: Oh, I see. They took the plane.
ECK: Well, see they were almost all painted, to
camouflage so they had toand they were
WILL: What colors?
ECK: They were usually painted a dark green or
camouflage like the colors of the country that they
were being sent to transport troopsdifferent colors.
WILL: I didn’t realize the commercial planes
ECK: Once when we were flying down over Tulsa,
Oklahomasee, the Air Force was training a lot of
their pilots very quickly. They hardly had very many
hours at all and they were turned over to fighter
planes and two Air Force planes collided right at the
tip of our wing right just over Tulsa, head-on and
burst into flame. Of course, we had to go down to the
field down there in Tulsa and the Federal Aeronautics
people came immediately to the area. You had to stay
at the field and it had to be closed until the
investigation was over.
WILL: That took quite a while?
ECK: It could take a day or two.
WILL: How about any memories of War Bond
drives.
ECK: I know we were all buying them every time we
got a chance and enough money saved up.
�Maxine EckPage 6
WILL: Did most people you know support these
fundraisers?
whole month at the Allerton which was a lovely hotel
out near the Water Tower Place, $40 a month.
ECK: Yes. We’d always go to the bank every time
we had enough money, like $18.50 I think was the
cheapest one, whenever we had saved up that much
money. See, salaries were much lower then.
WILL: Talking about the stamps, I can remember the
stamps and the coupon books but I remember these
little round cardboard tokens. What were they for?
WILL: Can I ask you how much you made?
ECK: Yes. As a stewardess and an RN I made $125
a month and when we were out on a flight, they
bought whatever meals were required away. We were
allowed, I think, .35 for breakfast, .50 for lunch and
$1.00, I believe, for dinner. Now this was going to
New York City, and all over. Some girls even
ECK: I’ve forgotten.
WILL: Little red cardboard
ECK: I don’t believe I remember what we had those
for.
WILL: I’ll have to ask my mother sometime.
ECK: Yes.
WILL: Probably was a lot of that, too.
ECK: Yes. And $125 a month and that gradually
raised a little bit.
WILL: Do you remember any victory gardens? Any
people have victory gardens that you knew of?
ECK: Yes. They had those in my hometown.
WILL: Did they seem to benefit people?
ECK: Well, I really wasn’t around enough to know
how they benefited.
WILL: You weren’t on the ground long enough. As
far as your friends and family, how did they react to
all these restrictions of rationing, victory gardens, to
fun raisers and so forth?
ECK: Sugar was very short and food stamps were
required for everything so there was not nearly as
much meat as we’d had heretofore for families. Meat
was shortvery severely shortin shortage and
sugar I remember and canning had become rather
hard. We always had a lot of fruit canned at our
house and with the limited amount
WILL: You did more of that then.
ECK: Mm. Hm. Butter was very difficult and I know
I went at least a year or so without getting any fresh
fruit and I know in a lot of the hotels where I ate, I
was sure we were eating horse meat. It just didn’t
taste like steak. It had a sweet taste to it, you know.
The Sherman HotelI lived in the Allerton Hotel on
the near north side in Chicago and my rent for the
WILL: During the warAfter the war started in 41,
did your interest increase or decrease in what was
going on? Were you
ECK: Well, we were very involved. I was very
involved with all of the areas of the army, navy, air
force, Marines, C-Bees and all of them. A lot of the
underground, French underground people, traveled
with us. Colonels, generals, their aides and we were
picking them up mostly at the coast line of
Washington D. C. or New York. I have flew to Fort
Worth and Dallas and taking them to all these
different fields, you know, as they were coming in
from being abroad and coming back or being shipped
out. The paratroopers, as I looked at my notes, were a
wild bunch of young men who felt that they had to
live for the moment, actually, because they weren’t
sure where they’d be landing and they really were a
bunch of kids who just thought there was no
tomorrow and they really lived it up.
WILL: When things weren’t going so well for the
United States in the early part of the war, especially
in the Pacific, did you ever fear the Japanese would
bomb the U. S. mainland?
ECK: Well, I think we were always aware of that and
we heard about the Japanese who had come to
California to live who were being put in the private
camps, you know, rather a concentration type of
camp. You know one thing I remember that Eleanor
Roosevelt traveled with me twice on my flights and
her son, James, had just married a nurse, too, and
although I heard that she didn’t approve of the
marriage, they were on my flight, too, a very
beautiful girl. And EleanorI also sat on a flight
between Chicago, a night flight, and Washington D.
�Maxine EckPage 7
C., with Steven Early who was the Secretary of State
and visited with him quite a bit.
WILL: Did you talk with Eleanor?
ECK: Oh, yes. And Mayor LaGuardia traveled with
me, too, and everybody was pretty much concerned
withThere were lots of people who were involved
in the war scene then and Eleanor was making
speeches here and there and she was writing a
column in the newspaper, too. Another colorful
person who was flying wasof course, there were
lots of senators, ambassadors and Congress people
and Frank Lloyd Wright who had designed a lot of
homes especially up here in Wisconsin and had done
building homes all over. He and I visited on one
flight to Washington D. C. Sat with him. Saw Jimmy
Doolittle several times down in the airport in
Indianapolis as we came in, Jimmy was out to greet
the flight.
WILL: Didn’t have to borrow a plane for his raid on
Tokyo, did he?
ECK: I’ve kind of got away from your question you
asked at that time.
WILL: Let’s see. Where were we? Oh, when things
weren’t going well for the United States. You
mentioned the Japanese out on the west coast. What
were your thoughts on that? Do you think they
deserved it?
ECK: Well, actually, we just knew that there were so
many things happening in the country and then with
everyone telling these stories as they came back or
when they were going. I was particularly interested in
a couple of peoplefellowsyoung men who were
involved with the French Underground and who
managed to survive and there were others from other
parts of the world who managed to survive and they
would tell me these tales that just were unbelievable.
WILL: These friends, did you keep contact with
them?
ECK: No. I didn’t. All this was happening in a very;
short period of time. You just see them, you’d meet
them, you’d talk and they were gone forever. There
were a lot of fellows, you know, when girls are
young, the fellows are interested and there were a lot
of Air Force people and people in theofficers,
young lieutenants and captains would leave me
presents at the different airports. I think theyone
lieutenant left me six pairs of hose at the Washington
airport and they __?__ service gave them to me.
WILL: These were nylons?
ECK: Uh. Huh. They had a way of getting things.
Now one wanted to send me a yellow monkey and I
said, “I have no place in the hotel to keep it” but they
just wanted to do things.
WILL: Was it real?
ECK: Uh, huh. A real one. I don’t know. Everyone
was sort of living like you must do it today, you may
not have tomorrow. And then I, of course, was
interested in the big jazz bands that came and went
and got to know a lot of them in Chicago. The
singersBillie Holiday was singing in there and
Frankie Trumbauer was with Bing Crosby’s brother
at the Blackhawk. I’ve forgotten what that Crosby’s
name was.
WILL: Bob?
ECK: Bob Crosby. Yeah. He was at the Blackhawk
and we’d go to hear the bands all over town and
everyone was in uniform, you know.
WILL: Now you mentioned all the east coast towns.
Did you fly much out on the west coast?
ECK: No. I flewsee since I had requested Chicago
as my home base so I could get to Indiana once in a
while, I flew to Washington, D. C., quite a lot by way
of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Elkins, Huntington.
Elkins was one of our stops on some of the flights
and then some of them were non-stop to Washington
and that’s where I met a lotI got to visitI was
invited to visit the National Press Club. Senator
Kefauver invited me to the House for breakfast
several different times but I never got there. I never
went.
WILL: Getting back to these black outsair raid
drills. Can you explain more on these aside the one
over Chicagothe first one?
ECK: We hadwe came in for ato land on a night
flight in New York City and as we were coming
indue to weatherwe were stacked up 18 deep
and we were on the top and then you could descend
1000 feet to come into the city, when each one made
their approach to the field, then we’d all lower 1000
feet. When we finally got inwe had come from
Chicago and you had enough gas to return to your
point of origin so we circled for a long time over
New York City. Finally had our chance to come in
and it was the black out then and we had to sit on the
�Maxine EckPage 8
run way there in New York City at the end of the run
way for over two hours until
WILL: Were they nerve wracking coming in without
lights?
ECK: We did come down with our lights. That
reminds me. We lost our lights over Cincinnati one
night. All of that electrical unit went out and we were
circling up over Cincinnati for quite a while and
TWA sent a plane up to find us. It was like hunting in
a bowl of vegetable soup and we came following on
its
landing
lights.
The
blackoutsHenry
CabotHenry Luce and his wife were on a flight
with me one night andHenry Luce was the editor
of the Time Magazine at that time.
WILL: Yah. His wife was the
ECK: What was she?
WILL: I forgot, too.
ECK: We’ll think of it. Henry kept peeking through
the curtains and we had to caution him not to do that.
He wanted to see what was going on outside on all
the fields with the planes.
WILL: I suppose you had a lot of people want to do
that.
ECK: Another thing that we had to do wasevery
landing during the war, we had topeople had to get
off during the time that we were on the ground and I
had to search the whole plane up and down for
bombs.
WILL: You had to or a member of the crew
ECK: I had to. Of course, the crew had to search the
cabin or I mean the cockpit and check it out but I had
to go through the whole cabin and look underneath
the seats. They told us they would be probably in the
form of a fountain pen. So that’s mostly what we
were looking for.
WILL: You never did find it.
ECK: I never did.
WILL: Gladly.
ECK: There are so many things, you know, after 50
years, that I’ve forgotten but I do remember that.
WILL: How aboutyou mentioned Eleanor
Roosevelt. How about Franklin Roosevelt? What
were your opinions of the President and some of the
other, your friends and family members. Did you
think he was doing a good job?
ECK: No. His fireside talks or chats, I’m not sure
which he called them the he had, I think every
Sunday night it was through the fall preceding Pearl
Harbor and on through a good part of the war, he was
reassuring people all the time, you know, and he
would quote that he was in constant touch with the
world leaders, Winston Churchill and he __?__ but
we were also hearing the rumors that was
disillusioning to young people, such as I was. I was
an idealist, that Franklin had his mistress, you know,
and when Eleanor came on board, I felt very kindly
toward her and had compassion toward her because
she was a very refined lovely educated woman, you
know. Once Eleanor was coming up the ramp and she
slipped and fell. She had all her books she was
carrying. She always had six or eight books with her,
you know, and she tried to read them all at once.
Franklin RooseveltI think we had hopes that he
was a good leader through all of this because our
country was in such a dangerous position. Being from
Indiana, we were all members of the GOP and having
always been a Republican, you know, I had my
qualms.
WILL: In general, I guess most people supported
him.
ECK: I think we had no choice. We depended on him
to see us through.
WILL: You didn’t change presidents in the middle
of
ECK: And he wasn’t well as you know. Later on
some of the things he signed our country
WILL: He must have kept that kind of quiet, too.
ECK: He was, of course, in a wheel chair and he was
bundled up and wheeled around every place he went,
you know. He was, of course, before the war, you
know, he was doing much more than they are doing
today with the CCC Camps and his getting the people
who had nothing to do at least occupied, you know.
The WPAI feel that I admired him for at least
putting them to some kind of work making them feel
useful.
WILL: Finding jobs for them
�Maxine EckPage 9
ECK: Mm. Hm.
WILL: Did you follow the progress of the war
through newspapers, movies, or magazines.
ECK: Mm. Hm. Many of them got those fungus
infections in their ears, you know.
WILL: Did you meet your husband during the
warafter the war?
ECK: Yes, we did.
ECK: Mm. Hm. During the war.
WILL: What were your sourcesradio
WILL: Was he a passenger?
ECK: Lots of people involved with putting out the
news, you know. Many people who wrote. I had an
opportunity to have a Cardinal come on aboard one
day. That was quite a thrill. Right in the middle of the
war. I’m not sure where he was bound for but he, a
Cardinal as I learned, you may probably know, wore
red entirely, a red cap, a red cape and we had to learn
how to adjust that. We had to know all of the titles
for nobility. Your Royal Highness. My roommate had
the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who was the king
who had abdicated and married Wally Simpson. And
then, you know, another interesting thing, too, was if
a seeing eye dog was to come on board, this
reservation was made ahead of time and food was
prepared especially for him and a special seat for his
master and you never went near the dog. I would then
take his food to his master.
WILL: That’s interesting. You never think about
things like that.
ECK: I know. We just had such a variety.
WILL: You mentioned your brother was in the Air
Force. Did you have any other close acquaintances
that were in the service?
ECK: Many. All my friends were involved with the
WILL: Do you keep in contact with them today?
ECK: Many got killed during the war. One of my
best friends went down in the Coral Sea. It was an
Air Force bomber. The whole crew was lost. Another
of my very best friends was flying as a navigator out
of England bombing Europe and came home with a
Purple Heart and many medals. My husband was
involved with the Navy in the South Pacific. He was
based in the Admiralty Islands in the New Hebrides.
There was so little action down in the New Hebrides
Islands that they just prayed for something to happen,
you know.
WILL: Getting bored down there.
ECK: Yes. He got on in Cincinnati. He was stationed
at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. We got
married during the war and my father told me that I
should wait but we got married thinking there’s no
tomorrow and he was gone within two to three
weeks. I was sent out on a flight and I only saw him
twice before he was shipped to the South Pacific.
Never saw him again for another year. He was the
only one at that particular time to be flown home
from Guam to go to midshipmen’s school at RPI in
Troy, New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
He went to become a midshipman at that school and
that’s how he looked when I first met him.
WILL: What were his duties?
ECK: He was in the medical corps. He was a
pharmacist.
WILL: He was a pharmacist. That’s what I am.
ECK: Really.
WILL: Yes.
ECK: Well, that’s interesting.
WILL: I’m a pharmacist at the hospital. So after the
war, how long did you Your husband was away for
a year. You hadn’t seen him for a year, you said. Did
he come home after the war or before the war ended?
ECK: Well, I know I was coming home on May 5 th I
think it was. Well, anyway D-Day came along. He
had enough points for a discharge but there was some
technicality, they thought he might have to go out
again It turned out that he didn’t so he was finally
discharged late in 1945, I believe, after the war was
over but I didn’t see much of him.
WILL: To back up a little bit now, when were you
married?
ECK: I was not married until 1943. I was one of
three stewardesses in the whole United States, all
�Maxine EckPage 10
airlines, who could be married and still fly providing
our husband was overseas.
WILL: They allowed that?
ECK: Yes. So then I signed up to fly with American
Airlines overseas based in the Azores. I was fitted for
uniforms to start that work and I got word that my
husband was being flown home from Guam to RPI so
Troy, New York, where his f0ather was born. That
happened to be where they were sending him to RPI
to school so I quit and went up to Albany, New York,
and became a nurse in the Albany General Hospital
in the men’s surgery.
WILL: You quit the airlines?
ECK: Uh. Huh.
WILL: Oh. Okay. In 44?
ECK: 45. I decided not to go on with American
overseas.
WILL: So you never did leave the country as far as
American airplanes.
ECK: No. We just flew into Windsor just a hop
across from Detroit, landed there. Up until a half a
year before I quit flying, I’d been around the worlds
45 times in mileage.
WILL: You never flew in one.
ECK: Since I have flown in a lot of big equipment.
And they always take me around and show me the
equipment when I fly. And the crews are very nice to
me as an old lady. They always present me with a
bottle of champagne. The girls come up and give me
a bottle with a big pink bow on it or something on the
flights.
WILL: Do you remember any of your old friends
that worked with you?
ECK: Yes.
WILL: Do you keep in contact with any of them?
ECK: The girls that flyno, I think I’ve lost all of
them now. We were all too scattered but I have kept
in touch with all of my original campfire sisters and
there are 17 of us left. We were organized when we
were 11 years old and all scattered. We had our 62nd
anniversary last summer. We’ve been friends since
we were 10 and 11 years old and they’re all over the
United States so we all went to the whole thing
together.
WILL: Does American Airlines ever have reunions
for
WILL: All in the United States.
ECK: They have an organization called the Kiwi
Club for the stewardesses and the Kiwis, you know,
have had their wings clipped so they don’t fly.
ECK: All in the United States.
WILL: Oh, that’s why
WILL: Did you ever wish you’d gone along with
you husband, if possible, as a nurse?
ECK: I don’t belong to the Kiwi Club but I have had
correspondence from them. Some of the pilots
ECK: No. I really liked what I was doing. We flew
80 hours a month and they’re still flying 80 hours a
month, today, with the larger and faster equipment.
Then with the flights being slower, they took longer.
We hadon the longer flights, we were out two
days. Like Fort Worthone day, and back one day
and then we had two days off between trips. We
could still fly our 80 hours a month.
WILL: How fast did they fly?
WILL: Now the planes. It was always a DC3 or did
they
ECK: Well, yes. All of the commercial airlines were
using DC3s then. However, in the hangars, at many
of the fields we went aboard the bombers, the B25s,
B52 bombers.
ECK: We flew between 160 and 210 miles an hour, I
estimated. Of course, they’re much faster now. They
turn the planes around and return to their starting
point. They may go much much further in the same
day but we knew quite a few of the crews who were
flying with the Ferry Command and they’d bring us
souvenirs back from Africa and they would bring
back a lot of tales from China, too. The people were
so anxious to get out of China that they would hang
on to the plane when it was taking off even. They
overloaded those DC2s. They crowded as many as
they could on and there’s just a threat that they’d be
coming down, you know. They’d even hang onto the
plane to try to go with them, so badly they wanted to
�Maxine EckPage 11
get away from China. One branch of the service that I
always admired were the Seabees. You’ve heard of
those.
WILL: Engineering?
ECK: Yes. Who always went in ahead of the other
branches of the service and prepared the way and I
felt those were really brave people. Then the Green
Berets, we had them on board quite a bit. We had a
lot of officers from other countries flew with us, too,
so there wereI had a charm bracelet, a silver charm
bracelet at the time and there were many people
whogenerals, colonels would take the insignia off
their shoulder and leave it at the airport for me for my
bracelet.
WILL: Oh, my gosh.
ECK: So I have that locked up in the bank. I have a
lot of memories from flying.
all the way to Texas. We carried so many young boys
and so many people. One interesting thing, I was
down in Elkins, Virginia, and it’s set down in the
midst of a lot of high mountains all around it and one
day this big B25 bomber kept circling around that
field and slowly came in. It was a small short runway
to bring a B25 bomber in but it came down and
descended and we were all out watching. The
mechanics were out there, all passengers were out
there, everybody from the airport and air traffic was
watching from the control tower, you know. Out of
this big plane stepped this beautiful woman with gray
hair and real trim in her WACs uniform and she was
a colonel in the Air Force, herself. She proceeded to
climb up on that engine and started taking it down.
The mechanics were just impressed with a woman
who could take this engine down and repair it herself
and take off again.
WILL: The plane was in trouble?
ECK: Uh. Huh. And she brought it in.
WILL: Along with these notables, did they ever fly
any enemy prisoners? They probably sent them by
ship, I suppose.
ECK: I don’t remember that. I do remember FBI
people being with us and I remember a flight that was
way laid in the air. We were unable to land at a field
for some reasonI’ve forgottenwe had to circle a
long time. A fellow who was an inspector of
gambling joints all across the United States, the big
casinos, he got up in the front of the cabin and
entertained people with his sleight of hand card
tricks. His fingers were so fast and one of them that
really intrigued me was he would just point to a
passenger and have him call out a card and he could
just raise that up out of a deck so quickly. I mean
he’d just have them pick a card and he could raise it
up and I do not know how he did that to this day. He
could shuffle cards with one hand and he was just so
quick. One day I was flying going through St. Louis
down to Texas and Dizzy Dean was on board which
would interest people, maybe.
WILL: Boy, you met a lot of nifty people.
ECK: Dizzy Dean was very outgoing and flamboyant
and he’d sit on the arm of the passengers’ chairs and
visit with them, you know, up and down. Then
King’s Ranch, Mr. King, the original King Ranch of
the big land spread, you know, in Texas, he would fly
with us quite often and stand in the middle of the
aisle and read all the way. He was a very small man
and he’d stand there and read his paper or magazine
WILL: How about propaganda during the war. Ever
hear anything about what you might have thought
was propaganda? Maybe printed or on the radio or
anything like that.
ECK: I’m sureI remember Tokyo Rose. We were
very much aware of what she was doing. I think they
thought she was an American college graduate. We
would hear re-broadcasts of what she was feeding out
to the
WILL: It said that thesome people say that the war
years were ‘fun time’ years for the Americans on the
home front. Have you got an opinion on that?
ECK: Being a young person, myself, I had some
enjoyable times. After I married and my husband was
over seas, my activities were confined mostly to the
hotel where I lived and activities there but we didI
would saygo to hear all the big bands and then, of
course, we were terribly disappointed when Glen
Miller was killed in the service. You just sort of had
the feeling life was sort of put on hold, it was sort of
temporary, you know.
WILL: I had one vet tell me that after it was all over,
it was one of the saddest days of his life. He had a
purpose then and all of a sudden there was none.
ECK: I guess it depends on what you went on to do.
�Maxine EckPage 12
WILL: Now you were out of the flying on VE Day
in May of 44?
WILL: Yes, I’ve heard that.
ECK: It was so sad but I admired Dr. Greeley.
ECK: Yes. I was out flying then and I had the
WILL: You were still flying then.
ECK: When VE Day came along, I was on my way
to Indiana. I resigned from the hospital and was
going home to Indiana for awhile and my husband
still didn’t know whether he was going to be sent
back overseas or what he was going to do so we were
sort of up in the air about that. As far as flying was
concerned, I had been flying since I was a little girl
of four. Whenever any aircraft came to our little town
of Warsaw, my father let my brother and me go up on
any kind of aircraft so I’ve been in big open cockpit
planes, old biplanes, monoplanes, seaplanes, every
kind of plane there was and I knew that I was going
to fly. I knew when I was a little girl I was going to
fly when I got big enough and my brother,
apparently, too, because we’d run out whenever we’d
hear a plane over head.
WILL: So the only reason you went into nursing was
to get into flying.
WILL: How about the atom bomb, when they
dropped that? What was you opinion on that? What
did you think?
ECK: We knew how devastating that was. That was
a tremendous thing. All I could think of was the plane
that carried the fellow who let the bomb go. What a
terrible responsibility and how badly he’d feel
afterward forever all his life. I had a Japanese student
living here with me year before last who was telling
me all of how it was from their angle. I stillthat
was a terrible thing to have happen.
WILL: Did you feel that way at that time or do you
feel that way now?
ECK: I felt that it was a necessary thing that they had
to do, that they wouldn’t have done it. I heard a lot of
criticism from people in the Navy. Admiral
McArthur. There was a lot of criticism. There was
quite a lot of criticism of the Red Cross during the
war, too, from the service people. Some of the things
you ask me just sort of come back.
ECK: Yes.
WILL: And after flying, you had a career in nursing.
ECK: Well, then I raised my family. Then I’ve had a
couple more careers after I raised my family. I’ve
retired twice and I’ve got my third job.
WILL: Do you remember VE Day? What happened
VE Day? Where were you coming into Indiana?
ECK: I think I have the feeling it was sort of like the
4th of July. It was just so unbelievable that it had
finally come to an end. We really were still hearing
of many places in Europe and all over where they
didn’t know the war was over. There was still
fighting occurring here and there. My doctor from St.
Luke’s, a man we were all so proud of, was a fine
plastic surgeon. He volunteered to go to San
Francisco or San Diego, I’m not sure, I think it was
San Francisco, and to meet the troops coming back
and do all of the plastic repair work he could do. He
quit his big practice there in Chicago and went to
give his time to these fellows who had been so badly
disfigured. I was really thrilled about that. There
were about two thousand of them, we heard, who
refused to come home. They just couldn’t have their
families see them. They stayed out there on the
islands.
WILL: After the atom bomb came VJ Day. Do you
remember where you were then?
ECK: Well that was in August, I think. We were out
in Indiana, Warsaw, Indiana. My husband had come
there expectinghe had received his orders to go out
again. He was just waiting for the assignment. Then
somehow they contacted him or he contacted some
headquarters and found he had enough points to be
discharged so we went to Chicago to celebrate with
another couple who’d beenthis fellow, a friend of
ours, had been in, where was this last war fought?
WILL: The Gulf War?
ECK: Yah, the Gulf War.
WILL: Iran?
ECK: He’d been in Iran for five years, Iraq or Iran
for five years. He was in charge of the entertainment
there and he was stationed there all that time and so
they went to Chicago with us.
WILL: Did you do any celebrating?
�Maxine EckPage 13
ECK: Yah, we did that. We celebrated with them,
went to Chicago and then my husband went back to
Cincinnati to his original job in the pharmacy there. I
stayed in Indiana until we could find some place to
live. It was very hard to find a place to live and rent
was so hard to come by so we moved in with his
brother who had an apartment and then he moved
away and let us have his apartment. I think that’s how
we got it. My brother was discharged from the Air
Force, too, and he came home as a major in the Air
Force.
WILL: What was your job after the war? Did you
stay in nursing?
ECK: No. Then I became a housewife and raised my
family.
WILL: Okay. That’s one of the toughest jobs.
Looking back over the past fifty years, do you feel
that social changes that had begin developing during
the war years, in general, was it good for the people,
good for the nation, good for you and your
familiesover the fifty years, the changes.
ECK: You mean do we feel the 2nd World War was
worth it?
WILL: Well, no. Different changes as far as women
working
ECK: Well, I knew quite a few people during the war
who were working in the war plants and felt they
were doing their part. I think that women have
asserted themselves more as they did have an
opportunity to serve in World War II and were
proven to be useful in their jobs. I think women have
made progress through the years to prove to
themselves that they can do more things and I think
men are gradually becoming more acceptive [sic:
receptive] for the fact that they are capable people
holding jobs. I have seen jobs that were held by men
now being taken over by women, particularly in
broadcasting.
WILL: I think the major social change most women,
getting out from the house, out in the work field and
so forth.
ECK: Now they’re almost doing it too much. I think
they have been liberated to the point where they have
become irresponsible, in a way, to their families.
Although, to me, the most important assignment a
woman can ever have is to raise her children properly
and supervise them and to be there when she’s
needed and then do what she is capable of doing.
WILL: Well, I think that about winds it up. Is there
any last thought you might want to add.
ECK: No. I do think that that was one of the
highlights in my life to be able to be a part of the
(The tape ended here.)
�
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
Maxine Eck
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
Maxine Eck
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 16, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born June 12, 1919, Maxine Eck served as an army Nurse from 1941 to 1944.
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2
-
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ff400f2c25ba053b6dfa07906888acbc
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Mead Building, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Colorized photo of the corner brick building.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
75.59.5
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Mead Building
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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ceed8375dd8adffb950fa2780f9e9c48
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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Mead Building, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
"Issued monthly by D. R. Mead & Co., Rockford, Ill. Largest House Furnishers in Northern Illinois."
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
D. R. Mead & Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).87
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
D. R. Mead & Co.
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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7fcf285a0ce38d9124c171948bf970d1
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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Mendelssohn Hall, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
With Opie Bros. on awning below and advertising Buck Cigars to the right.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
78.175.18
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Opie Bros.
Rockford Illinois
West State Street
-
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d39b049b52a0b7547da9d85d3351efbe
PDF Text
Text
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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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Nels Gunnar Fransen
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
Nels Gunnar Fransen
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born February 10, 1924, Nels Gunnar Fransen joined the Air Force as a pilot. He died May 31, 2010.
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2
-
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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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
4.25" x 5.75"
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
Nelson Hotel
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wilson Bros. Co. Printers
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).923 8 of 12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Description
An account of the resource
This card is in a booklet stamped "Souvenir Letter: Views of Rockford, Ill." The Nelson Hotel, a formidable corner building, also boasts a pharmacy, a barbershop, and a cafe beneath the awnings lower right.
Midway Village Museum
Nelson Hotel
Rockford Illinois
West State Street
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
North Main St. from Ashton Bldg., Rockford, Ill.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1915
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).82
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Ashton Building
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
North Main Street, looking North, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
A wide street vista lined with stately homes and abundant trees.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wendell Stationery Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).455
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
North Main Street, looking South, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
On the left: Johnson & Johnson, Drugs & Soda, Robert L. Beatson Kuppenheimer Good Clothes, Legal Loan Co., Madelon Beauty Salon, the Palace Orpheum Cinema Vaudeville & Photoplays featuring "A Thief in the Dark"; Schrom's on the right.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
C. T. American Art
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
81.136.173
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Johnson & Johnson
Legal Loan Co.
Madelon Beauty Salon
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Palace Orpheum Cinema
Robert L. Beatson Kuppenheimer
Rockford Illinois
Schrom's
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
North Main Street, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
An extremely tree-lined and shady street scene.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
E. C. Kropp Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1907
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).453
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
North Main Street, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Color scene with a stone building in left foreground, and what appears to be possibly a brick street with thick rows of trees shading a line of homes.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).456
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Orpheum Theatre, Inside Entrance, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
A view depicting the ornate interior of the Orpheum Theatre.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1908
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).593
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Orpheum Theatre
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Park Ave., looking West from North Main St., Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Color rendering with brick church on the right.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).485
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
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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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
4.25" x 5.75"
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
Post Office
Description
An account of the resource
This card is in a booklet stamped "Souvenir Letter: Views of Rockford, Ill." This depicts the Post Office with its turret and two archway entrances.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wilson Bros. Co. Printers
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).923 3 of 12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Post Office
Rockford Illinois
West State Street
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Post Office, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
"Erected 1933 at a cost of $750,000, this post office serves a community of over a 100,000 population. Rockford is Illinois' second industrial city and second largest machine tool center in U. S. A. Founded in 1834, this city has grown to be the third largest in the state."
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Rockford Wholesale Paper Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1933
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).212
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Post Office
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Post Office, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Colorized rendering of the United States Post Office main installation in Rockford Illinois.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Quality Paper Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1933
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).213
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Post Office
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Post Office, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Color graphic rendering with automobiles parked at the curbs in the streets on two sides of the building.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
E. C. Kropp Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1933
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).216
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Post Office
Rockford Illinois
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Printing Office of the Theo. W. Clark Company, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Color rendering of the building's corner structure, listed on the back as being at 311 S. Main Street.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1911
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109.825
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
Theo. W. Clark Company's Printing Office
-
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PDF Text
Text
Ray EricksonPage 1
Ray Erickson
Transcribed and Edited by
Margaret Lofgren
For Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
�Ray EricksonPage 2
Interview with Ray Erickson of Rockford, Illinois, about his World War II experiences.
Don Marston is the interviewer and this is being
recorded on March 23rd, 1994.
DON MARSTON: When were you born Ray?
RAY ERICKSON: March 30, 1919.
DON MARSTON: Ray is going to tell about
his experiences being accepted into the service
and his experiences in the war. We’ll turn it over
to Ray.
RAY ERICKSON: Thank you. Starting out
with the drafting of men into the Armed Services, right after the war had been declared all
men between the ages of 18 and 40 had to register with their local draft board, which had hastily
gotten created. Each man was then assigned a
number and all these numbers were tossed into a
giant fish bowl type of thing. The numbers were
picked from the fish bowl, one by one, in a sequence to determine when you would be called
up by the draft board.
As the Armed Services sent their requirements
for men to the various draft boards, evidently I
wound up with a very, very high number sequence. I would not be called for a long time.
Most of my friends were called in two or three
months after first registering having had low
numbers. They were in the army when they used
broomsticks instead of rifles.
My number wasn’t called until April of 1944. It
was June of ’44 before I was processed into the
Army. At that time I was working at Woodward
Governor Company, what they classified as a
vital defense industry and I probably could have
gotten deferment on that cause if I had applied
for it. By that time it had become quite embarrassing for me to even go down town with my
wife. Remember I used to go down town on Saturday nights. I was one of the only young people
down town wearing civilian clothes. It became
embarrassing. All the Camp Grant boys in town,
walking around looking at me, “What’s that guy
doing?” Anyhow, on June 6, I walked away
from my Loves Park house with my wife and
daughter waving a tearful good-bye to me. I took
the bus to the Illinois Central Railroad station on
South Main. From there on in I was in the hands
of the army.
We went to Chicago. From there on north to
Fort Sheridan, about twenty miles north of Chicago, a large induction center. Typical of normal
procedure, guys from Sheridan area were sent to
Camp Grant for induction and guys from Camp
Grant were sent to the Sheridan area. At Sheridan we had more extensive physical tests and
also mental tests.
I recall a beefy red faced sergeant who was interpreting the results of my mental test saying to
me, “From what the results of these tests show,
you should be a general but right now Uncle
Sam needs privates and that’s where you’re going”. WHAM with a rubber stamp. Woodward
Governor had always been test happy and I had
taken a mental test, quite similar to this one the
army aptitude test put out, two or three months
previously to the one Woodward Governor had.
I had an edge upon on them. I knew a few answers.
They processed us for three days then sent us
home for a weekend to report back on such and
such a date. After a week-end at home I returned
to Fort Sheridan again for four days of army
processing and actual swearing in.
We boarded a train at Fort Sheridan one evening
and after all night and next day and following
night arrived at our destination that was some
place in Florida. We were then trucked to Camp
Blanding a basic training camp situated in the
swampiest snake infested area of Georgia interior, Florida interior, about fifty miles inland from
Jacksonville.
As soon as we got off the trucks the camp cadre
non-commissioned training officer started to
throw the fear of God into us. They soon let us
know they were going to do their damnedest to
make soldiers out of us or destroy us in the process, which they did made soldiers out of us.
Blanding was very hot and very humid but nevertheless each day started out with a two-mile
�Ray EricksonPage 3
speed hike that was walking thirty seconds and
running thirty seconds. Each day one or more
would collapse during the hike of heat exhaustion then the cadre would drag them to the side
of the road and the rest would carry on.
At the end of the hike, breakfast was served if
the mess sergeant could witness you swallowing
the two required nauseating salt pills. All meals
were hectic but breakfast was the worst. The
food was served family style, bowls on the table
and the hillbillies (I don’t know if I should say
that) who comprised most of the company
seemed never to have eaten before. If you didn’t
get your milk or cereal before one or two seconds had passed then forget it. Some hill-billy
had it. This happened every day like that.
Daytime was full of endless close order drills,
calisthenics, and stupid classes. We would sit on
the ground for all these classes. A few minutes
after they were over some lieutenant would
come around with an eight-foot rattler he had
just shot in the area where we had been sitting. I
worried more about the coral snakes, much more
poisonous than rattlers and much harder to spot
being only twelve to sixteen inches in length.
The cadre treated us all like we were idiots and
of course some of us were. We had a lot of guys
from South Carolina and Alabama to come in.
Most of these people were illiterate. In my hut
were six men. Only myself, and a little Italian
guy from Chicago, could read or write. I was
elected to read and write the letters for the other
four guys and I suppose someone else did the
same at the other end.
After six weeks we were allowed weekend passes and I think I went once into Jackson and then
once to St. Augustine. The South Carolina boys
headed home and then always returned with
their bottles of “white lightening”. This was way
before my drinking days. One swallow of this
stuff it would knock me out for the night.
The final week of basic training consisted of
what the army called bivouac. That was living
out in the open more or less off the land. The
first shovel of dirt that I turned over when starting to dig my foxhole revealed dozens of king
snakes from two to thirty-six inches in length,
harmless, but nevertheless they did not make it
pleasant sleeping. To make things worse, the
next day a hurricane struck Florida and we spent
the rest of the week trying to keep warm and
dry. When basic was finished, twelve weeks that
is, we got a ten-day furlough to return home before going on to the next camp. However, some
stupid clerk had overlooked the fact that I needed glasses installed in my gas mask. This was
very upsetting to me at the time but it probably
was a lifesaver. Kept me from getting to Europe
in time to get caught in the Battle of the Bulge.
In that battle everyone in Company G of the 79th
Division was either killed or captured. But for
that clerk’s mistake, I might not be here taping
this record.
After ten swift days at home I was to head for
Fort Meade, Maryland, a gathering spot for
troops heading overseas. My father came down
to see me off at the train station in Chicago. It
was good to see him.
My only memory of the three-day stay at Fort
Meade [is] a record of the Inkspots singing “Into
Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”. My barracks
was next door to the canteen and soldiers were
arriving and leaving all hours of the day and
night. The canteen never closed.
Then north to Camp Miles Standish outside of
Boston. The first night there they bussed us into
Boston. I wound up with some guy that seemed
to stick to me like glue. I cannot recall his name.
Anyhow, I went to a fancy restaurant and ordered their turkey dinner. Having had one or two
drinks before hand, I could not finish my meal. I
left part of a huge drumstick on my plate. Many
were the times in Europe when I longed for that
delicious drumstick setting on that plate back in
Boston.
The second and last night at Standish I and this
same nut were called up for guard duty at the
paymaster’s office. The Army always paid wages in cash. This being the night before payday
the office had a lot of cash on hand. We were
given Thompson sub machine guns but not really given much in the line of instructions as how
to use the guns. In the wee hours of the morning,
�Ray EricksonPage 4
I got curious and took off the safety forgetting
that I still had my finger on the trigger. I stitched
a hole in the door up to the ceiling. That thing
just rose before I could shut the damn thing off.
The lieutenant Officer of the Day came in. He
was ready to kill me. The only thing that saved
me he said was the fact that I was shipping out
to Europe that day and they needed live bodies
over there.
That morning they trucked us to the dock
crammed us into the ship and after a few hours
of useless waiting, we sailed out on the calm
harbor. Before we left the harbor I got seasick
and I remained so for twenty-four hours of the
next ten days it took us to get to France.
This was a large ship. It had formerly been a
passenger ship on the South American run but
now all holes, dancing holes, all swimming
pools, etc. had been converted to hammock
strung bunk holes. My bunk was four flights
down the lowest hold and I was second from the
floor in a tier of seven high bunks. Being this
low made be very vulnerable to splashes when
the guys above me leaned out of their bunks and
vomit which happened day and night.
The next morning going up the deck I could see
literally hundreds of ships of all sizes and descriptions. We had joined a convoy during the
night and this was a very thrilling sight to see.
All the troop hauling ships had Navy men manning the anti-aircraft guns on board and one of
them even told me the ships __?__ was continually circling the convoy and darting in and out of
the perimeter were Navy destroyers. The second
night out the destroyers began dropping depth
charges. The noise that came through the hull
and the vibrations was tremendous. Evidently
they either got the sub or scared them off because we never lost a ship in the convoy.
The next morning a hurricane struck. The next
following three days was up and down, roll left,
roll right, tempers growing __?__. It is impossible to conceive the power of the sea unless you
have seen it. Also impossible these metal man
made ships could stand up to the battering the
hurricane gave it. The first day of the storm we
were not allowed to go on deck. It abated some
the second day so we took turns spending some
time on deck lying flat on your back. On the upper most deck was a place that seemed to ease
my rotten stomach the most as the ship plowed
through the storm. You could see the sea fifty to
seventy feet above your head and the ship would
roll 30 to the right and then to the left. You
could see the water fifty feet below. Almost impossible for that damn ship to stay afloat. At this
stage a lot of us didn’t really care.
That night with typical army fore sight, they
served spaghetti for the evening meal. The cooks
would slam the stuff in the mess kits and soon
we walked to the line the ship would roll 30 to
the left and we’d hit the deck with the spaghetti
flying through the air. The mess hall was completely covered with spaghetti with GIs sliding
helplessly back and forth upon it.
After ten days of this nonsense we arrived at
LaHavre, France in the dark, of course. We then
proceeded to load about two thousand men into
landing barges that could not possibly hold one
thousand for the trip to the shore. Being the
smallest of the pack, I literally thought I might
be smothered to death but some how I managed
to breathe enough to sustain me ’til we arrived at
the dock. I cannot recall how we spent the remainder of that night but the next morning they
marched us a short distance to a railroad yard
where three or four tracks of French box cars
were standing. “Hit the box cars” they shouted
and we all headed for what looked to be the
most sturdy of these little cars.
Another typical army __?__ of 0the week,
someone got the great idea of scrounging up
wood throughout the railroad yard. We all
rushed out to get any type of wood that looked
burnable and proceeded to get a fire going in the
corner of the boxcar. These cars were all wooden as was the floor but we did not have a furnace. The floor would have to do. This fire lasted two days before it burned through the floor.
Then we just moved to a different corner and
start another fire. It was wintertime in January.
This turned out to be a three-day and night trip.
We seemed to be stopping more than we were
going. It was obvious the army was able to con-
�Ray EricksonPage 5
duct a fighting war without this bunch of raw
recruits. The strange part about our railroad trip
was that the guys in our box car __?__ with me.
This was a “C” ration-trip a lousy can of cold
stews. Any time we stopped near a village, we
rushed there searching for better or anything else
they might have to eat. The villagers were always happy to see us but they seldom had any
food for us. I looked in one __?__ it was literally
ankle deep in “C” ration cans and “C” ration
boxes. I could not imagine how they’d ever get
those tracks cleaned up. At the end of the line,
ours that is, we were trucked someplace up in
the __?__ mountains to a repo-depo, replacement depot. This was a gathering place for the
new members to be distributed to the company
to replace the casualties. My vague memory of
the repo depot was a big guy continually striding
around shouting how tough we had been at the
Anzio Beachhead and what he was going to do
to the Germans the next chance he got. Believe
it or not, this lovable bantam wound up as an
ammo bearer in my mortar squad. His name was
Wimpy and he came from some place in New
York state. I did not learn his name until fortyfive years later, Raymond Jennings, when I
tracked him down in Styrevant New York. He
was always good for a laugh and maybe sympathy. As I said, the boxcar boys and I ended up in
G Company the 314th Infantry, the 79th Division
and then luckily in the weapons platoon. I say
luckily because the weapons platoon was always
fifty to one hundred yards behind the rifle platoon the guys that really had the __?__ of the
enemy.
The weapons platoon had small mortars, 60mm
and small machine guns, thirty caliber. This was
as compared to the weapons Company "H" that
had 81mm mortars and fifty caliber machine
guns. Back of them some place was artillery
with 90s and 105s. While our artillery had the
edge in caliber size, the German eighty-eight
caliber artillery had a superior muzzle blast and
that is what caused the most destruction. There
88s were devastating. When I joined G Company they were stationed in a farmhouse that was
back of the front line. This was mid southern
France at the edge of the [Auvergne] forest. G
Company was in reserve at the time. That night
a fellow named Arthur Cubadore(?) and myself
were appointed to stand guard duty. For some
reason this was not a regular two on and two off
duty. Cubie and I were on guard all through the
night. We could hear the cranking of tank treads.
Then airplanes dropped flares that really lit up
the countryside. Shortly thereafter Sergeant
Pittman our platoon First Sergeant came around
and told us the tanks we heard were German and
the flares dropped also were German. He also
told us not to worry. We were well over a halfmile back of the front lines. Our only trouble
would be if they dropped paratroopers, which
they did. As this was both Cubie’s and my first
introduction to war we developed a close bond
between us that lasted throughout the entire conflict.
Sergeant Pittman was a small guy, just a shade
taller than I. He was a regular army guy having
been in for twelve years already. He seemed to
be very well in charge of himself and all the platoon business. The next morning he gathers together for introduction to our new platoon leader
Lieutenant Henry Cullom. The lieutenant was a
raw recruit just as we were but he presented a
very competent man. I think we remained in this
area for two or three days before they started us
north by foot and by truck; mostly by foot. The
rain was constant and the mud was deep. So
along this march I threw away my overcoat and
also my gas mask. At this point I had become
only a foot soldier needing only a mess kit, rifle
and shovel and my particular of the mortar, that
base at that time. Everything else was useless (I
don’t know if I should tell this or not)
Here I can begin a chronological account the
reason being that I had written the following
down about thirty years ago when it was fresh in
my mind. The paper had become yellow with
age so I am duplicating it here.
February 23rd, 1945: After our truck driver had
dropped us off expressing his great happiness
that we were heading forward while he was
heading backward we stormed up the road to the
first farm house, cut across the field and back to
the barn. I was wearing a fur pilot jacket beneath
my field jacket and the sun was shining. It became hotter than hell. I was sweating profusely
�Ray EricksonPage 6
carrying a forty-five pound mortar base plate,
my nine-pound M-1 rifle plus everything else I
owned. The field was full of dead cattle and only
a couple of live goats wandering around bleating
plaintively.
Word was sent back to walk in the footsteps of
the guy ahead of you, as there was danger of
land mines. Being the fore guy I was #1 in the
column. I can’t recall of any more terrifying than
the thought of you might be walking through a
mine field. With every step your imagination ran
wild. Between my sweating, the weight I was
carrying thinking about land mines, it was not a
pleasant afternoon stroll.
About one-half mile further on the lieutenant
sent the machine gun squad straight ahead then
led the mortar squad to the right around a small
barn into a small patch of woods. Climbing
through a wire fence, I stumbled and the edge of
the mortar base plate hit me in my stomach driving what little wind I then had out of me with a
rush.
Beyond the woods we dragged ourselves
through a knee deep swamp for about five
minutes and then emerged on the edge of a
cleared field with a full view of a village about
two or three hundred yards ahead. Sergeant
Pittman and the Lieutenant took off running towards the village and beckoned us to follow.
Sergeant Powell, my squad leader, took off running following them and I turned to Wimp and
said, “Stay here Wimp until I catch up with
them. I can’t try to run now. I’m too winded”.
He nodded his head and I started off. I got about
half way to where the Lieutenant was crouching
and all of a sudden the war started for me. I
heard the “zing” of bullets around me and then
the crack of the rifles from the village and I suddenly realized that those guys were shooting at
me. At this point I was not the least bit frightened but I did quicken my pace somewhat heading for a small screen of shrubs where Sgt. Powell was burying his face in the mud. Powell was
visibly shaken and he told me to take the barrel
from him and set up the mortar. By the time I
got that completed, our four ammo bearers had
arrived to our spot. The bullets were snapping
through the brush around and over us so heavy
nothing better to do than imitate Powell and
bury our face in mud also. Bill Montgomery was
a platoon runner for the event He carried the
walkie-talkie. He was about twenty feet and he
shouted, “Hey, Erick, I’m getting a blow by
blow account on the talkie and the Krauts are
pulling back across the river”.
Each company man __?__ their high explosives
and sent in smoke to cover the riflemen that are
moving into town. Suddenly Sergeant Powell
lifted his face from the ground and screamed,
“That’s coming in”. A second later the shell hit
with a tremendous noise about fifty yards or so
to the rear. I thought if that’s artillery Coming at
me, it’s not really too bad. How wrong could
you be? Above the constant crack of the small
arms and the whining of bullets the high pitched
scream of the aviates started again. This one
landed somewhat closer to the rear. They kept
coming in each time landing nearer. By now I’m
getting scared. In fact, I’m terrified. Each one of
those 88 shells seemed to be heading right for
the middle of my back. The few seconds between their whine and their landing seemed to
be an eternity. Here comes little Sergeant
Pittman walking along gathering up some __?__.
“It seems like you guys are pinned down”. The
lieutenant was following Pittman. You could tell
he was just as scared as we were but little
Pittman behaved as if he was going to a Sunday
school picnic.
When the artillery shelling stopped, Lieutenant
Cullom told us to withdraw back across the field
about a hundred yards from a small creek bed
and set up the mortar there. Sgt. Powell took off
like a bat out of hell leaving the mortar, his jacket and his carbine for the rest of us to carry. I
broke down the mortar, picked the barrel and
gave the base plate to Wimp and told the rest of
the squad to head back to the creek. I was the
last guy to leave the spot. I was still too tired to
run. Hunched over I made the safety of the creek
bank. By then Sgt. Powell had become useless
frantically trying to dig a foxhole and sobbing
loudly and shaking like a leaf in the wind.
Collum saw him and told me to take over the
squad using Cubie for the assistant gunner and
he would get us another ammo bearer tomorrow.
�Ray EricksonPage 7
He had me set up the mortars then and await
further instructions.
I started to dig a foxhole near the creek bank.
Then I was so tired I seemed to spend more time
resting than digging. Now and then an 88 shell
would come in not landing too close to us and
Sgt. Powell would dig like a mad terrier. As the
shells kept coming closer, he curled up in what
little hole he had and implored me to dig around
him. That night I got the distinction of being the
first man to dig a foxhole around another man.
through what dresser drawers we could find that
had not already been cleaned out. It seemed that
Gerry had taken most everything of any value.
We did get a look at the Ruhr River with a very
quick __?__ looked quite deep and approximately fifty yards across.
We had only occasional 88 shells dropping in
throughout the day. Of course, they new the exact range because they had been living there only the day before but in spite of that, we did not
have any casualties.
Thirty to forty minutes later I got both mine and
Powell’s foxhole completed looking forward to
a very miserable night of sleeping in the mud
and wondering if the Krauts would be counter
attacking. As usual the walkie-talkies were not
working. The company runner come around and
told us the village had been taken plus __?__ we
were to move on in to town. Somehow in the
dark we found a house complete with mattresses
and blankets. Fantastic compared to sleeping on
that muddy creek bed. Cubie and I volunteered
to the first shift of guard duty. He’d go in the
front and I’d go in the back. Before entering the
village we had been warned to be on the lookout
for boobie traps. I was quite relieved to get out
of the house for a while. By now it had begun
raining and then turned into sleet. The snow and
cold wind. I had now wished I had not thrown
away my overcoat. I had been at the post for a
short while when orders came down to dig in the
mortar for a counter attack. Digging in the mortar means a hole about four feet in diameter and
two or three feet deep, one tough job for a very
worn out little soldier with a small shovel. I had
never, never ever experienced such tiredness
before that. I soon found out was one of the
worst things about war. The eternal exhaustion
was almost as bad as the constant fear of death.
That night or the next morning Wimpy awakened me at 2 a.m. as I was going on guard duty
with Russ Osborn(?) another mortar squad leader. It was dark as pitch and awfully quiet and
Russ and I got the post on the edge of some
nearby woods. Russ and I were worrying about
one of the 35th Division men had told us early
that evening about Gerrys had sent a combat
patrol in the village a few nights ago and they
had taken town from the 35th. The 35th Division
is the one we replaced on the front line in this
sector. The 35th had taken this town twice before
and twice before had been kicked out again by
the Krauts. Evidently this was __?__ ground
fighting defense on the Ruhr River. Our guardship was uneventful. When we returned to our
house at 4 a.m. the lieutenant was there and told
us we’d have to spread out the platoon. The captain did not want too many men concentrated in
one location. That meant another search by Max
for booby traps. We found none but did find a
cellar with only six inches of water on the floor.
We also found two beds that stood high and dry
in the basement so my squad had good sleeping.
Remember two out of six guys were on guard
duty so we only needed sleeping room for four.
The only thing we took off is our shoes and
some guys did not even do that.
Walking all through the day carrying such a
heavy load, digging holes and never getting over
two hours of uninterrupted sleep besides worrying about those other bastards out there trying to
kill me.
February 25th 1945.Montgomery __?__ and
Cubie __?__ 04:00 hours. It was our turn to go
on guard. We spent two cold miserable hours
with only a few flares coming down on the
German side of the river and some of their aviates dropping in around us just as though they
wanted us to know they were still over there.
Coming off guard at 06:00 we awakened the rest
of the platoon broke open our K-rations made
February 24th, 1945: this day, our first in the village dawned raining and cold. We spent the
whole day just loafing around and looting
�Ray EricksonPage 8
some instant coffee, ate our biscuits and began
feeling a little more human again. About 7:30
the lieutenant came around and said we could
move closer to the river so there goes our __?__
and __?__ beds. A land tree had been felled
across the road. Probably as a tank stopper and a
dead Kraut was lying back of it. He must have
been hit by automatic fire because his chest was
a mass of dried bloody holes. Such a young man.
Such a waste. About a hundred yards or so to the
left in a field were the bodies of two young GIs,
casualties of mine __?__ They could not be removed until the field had been cleared of the
mines.
right in his face the next time he lit the pipe. I
can remember that _____?_____.
We had a hill billy named Moran with us. I think
he was from Alabama. He was a member of the
machine gun squad. He smashed his rifle butt
into the dead German’s mouth and removed
some gold teeth that he had knocked loose. The
last time I saw this cold tough guy was about
one week later. He had crawled underneath a
tank and was screaming for help ___?___ at that
time. We went about half way through the village when Lt. Colman had directed to what
looked like a combination store and a house. He
told us to dig in the mortar in the back yard and
make sleeping arrangements. Colman moved in
what must have been the kitchen. We moved in
the hall across from that. The house had been
ransacked by Germans but Wimpy and I were
able to find five mattresses on the second floor
and we dragged them down to the first floor.
Then we even managed to find clean sheets in
some drawers upstairs. We could make up the
beds just like the comforts of home. The sheets
on our room did not stay clean very long as Sgt.
__?__ came tramping in all over them. He never
removed his shoes. Joe wanted was tap, ale a
just retreat.
The army expected lot stiffer resistance once we
got into Germany after our fake smoke attack we
loaded our trucks and headed north winding up
in Belgium a couple of days later. When the army moved up to Belguim it never moved in a
direct line the fastest way. There were always
stops and delays to keep this route
_____?_____. We were billeted, my squadron,
at a Belguim farm __?__, taking our meals with
the family. I suppose the army gave these people
rations to cook for us and they treated us like
kings. It was at this time __?__ I learned that my
brother Wayne was nearby in __?__ about fortyfive miles away. I asked for and received an
overnight pass to visit him. I hitchhiked to
__?__. When I got to his outfit, I found that he
had taken a jeep and driven to my company area.
Wayne was a driver of some colonel at headquarters and had the use of a jeep at any time.
February 26th, 1945: This morning Wimpy
scrounged through the town and brought back
two chickens for us. We had a delicious lunch.
Burned chicken and dry K-rations. Bob __?__
found a quaint pipe curved stem and all and
__?__ the bowl and smoke all the time breaking
up cigarettes in the bowl. Wimp and I broke up
some rifle cartridges and managed to sneak the
pipe and pour some powder in the bowl __?__
February 27th, 1945: The previous night they
told us that the 35th Division was going to launch
an attack across the river at a point a few miles
south of us. We were to send over a smoke
screen also some high explosive as a diversion
tactic to take the pressure off. Before the day
was over se got the news that the 35th Division
had crossed and met little resistance. The Krauts
had again pulled back towards the Rhine River.
The Rhine __?__ a big one. After we crossed
that we had __?__.
The guys in his outfit made me very welcome
and they got in touch with my company and sent
Wayne on his way back. Wayne and I had never
been too close but still it was an emotional meeting concerning the place, time and events going
on there.
The next day Wayne drove me back to my company. One of these days these days he drove the
company out into the country and showed us
thousands of landing crafts stacked up __?__.
That was our training for crossing the Rhine
River looking at those landing crafts.
The good times ended. Then came the time to
move to the Rhine River. We got to a point
�Ray EricksonPage 9
about a half-mile from the river I found out later.
Then we were instructed to dig in for the night. I
dug a hole about three-foot deep with a standing
ledge around it, a real classic model of a foxhole. I spent the night sitting on the ledge sleeping fitly until our artillery barrage opened up
sometime early in the morning. Later on in life I
learned that this barrage was a large piece of
pipe that had never been used in a war before.
The barrage lasted for about an hour and I was
bouncing up and down in my foxhole like a rubber ball even though the artillery was a half a
mile in the rear. The concussion was tremendous. If it was so bad on this side where the
shells were __?__ what must it have been on the
other sided where the shells were landing. It was
impossible for us to be _____?_____ on the far
side of the river. We found out later though that
just went in the (inaudible)
mother had a fit until Sgt. Rogers consoled her
with the fact her son was now out of danger. He
was probably going to the United States and
surely return home at the end of the war. Sgt.
Henry Rogers came to ___?___ after Sgt. __?__
went back to the hospital. Rogers had been put
in charge of all three-mortar squads as he had
been in experienced combat. Rogers had been
born in Hamburg, Germany but he had left home
as a young teenager and wound up in Brooklyn.
He had left two brothers behind in Hamburg and
so supposed at any time he would be fighting
against his own brothers. Rogers had a lot of
guts and of course was invaluable as a translator.
From then on we were always moving forward
at a fast pact sometimes walking, sometimes
riding in trucks, sometimes tanks. Most of the
time we were walking. Even though we had the
Germans on the run they still shot back and they
still had those dreaded 88s.
SIDE 2
To the landing boats were waiting for us. We
piled in them and crossed the river with nary a
shot being fired at us. We could hear some Berman “burp” guns in the distance ahead of us.
That was all __?__. A “burp” gun was a hand
held machine gun that fired so fast it sounded
like an elongated burp. We did see some dead
cattle in the field but only one dead German soldier. Now we are across the Rhine River heading
into the highly industrial Ruhr River Valley, the
heart of the German’s industrial section. I can
recall one day coming over a hilltop seeing a
vast panorama of factory rubble and most everything in rock piles and just the smokestacks
standing. So many smokestacks it was almost
impossible to believe. The big picture was the
__?__ where I was to sweep to the east on the
northern border where General Patton’s Third
Army went east on the southern border where of
the valley. Both armies to meet and encircle the
final majority of the German army. The plan
worked and the Krauts were running by the hundred of thousands. Of all those thousands my
little squad only captured one prisoner. We got
him as he rode up to his home on a bicycle starting his furlough. We had moved forward so
slickly the Germans did not know how far forward we were. We just stood on the stoop of this
guy's apartment and he dove into our arms. His
As I say, from now in I have no real chronological memory as when these incidents happened. I
just remember that the occurred.
One evening we came upon Hitler’s autobahn
the four lane super highway that was built to
facilitate troop movement. Adolph got credit for
inventing this concept of road. It was an unusual
for us to see. We crossed this and entered a thick
woods. After walking through the woods for
about a quarter mile we came to a fairly large
brick farmhouse set in a clearing. We moved
into this house. Right away we heard the clanking of tank treads and looking out the window
openings we saw an American tank moving into
firing position about a hundred yards down the
farm lane. Then we heard the “F” Company
Commander on our walkie-talkie directing the
tank to open fire on this farmhouse he’d seen the
Krauts just move into. As per usual when you
really need it our damn walkies would not send;
just receive. The shells and the machines gun
bullets and tanks started crashing through the
brick walls and we were all hugging the floor.
One shell crashed through the wall and hit __?__
on the shoulder. Thank heaven for American
“goof offs for making dud shells. It didn’t explode. At that time I was laying right next to
__?__. Lt. Cullen ordered us to crawl back to the
barn. We would have the house between the
�Ray EricksonPage 10
damn tank and us. We did but the trouble there
was that three or four horses were still tethered
in their stalls. I wound up with my head less than
a foot from the back feet of a very skittish horse.
You lie there and get trampled to death or you
stand and get fifty caliber machine gun bullets
through you. The Lieutenant solved my predicament by directing me to take Pop our way back
to battalion headquarters and have that tank
called off. Pop was an olderI think
39Mexican guy that had joined us just a few
days back. Pop and I crawled on our bellies out
of the barn and through the woods with machine
gun bullets clipping over our heads all the time.
We finally got out of range and we stand up and
run. We came to the autobahn at a place where
another road crossed over it. Underneath the viaduct great was a doorway. By now it was pitch
black dark. Thinking the battalion might be in
there, we went in to discover hundreds and hundreds of German civilians huddled inside for
protection against the artillery dropping all
around. The only light we had was by matches.
It would have been very simple for the people to
disarm us and kill us. By that time I think they
were very glad to see the war coming to an end
and they were welcoming American soldiers.
We left a minute later back through the factory
rubble until we finally found the battalion. But
by the time we’d gotten there though I walked
inside the __?__ function and the tank had been
called off. That left Pop and me having to make
our way back through the dark to find our platoon.
We did get back to the farmhouse but our platoon had moved on so we spent the night in the
farmhouse planning to find the rest of them the
next morning. Pop and I were sleeping two
hours on and two hours off. __?__ side arm I
still am ashamed of.
Each soldier had what they called sulfite pack
that was carried on their belt. This contained a
medication to swallow and also a paste to apply
to your wound. This was a preventative for
shock one of the big killers of wounded men.
We were walking in a deep ravine headed for the
front. Another line of men was walking the opposite way returning from the front. That’s how
the army replaced troops on the front line, one
for one. This guy came limping back asking everybody for their sulfite packet. He’d been hit and
was afraid he might not be able to make it back
to the aid station. I was one of the guys he asked
and I refused him thinking I might soon need
that pack in the front line myself. I’m very
ashamed of myself for not helping this guy out.
He was a walking wounded but I will never
know if he made it back okay to the company
station.
A long __?__ at Pine Lake suddenly this airplane with pontoons came zooming over our
cottage and lands on the lake. It taxied to the
first island when a girl in a green bathing suit
went out and went swimming. About thirty
minutes later it taxied up there and roared down
the lake taking off. A mystery. The reason I
mentioned this is because it brought back memories of “Bed Check Charlie”. Every night a lone
German airplane would come flying over our
area and once in a while he would drop one little
bomb. I say little because it was a one hundred
or two hundred pound bombs. You cannot imagine the noise and concussion from that one
bomb. I now blamed “Bed Check Charlie” for
my hearing loss later in life. When our air force
had those thousand plane air raids dropping one
or two thousand-pound bombs, the havoc they
reaped cannot be imagined.
My most frightening experience comes to mind
now. We somehow wound upmust have been
either army camp or else a camp for displaced
workers. I think the former because I cannot imagine them building their own bomb shelters for
just the workers. It had small wooden shacks all
over the place and long concrete structures that
protruded about three-foot above the ground. As
per usual we did not stop until it nearly became
dark so you could not get a really good lay of the
land as to what surrounded it. Lt. Cullom ordered me to take my squad to one of the huts on
such and such perimeter directed the other
squads likewise. These wooden juts were about
ten-foot square with dirt floors. We were at least
out of the elements for sleeping and it was raining again. I volunteered to take the first shift to
guard again not being a hero, just trying to get
my turn over with. I stumbled through the dark
�Ray EricksonPage 11
toward what I supposed to be the enemy direction ’til I came to one of these long concrete
structures probably fifty yards from the hut. I
had no sooner gotten there than all hell broke
loose. Mortars came dropping and heavy mortars. Being a 60mm mortar man myself, I could
tell these were the 81mm mortars and the mortar
shells gave no advance warning. BANG! They
just hit. I retreated to the shelter of the concrete
bunkers and started to descend the steps that
were built into the opening. I got to the second
step and hit water, the third step more water, the
fourth step still more water. The fifth step put
me in water up to my hips and my head was still
sticking out of the opening where the shells were
dropping. I had two choices. I could go down
into the bunker and drown. I had no idea how
deep these bunkers were or I could stay above
and get my head blown off. I chose to stay above
the water drawing my head inside the bunker as
much as I could. It must have been dozens and
dozens of mortar shells they dropped and then,
of course, I knew what was going to follow. The
Krauts were going to send in their infantry to
follow up the mortar barrage. Suddenly the barrage stopped. What to do. I’m out there in the
dark and all alone. I can fight with my life and
probably get killed or I can raise up my hands
and surrender when they get here and maybe
stay alive. I was up to my hips in water and
completely unnerved by this horrible mortar barrage and all alone and don’t want to die alone. If
I’m going to die I thought it would be so much
better to die with some friends of mine than to
die alone in the dark foreign place. The war cannot go on much longer. I didn’t want to die so
close to the end so I ran back to the hut where
my squad was. To hell with the outpost. I have
never never in my life been so glad to see
friends again even though they were just as
scared as I had been.
I think then that we decided to fight back and in
a group there is much more strength. Alone you
are nothing. To solve our dilemma nothing happened and later on a company runner came
around to see if there were any casualties in the
accidental barrage of “H” Company. Their range
had been too short. I think that I forgot to mention that Wimpy had been wounded in the “F”
Company attack on us he being the only of that
escapade. It is amazing that “H” Company did
not kill or wound half of our platoon.
After that tough night we moved forward passing an American tank burned out with two
blackened bodies protruding from the hatch. After that I never envied the protection the tankers
had over us. We moved to a farmhouse that had
a patio in the back. It was about twenty feet
square with a wall around. My squad and __?__
squad was sitting there on the patio probably
talking about the price of oats when suddenly
heavy mortar started dropping in again. We hit
the ground behind the two-foot wall. Before we
could do that, one of the guys was hit. He got
what we called the million-dollar wound. That
was a wound that would not kill you but would
get you out of the front lines back into a safe
hospital. I have no idea of this guy's name and
the shrapnel hit him in the top of his upper leg,
lots of blood and pain but not any danger. We,
of course, congratulated him on his milliondollar wound and became very happy until the
order came for us to move on. We had not been
able to find a medic for him so we had to leave
him alone in this little place. We promised him
we would send back a medic. I remember he
was very frightened when we left. Moving on I
recall we went through a large city riding on
tanks just like the movies waving our rifles in
the air and shouting.
The sobering effect though was when we began
to see so many dead civilians lying upon the
sidewalk. Then you realize how horrible war
really is. The tanks dropped us off at the edge of
a large city. From there we were once again infantry, sliding our way through the mud. Need I
say it was again raining? Now we were going up
hill and down hill. These hills are damn near
straight up and down. We dragged ourselves up
and then hill literally slid down the other side.
This went on for about thirty minutes. Then we
came over the top of a steep hill to seen the panorama of the Ruhr River Valley before us. Along
the river were hundreds of factory buildings at
least the rubble of former buildings. High above
the valley was a very large mansion. We entered
the first one we came to. A beautiful room with
light colored carpeting or flooring, huge enough
for a baby grand piano in the corner. A well-
�Ray EricksonPage 12
dressed gentleman came walking down the
curved stairway very very nervous as he welcomed us into his house. Our boots and also our
uniforms were covered with mud that we tracked
into his house. Immediately David __?__ sat
down at the piano and started playing. This was
the first indication that we had a musician in our
midst. I hate to think about it but the only heat in
the place was a fireplace. We kept that going by
breaking up the high priced furniture in that
room. This area must have been the suburbia of
all the executives that worked at __?__ the largest factory in the Ruhr Valley.
The next morning as we were sitting on the large
deck overlooking the hills we heard the news
about FDR’s death. It really saddened all of us.
We knew that he had been the leader of our
country during the war and had not been able to
see its conclusion.
I thought I was about done but now a memory
jogged. This happened earlier in the day when I
told you about the American tankers and they’re
burned our tank. We had been advancing when
suddenly we were stopped by a machine gun
nest and everyone was pinned down. The lieutenant had me set up the mortar in the background of a two story-house and he would direct
my fire from there. He called down the range
and elevation directing et cetera and we fired off
three rounds. Then he gave me a new range and
we dropped three more shells into the barrel.
That did it right into the bomb crater the machine gun had been firing from.
Later on when we passed this crater I saw two
teenage dead boys lying amongst the wreckage
of the machine gun. Nothing I like to remember
but what else could I do. Many of my friends
could have been killed if my mortar shells did
not spot them. One of these days as we were
advancing through the rubble of bombed out
factories near Essen a news photographer took
my picture. Of course, I never saw the picture
but I thought it was very brave of him to be that
close to the front without having to be there.
Shortly thereafter I was walking through this
__?__ with Pop following me when bullets began zinging in around us. Pop shouted, “A sniper. I’ll get that bastard”. He took off running
toward the block of apartment buildings that was
still standing off to the right. He turned saying,
“I got the bastard” and I guess he did because
the bullets had stopped. Later on I was walking
some ahead of the rest of my squad and aviates
came in like mad. I ran to the nearest bomb pit
and jumped in only to land right next to a German soldier. Scared the hell out of me until I
realized he was dead. At this time we were approaching a famous Shrinehertz, a ball bearing
factory, one that the Air Force had bombed so
many times. However for about one-half mile
leading up to the factory the ground was covered
with bomb craters. The closer to the factory we
got the less were the bomb craters. The place
must have been surrounded with hundreds of
flak __?__. The air boys must have dropped
their bombs a little bit early and got the hell out
of there. In fact the factory was practically in
tact. Carrying on moving forward again __?__
just before dark toward another small village we
came to a creek about twenty feet wide and the
engineers were building a bridge over it. There
were three or four tanks sitting there waiting for
the bridge to be built so they could cross. This is
the place I saw that tough guy, Moran, lying on
the ground underneath the back of one of the
tank crying for somebody to help him. That
__?__ was the last I ever saw of him. The infantry doesn’t wait for bridges to be built. We waded the creek. It was only about knee deep.
Meanwhile the engineers had search lights going, machinery running full gear and 88 shells
were dropping all around them as they worked.
This was the first time I’d ever seen the job
these guys did. I thought it was tremendous. As I
waded, the creek one of them shouted down at
me, “Go get those aviates, Shorty, they’re getting on my nerves.” Continuing on to the village
I recall standing in the door of a house three or
four steps up from the street getting some protection from the artillery shell come in. Suddenly a shell hit between me and Bob Margas who
was in the street following me. We charged up
those steps at the same time knocking both of us
into the house. No damage done to me though.
Just knocked the wind out of me temporarily.
This must have been sometime in late April. The
days and nights seemed to blend all together to
me not __?__. Sometime around this area we
were encountering less and less resistance be-
�Ray EricksonPage 13
cause of masses surrendering. We had been
moving all day through rubble strewn factory
buildings huge bomb craters and late in the afternoon were stopped by machine gun fire. Lt.
Cullom had Makenral set up his mortar in a
large bomb crater in an effort to knock out the
machine gun placement. The rest of us along
with the riflemen found refuge in a huge sewer
tunnel near by. This must have been about twenty feet in diameter. It had concrete benches built
along the sides. The Germans must have used it
as a bomb shelter for the factory workers. It had
a ladder built along the wall to descend into. We
had only been in there a few minutes when an 88
shell smashed down real close. Engler came
scrambling down the ladder shouting “Mac’s
been hit. Mac’s been hit.” Engler was Mac’s
assistant gunner. I asked Engler if Mac was
coming in too and he said that Mac was unconscious. The Krauts were very good, too, at picking up the puff of smoke the mortar gives off
when it’s fired. It had only gotten off two or
three shots before the aviate got this direct hit on
them in the bomb crater. I said, “We’ve got to
get Mac in here before they drop some more
rounds in. Who's going to help me carry him
in?” I got some blank stares and down turned
eyes and I found it hard to believe. I said,
“Come on,” and headed for the ladder. Finally a
guy; named Ball, I can’t remember if it was Bob
or Don, got up and said, “Let’s go.” We got Mac
and lowered him into the sewer. He’d been hit
very badly in his lower back and although he
was unconscious he was moaning loudly so we
knew he was still alive. I found out later in 1990
that he had had to endure two years in an army
hospital and numerous operations before he regained the use of his legs. Ball was a BAR man
in the rifle platoon BAR standing for Browning
Automatic Rifle, one of our better weapons. I
got to know Ball much better after the war. He
and I were the only two men in the company to
play on the baseball team. We spent many an
hour riding in the jeep together as we were going
to battalion headquarters to practice and then
around the regiment playing games. We must
have been called out of the safe sewer because
the next thing I recall was seeing this “mad
Lieutenant” come charging back to us waving
his rifle over his head and yelling “Come on you
guys. Your buddies are pinned down out there.
You going to stay here and let them die?” Lieutenant must have been nicked on his forehead by
shrapnel so blood was running down his face
profusely. It was just like a scene out of a John
Wayne movie but it worked. He got the riflemen
going and we saw them shortly. This lieutenant
had gotten the battle field commission a few
months previously for bravery under fire. This
guy wasn’t afraid of anything. Bullets and artillery were just apple pie to him. He was in charge
of one of the rifle platoons. This must have happened sometime late in April because I know I
don’t remember too much of any more skirmishes, just advancing with less and less resistance.
You know only one bullet whizzes by your head,
only one artillery shell lands in your area; it is
still a war as far as you’re concerned. Looking
back at this story I can see where I mixed up the
dates __?__. The incidents I remember all
through. Aside from this, I am now writing this
after I had my reunion with these guys after forty-five year hiatus. Many of these stories I related here were remembered quite differently by
my former buddies. It was strange hearing two
or three of them come up with completely different interpretations of the same incident. It is a
common thing with all people from what I’ve
heard. There may have been many more incidents. We would all be similar. __?__ being
cold, tired and scared. It finally ended. But now
we’re going to __?__ in __?__ path of war.
Just a couple of [things] that came to mind while
lying awake in bed this Sunday morning, I recall, the time when somewhere, somehow we
ran into a bunch of automobiles along the way
and they were all in operating condition. There
were enough of them so that each squad had
their own vehicle. We were then the motorized
infantry of Company G. I can also recall feeling
some remorse when a couple of weeks later we
were forced to abandon them for some reason or
other. I think it was because we were heading
for a deep woods and cross a large creek.
Another time it was in the Ruhr Valley when we
entered a fairly large city. We had column of
tanks and we were told to climb aboard and then
roared through the city on the tanks waving our
rifles and acting like Hollywood soldiers going
into battle and the war was over.
�Ray EricksonPage 14
DON MARSTON: When did you get back
home?
RAY ERICKSON: I didn’t get back home ’til
April of ’46. or the end of May. It was eleven
months before I got back. You know they had
the point system. _____?_____ Just after the
German __?__ we were up on a mountain top
waiting to head for Japan and they started the
point system and our company clerk had been
with the company for months, years, he got
shipped out, went home. The captain said, “Does
anybody know how to type?” I said, “Oh, yeah”.
He made me company clerk. I could type. One
day, a different captain we had during, Capt.
Cassidy, we called him “Chicken Shit Cassidy”.
He’s dead now. Any how he came to me and
said, “Hey, Erick, we got our allotment of Silver
Stars and Bronze Stars. What do you want?”
“What do you mean, Captain? How come they
give out so many”? It turned out they had a proportion.
“I didn’t do anything to deserve a Silver Star or
Bronze Star. He said, “I’m writing you up for a
Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts”. I said,
“That wouldn’t be right.” He said,
“_____?_____”. I had to write it up. But I saw
from the First Sergeant refuse him. Then the
damn points came out and the Bronze Stars and
Silver Stars were worth five points. I could have
come home four or five months earlier. We
should have kept those darn things. I was so
damn mad at him. He had never been in combat
this Capt. Cassidy. He came with us after the
war ended. He came from Battalion Headquarters, I think. But there is just and allotment. Each
company is allotted “X” amount of those medals.
DON MARSTON: Anything else?
RAY ERICKSON: Oh, I did get my Bronze
Star two years ago. Because some General in his
wisdom ten or twelve years ago decided every
guy who had a combat infantryman’s badge deserved a Bronze Star. I found this out from one
of my meetings. So I wrote the Army and sent
me one back. It looks good to my grandchildren.
They say if you stayed on alive long enough to
earn the combat infantryman’s badge which thir-
ty days on line, then you deserve the Bronze
Star, too. That’s about it. We had a lot of fun
playing baseball.
DON MARSTON: Thank you Ray.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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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.
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Midway Village Museum
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Midway Village Museum
Date
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1993-2001
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Midway Village Museum
Language
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English
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
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Don Marston
Interviewee
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Ray Erickson
Location
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Rockford, Illinois
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Cassette Tape
Dublin Core
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Title
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Ray Erickson
Date
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March 23, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born March 30, 1919, Ray Erickson joined the army in 1942.
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Midway Village Museum
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2
-
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PDF Text
Text
Raymond L. Purfeerst
Transcribed by Elaine Carlson
Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone 815 397 9112
�Raymond L. Purfeerst
Hello. Today is July 13, 1994. My name is
Charles Nelson. I am a volunteer with the Midway Village and Museum in Rockford, Illinois,
which is cooperating with a statewide effort to
collect oral histories of Illinois Citizens that participated in the momentous events surrounding
World War II. We are in the office of the Midway Village in Rockford, Illinois, interviewing
Mr. Ray Purfeerst. Mr. Purfeerst served in a
branch of the Armed Forces during World War
II. We are interviewing him about his experiences in that war.
NELSON: Ray, will you please start by introducing yourself to us. Please give us your full
name and place and date of birth.
PURFEERST: My name is Ray Purfeerst. I was
born in Wisconsin in the small town of River
Falls.
person. At that time, I think, we were probably
making 25 cents an hour. In the middle of that
summer in July I was still 17 and I left home
looking for work and ended up in Beloit, Wisconsin. That’s where I got my first job.
NELSON: What thoughts did you have about
this war before the United States became directly involved in this conflict?
PURFEERST: Being a German when the war
started, I didn’t have any opinions yet although I
had read about the German invasion of Poland
and Czechoslovakia and Austria. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December of
1941 it made me aware of what was going on in
the rest of the world.
NELSON: What year were you born?
PURFEERST: I was born November 22, 1923.
NELSON: Would also like to give the names of
each of your parents?
PURFEERST: My mother’s name was Luella
and my father’s name was Louis.
NELSON: Did you have any brothers or sisters?
PURFEERST: I had two brothers and two sisters.
NELSON: Are there any details about your parents or your family that you would like to give?
NELSON: How did you hear of the December
7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese? Where were you and what were you doing
at that time?
PURFEERST: I remember it very clearly. I was
sitting in the hotel lobby, a little hotel in Beloit,
Wisconsin. There were probably 12 or 15 people
sitting there on Sunday morning. I had just returned home from church. I called home but the
hotel
NELSON: Was that the Caroline Hotel?
PURFEERST: Yes, my father had a general
store in Northern Wisconsin in the small town of
Cornell. I worked in the store with my dad from
the time I was 12 years old and graduated from
school in my little town in 1941.
NELSON: What was life like for you before the
war specifically during 1941?
PURFEERST: 1941 was the year I graduated
from high school. In Northern Wisconsin at that
time it was just coming out of the depression.
There was very little work to be had for a young
PURFEERST: No it was the old Gateway Hotel.
NELSON: What were your reaction and the
response of those around you?
PURFEERST: Most of us didn’t even know
where Pearl Harbor was. I was the newspaper
office was about a half a block from the hotel
lobby and everybody ran over there to see the
bulletin stuck up in the window of the newspaper and they had a map there showing the loca-
�tion of Pearl Harbor. If they had just said Hawaii, everyone would have known where it was.
NELSON: Had you formed any opinion or developed any feeling about what was taking place
in Europe or Asia?
PURFEERST: I think it was the threat that was
going on in Europe at that time. Seven or eight
countries had been overrun and if we didn’t do
something to stop it that we would be getting the
same having the same problems they were
having in Europe.
PURFEERST: Not really. When I graduated
from high school one of the requirements was, in
those days, you had to write a thesis in order to
get your graduation certificate. It happened very
strangely that I had written my thesis was about
the US foreign policy in the Pacific and specifically Japan. I had done a little reading in high
school about the trade problems we had been
having with Japan.
NELSON: When and where were you inducted?
NELSON: Do you recall reading newspaper
accounts of Germany and Russia in Europe?
NELSON: How old were you at that time?
PURFEERST: I was inducted in Chicago. After
I had taken the examinations we had to pass in
order to become a pilot trainee, I took that test at
Madison, Wisconsin, at the University there.
There were about 120 of us who took the test
and I believe there were 33 that passed the examination at that time.
PURFEERST: I was 18.
PURFEERST: Yes. Our civic teacher would
bring newspapers to school when there was
something going on in Europe particularly when
they went into France or Holland.
NELSON: Did you have any knowledge of Hitler’s speeches, ideas or actions?
PURFEERST: Not really. I didn’t read that
mostly information simply came from newspapers and radios.
NELSON: What events led to your entrance
into service? Were you already in the service or
did you volunteer?
NELSON: What happened after you were inducted? Where were you sent?
PURFEERST: We were sent to Sheppard Field
in Wichita Falls, Texas. I thought to myself
this was in January of ’42 I thought surely
that I was going to a warm climate having lived
in Northern Wisconsin most of my life but I
found out it was just as cold down there as it was
in Wisconsin.
NELSON: That’s where you took your basic
training?
PURFEERST: Yes.
PURFEERST: I volunteered at the time I was
still 18 and was just turning to my 19th birthday
when I enlisted. I had seen these nice colored
ads about being a pilot for the Air Force in those
days and it seemed very exciting for a kid in
those days. I did end up taking the mental examination and then the physical and before I knew
it I was in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
NELSON: Was your response in entering the
military service influenced by family and friends
attitude toward the war that threatened national
security or any other consideration?
NELSON: You were trained to be a pilot?
PURFEERST: Yes.
NELSON: What did you think of the training?
PURFEERST: First of all we had to take special tests and examinations, at that time it was
the Air Force Base at Kelley Field in San Antonio. After our basic training we went to Kelley
Field to get a special type of test to qualify for
pilot, bombardier or navigator or whatever it
was going to be.
�NELSON: Do you remember anything about
these tests?
PURFEERST: Yes, we were put in One of
the tests, I remember, we were put in a chamber
that simulated the high altitude. They would take
the oxygen out of these they were almost like
a big tank take the oxygen out and simulate a
10,000 foot altitude or a 20,000 foot altitude.
And they did it primarily, to show us also what
would happen when you lost oxygen. Many of
the fellows would pass out because there was no
oxygen at the simulated altitudes we were at.
NELSON: Tell us about any other training
camps you attended.
PURFEERST: Because there wereat that
time I think they were taking the trainees in as
fast as they could handle them, I was sent to a
small college in Oklahoma, Shawnee a small
town near Oklahoma City. At that school we had
a crash course in engineering, aircraft engineering, mathematics and so on. Also they had special people there to get us into better physical
shape, too, to be able to handle the duties that
we would have.
PURFEERST: Yes, I did as a matter of fact.
When I was in training at the Enid, Oklahoma,
which was our basic training field, I did get a
ride to a camp in Madison. At that time it was
only like a five-hour ride to northern Wisconsin
where my family lives.
NELSON: What do you recall of the period
about the places you were stationed, the friends
you made and your association with civilians?
PURFEERST: We were really treated unbelievably nice by the civilians in the towns that I
trained in. Being that it was the first time that I
was away from home and I was quite young holidays were very difficult because you were generally home. Every town we were at, someone
would have a list of families that would take the
cadets to alike Thanksgiving dinner or
Christmas dinner, whatever it happened to be.
When I was in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which
was basically the final training to go overseas
for combat, is where I met my wife, Lee. After
the war was over, we were married.
NELSON: Wonderful. You were in the Air
Force at that time assigned duty was a pilot.
NELSON: Did you have leaves or passes?
PURFEERST: Yes.
PURFEERST: Yes. After each area of training
that we went through, like our primary training,
before we would go to the next bigger airplane
that we would learn to fly, we would get a pass
between each of these schools. It was usually
like a ten- day pass and we would come back
and start another series of training.
NELSON: Where did you go after completing
your basic military training before sending you
overseas?
NELSON: How did you use these passes?
PURFEERST: In those days, there wasn’t airplanes available and many of us, at that time, we
could get special rates on the trains. I would take
a train to Chicago and then hitch hike to northern Wisconsin to visit my family.
NELSON: Did you ever try hitch hiking on a
military plane?
PURFEERST: We picked up our crew in Lake
Charles, Louisiana. That was called transitional
training where you did simulated combat bombing and formation flying and so on. We were
then sent to England. We took a train from Lake
Charles, Louisiana, to the East Coast. I can’t
quite rememberSavannah, Georgia, I believe
it was. Then we went by train up to New York
and left for Europe and we went on theAt that
time it was called the Ile de France. It had been
taken over by the United States as a troop carrier. We went from the United States into Europe.
At that time, it was the second largest transport.
Next to the Queen Mary, it was the second largest boat in the water at that time.
NELSON: You went on a convoy over there?
�PURFEERST: Yes. We went on a night convoy. It wasI think it was five days and five
nights we hadOf course at that time the submarine scare was very bad and everything was
black-out. You looked out and you couldn’t see
anything.
NELSON: Did you have any experiences where
destroyers were trying to get these submarines?
PURFEERST: No. By the time I was going
over the Allies by that time had pretty much
control of the Atlantic. Fortunately we had no
experiences with the submarines the Germans
had.
NELSON: When you got overseas what were
you assigned to do?
PURFEERST: We were in England about a
month. They had already crossedD-Day had
already taken place and there were already bases
being established at that time in France. So from
England we flew into France and were assigned
to the 387th Bomb Group 559th Squadron. We
wouldour planes were based on an old German Air Field that they had built in France. Our
flight engineers had cleared out the airstrips
from mines. We would set up our quarters on the
German Air Field.
NELSON: What airplane were you assigned to?
PURFEERST: I was a pilot in a B26 twin engine medium bomber.
NELSON: If you did not immediately enter a
combat zone, where did you go before entering
combat?
PURFEERST: By the time we got to Europe,
before we got assigned to our squadrons, we
spent about a month in England and at that time
England was so full of American people they
were very nice to us. The English people were
so thankful to have someone helping them because they had just been literally run out of
France by the German Army.
NELSON: Tell us about your experience of entering the first combat zone.
PURFEERST: This was in October of 1944.
We had our first mission that I flew. We were
going after bridges and tanks, communication
centers. Our first mission we flew was over Cologne, Germany. We were going after railroad
yards in that city.
NELSON: Can you list for us in order of occurrence all subsequent combat action in which you
were involved or the ones that come to mind?
PURFEERST: It’s been so long ago that it’s
hard to put them in any kind of order. I did fly
twenty-six missions while we were in Europe.
First we were on air bases in France and then
one in Belgium and then one in Holland which is
the one I was on when the war was over. Each of
these fields we were at had been previously occupied by Germans and our engineers would go
in and get them ready. We were following pretty
much along the lines of the combat that was going on, on the ground. In many cases, in order to
get target altitude we would have to go back toward England and then get to our altitude before
we could go into Germany for our mission we
were on at that particular time. A normal takeoff
would put us, in some cases, too close to the
German line.
NELSON: Did you get involved in different
types of casualties, how they occurred and how
they were treatedcasualties with other members in your group.
PURFEERST: One event I remember happened
on December 23rd during the time that the Battle
of the Bulge was going on. We had drawn two
missions that day and on the last mission, one of
the planes came in that had difficulty in landing
because it had lost its hydraulics and had no
brakes. Another plane came in and crashed into
that. He had a hung up bomb. We lost twentythree men on our own base at that time because
three airplanes were burned up in that crash.
NELSON: Did your mental attitude change as
combat continued?
�PURFEERST: Yah, it probably did. I think
when you are young you are a little bit immune
to danger. During the time after the first couple
of missions when we realized what was really
going on and how good the Germans were with
anti-aircraft fire, we did have a lot of fear in us
as we took off and went on our mission into
Germany.
NELSON: What did you think of the war so
far?
PURFEERST: At the time that I went over the
Allies had been getting pretty much control of
the skies which helped us greatly because the
German fighters weren’t able to get to us. That
did kind of change our feeling about what we
were doing. When the German fighters couldn’t
get into our formations all we had to do was
worry about the flak from the ground. That did
make it easier for us to perform our missions.
NELSON: Did you have fighter escorts?
PURFEERST: Initially the fighters would follow us in about an hour into Germany and they
would have to go back because they didn’t have
enough flight time in fuel. Slowly as the German
lines went back, then the fighters were flying
from France, too, instead of from England and I
think in our last ten missions we had fighter escort in and out. That really made it seem like a
milk run for every mission.
NELSON: You were on a B26. How many man
crew did you have?
PURFEERST: We had a six-man crew: a pilot
and co-pilot, a navigator-bombardier. He performed both duties. We had a radio man who
was also a gunner, we had a tail gunner and we
had an engineer who was also a gunner.
NELSON: Top turret.
PURFEERST: Top turret, yes.
were also in the service. I had two sisters at
home at the time so I wrote either to my sisters
or to my parents.
NELSON: Did they ever send any packages?
PURFEERST: Yes, as a matter of fact, I did get
packages. Sometimes it would be canned fruit or
something that we could have as kind of a special dessert sometime. Sometimes they would
send __?__ or some things they thought we
might need.
NELSON: Did most of the other men write and
receive letters?
PURFEERST: Yes. There was a lot of correspondence, I guess, with men in the service and
their parents. In those times, the officers of our
squadron were assigned to do, I can’t think of
the word I wantwhere we would check the
mail. We would censor it to see that some information that might possibly get through that
could be considered dangerous to the get out
into the public so I was probably aware of it
more than most people might be.
NELSON: I didn’t know that, until years afterwards our pilot always checked the mail before
it was sent out. I didn’t know that.
PURFEERST: Yes. I did that.
NELSON: Did you forge close bonds of friendship with many or some of your combat companions?
PURFEERST: Yes, I did. I had two in particular. One is his name is Bill Prince. He happened
to be from Arizona. We went through our training classes together in each of the series of training we had. We remained friends and corresponded for about forty years after the war was
over. Another friend was my tail gunner on my
crew. His name was Joe Geharty. He was a
Brooklyn boy and I corresponded with him for
probably about thirty years after the war.
NELSON: Did you write many letters home?
PURFEERST: Yes, I wrote at least once a
week and I had at that time both of my brothers
NELSON: Did you ever have any reunions
where the whole crew got together?
�PURFEERST: No, we didn’t have any reunions. I wish we would have. I wish there would
have been some effort in those days where we
could have maintained a closer contact with each
other.
NELSON: This has to do with injuries in the
field. You probablywere you ever involved in
anyone who was injured on the airplane?
PURFEERST: Fortunately, no. Several times
we had heavy battle damage to the plane but we
did not have any injuries. We came close once
when we had a forced landing on British Spitfire
field near Brussels, Belgium. No one was hurt in
that accident.
NELSON: You never did tell me about you
squadron or the name of your airplane.
PURFEERST: Yes. I flew a B26.
NELSON: Did it have a name on it?
PURFEERST: The ones that we had were new
planes that were just coming in from the States
and we did not have a name on it at that time.
PURFEERST: No they didn’t. From Holland
they shipped those people into Poland or the
eastern part of Germany.
NELSON: What was the high light of your
combat experience or any other experience you
can remember?
PURFEERST: I guess that anybody that was in
Europe at the time that was referred to as the
Battle of the Bulge which took place the last
week of December or the early part of January,
and because of bad weather, our planes had to
wait for good weather to bomb the tanks that
were threatening our ground forces. I remember
particularly that we would get up about four in
the morning and wait for the weather to clear.
This went on for about at least a week when we
finally got clearance and the first mission we
flew that helped break up that German concentration near Bastogne. On the 23rd we flew double missions on that day and that was the beginning of the time that the German army was broken up and could no longer defend itself.
NELSON: Tell us about how you and the other
men celebrated America’s traditional family holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
NELSON: What group were you with?
PURFEERST: The 387th Ground and the 559th
Squadron.
NELSON: Okay. Good. Did you ever get involved in liberating any enemy prisoners in concentration camps?
PURFEERST: No, I didn’t. I did find out about
them though. I lived in a tent with a group of our
intelligent officers and they had received this
information from the ground forces.
PURFEERST: They did manage, with all of the
things that were going on there, all the other
things they needed to support our army, the
cooks always seemed to be able to manage to get
turkey or some other special food for those holidays. I think the airforce did have very good
kitchen facilities.
NELSON: Were they good cooks?
PURFEERST: That was in Holland, yes.
PURFEERST: Yes, I can truthfully say that I
don’t have any bad memories of having bad
food. The ground forces had to eat their canned
foods and different type of rations. C-Rations
was one. Those were probably not the best types
of foods you would think of for a feast day.
NELSON: Did they have camps in Holland that
you were aware of?
NELSON: They had worse conditions than
what you had in your camp?
NELSON: Is that while you were in Holland?
PURFEERST: Oh, yes. In many cases we
would be one hundred miles or so in back of the
�lines and what ever was available at that time,
either through our own kitchens or what we
could get from civilians we managed to eat pretty good.
NELSON: Did you sleep in huts or camp tents
or what did you sleep in?
PURFEERST: We were in tents, four men to a
tent. And the reason for that was that we were
moving quite often in a period of like nine
months, we were on four airfields. We never did
have regular quarters and never lived in a building. I lived in a tent for almost two years.
NELSON: How did you heat these tents?
PURFEERST: There was a big pot-belly stove
in the middle of the tent and the smoke stack
went up through the center along the post that
went up through the center of the tent. The fuel,
we had to scrounge to get what was around,
what we could find. In some cases we would
even trade candy, or gum or cigarettes to civilians if we could find some wood that we could
burn. Any place there was a bombed out building there was nothing left there but bricks because the wood was all taken out.
NELSON: Coal wasn’t available.
PURFEERST: No. Towards the end of the war
they did get some primarily so that they could
have it to heat water with.
NELSON: When and how did you return to the
United States after the end of the war?
PURFEERST: We had orders that we would be
leaving some where around the 15th and at that
time the war had been over in Japan. We had
been training to go to the Japanese theater and
we went down to Northern Africa and then over
to India and Burma and that area. However,
when the war was over, we didn’t know what to
do with our airplanes so we flew several of our
squadrons into a small field in Germany. They
cut them up with torches and then burnt them.
We waited then for the boat to go home. We did
arrive in the United States in January, the first
part of January, of 1946.
NELSON: Please tell us about your military
rank and decorations and especially your campaign decorations.
PURFEERST: I was a 2nd Lieutenant. Considering my age at the time, I guess I was one of the
younger ones that was an officer. I was commissioned just before my 20th birthday. I remember
the missions during the Battle of the Bulge
which was the turning point of the war. At that
time we were awarded what they called the presidential Unit Citation. It’s probably similar to
the Distinguished Flying Cross that was awarded
to every member of our squadron for our performance on the 23rd and 24th of December in
1944.
NELSON: Okay and you also got the Air Medal.
PURFEERST: Yes, I got the Air Medal as usual.
NELSON: You did say how many missions you
were on.
PURFEERST: I flew twenty-six missions.
NELSON: Twenty-six missions. How did you
get along with the men with whom you had the
greatest contact?
PURFEERST: The fellowship in the Air Force,
I think, is probably the greatest thing that ever
happened to me. The officers and the men were
so close together and had close personal contact,
we were more like brothers, I think, than we
were officers and enlisted men. It seems to me
now there was really no distinction of rank other
than when we were in the plane we were performing the duties we were supposed to perform. Most of our short passes I had in Europe,
our entire crew went out together when we had
time off.
NELSON: What are the things you would do
differently if you could do them once again?
PURFEERST: I think if I could do it all over, I
think what I would do is make a special effort to
have better contact with all of the crew mem-
�bers. We kind of went about our own problems
and duties when we became civilians and probably neglected those contacts we should have
made.
NELSON: What is the most difficult you had to
do during the period of your military service?
PURFEERST: I think the most difficult thing
was when we got on the boat going to Europe. I
was still not twenty-one years old yet. Leaving
the shores of the United States was the most difficult thing for me that I can remember.
NELSON: Probably not knowing if you’d ever
see those shores again.
PURFEERST: That’s right.
NELSON: Is there anything that stands out as
your most successfully achievement in your military service?
PURFEERST: I think that the thing that stands
out most in my memory was the fact that when I
enlisted they had just changed the rules of enlistment and requirements you had to have. In
those days, prior to my enlistment, the required
you to have a college degree in engineering or
something that would make them easier to train
for flying on an assigned crew. I remember
when I took this test at that time they changed it
so if you passed equivalency examination you
were qualified to become a cadet in the Air
Force. And the fact that I was one of those who
passed the test was probably the turning point of
my life.
NELSON: In cadet training what type of training did they give you mostly?
PURFEERST: Surprisingly the ground classes
training that we had in engineering and the mechanical parts of flying was in every step we
took whether it would be in primary or basic
events of flying, the ground training was as important as the flight training.
PURFEERST: Not really. I remember in our
first flight, my first time in an airplane in my
primary training, the pilot took us up and would
fly us around to see if we would be subject to are
sickness and so on. I didn’t know what he was
doing at the time but he cut the switch at the end
of the runway and did a dead stick landing and
scared the hell out of me.
NELSON: This has to be about Europe. How
did you learn about VE Day and what was reaction to it?
PURFEERST: The fact that I lived in the tent
with the intelligence officer, I think I probably
knew what was going on before a lot of the other
people did. When they were having the meetings, I think Eisenhower and Montgomery from
England were meeting with German officers to
sign the surrender, I knew about that two or
three days before it was published.
NELSON: How about VJ Day? What was your
reaction to that?
PURFEERST: That was another great day in
my life because we were training to go from Europe over to the Pacific Theater and when we
heard about that everybody was really happy
that we wouldn’t have to go over there.
NELSON: What was opinion of the use of the
atomic bomb when it was used against the Japanese civilians in August of 1945?
PURFEERST: I think it was probably the best
thing that ever happened to end that war as fast
as they did. The number of casualties and deaths
that would have taken place if we had to go on
the Japanese homeland beaches and fight for that
ground, I think it probably would have been
much, much worse then having dropped the
bomb.
NELSON: I understand too that most of the civilians were armed at that time.
PURFEERST: Oh yes. They were.
NELSON: Did you ever have any close calls on
your training?
NELSON: To defend their country.
�PURFEERST: It was estimated that a half a
million people would have been killed if they
had to make an invasion.
NELSON: Has that opinion changed over the
last fifty years?
PURFEERST: No, I still feel the same way. To
me, the person who had to make that final decision was probably the most difficult he ever did.
I think it was President Truman at the time that
gave the okay for that.
PURFEERST: The fact that I was the first one
in our family to go into Service I did, matter of
fact I surprised my parents when I enlisted. I did
that right when I turned eighteen. I did get lots
of mail from them and encouragement from
them to do the best I could.
NELSON: I imagine they were very proud of
you.
NELSON: When and where were you discharged from the Service?
PURFEERST: Yes, in those days every ableperson was in the service in the age group probably from eighteen to thirty-five. The fact that I
was the first one of our family that went into
service, I’m sure they were very proud of me.
PURFEERST: I was discharged in January of
1946 from Fort Sheridan in Chicago Illinois.
NELSON: In the subsequent years what has this
support meant to you?
NELSON: Do you have any disability rating or
pension?
PURFEERST: It’s been so long now; some of
those memories are so far back in my mind, I
find it difficult to remember them. When I see
some of the old pictures we have at home when I
was in uniform at that time, of course, my parents were quite young; it meant a lot to me that
they supported me.
PURFEERST: No, I was fortunate and didn’t
have any bad injuries.
NELSON: Do you have any opinions or feelings about our Nation’s military status or policies?
PURFEERST: You mean today’s military? I
think that they need a defensive force is very
important ands is one thing that seems to be bipartisan even in Washington. Our government
people are managing to keep a good defense
force.
NELSON: Do you have any contact with the
Veterans’ Administration?
PURFEERST: Other than my old GI insurance
which I still have carried I have no contact with
them.
NELSON: That was a smart decision to keep
that, wasn’t it?
PURFEERST: It sure was. It turned out to be
the best things I did when I got out.
NELSON: Would you like to tell us how your
family supported you during your Military life?
NELSON: Ray that was a very good interview.
Is there anything else you would like to mention
that we haven’t covered?
PURFEERST: No, not really. I think I have
given you most of the things I can remember.
NELSON: Thank you very much.
�
Dublin Core
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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
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Midway Village Museum
Publisher
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Midway Village Museum
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-2001
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Language
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English
Format
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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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Raymond L. Purfeerst
Location
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Rockford, Illinois
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Cassette Tape
Dublin Core
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Title
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Raymond L. Purfeerst
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
13-Jul-94
Description
An account of the resource
Born November 2, 1923, Raymond Purfeerst enlisted in January 1942 into the Air Force as a pilot. He was discharged in 1946. He died March 22, 1999.
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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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
Main Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts and neighborhoods of North Main Street and South Main Street in Rockford, Illinois stretching from Whitman Street at the north, to Montague Street at the south.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1900-1930
Still Image
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Original Format
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Postcard
Physical Dimensions
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3.5" x 5.5"
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Redwood Restaurant
Description
An account of the resource
Front: "Serving Rockford, Illinois since 1920." Back: "Rockford's finest coffee shop and dining room located in downtown Rockford at 307 South Main St. on U. S. Route 20."
Publisher
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Color-View Inc.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1960
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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jpeg
Identifier
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85.109.840
Type
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Still Image
Main Street
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
the Redwood Restaurant
-
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PDF Text
Text
Reverend Doctor Robert WildmanPage 1
Reverend Doctor Robert Wildman
Interviewed by Lorraine Lightcap
Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois
Phone 815 397 9112
�Reverend Doctor Robert WildmanPage 2
Reverend Doctor Robert Wildman
My name is Lorraine Lightcap and I am a volunteer at Midway Village & Museum Center research library. In addition to the many transcriptions of tapes of World War II Veterans’ interviewed that were done in cooperation with the
State of Illinois, we thought it would be interesting to interview a few other men and women.
Today is December 30, 2001. The interview was
held in my home.
LORRAINE: Bob, to begin I would like you to
tell us a bit about your background, date of birth,
place of birth, parents’ names and names of any
brothers and sisters.
REV. WILDMAN: I was born in Traverse City,
Michigan, on April 20, 1924. My parents were
Elizabeth Shank Wildman and Frank Wildman. I
had two brothers, Richard and John.
LORRAINE: Would you also tell us something
about growing up in Traverse City plus your
schooling through high school?
REV. WILDMAN: I loved Traverse City and
still do. I spent all of my life there until I left for
the army. I had a good time growing up, attending school and enjoying visits with my grandmother in a nearby small town of Empire, Michigan. My grandfather, who died a year before I
was born, was a doctor in Empire who made
house calls with his horse and buggy. One summer, while visiting my grandmother, I picked
cherries to earn money to buy a new bicycle for
$25. I worked twelve hours a day and could earn
.75 a day. At the end of the summer I still did
not have enough for a bike. I enjoyed school,
had a great time in high school and graduated in
1942.
tled to a deferment from the draft. However after
a few months I decided I wanted to enter the
service and so I informed my draft board. My
volunteering to enlist letter crossed in the mail
with their draft notice, so I was drafted. Actually
I was struggling with whether I should be in college while my country was at war.
LORRAINE: Tell us about your experience
when you first entered military service and place
of entry and training camps you attended.
REV. WILDMAN: I was inducted at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in April of 1943. From there I
was sent to Fort Custer in Michigan and from
there was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana, for
basic training. At Camp Polk I was assigned to
the 536th Armored Infantry Battalion. Later we
were redesignated the 536th Amphibian Infantry
Battalion. Fort Ord, California, was to be the site
of our amphibian training. At Camp Custer the
army decided that my military occupational specialty would be that of a chaplain’s assistant.
However, the army sent me to an outfit that had
no chaplain and had no plans to get one! While
at Camp Polk I was sent to the armored school at
Fort Knox, Kentucky, for clerical training. Upon
my return I became a company clerk and handled all the records for about two hundred men.
Eventually I became Personnel Sergeant Major
and was responsible for records of the entire battalion. From Fort Ord we were sent to Fort Lawton, Washington. From there we went to the
Hawaiian Islands. In June of 1944 we arrived on
the island of Oahu. In October we left Oahu for
Leyte in the Philippine Islands (via Eniwetok
and Ulithi). We arrived in December of 1944
and took part in the Battle of Leyte. In May of
1945 we left the Philippines to take part in the
Battle of Okinawa.
LORRAINE: Tell us about your decision to
enter military service. Were you drafted of did
you enlist? What influenced this decision?
LORRAINE: Tell of some of your experiences
while in the Philippines.
REV. WILDMAN: After graduating from high
school, I entered Hope College in Holland,
Michigan, with the intention of preparing for the
ministry. As a pre-ministerial student, I was enti-
REV. WILDMAN: I remember the night that I
landed on Leyte. We were marching down the
beach and finally were told that we would be
sleeping on the beach that night. I stretched out
�Reverend Doctor Robert WildmanPage 3
in my sleeping bag and soon was dreaming of
water. I woke up to find that the tide was coming
in and I was drenched. It was a very wet welcome. The next day I witnessed a Japanese Kamikaze pilot dive into and sink what I presumed
was one of our ships in the Leyte Gulf. The 536th
was an amphibian tractor battalion, which was
like a sea going tank, except the top was open so
that we could take troops and supplies from ship
to shore, and inland if necessary. They served
well during World War II and today there is a
monument to the 536th in the Armored Park at
Fort Knox, Kentucky. I don’t know if amphibian
boats are used now.
picked up a southern accent. If I did, I soon lost
it. As to experiences, because we did not have a
chaplain, a few of us organized occasional religion services for the battalion that never had a
chaplain. I also remember, while on Okinawa,
that one night I was sleeping in the sheltered
doorway of a tomb built into a hillside. As I
slept I dreamed of popcorn popping. I awoke
and discovered a Japanese pilot had dropped a
bomb when he discovered lights. It seemed
some men had been playing cards and needed
light. This was forbidden but they had ignored
the blackout orders that night and the pilot discovered this.
LORRAINE: How did you get to the South Pacific and how did you return home?
LORRAINE: Do you keep in touch when possible with any of the men in your group and do
you attend reunions?
REV. WILDMAN: Both times by naval ships.
REV. WILDMAN: I believe my parents were
very proud that I was able to serve my country
but am sure they worried about my safety. My
father had been a World War I veteran and had
treasured that experience for the rest of his life.
REV. WILDMAN: The major way in which I
have kept in touch is through a newsletter that is
sent to all members of the 536th about twice a
year. I have attended two reunions. They are
usually held in Oklahoma City or the south. In
addition there is one friend that I have been corresponding with for a number of years. One of
my special friends became a Christian clown and
enjoyed visiting nursing and retirement homes.
LORRAINE: Was it hard to adjust to military
life?
LORRAINE: Where were you on December 7th
when the Japanese bombed Pearl?
REV. WILDMAN: No. I learned that I could
live under many different types of circumstances. When we first arrived at Fort Knox there was
no electricity, central heat and not many “good”
meals. I was rather amused, one time, when we
were finally served steak dinner that some men
complained there was no catsup and another
time when we were given ice cream and the
complaint was there was no chocolate.
REV. WILDMAN: I was attending a concert at
my high school.
LORRAINE: How did your parents feel about
your being in the Armed Services?
LORRAINE: Tell us about the friends you
made or any other experiences.
REV. WILDMAN: I made many friends from
different areas of the country. Many of the men
were from the south and I got an introduction to
southern culture and thinking. Many of them
were still fighting the Civil War. When I returned home my mother was sure that I had
LORRAINE: What about VE Day and VJ Day
when the atomic bomb was dropped? How did
you feel about this?
REV. WILDMAN: I was on the island of Okinawa when the A-bomb was dropped. After
more than fifty-five years it is difficult to reconstruct feelings. I do know there was joy and relief that the war was ending even though rumor
had it that we would be a part of the occupation
forces in Japan. This later changed and –we
were sent back to the States.
LORRAINE: Did you think the United States
was capable of fighting wars in Europe and the
South Pacific:
�Reverend Doctor Robert WildmanPage 4
REV. WILDMAN: Don’t think I thought much
about that but I didn’t doubt that we would win.
I was confident of my country’s abilities.
LORRAINE: Were you aware of Hitler’s actions in Europe?
REV. WILDMAN: Actually there wasn’t much
media attention at first as the United States was
trying to avoid being involved in that conflict.
As the conflict grew, the news became more
plentiful. Actually I was still in the United States
and news came from radio, newsreels at theaters,
and the newspapers. By the time I entered college I was very aware I could be drafted.
LORRAINE: What did you do if you had free
time or passes?
REV. WILDMAN: I mostly explored places
like Shreveport and DeRidder, Louisiana; Louisville, Kentucky, Carmel, California, Seattle,
Washington, Honolulu, Hawaii and the Island of
Oahu as well as Leyte, Okinawa plus other places in the Pacific. We really didn’t have much
free time in Leyte or Okinawa. When in Louisville, I discovered hamburgers!
LORRAINE: Do you remember anything special about Christmas or Thanksgiving?
REV. WILDMAN: I remember special meals
prepaid by the company cooks. I also remember
spending Easter Sunday loading ammunition
onto the light cruiser Burmingham as our outfit
prepared to take part in the Battle of Okinawa.
Incidentally that Easter Sunday was also “April
Fools’ Day.”
LORRAINE: Were you able to write often to
you family? Did you receive letters and packages from them?
REV. WILDMAN: Yes, I tried to write whenever possible and I looked forward to mail from
home. Mail call was one of the highlights of army life overseas, whether it was a letter, a package, or any kind of printed material that would
remind a person of home.
LORRAINE: Do you have any other thoughts
or memories of those years in service?
REV. WILDMAN: My thoughts of army life as
I experienced it were good thoughts. I felt that I
could have made a career of the army if it hadn’t
been for my sense of call to the Christian ministry. My memories are many, both good and bad.
LORRAINE: When and where were you discharged?
REV. WILDMAN: I was discharged at Camp
McCoy, Wisconsin, Januar6y 27, 1946, having
served over two years and nine months. When I
was discharged I was asked to stay in the Army
Reserves. I declined, as I wanted to get back to
Michigan again and enter college to prepare for
the ministry. I had had this sense of call when I
entered the service and even thought I tried to
talk myself out of the ministry, I couldn’t. As
someone said, “God had His hand on my shoulder and wouldn’t let go.
LORRAINE: Where did you resume your college education?
REV. WILDMAN: I entered Hope College in
Holland, Michigan, to complete four years of
college and then I entered Western Theological
Seminary in Holland for three year of preparatory studies for the ministry. Years later I continued my theological education by taking a Doctor
of Ministry Degree from the Louisville Presbyterian Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. While
at Hope College I met my future wife, Lois, and
we were married upon graduation from college
on June 29, 1948.
LORRAINE: What churches did you serve after graduation?
REV. WILDMAN: My first church was the
Reformed Church in Hopkins, Michigan. From
there I moved to Bethel Reformed Church in
Harvey, Illinois. Next came Calvary Reformed
Church of Southgate, Michigan. Finally I came
to Illinois to the Hope Reformed Church on
Spring Creek Road in Rockford. I served there
twelve years and retired in 1989. Since then I
have conducted services in churches of many
�Reverend Doctor Robert WildmanPage 5
Denominations in and around Rockford. After I
retired I became active in the Alpine Kiwanis
Club of Rockford and also in Kiwanis International. For six and one-half years I headed the
Kiwanis International’s First World Service Project. This project was designed to work with
UNICEF in ridding the world of the leading
cause of preventable mental retardation plus a
host of other physical problems. In 1994 I was
able to go to Bangladesh, one of the poorest
countries in the world, to look at this problem.
There I saw for myself how a little bit of iodine
in salt can make an unbelievable difference in
the lives of people. Today this project can deliver ninety-one million children from mental retardation and the number is growing. Kiwanis
International is involved in this outreach. There
is still a ways to go, before the job is complete,
as there are still millions to be helped. This too
is a ministry.
LORRAINE: Many people from area churches
have been challenged by Bob'’ preaching and his
Bible classes. Both he and his wife, Lois, a former teacher, are active at Midway Village &
Museum Center plus having time to enjoy their
children and grandchildren. A book on the history of the 536th Amphibian Tractor Battalion has
been written and I am including some interesting
stories written by its author Caldwell Smith that
Reverend Wildman does not recall.
_____________
Comments by Lorraine Lightcap
A book on the history of the 536th Amphibian
Tractor Battalion was written by a member,
Caldwell Smith. .Some of the stories he tells,
Reverend Wildman does not recall. Smith tells of
the train ride to the West Coast that was so
crowded with soldiers that meals were brought
to them. This train ride from Camp Polk via
Houston, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and then
on to California took ninety-nine hours.
At times while at Leyte and Okinawa, Smith said
they ate in the rain as there was considerable
rainfall in that area.
It was at Fort Ord that the battalion first
learned they would be trained as an Amphibian
Tractor Battalion. It was there they began training to land troops and supplies on beaches. Reverend Wildman had some training for this.
Smith, in his history of this group, mentioned
during the two thousand-mile trip from Hawaii
to Leyte, fresh water was rationed and salt water showers were not very pleasant. He also
wrote that seven hundred ships converged at
Leyte along with Admiral Halsey’s 3rd Fleet.
This included battleships, cruisers, ships, carriers, escort carriers, destroyers, transports, cargo ships, plus LPs, LCDs, PT boats plus
the536th “A” battalion. Smith also stated this
battalion traveled 5,404 miles from Hawaii,
around Leyte, Okinawa and back to the States.
Smith wrote many stories of soldiers adjusting to
military life; what they did to relieve the tension
(sometimes boredom) of life in Leyte, Okinawa.
Winthrop Rockefeller was part of the Battalion
but Rev. Wildman never met him.
Fortunately, Rev. Wildman did not succumb to
any tropical diseasesnor can he recall hearing the voice of Tokyo Rose.
�
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
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Midway Village Museum
Publisher
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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
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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
Lorraine Lightcap
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Reverend Dr. Robert Wildman
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
Reverend Dr. Robert Wildman
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
30-Dec-01
Description
An account of the resource
Born April 20, 1924, Dr. Robert Wildman enlisted in the Army as a Chaplain's Assistant in April 1943. He was discharged in January 1946. He died February 26, 2005.
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Midway Village Museum
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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PDF Text
Text
Richard August Anderson-Page
I
-
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Transcribed by Lonaine Ligþtcap
MidwayVillage and Musoum Center
6799 Guittord Road
Rocldor{ Illinois 61107
Phone 815 397
9ll2
{
�Richard August Anderson-Page 2
Interview with Richard A. Anderson by Jim Will.
Hi! Today is February 14, Valentine's
Day,
My name is Jim Will. I am a volunteer
with the Rockford Museum Ce,nter which is
1994.
cooperating with a st¿tewide effort to collect oral
histories from Illinois citizens that participated in
events surrounding World War IL Today we are
in the home of Richard Anderson who lives at
3111 Þartmouth Drive, Rockford, Illinois, Mr.
Anderson served in a branch of the United States
Armed Forces during World War IL We are
going to interview him about his orperiences in
ANDERSON: Well, we grew up in the
depression and when I was a youngster at 16 %l
decided to join the National Guard with some of
my füends. The local National Guard. It was
Company K of the 129ú Infantry. To help fulfill
some of the hardships, I joined the National
Guard for the extra income to help support
myself as well as give money to the farnily. In
doing so, I got caught up in the mobilization for
WorldWar II.
WILL:
the war.
WILL: Oka¡ Dick, can we start off with
your
When did you join?
ANDERSON: I joined in February'39.
firll name, place and date of birth.
ANDERSON: My name is Richard August
Anderson. I was born August 7*, 1923, tn
Rockford, Illinois. I was the son of immigrant
IVILL: What was life like before
the war?
country and married in Minnesota,
ANDERSON: What life was like before the war.
For me, I was still a student in school, At the
time of mobilization, I was a junior i" high
school, I lú grade. I worked at a theater as a
theater usher for eÍra money. The basic
entertainment was Saturday night dances at the
church. V/e did a lot of pool playng in the pool
halls ... State and Madison ... and in the winter,
sports. We did a lot of ice skating, hockey,
skiing. I was in the Rockford Ski Club which we
used to jump ... the youngsters used to jump on
the ski jump at Blacft*rawk Park. That all
materialized in the last 13,14,15 and 16 year old
periodthat I was a youngster. Along come March
5, I94l where they mobilized for this one year of
compulsory training. They mobilized. a National
Guard to enter the service to fulfill that
obligation for the reserves.
WILL: Theymet in Minnesota.
WILL:
parents.
WILL: Andtheirnames
ANÞERSON: And there names were Richard E.
and Dorothy Fannie Anderson. My mother was
from Sweden and my father was from Norway.
\ilILL:
Were they immigrants?
ANDERSON: Immigrants.
IVILL:
They came over
ANDERSON: They came over from the old
Do you have any
Was that at Camp Grant?
brothers and sisters?
ANDERSON: Yes. I have two brothers that are
younger than I and their names are Wamer Olaf
and Ralph Francis.
WILL: Are there any momentous occasions or
special events that you care to share with us
about your family and family life?
ANDERSON: No, when we mobilized we
marched down South Main to the Illinois
Railroad station and got a train and ended up in
Camp Forrest, Tørnessee. Because the camp
wasnt quite finished,-gepared for us,- they
hauled the scrap lurnber that was left from
building
the barracks-we made wooden
sidewalks
to stay out of the mud
so we
wouldn't
�Richard August Anderson-Page
have to walk around in the mud. That took us
two or three months at which time the draftees
and the selective service people that were being
mobilized into the army-the military would
come to our camp and we organized our units
3
cadre because our ratings for efficiency in
training were the best of the division They
selected our regimørt to be the training
division----or training regiment.
and began our basic training.
\ilILL:
WILL:
ANDERSON: 33'd Division, Illinois National
Guard and I was part of the 129ú Infantry. We
had four regiments, t2eú krfantry 130ú Infantry,
131't and the 132'd Infantry which at that time
This is in Tennessee?
ANDERSON: This
is in
Camp
Forrest,
Tennessee. That was in an area by Tullahoma,(?)
Termessee, halfiray between Nashville and
Chattanooga.
WILL: You were there on December 7 n 1941?
ANDERSON: December 7ú we were at Camp
Forrest, Tennessee, and I was in a movie theater
on a Sunday aftemoon when I got the word that
Pearl Harbor was atþcked. A notice came on the
screen for all the men of the 129ú Infantry to
report back to base immediately. So I jumped up
and ran outside and, God, it was pandemonium.
People running everywhere and we couldn't
figure out what the heck-why is everybody
running around. Well, it was mobilizng the
guard at the camp. A lot of ttrem were moving on
the emergency moves out to the west coast, to the
TWA dams, the aircraft plants, to set up guard
dutyto prevent any sabotage.
WILL:
Here in the States?
Which division was this?
designated a square division which in tactics and
maneuvering and what have you in war, four
regiments had a purpose but because of the new
armored divisions and armor coming up and the
artillery, the cavalry was obsoleted for armored
vehicles. To speed up the movement of a
division, they trimmed it to a triangular division
which was three regiments. That's why the 132od
krfantry went overseas as a separate regiment
and joined up with two other regimerts that made
up the Marical division which our General
Powell recently--our Commander in Chief--rcur
General used to be part of the Marical Division.
During that December 7û period in January of
'42...
WILL: What was your
reaction to Pearl Harbor?
ANDERSON: Pearl Harbor was-during this
period, they mobilized us into the military army
full time. was the
ANDERSON: That was in the St¿tes and we
up stationed at Chattanooga, Te,nnessee,
on the Chicamauga Dam on the TWA Dam
projects to prevent any sabotage. That lasted
ended
about two weeks and in the next two weeks we
ended up at the multi-air craft plant at Nashville,
Tennessee, guarding the air craft plant for two
weeks. Then we got our notice to retum to Camp
Forrest, Tennessee, to be alerted
move
to
somewhere and we got back to camp--our base
camp-and found outthat our division was being
broken up. The 132"d lnfantqy from Chicago area
was being mobilized and senrt to the west coast to
go overseas immediately They became part of
the Marical Division which was in Australia and
the 129th hfantry was designated as a training
European War-the way the
Germans were escalating the war. We purposely
thought we were being mobilized and trained to
go to Europe. It was a complete shock to hear
that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and that
changed the whole strategy and units that were
scheduled
Europe got changed
be
scheduled for the Pacific, imagine that was a
for
I
to
nightmare at the War Office. But anyways, it
was a shock. In a way we were excited about the
fact that maybe we'd go to the Pacific rather than
Europe. Past experiences, books, literature that I
had read about'World rü/ar I which my uncle and
father were in, sleeping in the winter snows and
ice and everything dunng World War I, diúl't
look too inviting to me, I didn't relish that
experience so I preferred the Pacific. As it tumed
�Richard August Anderson-Page 4
out I was fortunate that our unit was sent to the
Pacific. During the exchange of troops in training
and making our regiment a cadre, I stayed with
my regiment all through the war from initially
from Rockford, Illinois, in March 5, 1941, to
Iuly 12, 1945. March 5th '4lis when we were
mobilized and I stayed with the unit all the way
up to July 12ú of '45 until my discharge.
WILL: You
heard about what was going on in
Europe with Hitler, What was your opinion on
that-before Pearl Harbor.
ANDERSON: My opinion on Hitler was-he
was â maniac and we had to hurry up and get
trained to get over there and stop this maniac
from...
WILL:
You were expecting
ANDERSON: We were expecting to be shipped
to Europe in the '41 period but things changed
and when they broke up our 33'd division, the
129ú hfantry the 130ú krfantry and the l3l't
made up the triangular division the ne\il
organization. Why all the veterans or trained
personnel were transferred out into other cadre
units, paper divisions that were being mobilized
and organized through the war department which
the trained personnel were sent out as training
cadres for other divisions, orther regiments so our
table of organization is normally around 217 mert
in a rifle company-infantry company. At this
period in August, or I beg your pardon October
of '41, we were down to about 35 men in our unit
which we were the nucleus of a cadre for training
, We got draftees and selectees transferred into
our unit which we started our 13 weeks basic
training which brought it into February of '42,
the end of the basic training. We were a firlly
organized training regiment. The other personnel
up to Octobet '41were transferred out to other
divisions that were being organized as training
'We
cadres.
went in to æst out the troops before
they were transferred to other units. We had a
maneuver
October)
in 1941 (August, September and
in Arkansas and Louisiana-
maneuvers which we had what we called a blue
army and red armythattried to out maneuver one
another and move through the countryside. We
went from Arcadelphia, Arkansas, all the way
down to Alexandria, Louisiana, where the battle
stopped to be continued, maybe in another war.
WILL:The realthing
ANDERSON: Well, we started our mâneuvers
at Arcadelphia(?) which was left off after World
'War
L During World War I there were some
army units that started a üumeuver in Missouri
and ended up in Arcadelphia, Arkansas. Then in
World War II period 1941, these maneuvers were
still on file. The army just picked up where they
left off in World War I and had us start up for
two months rnaneuvers or three montls
maneuvers in fukansas and Louisiana and it
ended at Alexandria.
WILL: What
date was this?
ANDERSON: That was about October of '41
after which we were transported back to our base
camp in Tennessee by trucks. Everybody was on
truck convoys, So we lived in bivouac areas, in
state parks, Shiloh Park in Memphis, Tennessee.
We bivouaced there at night setting up our tents
in a row for bivouacing and wæur
transportation was army trucks-moving from
one area to another. We retumed back to Camp
Forrest in October '41 and that's when all the
trained personnel that were eligible to be
transferred into ottrer units for training cadres. In
October we started all over training a batch of
new trainees. We were through with them- we
were through with our basic training by February
of '42 which we were told that it was imminent
when ever we were going move. We didn't know
whether we were going to go to Europe or
whether we were going to go to the Pacific.
Eventually they moved another division into our
Camp Forrest, Tørnessee, so we had to move out
into the countryside and set up a base camp in
tents, bivouacing. We did that for three months.
Then in August we got our alert notice, August
of 1942, that we were shipping over and as of the
day we left our countryside camp in Camp
Forrest, Tennessee, got on the trains. We thought
�Richard August Anderson-Page 5
we were shipping over to the east coast. Then the
people were saying we were going down to
Louisiana, New Orleans, and ship out by boat
through the Panama Canal to the Pacific. Now
we had all kinds of gambling pools, betting on
what was going to happen.
WILL:
Where were you gorrg?
ANDERSON: Well, it ended up that we got on
our trains and we just went straight west. We had
the red flag, everything coming eastward on the
railroads was sidetracked. Anything going west
had first class---drrough way. We got to Camp
Stroman, California, right outside
of
San
Francisco near St. Petersburg, Califomia. We got
to a þlace called Camp Stroman(?) and there we
were examined by doctors to see if we were
physically fit. We got shots for overseas dutytyphus, malaria, and what have you. In three
days we were on a boat heading out into the
Pacific out of Frisco Harbor. We said goodbye to
the golden Gate r¡¡hen we went under it. The ship
that took us out of Frisco was a Dutch-what
they called a deluxe cargo ship--åalf passengers
and half cargo. It was a Dutch ship by the name
of Clip Fontaine(?) and we were on that ship for
16 days, We left the 2od of September and on the
lSth of September, after zigzagging through the
ocean and-a couple of submarine, scaressubmarine alerts-we ended up in a harbor on an
island. We couldn't ñgure out what ttre name of
the island was, 'til they finally told us this is
where we were debarking,--+he Fiji Islands. So
on the 18û of September we were in the Frji
Islands. When we got there that's when we
became ... We went overseas as a regimental
combat team, the l2eft nfantry. When we got to
Fiji, we became part of the 37û krfantry Division
which was a National Guard Division from Ohio.
They were short one regiment. We became the
129û Infaritry ofthe 37û Division, The other two
regiments were the 145û hfantry and the 148ú
Infantry. We were the 129ft' We stayed with the
37ú Division through the whole Pacific combat
zone. We were on the Fiji Islands about six
months, digg¡rg in defense positions just in case
the Japanese would rnvade. We could defend her
with a couple of regiments but there wasn't very
many troops for an invasion. You dont stop an
invasion when it starts. August 7ù of 1942 when
we were in the Fiji Islands was my birthday, I
was 19 years old. The Marines landed at
Guadalcanal which was about 600 miles north of
us. There was a group of islands in between
Guadacanal which is in the Solomon chain of
islands in Frji. That was in the New Hebrides, the
main island in the New Hebrides was Espri
Santo. This scheme of islandhopping is actually
what was happening, We moved from Fiji to
New Hebrides and the 37û Division, part of it
was on New Hebrides with the regiments of the
145ú and 148û went from New Hebrides to New
Georgia. The 129ú came on to New Hebrides
behrnd the 37ft Ðivision to occupy the island
while the 37ú went on to New Georgia and
Tulagi. That lasted for a period of about six
months, At the end of that period we were
practicing beach-head maneuvers with the Navy
and the Merchant Marines. \üe got on a ship and
we headed out. We did nd know where we were
going yet.They told us we were going to
Guadalcanal. We got to Guadalcanal. They were
just finishing mop-up operations and what have
you. To get us familiarized with combat they
went us out on patrols in front of the Marical
Division, 132"d Infantry, one of our old mother
regiments, just to get a taste of being afraid,
scared and possibly getting shot at. We were on
Guadacanal for three weeks. Then they said our
mission has been desþated and we're going to
make the invasion of Bougainville,
WILL: What was your rank
and duties?
ANDERSON: My rank and duties in Company
K of the 129ú Infantry was reconnaissance
sergeant which was a staff sergeant. That's 3
stripes up and one rocker below. I went overseas
as a staff sergeant and stayed as a staff sergeant
up until this time. We prepared our combat
loacting of the ships for the invasion of
Bougainville. We were invading Bougainville
with the 129û hfaritry and the 148û Infantry of
the 37û Division and the Third Marine Regiment
'We
of the Third Marines.
said this was history
because we had never heard of the army making
�Richard August Anderson-Page 6
a beach-head with Marines before but this was
the first time that it was a combined operation.
The Marines had their own sector, the 129ú had
their sector and the 148ú had their sector but we
hit the beach at the same tíme. When we hit
Torkina(?) point on Bougainville, the point was
like a right angle so as we penetrated we were
forming a perimeter which was a quadrant of a
circle because of the point was like 90os you had
less yardage to cover instead of a complete circle
in a perimeter. So we advanced about six miles
inland which took 2 % to 3 weeks in which
sporadic fighting took place. The fapanese
retreated all the way up into the mountains and in
fact to the other side of the island to get away
from any contåct with us as they
wete
ouürumbered. Anyways, we formed a perimeter,
six mile radius from the Torkina(?) Point so that
the Seabees could move in and start building
bomber strips, fighter strips. Our whole mission
was to hold the perimeter while they built the
bomber strips and the fighter strips so the allies
could fly and take off on bombing missions to
reach out to Râbal(?) New Britain, and all the
other islands that needed
air
support
and
bombing. While we were on Bougainville, like I
said, the battle petered out about April. We
landed in Bougainville November of '42, We
landed on Bougainville in November of '43 we
were on Bougainville all of '44-up until
December of '44.'We were on Bougainville for
13 months holding this perimeter and during that
\J
period the Japs attacked us twice. Once on the
132'd Infantry which used to be part of the 33d
Division was also the Marical Division. The 37ú
Division was holding the perimeter. When we
formed the perimeter the Marines were relieved
and retumed back to their commander. They
were probably sent on other missions like
Tarawa or Ferel Island(?) or Marshall Islands.
Anyway, the army had the whole perimeter on
Bougainville up until December of '44 at which
time after the main battles were over with, we
knewtheywere defeated. Theywere coming in as
prisoners, straggling in the jungles, half starved
and some of them would attack us. We would
shoot them or kill them, get rid of them. We
fought the 10ú Infantry division of the Japanese
Army that was in on the "rape of Nanking". 'We
were told that, so during the fighting, you might
say it was quite fierce because we resented the
îaú.thatthey were the butchers and they weren't
gonna scare us, you know. We practically
annihilated them. In fact in March of '44 they
attacked us. In þril of '44 they really attacked
us with everything ... 10,000-
WILL:
By sea or by air?
ANDERSON: No, by coming down out of the
mountains. On Bougainville. We formed a
perimeter on Bougainville and they had the whole
island. We just waited there for them. If they hit
us, they hit us. But we weren't out to annihilate
them. We were there to protect--defend the air
strip. The military didn't want the whole island.
They just wanted enough space for bombers and
fighters. It was our job to protect the airstrip.
After April of '44 when things quieted down,
through reconnaissance and patrols, thousands of
them ... that the enemy had retreated to the
opposite side of the island. They were trying to
survive themselves by growing vegetables. We
saw that they had planted gardens and trying to
grow stuff. Then our air force ... the fighters ...
would go in and spray the fields and kill off
everything. So they practically starved them to
death. Anyways, the,n we started training of all
things, in the jungle, in clearings that they had
cleared when they were making the air strip to
practice beach-head landings for the Philippines.
\üe would group on the land and march down to
the shoreline and take out Higgins boats and
coxswains boats, infantry boats to the ships that
were out in the water with landing nets on their
sides. Several of them were American made,
some were Australian made. The ones we
practiced beach-head landings off of was the
Westralia from Australia,. For about two months
we did nothing but get on the ship, eat our food
on the ship, and the next moming, early- four
or five o'clock-daybreak-sound the alert, go
down the rope ladders into the boats so we could
practice beach-heads on Bougainville for the
Philippines.
�Richard August Anderson-Page 7
\UILL: You didthis how manytimes?
WILL: Hit
ANIIERSON: We did it for two months
ANDERSON: Our fleet. Our convoy was
attacked by something like 20 kamikazes. The
one that dove on our ship, hit the stem-hit the
WILL:
Everyday?
ANDERSON: Everyday, Wet, sand¡ dirty and
during that period we thought boy this is the big
one. Then they finally told us we ïvere gonna hit
the main island of Luzon. When we were
finishing up our practice landing they had just hit
Leyte. The army made the beach-head at Leyte.
And it went so smooth there that they moved up
to the beach-head to Lingayan(?) Gulf which was
January 9ú of t45. So January gú'45 we were on
our troop ships cruising up through the islands.
rù/e got over to the Admiraþ Islands
to pick up
some extra troops to fill in the vacancies that we
had in some of our units that were trainees from
the--I forget the name of the relocation center
no--the repo depots-they sent
over
replacemurts from the States to the replacement
depot and then from the replacement depot by
MOS numbers to trained desþation number like
an infantryman number MOS. My MOS was
1542 which was a reconnaissance sergeant But
anyway, we got our units filled up with spares
for the big invasion, They figured we'd better be
full strength when we made this big invasion. We
were in the Admiraþ Islands about three, four
days living on the ships. They let us go out on the
Coral Islands-5O0 yards in diameter. FIad a
beer shed on it. We get on the island and they i
served you two cans of hot beer. We'd sit there
and drank the hot beer and then back to the boat.
We got to do that every day, once a day, two
beers. Then we finally got the alert and we're
taking off. It was the largest troop convoy of the
war including Europe at this time, January of
1945, There was over 800 ships involved in this
invasion of Luzon-Philippines. 'We took off
from the Admiraþ Islands and started snaking
up through the chain of Philippine Islands. Went
up in through Mindanao Straits, went by Leyte.
We were on the west coast of Luzon right outside
of Manila Harbo¡ which you could see right on
the horizon. We got hit by Kamikaze airplanesJapanese fighters-Kamikaze panes.
.
the fleet or just your ship?
water at the stem-damaged the rudder, literally
lifted the ship right out of the water. We thought
it was going to break apart when it landed back
down. But the ship--{he airplane the Jap was
flying was full of dynamite They loaded up their
kamikaze suicide planes with explosives, mostly
dynamite.
WILL:
Enough gas for one raid!
ANDERSON: Yes, enough gas for one raid. But
anyways we survived the kamikaze crash and it
was getting dark. The Kitcom(?) Bay aircraft
carrier right in front of our ship got hit by six
kamikazes and we watched that one being towed
away. It wasn't sinking but it was listing. All the
aircraft that was available flew off of it on a
list-aircraft carrier on a slant. But anyways
they all flew offand they had to report to another
carrier somewhere in the vicinrty. There were 800
ships scattered over the seas from horizon to
horizon. You could see them everywhere. All the
time in the sky at nigbt, just before dusk, during
this attack all the F4Us, Navy fighters, P38s
coming from Leyte. It was just a big dog figlìt in
the air and fireballs.
WILL:
You had ringside seats
ANDERSON: Yah. The P.A. system, the
speaker on the system, said "I don't know who it
is but there goes another one." There would be a
fireball going down into the water and I guess we
lost around five or six airplanes. But they lost all
of their 20 or so that hit us. An¡ruvays this was
January 8* right outside of Manila Harbor that
this happened. The next morning we were in the
Lingayan(?) Gulf where we were making our
beach-head. We awoke at four o'clock in the
moming. Theywoke us up from our bunks and it
was just becoming daybreak about 4:30. The sþ
looked like a polka dot sþ antiaircraft smokeclouds of smoke just like a pattem like a polka
�Richard August Anderson-Page 8
dst dress. Suicide planes flying around crashing
into U. S. carriers, into cruisers, into an
Australian battleship. We were forming up in line
to
ready
disembark-get
off the ship-and
wired up on the bridge. The Japs were ready to
blow.
WILL: After you got over or before you
went
anytime something could hit us, you know,
over?
WILL:
ANDERSON: No, they hadn't blown it yet.
When we went under it we saw those bombs. We
told the driver of that amphibious tractor kick it,
you know, kick it in the ass and get this thing
going. We dont wantthis bridge to fall on us. So
it was the whole convoy. There was about eight
or ten traçtors for our unit for our company.
How many men lilere on the ship?
ANITERSON: About 3000. It was a battalion3'ú battalion of the l2gú krfantry. We
disembarked out over the side on the rope ladder
down to these amphibious tractors like the
Marines used. The reason our unit got those,
through our prior planning in Bougainville,---{ur
mission was after the beach head go inland ¡vo
miles, cross the Camay(?) River, get inland three
miles past the river and set up a combat--or an
MLR they called it-a Main Line of Resistance.
The reason we had amphibious tractors was for
the speed that if we went ashore in Higgins boats
we couldn't run that fast to get up into our area
so that we had alligator tractors that the Marines
used to land on shore, Then we had to watch out
for explosive ammunition that are duds from the
Navy from shelling. We get by that and here
comes all the civilian Phillipinos coming up out
of holes out of the ground just yelling "Victory!
Victory! MacArthur has retumed" and all that
stuff. It was quite thrilling to see this but we had
to be careful because in some cases there were
saboteurs and pro-Japanese that would wait till
we pass them and then they'd shoot at us f¡om
the rear. So we half way had to ignore them and
there were troops purposely on land that landed
on land that would surround up these people and
herd them into a group to keep them away from
the troops. Our mission was to keep going so we
went on through this town of DeMali(?) We were
being sniped at but not bad-not enough to really
harass us.
WILL:
Where would this be?
It was in the vicinity but not
always at us. We got to the river and crossed the
ANDERSON:
h
crossing the river we had to go
underneath a railroad bridge. As we went under
the railroad bridge, we saw 500 pound bombs all
river,
When we hit the shore we were about Yz mile out
of a line on what they called the red beach or
blue beach. I forget what our beach desþation
was. So when we hit the river the company
commander said we got to make a left tum in the
water so we had to go under this bridge and that
is when we saw the bombs. We kept our fingers
crossed that the Japs wouldn't blow it. We
moved into position about 500 yards-600 yards
to the to the left-then went ashore and got on a
highway that was heading for Malasinki(?).
which was little town of about 5000 peoplecivilians. Our first niglrt after we got or¡t of the
river heading for Malasinki(?) we had to-it was
nightfall. We had to bivouac for the night. So we
set up our perimeters and these amphibious
tractors said, Well we got to go back." They
tumed around and went back in the dark, back to
their beach desþation. There we were. Early
moming--{aybreak-we se,nt out patrols. Then
we got in columns of two's and started marching
down the road. The patrols out in front of us, the
scouts, were watching for snipers, activity and
r,vtrat have you. We got all the way up into
Malasiki(?), just about sundown. We heard a lot
of shooting going on and we cut across a rice
paddy onto a railroad because the
communications we were getting was don't come
down the highway. So they said come down the
railroad. We had this advance patrol that was
fiehting offthe Japs up there in Malasiki(?), the
town of Mallasiki(?). We gotthere about-it was
getting dark-and so we were told 1s dig in, so
we dug in right along side the railroad track. By
this time we had them laps trapped in
a
tnangle-the highway and the railroad crossing
�Richard August Anderson-Page 9
for the triangle. There was a dirt road maybe a r/t
mile up from the railroad crossing and we closed
in-surrounded them. We were pitching
grenades and shooting all night long. Snipe
shooting, youknow, justharassingthem. All of a
sudden my parhrer and I, Bill Cave(?)., (he was
my best man at the wedding when we got back
it
after the war)-we were laying in a fox hole
pitching grenades at certain places where we
heard noises and all of a sudden somebody
jumped in our slit trench and it was a Jap and he
had a saber. He was getting ready to swing that.
Both Bill Cave and I jumped up and grabbed him
and pulled him back down and butted him to
death with the butt of a rifle. I asked Bill if he
was O. K. and he said, ooYah, f'm O.K." So there
was a few nicks that we got, one on the cheek
Bill Cave got and on myhand.
WILL: Fromthat Jap?
ANDERSON: Yes, from that lap. That was just
could have been anything scuffling in the dark.
That moming the first thing at the break of dawn
we ñnally had a Jap interpreûer come down the
railroad from the rear headquarters as an
interpreter. Nothing was really happening. The
shooting had stopped. We had the interpreter yell
out to surrgrder, "You're surrounded. You don't
have a chance. We got food for you." They were
starving. You could tell the ones that were
captured during the night trapped in a small little
patrol pockets hadnt eaten for days, By that time
they start coming popping up and running out of
'We
the wooded area with their hands up.
herded
them into a theater in the town, a cinema, outdoor
theater, with a roof on. rile had them strip down
naked so that we could tell if they had any
weapons on them because a lot of them carried
grenades hanging on their neck, ammunition,
money belts, around their waists and stuff like
that. So we had them strip down and we ended up
with 168 Prisoners of War,. We killed 60 some
Japs-captured 168. During the hassle we're
calling regimental headquarters that we got over
160 prisoners and what did they want us to do
with them? They said send them back in groups
of 20 and two GIs to each group of 20. So we
organized groups of 20 and then two Gls-two
riflemen-to escort them back. The groups were
spaced apart like 20 to 25 yards. I was in one
group.Walked them back 20 miles to
Cabachuan(?) right by a railroad crossing on the
river, Camia River, and tumed them over to
MPs. On the way they wanted to drink the water.
We pointed down to the swamp "Drink that
water just like you did on the Bataan March."
\ilILL:
Theynever gave you any other trouble,
ANDERSON: No, they argued a lot and some
would say, "I went to school in UCLA" And
stuff like that. You ran into all this kind of
English speaking Japs trying to get preferential
treatment. That's rvhat they were doing. But
anyways, we reported back to our unit at
Monkada(?). Before we left with the prisoners,
the civilian-in the town govemmentapproached our unit commander and said, "One
of these men raped a woman last night"--during
the night. Captain Kelly said, "\ñ/hat do you want
me to do about it?" We want permission for the
woman to look over the prisoners to see if she
can find him and point him out." Kelly said, "Go
ahead. If you find him, you tåke him." She
walked through that whole crowd. We had them
sitting on wooden benches, naked. She went
through and she pointed to the guy-bearded
guy-bushy hair. He wasn't really a Japanese
soldier. He was a civil engineer, civilian attached
tothe military.
\ilILL:
Philippino?
ANDERSON: No, Japanese. The mayor or the
city official. She said "That's him." He's shaking
his head r1o, no, no. She's jibbering in Phillþino
"Damn right you're the one." So Kelly lets them
t¿ke him and boy, they had a Kangaroo court
right there in the court yard and shot him and
Kelly said, "That's one less we have to worry
about." So that's when we organized those
groups of 20 and marched them back to
Cabachuan(?) and Bayonbon(?) where the two
cities were there.
�Richard August Anderson-Page 10
Tane I. Side 2
Anyways we marched the prisoners back and
when we got back to Malasiki(?) again we got
orders to advance towards Manila. We landed on
Lingayan Gulf on the 9ú of January and we were
in Manila
ll7
miles south by February 17û,
marching offand on. On the way down we got to
a city called Tarlac(?) which is right by Clark
Air Field That's an old U. S. Air Force base that
'We
the Japanese took over.
were bivouacked off
the highway of Clark Field when we got a news
bulletin, they're mimeographed and they're
passed out to the troops ofthe current events of
the week or the days.
WILL:
Somettring like a
little
ANDERSON: Like a news letter and we said,
"Hey, General MacArthur says Clark Field has
'We
been taken.
ought to breeze right through
there on the way down to Manila." The next
morning we got orders to take Clark Field. So we
were side-tracked to take Clark Field and that
took about sevem days. What was suppose to be
like a 12 hour battle lasted seven days-I2
thousand yards later. We swept across the whole
Clark Field up into the mountains where we
pushed the Japs up into the mountains. During
the course of battle \¡ve were strafed by our own
Marine Air Force when we were on Clark Field.
Theythought we were the Japs.
WILL: Theyhadn't
gotten the word yet.
ANDERSON: They hadn't got the word. And
that's when I first got wounded. I was on the
attack to take towards the hill top, called "Top of
the World." I was with my unit commander and
he told me to run over to a tank and tell the
tanker commander to get his group of tanks
moving-we're moving out. We were suppose to
attack with these tanks. Well, there's a telephone
hanging on the back of the tank and you go up
and grab the phone and whistle through it. You'd
get an answer and the tank commander says
"Yah. What can we do for you." And I said,
"Captain Kelly over here on your left is saying
we're ready to take off and attack this hill. He
wants you to move along with the infantry." "Oh
I can't, he says, "we're low on ammunition and
we're low on gas." So then I kind of waved at my
company commander. 'lMe've gat a problem.
Come on over." So he comes over and he talks to
the guy and said, "I don't give a God damn if you
ain't got enough gas, you're gorma run it 'til it
runs out of gas. We'll get you gas." You know,
those five gallon cans from the jeep and trucks.
So anyways we got the battle going and in the
heat of battle I knew I was getting shot at and I
hit the ground and a bullet hit right in front of my
face and cut my lip in two places. I rolled over
into the gÍass to get out of the line of fire. I
figured once I got hidden in the grass he couldn't
see me. It was a rifleman because it was single
shots. It wasn't a machine gun? So then I'm
layrng in the grass trying to figure out what
happened. My teeth are all there and everything,
so I figured it must have been debris-rocks and
stuff. The bullet ricocheted and splattered gravel
and stuff all over my face. By that time Captain
Kelly was yelling "Anderson, where in the hell
are you? He's over there behind that t¿nk. So I
yelled at him. He says "Come on over." So I ran
over to him My face is all bloody and he says,
o''What
the hell happened to you?" I said, "I don't
lnow. I think I got bullet shrapnel or stones
splattered in my face from being shot at." At that
time his radio man happened to move out a little
bit to far from behind the tank and he got shot in
the arm. \üe had to pull him down on the ground
and get him out of the line of fire--told the tank
to stop so we had something in front of us. Got a
medic to come up and treat him. Then we took
offagain, We finallytook this small hill that was
right in front of "Top of the World". As we're
climbing the hill I got hooked up with a squad.
My; company commander was right next to me
but he wanted me to go with this squad as an
extra rifleman because they were shorthandedsome wounded people. So I'm with this Sergeant
Pottsis. He's the squad leader, and we're moving
up the hill. advancing and I'm just behind
Sergeant Pottsis, more or less, acting as his guide
or guard while he was directing his men. If I saw
something, I told him to duck. I didnt know that
we had another platoon circling around the hill to
�Richard August Anderson-Page 11
come up the back side. They shot off a WP
is a white phosphorus grenade
from a rifle launcher and that thlrg sailed over
grenade which
the target which is a Japanese anti-aircrafttwenty millimeter gun on the hilltop that they had
been using for flat fire over the airfield when we
were attacking the airfield. They were using antiaircraft guns for artillery and for machine guns.
But anyways I saw that \MP grenade coming up
over the hill which is maybe 150 yards from
me-coming right down on us. That thing went
off. I got it on my arms. I had my fatþe jacket
on but had the sleeves rolled up to here on both
so there are scars on my ann,
WILL: How far awayhad it landed?
ANDERSON: Oh, about l0 to 15 yards. It
exploded and it looked like a fireworks display,
white phosphorous. We used that for enemy
positions and stuff like that. Sometimes they'll
get in a little pocket hole in the pit of a gun
emplacement and shrapnel they can duck down
enough that the shrapnel will miss them. But
you get a WP in there, that covers everything. It
sticks on you. You tryto wipe it ofl you got it on
your hands. Any ways, it bumed so much and I
thought I had it in my face. I did get some in my
if
face and it was buming. You find out real fast
how much pain level that you can stand. By that
time Sergeant Pottsis grabbed me and laid me on
the ground. He said, 'ol-ay down." I heard him get
this canteen out and sprinkle water on the ground
and make a mud. He spread mud all over my
arms and all over my face. By that time he had to
move out. He said, "fust stay here. I'll have a
medic get you" Well I must have passed out or
woke up I was rn a
medical station laying on a stretcher. The doc
said, "I want you to ope,n up your eyes." I said,
"Are they O.K.?" He said, '"\Me want to see if
they're O.K. Open your eyes?" I had my lid
closed because the pain was such that-well,
anyways, I noticed the pain in my face was gone.
They had washed my face off and used co,pper
sulfate. They smothered the phosphorus with
sulfate and if it doesnt get oxygen, it doesn't
bum. So they were, with tweezers, picking it out
of my face and a couple other guys were working
something because when
,-)
I
on my arms.
hadn't got
I stiil felt pain in my arms. They
it
all. There was some heavier
amounts buming in like a crgareûe butt. I finally
opened my eyes. Boy, were they watering but
they said they looked O.K. That's when saw
I
little streaks of smoke coming off my faceparticles still in my skin buming. I was there for
observation for two days back in this first aid
tent. They said, 'lilhat the hell happened to your
fãce?" I had pock marls all over too, from the
stones. And they diùt know whether that was
phosphorous-. They were digging out the little
stones, That's when I got two purple hearts. I got
one when I reported to the medic and he put a tag
on me for a Purple Heart for my lip being busted
open or split ope,n. He put tape over it to hold it
together until we got to the aid station and then
see if I needed stitches or not. I never did have
stitches.
WILL:
You were there two days?
ANDERSON: Yes, I was in the medical station
two days and then things cleared up I had this
white salve, zinc oxide, or whatever it was
plastered on my face. I looked like a zombie
when I reported back to my unit. That's when the
l't Sergeant gave me my two Purple Hearts.
rüell, he gave me my Purple Heart and then he
gave me an oak leaf cluster that goes on the
Purple Heart. Actually, I got six altogether. I
only claimed two. The others were just minor.
The shrapnel in my knee and mythigh ...
WILL:
Where did you getthal?
ANDERSON: I got that-well, I was at Clark
Field again-running across the field and getting
shot at by anti-aircraft weapons, But they were
so minor I didnt even go to the medics for that.
Then the other one was going through the streets
of Manila while going through the buildings. The
Japs dropped a grenade through a hole in the
floor. It hit the floor-just a poor quality hand
grenade and it just split open and I got slivers in
my back. One of the guys pulled it out. We got
Clark Field occupied after seven days which was
suppose to take a couple of days. They put us
�Richard August Anderson-Page 12
back on the highway to start marching towards
Manila. Wren we got to the outskirts of Manila
on March 2"d of 1945, they stopped us from
entering Manila. We were right at the gate of
Manila. There was a statue at the entrance. I
forget the name of the statue. It was a Spanishsome kind of a Spanish officer, hero, during the
Spanish, when the Spaniards had the Philippines
years ago. Anyways, they held us up so we had
to move off the road and let the l't Cavalry go
through-armored division, MacArthur's pride
and joy. They were going in first.
WILL:
Where were they at?
ANDERSON: They had just landed and they
were racing down Lingayan Gulf, 117 miles,
with their armored vehicles to get to Manila, We
were within a few miles-Clark Field was like 45
miles from Manila*S0 miles. By the time they
were racing down-fl don't know when they
landedFbut they were racing down to get to
Manila, they wanted to retr¡m the First Cavalry
to Manila with Mac Arthur, "I have retumed"
deal. Anyways we waited there offthe road---on
the side of the road. We had to set up our
defensives--our perimeters-because after the
first day nobody showed up. But they said still
wait, wait, wait. It took them three days. The
third day-here they come. It wasn't more than
two or three hou¡s this whole convoy ends up
being swallowed up in Manila. We hear a lot of
shooting and artillery going on. Then we got
orders to advance. So we continued to advance.
Come to find out the First Cavalry was so
rambunctious to get to Manila that they sped
right across the bridges, the Passive(?) Riverwent across the bridges-got all their units south
ofthe river and Japs blew the bridges up and had
hem trapped on the south side. So we got into tlìe
outskirts of Manila and into the building to
building-hand fighting and also house to house.
We confiscated lots of beverages that we found
in the houses-scotch, wine, beer. We sent that
back with our jeep for a rear CP to hold for us so
we could all split it up and divide. When we got
down to the Passive(?) River, the fightings is
pretty fierce. The buildings, hotels are buming.
They declared it an open crty but the Japs
wouldn't let it be an open crty to save it--they
just fired it up. We got down to the Passive(?)
river. We couldn't get across the river. The way
the situation was, the walled city which was like
a big fort-Fort Stachinberg(?)--the walled city
called Intreborous(?). The Japs were holed up
and their fields of fire were so heavy nobody
could cross. They had the First Cavalry pinned
down. All the bridges were blown up. The post
ofñce was full of Japanese. The large post office
like we have in Rockford or bigger. The walled
city here, the post office here and they
had
control of everything. Somebody had the bright
idea to make a river crossing and get into the
walled city. During the night they lined up 144
artillery pieces on two sides of the walled cityso they could hit two sides of the walled city
from the south side of the Passive(?) river-the
north side of the Passive (?) river. We were on
the north side. The Japs are on the south side, We
found out that our unit, the 3'd Battalion, 129ú
Infantry, Company K, was going to make a river
crossing and invade or get inside of the walled
city and try to make--get enough people going
there where we're fighting-getting the Japs
knocked down and holed up, making it easy to
get through. Well, during the night they moved in
all these artillery pieces and at the break of dawn
all hell broke loose. They were shelling direcf fire
across the river. The artillery pieces were pointed
directly at the wall. They would have maybe 6,7,
I guns pointed at onê spot and ¡5ing concrete
piercing ammunition, they just pulverized the
wall so you could walk over it. Prior to that it
was a sheer granite stone wall you couldn't climb
over. If you attempted to climb, the Japs would
get you before you got over. So we shelled the
hell out of it, and they bombed it from the air for
the first two hours at the break of dawn. By six
o'clock we were in engineer boats making the
river crossing. And you know, machine gun fire,
sniper fire and everything going on and we got up
to the wall and we climbed over the crumpled
part that we \¡/ere at. There were several areas
that were the same way that troops got in. Our
unit went in right by the river crossing by the
mint building in the walled city. When I say the
mint building, w€ had to go through the mint,
where they make money. Of course there are
�Richard August Anderson-Page 13
stacks of silver, stacks of gold and st¿cks of
coins and paper money, counterfeit money, We
even found counterfeit money that the Japs were
printing for their purposes.
\ilILL:
Occupation money, I suppose
ANDERSON: Anyways, we're inside the walled
crty within a couple of hours of the shelling and
through the mint building. Everybody
confiscating silver-stuffing it in their packs.
'We're
inside the walled crty, on the wall
protecting--dre Japs were buried underneath The
Walled Crty in the tunnels--ttre dungeons which
later on in modern day ('45) it was like a sewer
system. They used it for t¿ctics I guess. You
know to hide. It was estimated over 500 down
there undemeath The Walled City. So one of the
officers-I was a still a staff sergeaût. I was an
SFC now. I got promoted in Bougainville with an
extra stripe--only to get a little more pay raise.
They would give you a higher rank to get you
more pay, so I was an SFC at this time.
Everybody was "over in grade" because this was
like going on 37 months in the Pacific. You
wondered if you were ever going to get home.
September of '42 when we left the united States,
there were 88 guys, Rockford men, in Company
K. In July of '45 there were only four of us.
WILL:
Oh my gosh. Did they transfer out of it?
ANDERSON: No, most of them were wounded
and killed-mostly wounded. There were 16 or
17 killed of the original 88 and the rest were
wounded. Only one guy out of the whole 88 that
never got wounded. His name was Canaly. He
worked for the Post Office. He got out of it
without a scratch. Eighty-seven guys something
happened to them" killed, wounded, including
myself. 'When the years go by and you're
overseas fighting, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, in
the Philippines, you just wonder if you're every
going to make it. The odds-well, fortunately
when we got to Manila and took it--they then
put us out in the rice paddies. Made up a base
camp and then we started basic training-not
basic training but military training againexercises just to keep us busy. Then we got
orders to go up into the CagayanValley where we
were to øke R*au(?) which is on the northem tip
of Luzon. So there's a town called Lapal(?)
which is rigttt about north of Clark Field where
we started our mission walking up this country
road, winding road up up through the mountains.
On the way we would skirmish with the Japs.
They'd dig their t¿nks into the hillside and use
them for pill boxes. rrl/e had skirmishes here and
there, This was like in May of '45. We're up in a
liüle town called Retau(?) which was half way to
Apari(?) whiçh is the northerm end of Luzon.
We'd just finished off knocking out four Jap
tanks with flame throwers. One of my additional
duties as a cornmunication sergeant, I was a
flame thrower squad leader. I had two flame
thrower crews-{welve guys, six guys one each. I
had an assistant squad leader-{en guys, five
guys on each flame thrower. We used napalm
and jelly gas. These were all fueling gases.
WILL:
Weren't those kind of dangerous. To use
it?
ANDERSON: Ya. You get one on your back
and you get shot when one of the tanks go off.
Good bye. Anyways we had that happen to one
guy. He just went over the edge a little bit. He
went further than we wanted him to but he was
determined to get the job done. In doing so he got
shot. Well, he got shot plus the fuel tank got
penetrated and þited and blew him up. 'When
we got to Aritåu(?) there was a hospital there
with Japanese wounded in it but they were all
half dead. rüe called and said we got about 32
prisoners here but they're all sick. They're in the
hospital beds. They said, 'lMe don't want any
more prisoners." Well, what we gonna do with
them?" They told us it was up to us. So we shot
them all. We didnt want to leave them behind.
They could be playrng possum. By this time we
were so hardened we could open up a can of hash
and eat it \ilith our fingers next to a dead lap with
maggots crawling,all over him. Di&t bother us
one bit. Then we got up from Arutau(?) we went
to a little tovm, Trinidad. For
some reason or
oûher the Japanese convoy got strafed and shot up
there by our air force. There was money laying
all over the ground. Silver pesos, like a silver
�Richard August Anderson-Page 14
dollar.
I got a handful of thos+-about 2500 of
them. Anyways we found out that they were all
layrng in the weeds-the Japs-in the brush,
dysentery malaria, and they just didn't have the
strength to fight.
WILL: Not
near where the hospital was?
ANDERSON: No, this north, a little town called
Trinidad north of Aretau. fuetau(?) is where the
little hospital was where they were all laying on
the beds. They hardly moved. They were just half
dead and they look at you mercifully like they'd
say "Do it. Kill me". You get to that point where
you don't want to suffer.
WILL:
Putthem out oftheir misery
WILL: How did you feel-you
and the rest
of
them feel about it?
ANIIERSON: Well we felt real bad about it. We
just hoped the country would hang on and get the
job done like he was doing. We thought he was
doing a magnificent job. Then Truman took over.
Was it Truman?
IVILL: Yah, Truman took
over
ANDERSON: Was it Truman?
\ilILL:Yah.
ANDERSON: Just ten years later he was
involved in Korea, too, Anyways I don't
remember who the Vice President with Roosevelt
ANDERSON: We get up into the hillside on this
road by Trinidad. That's where we found this
convoy and all this money and stuff. Then we
found over 320 Japs that were scattered or¡t from
this convoy. The convoy was all shot up and
bumed and the ones that still survived the
strafing were undemeath the branches and the
bushes-in the ditches and culverts, We called
them and told them again, 'lMe've got about 320
some Japs up here that are either dysentery,
malaria, sick wounded, half dead." "We don't
want them." So everybody got ready to go otrt
and anything they saw shoot it, kill it, make sure
its dead. Well then a je€p comes up. Stiles from
Detroit, Michigan, and shouts "Anderson,
McVay, Harry Revere, and Getts, get your
stuF-we're going home. This is on the point
system at this time. Anybody with over 100
points rotated as fast as possible to the States,
They wanted to make a big showing, The war in
Europe was over. That was over in April
sometime in '45 or was it sooner than that?
WILL:Thatwas May
atthattrme. Ithink itwas Truman.
WILL:
Yes, Trumantook over
ANDERSON: Was it Truman, the haberdasher.
Anyways, I threw my satchel pack, my maps.
See, by this time we're being infiltrated by GIs
from Europ+-air force individuals, sent the
infantry and everything. This Nightingale, was an
air force sergeant, a ground crew, and he was
assþed to the Pacific and they put him in the
infantry. I said, '1.{ightingale," I ttlrew my map
bag at him and said "It's all yours, goodbye".
Captain Greeri-we
had 13
company
months. Thirteen company
commanders in 38
commanders. Thirteen
bo¡ that
13 must be a
of them. This is #13lucþ number for me. The
just before him was wounded, then we had
one killed. Some of them were just transferred
out---exchanged. We had one killed, 2 or 3
wounded. I was just breaking in this Captain
Green with the maps and what the strategy was
wtth the battalion and battalion commanders
because I was a kind of liaison be&veeri our unit
one
and battalion headquarters and all the other uniæ.
ANDERSON: April, May. Somewhere in there.
Roosevelt died, That was a crush on us. It really
hit us hard over there because we were all raised
in families under Rooseveh. He was the greatest,
you know.
By this time I'm old hat-you know-Sgt.
Anderson. It was gettrng to the point where the
captain would say '"\Mhat do we do now
Anderson?" You lnow, because he's fresh. I'd
bring him up to date on what the situation was
�Richard August Anderson-Page 15
and then our executive officer was always in the
rear bringing up the kitchen and what have youthe rear supplies-so he was never involved. So
it was up to me to brief the company commander
as to what the situation was. Then he'd go back
to
report to the battalion commander to get
briefed some more, I suppose. He probably met
the battalion commander prior to that. They
usually say get up to your unit as fast as you can
and get acquainted, then work back in getting
information. So here this Captain Green-we'd
just finished this battle and he lived through it,
fortunately. This jeep drives up and says,
"Anderson, Devere Getts and McVey, you're
going home. Climb aboard." So I got on the jeep
which took us back to original headquarters. We
had to stay there for the night. They took our
guns away and our gear. "What the hell if the
Japs come down offthe hillside, what am I going
to do?" They said, "Don't worry about that."
Then we got shelled that night by the Japs. So
anyways we got back to Manila at the
replacement depot-got processed through. It
took three or four days.
WILL:
This is probably in what-June?...
ANDERSON: This is June 23'd. On June 23'd, I
got on a ship called
and that took us
back to San Francisco. We made a stop at Guam
to pick up some more GIs and transferring back
to the States. Then we were on our way back to
the States and arrived in San F¡ancisco on July
4e,1945. The war's still going on. It took us so
long to get back. We had to keep zig z"aggngsubmarine tactics. Got off the ship, went to
Angel Island, we,nt across the dock, got on a
furry, went to Angel Island. The first day
processed, there. This is luly 4ú. It was 72 and
we were freezing to death. We were shivering.
WILL:
ì
Your were used to the
.
ANDERSON: We had fatigues on. We were
climatized for the Pacific, 120o weather. Here it's
72o-almos/.. half. Our blood was thin so they
got us in wool clothing--overcoats. You know,
the regular army blouse and Eisenhower jackæ,
wool pants. People on the base at Angel Island
were in T-shirts, walking in T-shirts. t, 'lMhat's
the matter with those guys?" Anyways, l l
o'clock that night-this was early in the
moming-seven o'clock we were off the ship,
over to Angel Island, got processed, paper work,
back pay, stuff like this. By eleven o'clock that
night we were on a train heading for Fort
Sheridan.
WILL:Chicago.
ANDERSON: They split up the guys in the
different directions they were going. I was in a
group going to Chicago. July 4ü, that nightmidnight-we were got on a train-, It took us
four days and four nights. Every train stop-.
See, ever¡hing going west had priorrty. So now
we're on the eastbound train so we had to take
siding. I'm telling you, the GIs were crary. Every
time that train stopped they'd jump oË run into
town, buy a bottle, get some beer, then the train
starts moving again they'd grab a cab and meet
us at the next town and get back on. Then we'd
be out there writrng on the Pullman cars,
"MacArthur's pride and joy--{he U. S. Army"
all over the train. We had Jap flags flying on the
outside ofthe train. July l0ú we get to---{hat was
five days and five nights, I guess----on July 10ft
we got to Fort Sheridan for two days of
processing. I had German prisoners sewing up
my ruptured duck patch on my shirt-issuing me
ribbons put all my garbage on my chest. Then
they'd ask us questions-the ones that spoke
English. "\Mere you in Europe or the Pacific?" I
said, "Pacific". "Oh," he said, "You fought those
damn Japs." He's a German prisoner. Then July
12ú I got separated from the service for the
convenience of the govemme,lrt, I wasn't
discharged, They gave us 90 days to decide
whether we wanted to stay in or not. I says, "90
days ain't enough. I have been away for 38
months overseas. I've only been home once in 4
t/zyears for six days." That was in '41 before we
shipped out. I got home-We rented a cab from
Tallahoma, Tennessee, all the way to Rockford.
There were six of us in the cab with the cab
driver. Seven guys. It tv\¡as a Chevie and we were
�Richard August Anderson-Page 16
packed in like sardines. We had one guy sleep in
the trunk.
years old then, and my other brottrer is two years
younger than I am. I was ...
WILL: How did you get back?
WILL: Werethey inthe
A¡IDERSON: Same way, He stayed in tovm,
We had six days. Four days home and one day
getting up here Twenty-fours roughly, Aurrd 24
hours gefring back. So he stayed up in town. 'We
paid his-$60 a man times seven. We had to
rotåte. One had to sit in the trunk. We wired it
open so you could see out and then wired from
inside so it stayed up and didn't bot¡nce. That
was a riot. But anyways, getting back to July 12ú
when I got separated from Fort Sheridan. We
all-several of us guys--decided lst's all meet at
the Palmer House and have one for the roadyou know-in Chicago. I was the only one that
showed up at the Palmer House. I sat there for
two hours waiting for everybody. Then I thought,
"The hell with this noise." My train is about due
to go to Rockford so I went down to the train
station. Sure enough, tlere was the train getting
ready to go to Rockford. I got on and got in
Rockford on July 13ú at 2 o'clock in the
moming. I thought I don't want to wake up
everybody at 2 o'clock in the moming, so I
grabbed a cab and hauled me up to the Nelson
Hotel on South Main Stræt-the old Nelson
right there on Elm Strest and South Main. The
Cutler Building-old Cr¡tler Fumiture--Hanley
ANDERSON: Yah, myyounger brother, Vemie,
was. He was in the Marines. They called a cab
Fumiture-right
across the street was the Nelson
Hotel. Anyways, got in the hotel and when I got
my room I said, "I want a like a sauna bathsteam bath. I wanted to get all this crap out of
my system. So I'm in there and you could just see
the dirt rolling off my skin, coming out of the
pores. Went for a little swim and by 3:30-4
o'clock I jumped in bed. Woke up about 8, went
down to the barber shop, got a shave and a hair
cut and asked him to use the phone. He let me
use the phone. We were talking war. I just got
home. He was all excited, the barber. Vem, my
younger brother, just rigþt after me, answered the
phone. I said, "Hey, I'm down here at the Nelson
Hotel. Anybody got a car that can pick me up?.
01.{o,
we don't have a car but we'll come down
with a cab." I said, "OK". Then Raþ, my
younger brother, came with him. He was nine
service?
and bythe time they got to the barber shop, I was
paymg the barber. We got in the car and went
home. Everybody at home, my step-father, my
mother, two brothers. Then they called a bunch
of people by phone and they all came to visit. So
really I loafed around for about two weeks. Met
mywife downtown shopping for civilian clothes.
WILL: You were married?
ANDERSON: I wasn't married
WILL:
First time you met her?
knew her in school. I met
her downtown and that started the affair. I called
her a few times. Finally she consented she'd have
a date. We went to a show. tn fact it worked out
so good that by November l0û we got married in
'45 about three months after I got out of the
service we were married. That was it. We got
married. We had two children. rejoined the
National Guard, became a commander and a
custodian of the armory. I became an officer in
ANDERSON: No,
I
I
the National Guard and Io and behold come
December 1"t, 1953, we mobilized again and I
had to move my unit to Ca-p Cook, Califomia
of the National Guard. Had to leave the famrly
home and went to Camp Cook, Califomia for a
year. I went back to Fort Be,nning, Georgia for
three months refresher course as a re0read. Got
my _(?)_
orders and ended up in Japan.
In Japan I got assigned to the 45ú Division which
was on the front line in Korea. So when I got to
Korea-30o below zero on this night train that
was air conditioned with outside air-30o below
zero with leather boots on. We didn't have our
winterized boots that they hadn't issued to us,
We got to division headquarters-the 45ú
Division-and I got assþed a bed. The first
thing we did was strip down naked and get in that
�Richard August Anderson-Page 17
sleeping bag to get warm. When you're naked
you wann up fast when your skin body is in that
bag. Then in the moming, this was in February
4ú 1953, we get dressed and wandered around.
Found out where we were goffia have breakfast,
went and had breakfast. A few of us officers
wandered around and we found the S-1, the
administrative officer to find out who do we
report to. Who are we assþed to They said that
will be at 9 o'clock. We met the division
commander.
don't remember his name but
found out I was going to be assþed to the 180ú
krfantry butttrey said, '"\Me dont know what unit
you'll get. You'll find that out when you get to
your regiment." So they put us in trucks and they
I
hauled us up and I said, "Sure as hell, 180û
Infantry-I'm gonna be right there--sand bag
castle." We get up to the 180ú and they had a
coffee break-had lunch-then a regimental
Commander Colonel DeOrsa-He was from
New Jersey, He said, "You men have already
been assþd by name to units so we're gonna
read off your name and the unit-you know, no
explanation or nothing-just read you name off
know-not cleaned up. I said, "Ho\ry can you
stånd it up here?" He said, "Oh you're never in
it. You'll never notice it." Well, from the talk I
heard from the troops, they're all trigger happy,
scared to death. They had no confidence in that
officer so they're all looking out for themselves. I
had three days to get acquainted with the front
line before I sþed his release but after the ñrst
night I stghed his release and got him out.
WILL: Didn'the
ANDERSON: He started shooting up in the
bunker at rats. They had rats up there like that.
'\Mell," I said, 'the reason why there in here is
because you let food lay around and everything
else." So, (I know I've goüen into this Korean
thing) anyway I was in Korea-well you eam
four points a month whe,n you're on the front
line. You rotate at 32 points. So I was on the
front line all the time I was there. By September I
was rotated back to t?re St¿tes and came out as a
captain.
\ilILL:
andthe unit.
Do you remember where you were in
Korea?
WILL:No
choice
ANDERSON: So Anderson being the first on the
list,-He
says,
"l"t Lt.
Anderson, headquarters
company, 3'd battalion, l80th Infantry. I said,
"See, I told you-sand bag castle." Lt. Poe said,
"I'll probably be with you." He got assþed
somewhere else. Anyways, I ended up reporting
to the headquarters company, relieved the
headquarters commandant, took his job. I held
that job for about a month. And the battalion
commander got wounded and got shipped out.
Major Ottenter took over and said we need a unit
commander at Company L up on the line, He
said 'I want you to go up and take over that
company." The unit commander that was up
there was combat fatlgued and going a little
berserk. So I packed up and there was another
officer that took my place. This was like within a
month-I took my place as
commandant and
reported in to
Pointer by the
I went up to
headquarters
Company L and
this lieutenant. He was a West
way-dark, gloomy bunker, you
ANDERSON: Yah, 35 miles inland from the
east coast krji(?þ-north of InJi(?) about 30 miles
nortfi. We were north of the 38ú parallel. The
38ú parallel kind of crossed over about 60 miles
intand from the east coast down below the 38ú
over by Seoul. But I was up 35 miles in from the
east coast. On a cloar day I could see the ocean
and the mountain tops, We had some of the well
known combat areas in Korea was the Punch
Bowl which was on my right flank within 500
yards and Heart Break Ridge was about 1000
yards to my left across the valley, My position
was Sand Bag Castle which got to be a good
name over there. Everything happened at Sand
Bag Castle. Anyways I shipped out of Korea in
September and came back to the States. I was
released from Camp Carson, Colorado, on
September 23'd of '53 and thetr I started my
second family-a boy and a girl. So really I
raised two families. I've got children-the oldest
is 48, the youngest is 36. The youngest passed
�Richard August Anderson-Page 18
away here six years ago with cancer. My
youngest daughter.
Tape 2. Side
I
realized that-she was 16 and I was 17 %. We
were just kids, you know. It wasnt really love.
We were just going together but we thought we
were made for each other. As you get older things
change.
\ilILL: OK. Looking back on the 2"d World
War, You did a good job so far here. The mail
and stuff---can you tell us about the mail? Did
you write a lot and did you receive ...
ANDERSON: Yah, I wrote a lot. We used to
like a-we had what we called the "V" mail
where we'd write the letter then our officer would
censor our mail--cut out the bad stuffand then it
would be photographed and sent by microfilm to
the States and then reproduced in a negative type
like a photograph letter. The "V" mail was a
form a single page that you wrote your letters.
WILL:
You were limitedto a single page?
ANDERSON: You were limitedto a single page
for one page and then you'd seal it up and ttrat's
a one page lefrer. But lot of fellows would write
on one page and number
it I
and then the 2"d one
#2, #3 for the different pages. Occasionally we
or a plane
got shot down. The mail was lost. So a lot of
people in the latter part of the years overseas, the
guys getting their leÉers from their wives and
their girlfriends. I never had it happen to me. I
never wrote more tåan one page being a single
kid-and writng to lots of girls-you know-all
kinds of guys had sisters, girlfriends and all that
were in our unit. I had lots of time being a single
kid, a young fellow-2O - 2l years old-A guy
would say, o'Hey, I got a sister at home that's
pretty down in the dumps. Why don't you write
her letter and pick her up?" I'd do that and I got
a chain reaction going. I had about six different
girls going with letters. I only got to see two of
them after the war. One was in Chicago and one
was in Kewanee, Illinois. The one in Chicago
wasnt that serious although it could have been. I
hadnt met my wife yet. I was writing to a girl
but she joined the Navy so I wrote her off. The
girl friend I had when I left home joined the
Navy-Waves. The older we got, the more we
understand some of the mail got lost
\ilILL:
Did they send packages?
ANDERSON: Oh, yes-We'd get popcom. I
had a friend that would send me Old Jack Daniels
in a box of popcom. The ones that got through
were pretty mangled
but still
one
discovered what it was so I'd get it. I know there
were many that got broken open in mailing and
up
no
handling. Somebody would say, "Hey, look at
this!" and they kept it themselves. But we used to
get cakes and cookies. Sometimes the mail in
transition-where we'd move from one island to
another-the mail would end up being a month or
two late.
WILL:
The mail would arrive in bunches then?
ANDERSON: Yah. You'd get it in bunches.
Then you'd get your cake and it's all moldysitting in a bag somewhere on an island waiting
to be transferred to another island in the hot sun.
We used to get bouillon so we could mix with our
field food, like v¡hat we called field rations-we
get our army beef stew and army hash and mix a
cube of bouillon with it and it flavored it up
pretty good.
WILL: You
mentioned early, you were pretty
hardened bythe time-months into the war. How
else did you feel? Were you continually scared?
ANDERSON: Oh yah. You're never-in fact
every battle you'd go into you feared the worst
andthen after it was over with you realized, Hey,
it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Based on how involved you were with the
mission like-my case I worked under the
company commander as reconnaissance sergeant.
had to maint¿in his maps and the situation for
him and mark up all the positions and while we
were in a defensive mode I had to make overlays
to tum into the battalion that they mark up their
I
�Richard August Anderson-Page 19
master map. I rryasn't too involved in any fighting
except when I got to Manila and Bougainville on
patrols. When was assigned to a patrol as
reconnaissance sergeant I'd draw maps and I was
trained to use the compass for measuring the
I
height of a-inside of the jungle you could see a
knoll or hill and I'd shoot an
? and
figure the trig, you know, the height of the hill
from where I was and then the master planner
knew what the different elevations were up into
these mountains and valleys from mosaic
photographs. Established elevations. And then
when I would submit a sketch back to our
battalion then our battalion puts it together with
others and se,nds it back to our regiment-the
regiment puts their's together and sends it back
to the division. The group that makes up these
?
maps
more accurate maps with
more accurate daails that we send back. Then
every time we made a tum in the trail we'd shoot
_?___and mark it on the map-how far
was it-100 yards-did we walk a 100 yards and
then tum 30 degrees or what. This is how we
established the topographical icons and grids, and
what have you on the map, the contour lines and
the valleys and ravines and the-not a dam but a
waterfall-stufflike thatto make the detåil of the
map more clearly. When we first
hit
Bougainvelle, we had a map that showed the
shoreline outline and a thousand yard grid-and
a thousand yards betrveen grids lines and a big
blotch of green and down here on the shoreline it
shows like a river outlet so you know a river goes
up in there somewhere.
\ilILL:
In the green ...
ANDERSON: When we built up this perimeter
and sent out patrols daily in different directions
and make these strip maps on the trails or we
made a trail, made a strip map. Then down
further back in headquarters division or corps
headquarters they pieced all this together. Then
your rnap makers would begin to put it together
and print up a decent map. So if we weren't in
combat we were on patrols doing this work and
occasionally we'd run into combat making maps.
WILL: You carried
a weapon then.
ANDERSON: We'd find a stray Jap patrol or a
couple of stragglers lost in the jungle.
WILL: You
carried a weapon?
ANDERSON: Yah. We carriedweapons
WILL: What were they?
ANDERSON: I carried a BAR. That was a light
ïveapon with a carbine but I never trusted a
carbine. I was good at a BAR in training. I shæ
expert in the Brownrng automatic rifle. That's a
20 round clrp. The second part ofthe BAR I like
is 20 rounds versus I rounds in a M-1, and I'd
carry it hangmg on a sling by my hip like what
they called snap shoot. If you got good eye
sight-I was good at pull(?) shooting so I figured
if I'm good at pull(?) shooting and I see a guy
100 yards from me , I can snap shoot I can hit
him. That was one of my favorite weapons.
WILL: How about--did your unit run across
any conce,ntration camps in the Philippines?
ANDERSON: Yes, in the Philippines
WILL:
Were they civilian prisoners?
ANDERSON: There were civilians-prisoners
of war from Bataan March when the war first
started. There were a lot of civilian school
teachers, educators, nurses, doctors. I went on a
90 man patrol. I went with a G2. G2 is a division
intelligence group. There was about-they
wanted a patrol, an infantry patrol, to protect
them on this mission. It was a recoruraissance
patrol where we got up in the mountain and
looking down at this town of Cabathauan(?) with
all American prisoners-about ó00 of them-a
little over 600. We had to sit there for 15 days
protecting this G2 crowd, intelligence group.
They were monitoring the changing of the guard
and how lacsidasic they were. If they were alert
and they made all these notes and put a plan
together for the marauders, Mural marauders,
commandos attacked Cabathauan(?).
But
on the
way back on that patrol when we were heading
�Richard August Anderson-Page 20
t\
I
back we were out in front of the front lines with
this patrol looking at this prison camp and on the
way back we got caught. The plan was if we got
caught, we'd scattered in groups of five and find
our way back to the line. Our group, the one I
was
in-I
went with this infantry
platoon
because I was a recormaissance sergeant. I was a
map sergeant. I could draw maps for these people
on this patrol while they wrote up all the
information. I monitored all the maps. A rifle
platoon was fifty-two guys and then the rest were
all from G2. It was about 90 people on a patrol. I
thought to myself at the time-I thought moving
90 people around at night-sleeping in the
thickets, and the woods and the jungle by the day
and then moving at night-moving 90 peoplemoving a lot ofpeople. You know it ain't too bad
moving 20 or 3A but to control 90.
WILL:
\4ihere was this in relation to Manila?
ANDERSON: This was straight east of Clark
Field on Highway 5 and the next prison camp
was in Manila at the University. I want to say the
name, I can't say it. Sanitomaz(?) University.
The only time I got involved with that was when
they called up the units and wanted volunteers
for-well several things on the PT boats out in
the harbor. Picking up Jap prisoners on the boats
that were sniping from the sunken boats out
there. But we volunteered our services to go to
this Sanitomaz(?) University because the word
was-they thought they had liberated the people
but there were a lot of Japs hiding inside and they
were threatening the people if they told them
where they were they'd kill them, We had to go
in there and fleece them out. There was a few
people killed. Some ofthem just died from shock,
you know, heart att¿ck. But we had to clean it
out. Right by the university, there was the ball
field or the football-baseball,
\üILL:
Athletic field?
ANDERSON: Athletic field, like Wrigley Field.
We had a t¿nk force that went in there and they
were holed up undemeath the stands and the
tanks were shooting through the wooden walls at
the base of the stands when they went into the
field. There was infantry on the other side gettmg
them that were trying to escape. But we went
through all the rooms of the university one floor
at a time. That's when I got that shrapnel in my
back. When I caught a piece of shrapnel but it
was-the guy just picked it out. A sliver, you
lnow. But it left a mark on you. Anyways, then
the other-{o have something to do-the war
over as far as the Philþines was concemed. It
was cleaning up these pockets. We found out
there was a prisoner camp here or there. Well, we
got volunteers and wanted volunteers to go on the
PT boats to go out and search out all the sunken
ships that were half exposed in the bay. 'Cause
they were complaining, the Navy and
the
Merchant Marines were complaining they were
getting sniped at from
bay so we
had four PT boats and on the way out we
searched all the ships and we caught one prisoner
and we caught him because we saw a pair shorts
hangrng on a-a pair of boxer shorts hanging on
a railing. The PT boat commander says, 'oThat's
kind of weird. By this time you'd think that thing
would be rotten or blown away when the ship
was sunk. Why is it all of a sudden there's a pair
of shorts there. We better check it out." So I
jumped on deck on the railing and slid down the
deck to the bullfread which was at 45o. The stem
was up out of the water and I grabbed the handle
on the door and I kept the steel door between me
_?_offthe
and whoever was inside the paint locker or
it was and I opened it up and another
GI standing on the railing hooked with his legs on
the railing pointing his gun and there that son of
a bitch was buried in the water-naked-trying
to hide. He stands up. We yell at him to get up
and he gets up, he says, "Don't shoot, Don't
shoot." and there was his rifle and we threw that
overboard. It sunk. We put him on the PT boat.
He was the only one we captured. The rest of
them-we shot two of them that tried to escape
or shoot back. We shot them before we got to the
boat. Then we went over to, I want to say
Salvidor where MacArthur's last stand was ...
Oh, the little island of Corregidor, We went over
to Corregidor because there were some
complaints over there but they said they took care
of it. We spent one night on the PT boats and the
whatever
�Richard August Anderson-Page
Navy guys fed us. That was great. Two days out
there in the water scouting around and cleaning
2l
the single guys accept that because he needs to go
home.
up things.
WILL:
WILL
: Something different.
Where were
you-Did you
remember
VE day over there in the Philippines?
ANDERSON: VE day. Victory Day?
I
ANDERSON: And getting fresh ice cream and
fresh food. So then we got back to our base camp
u¡hich was in the rice paddies north of Manila.
That's about the time we got orders to head up
towards Cagayan Valley. That's where I went up
in Cagayan Valley out of Re{au(?) and got ...
between Retau and Trinidad when they come up
and said, "Geddes, Anderson, Devere and
McPhinney you're going home." I had ll7
ANDERSON: Oh, Europe. Yes. We were in
Lapau getting ready to go up in the Cagayan
Valley around April or May of '45.When we
were up in the Cagayan Valley in August, they
points.
droppedthe bomb on Hiroshima.
WILL:
How many points did you need?
ANDERSON: You needed over 100. The first
batch was 120, Then they dropped it dovm to
100. Now the 120, there were guys that were
only overseas a yeâr and a halfor two years but
they were married and they got so many points
for each kid. I was single. But I had ll7.
Wounded ¡vice with two purplehearts. That was
five points apiece. Then you got so many for
each ... five points for a beachhead. Two of
those. That was ten. Purple Hearts awards,
Combat Badge. Everyone added up into points so
I
was one of the highest-I17 that was single,
not a married status. Now Devere, McPhinney
and Geddes-Geddes was a National
Guardsman, McPhinney was a National
Guardsman and Bill Cave and myself. We were
the last four.
WILL:
About their points maybe?
ANDERSON: Oh, points,
yah They were
married and they had less points than I had. They
had 108 or 107.
\ilILL:
They started or¡t with an advantage then.
ANDERSON: Well marriedmen and family men
they had an advantage but that was-you lnow
was
home.
WILL: I mean
of Europe?
WILL: What didyouthink ofthat?
ANDERSON: That was August 6tr. That was
the day before my birthday.
WILL:
You were home here.
ANDERSON: No. Yah,
I
was home here. July
12ú I got out.
WILL: What
did you think the atom bomb was?
ANIIERSON: What did I think the atom bomb
was. The training that we got in Califomia-no I
mean in Camp Forrest, Tennessee. No it wasn't
either. It was in Bougainville when they talked
about electrons and protons and itrons and what
they called the isotope bar. The officers had a bar
in their officers
mess
hall called Isotope Bar.
They went through a seminar on the atom bomb
and what to expect of it and when they went
through that class, they graduated as being
educated and one ofthe atom breakdown was tle
isotope. We really didn't know how terrible this
thing was burt I forget now what they told us that
Hiroshima was the equivalent of so many tons of
dynamite. We coulùr't imagine from ground zero
a mile radius was completely wiped out and
diminished fromthere, you lnow, bums and what
have you. When we heard that we dropped the
bomb-Truman dropped the bomb on Hiroshima
�Richard August Anderson-Page 22
on August 6û and then three or four days later,
Nagasaki. I never gave it much thought-I lnew
it was going to help win the war, end the war but
how soon I didn't know. But then when they told
me when they come Geddes, McPhinney
Anderson, you're rotating back to the states, I
figured something's happening that turned this
got on a train to go to Camp Carson, Colorado.
Took a little more time going home from Korea
than I didWorldWar II.
around.
Rockford with my so called girlfriend, wife to be,
around September 2"t ot 3d whenever the truce
for the unconditional surrender was sþed by
MacArthur and the Japs and \ùe ran downtown,
Vehicles weren't too sufficient in Rockford
WILL:
You weren't needed, it sounded like
ANDERSON:
W'e11, they got so nu¡ry GIs from
Europe coming home and we were overseas three
years and havent been home. They had to make
a quick exchange and make a good showing to
the public.
WILL:
For morale.
A¡ilIERSON: Yah, for morale, what have you.
When we came back from the Pacific and went
underneath the Gold€n Gate Bridge on that
Hunter Ligg€t ship, troop ship, the Navy band
was up there one the Golden Gate Bridge playing
"Anchors Aweigh" and we came into dock side
near the Fisherman's Wharf at San Francisco at
Fort rüilson, arrny base. And the Red Cross and
the Salvation Army and some other charitable
organization welcoming us back and I couldn't
get over how all these civilian people knew we
were coming home. Because half the guys on the
ship, it was their families. And a lot of them were
living in Califomia, oCause we were trained in
Califomia before we went overseas. Tennessee,
Camp Forrest, Tennessee. They must have paid
the radio man a few bucks to send a telegram that
they're going to arrive approximately such and
such a úy in Frisco because there were
thousands of people waiting. So they hustled us
offthe ship, wenrt through the warehouse on to a
ferry over to Angel Island and, ofcourse, by that
time I was more concemed about myself, getting
myself cleared up, and processed and get on that
train and get home.
WILL:
Rather than hang around San Francisco.
ANDERSON: Yah. Although coming back from
Korea, I hung around Frisco for a day before we
WILL: How about VJ Day?
ANIIARSON: VJ Day
during that period.
I
was
in
downtown
A lot of cars with the
rationing and everything. The only way I could
get around was to rent a car from a taxi cab
company which is like Hertz and I'd rent that car
for about 3 or 4 days out of the week. Send it
back Sunday night or Monday morning and pick
it up on Thursday or Friday so I could run
around, you know, otherwise there was just a lot
of walking. My wife, at that time my girlfriend,
lived on Hinkley Avenue which is only about
eight block, ten blocks, from
downtown
Rockford. We ran downtown and the streets were
just full of people that were building bonfires in
the middle of State and Main. Just going like
they're going nuts and then, of course, the MPs
were out there trying to control the military
people and then they glance at me and seen my
ruptured duck on my shirt and we can't bother
him, he's through. I didnt get touched by the
MPs.
WILL: I think we've about covered
everything.
A
couple last little questions here. You don't
have any disability or anything.
AIIDERSON:No.
WILL: You dont have any association
with
Veterans' hospitals
ANDERSON: I got malaria. When I got home I
came down with malaria. That lasted about two
years and nine months. They gave me quinine
shots and that bumed it out and gradually-but
they still wonl take my blood at the blood bank
because of the malaria.
�Richard August Anderson-Page 23
WILL:
'l
Another question I forgot to ask how was
the medical treatment in the service?
AIII]ERSON: In the states when it came time
for physicals, like once a year we'd have a
physical. That was good. I accepted it as
adequate And overseas you avoided a lot of stuff
that could make you sick, Like natives, if they
had elephantitus, what do you call that where
there fingers drop offand everything.
\ilILL:
in Korea tlat were wounded were in World War
II they'd a died. We lost a lot of guys in World
War II because of the seriousness of the wound
and shock treatment. They're in shock. Location,
too. See over there you get on an island you're
battling an enemy that is a fanatic and if you
don't kill him, he'll kill you. And you're on an
island. I they overrun you, who's left.
IVILL: No where to go.
ANDERSON: No where to go unless you're a
Leprosy
good swimmer.
ANDERSON: Leprosy. We witness-I saw
leprosy in the Fiji Islands, New Hebrides and the
Philippines. I saw elephantitus, I saw a lot of
weird diseases that you woul&r't want to have
WILL: I just got a couple more here. How about
the Veterans' Administration. Þid you have any
contact with the VA?
any contact with them so you avoided that.
ANDERSON:
WILL:
As far as medical treatment ...
ANDERSON: Medical treatment as far as I was
concemed when I was wounded, it was efficient.
It was fast. When somebody got hurt they got
you back to a first aid station like, well, in Korea
it was helicopters which was a life saving device
to me because in Korea I had a lot of wounded
GIs in a few battles. In fact I had a hundred and
sixteen killed and wor¡¡rded in a period of eight
months.
WILL: Didtheyhavethose MASH
units likethe
TV show there?
ANDERSON:Yah.
WILL:
They were more advanced than in World
War II?
ANDERSON: Yes. Yes. More hlgh
tech
material and x-rays. In World War II you diúr't
see no high tech equipment, x-ray machines or
anything like that. The doctor had to decide
whether you had a compound fracture or
something and straighten it out or cut it open and
lined it up and sewed you back up. Where Korea
there were so many fantastic life saving devices.
They had for blood plasma. If half of those GIs
I
used the
Veterans'
Administration right after the war. I went to work
at the John S. Bames as a machine operator.
That's what I was when I was going to school on
surnmer vacation and weeke,nds worked at
Greenlee Bros, leaming the trade on the drop
I
hammers
and leaming lathes and
I
milling
came back from World
War II, my father-in-law, firture father-inJaw,
was working at John S. He got me a job down
there on the night shift running mills and grinders
becâuse it was a night shift, you got a bonus. I
thoughtthæ was pretty good, a dollar thirty cørts
an hour which at that time was good money in
1945. Two weeks after I got out of the service, I
was working. I came down with malaria which I
coulúr't stand at a machine. I'd freeze to death.
Shake and everything. They were worried I might
injure myself trfng to run a machine with the
shakes so they had to let me go. I went to the VA
and $/hile I went to the VA, I went to the post
office because they said they'll hire Vets. They
hired me and I was there three months sorting
mail in the mail service. By that time got
organized with the VA to start on the job training
and gave me medical assist¿nce on-I got $11 a
machines and when
I
monttr disability to buy my medicine, really.
That's what paid for the quinine. I went to the
doctor in the same building I worked in. I stårted
training as a mechanical desþ engineer and
going to Rockford College nights. The amounts
�Richard August Anderson-Page 24
the government pay changes with the raises you
get from your employer So started out with
I
$125 a month subsistence and I started out at .25
cents an hour. When I gæ 30 cents an hour my
$125 probably would go down to $120, ll5. I
reached my journeyman's wage in two years,
nine months which means I was qualified. When
you reach a joumeyman's wage, you're qualified.
So the ratn at that time was $3.40 an hour as an
engtneer I got my apprenrticeship training with a
company called _?_
Industrial Engineers,
got a couple of patents that he got, things I
desþed justto have something to do. They were
lawn gardening equipment, tools. Then from
there, he ran out of work, I had to find my own
training place to keep getting my subsistence
money from the govemment. I found a job up at
Liberty Engineering in Roscoe, Illinois, desþing
machinery and I was there about a year and ran
out of work, lack of work, and I found myself
with a job ît Witcomb(?) Locomotive in
Rochelle, Illinois, desþing mining locomotive,
diesel locomotive and I finished off my
apprenticeship there. I was there nine months in
Rochelle. I reached my joumeyman's wage in my
first job as a joumeyman was at Roper Stove
Company in plant engineering. I would plan out
automation projects and what have you. Then
from there they went on a s0rike. I got laid off. I
went to Greenlee Bros., worked there for a few
months, leamed
the transfer line,
special
machinery desþ and eventually ended up in
1967 with Sundstrand Machine Tool in sales
application engineering, how to apply machine
tools to the industry. I retired out of there in '78.
Retired with a pørsion with Sundstrand Machine
Tool. Then I had to have something to do, I went
to work for Redin Corporation, Unisec(?)
Company. Since'78 I've been working all over,
free lancing, I got my o\iln consulting business. I
work out of my house. Semi-retired.
\ilILL: Yah. Sounds like a good way to go. Last
question. Would you tell us something about how
your family supported you during your military
life. Were your parents against you going into the
service
ANDERSON: No, I got my mother to sþ for
me so I could leave with the National Guard. I
was underage, I wasn't over l8 so-
\ilILL:
Did
she have any regrets or?
ANDERSON: No. I don't think so because I
tålked her into it. I said, "Mother, one less mouth
to feed. I'll be able to send you so much a money
a msnth. I kept $25 a month. The rest went to
her. Then pretty soon my younger brother got in
the Marines. Same thing happened to her. So I
think it really helped her out a lot. She only had
to raise one boy who was 9 years old when I got
out of the service, She regretted it in a way that
she could lose her sons and then she was worried
about her parents and relations over in Norway
when the Germans took over. Then she went to
Norway aftor the war to visit her family and
friends, found out they were living better than she
was. She got mad. All in all, things worked out
fine. Prior to tlre war, my mdtrer separated from
my father and when I got called in with the
National Guards she remarried another gentlemen
which was my stepfather and he tumed out to be
a nice man for her. A stepfather, even though
he's a nice man, he's not your father.
WILL: Well, I guess that about
does
il Dick.
ANDERSON: Everybody was behtrd me all the
way.
WILL:
Sounds like you had an exciting time
of
it.
ANDERSON: kr fact, I was working at the
Times Theater as an usher, Mr. Van Mear (?)
who owned the Coronado and the Midway, the
Palace, the Times Theater, Ståte Theater called
me up to his office when I tumed m my time, I
was leaving with the National Guard and he gives
me a little brown envelope with a $50 bill in it as
a bonus for being patriotic.
\ilILL: All right.
�Richard August Anderson-Page 25
,í.l
ANIIERSON: He was
a
patriotic
gentlemen
himself.
\ilILL:
That about winds it up, I guess, Do you
wantto say good bye?
ANDERSON: Yah. We'll
IVILL:
Bye.
ANDERSON: Bye. Bye.
)
*J
see you.
�
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
Richard A. Anderson
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
Richard A. Anderson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 14, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born in August 1913, Richard Anderson served in the National Guard and Army from 1939 to 1945. He died September 16, 2004.
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2
-
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PDF Text
Text
Richard rW. Blako-Page
ßNSHAßIDUT"
I
BLAKÃ
1010 Sullivan Drive
Belvidere, Illinois
Transcribed by Lorraine Lightcap
Published by Margaret Lofgren
Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
yü-
�Richard
w. Blake_Page I
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ruCHAßDW, tsILJhKf,
l0l0
Sullivan Drive
Belvidere, Illinois
)
þ
,
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
I)
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;
Transcribed by Loraine Lightcap
Midway Village and Museum Center
(i''
t,i ',.l"j)
.t,
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i...
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�Richard
ßISHASD
UÚ"
w. BlalG_Page
2
ßLAKE
This oral history was recorded February 16, 1994. Charles Nelson interviewed Richard W. Blake of l0l0
Sullivan, Belvidere, Illinois, at Midway Village and Museum Center in Rocldord, Illinois, Richard W.
Blake is an ex-prisoner of World War II.
NELSON: Dick, would you please start by
introducing yourself to us with your fi.rll name,
place and date of birth. We also would like the
If
so, where were you or what were you doing at
the time. What was your reaction to the response
ofthose around you?
names of your parents and family.
BLAKE: My name is Richard W. Blake, 1010
Sullivan Drive, Belvidere, Illinois. I was bom
Septernber 6, 1921. My father's name was
William McKinley Blake and mottrer's name was
Sylvia Ferguson Blake. I have on older sister and
one younger brother ... one younger sister and
myself inthe family.
NELSON: Are there any daails about your
parents or your family that you would like to
give?
BLAKE: We were always a very close family.
My brother went into the service and my sisters
were at home.
NELSON: What was your life like before the
war? Where were you and what had you been
doing at school or at work?
BLAKE: Life before the war ... I worked ... I
went into the service right after high school
graduation. Before that time, I just worked at
ordinary jobs around home, doing favors and
stuff like that. I went into the service in 1941 ...
BLAKE: I remember very clearþ I was stationed
at Scott Air Force Base at that time. It was
Saturday night, we were on a leave of absence
and in a little town in St. Louis what was called
tent city in downtown. Sunday moming we were
in the latrines washing up, shaving and all the
rest ofthe stuffwhen we heard the news. My fist
thought was "I guess we better get back to camp
and see what's going on."
NELSON: Had you formed any prior opinions or
developed any feelings or any misgivings about
what had been taking place in Europe or Asia?
BLAKE: We did read the news in the States but I
don't remember any prior thoughts I had about
what we were doing.
NELSON: Do you recall reading any newspaper
accounts, TV or news about German aggression
in Europe?
BLAKE:Yes
September 16ú.
NELSON: Did you have any knowledge of
Hitler's speeches, ideas or actions?
NELSON: Whatthoughts did you have aboutthe
BLAKE:Yes
war before the U. S. became involved in the
conflict?
BLAKE:
I don't remember my thoughts about
those years, so I have no comment.
'What
NELSON:
events lead up to your entry into
military service?
I can't really say why I went into the
service at this point. After school had let out in
June (graduated in l94l) I entered the service in
BLAKE:
NELSON: How did you hear of the Þecember 7,
1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor bythe Japanese?
�Richard
September of 1941 and then I spent six years in
the service before I got out.
NELSON: Was your response to enter military
service influenced by family and friends attitude
towards the war and the threat of national
security or other considerations?
BLAKE: I think most of these probably most of
those had to do to why I went into the service,
w. Blalre_Page
3
BLAKE: Well, when I first went into the service
I went to a radio school to leam to be a radio
operator but I di&'t particularly like the ra-ta-ta
stuff so I went into the Cadets and went into
primary basic went out of cadets into
Midland, Texas, as a radio maintenance man and
then I volunteered and I'm in Cadets or into the
glider pilot ...
NELSON: To which theater of war did you go
and how did you get there?
Yes.
NELSON: Where and when were you inducted?
BLAKE: I was inducted ... I enlisted, I was not
inducted, in September 16,L94L.
NELSON: Did you have any special memories of
that event?
BLAKE:
I
can remember but very little of
it. I
went into Great Lakes where I enlisted.
NELSON: Where and when did you take the
basic military training?
BLAKE: First went to Scctt's Army Force Base
to radio school, I stayed there. I can't say exactly
how long but there \,\ras so many different things
in phases of schooling that I did go through and
finally ended up in the cadets.
NELSON: How did you reactto this training?
BLAKE: We went to the European Theater and
went by boat and into Scotland, then down to
England and into France.
NELSON: Tell us about your first several days
or week at your new overseas place.
BLAKE: We were in quonset huts in England in
Utopia (?) I think it was ... I remember going out
to a big partythat night where somebody went to
and brought back a plane load of champagrre ...
we had a big party ... I remember that one. Then
we went over to France.
NELSON: What was your first combat action
and what led up to it?
BLAKE: Or first combat action
...
really we
flew into Hollandto bring out some gliders. I was
a glider pilot. We flerv into Holland to bring out
some gliders. My next combat mission was into
Bastogne ... baüle of the Bulge where I was
BLAKE: I enjoyed it ... I enjoyed all my service,
taken prisoner at.
NELSON: Do you have any special memories of
this time?
NELSON: Do you ¡ecall r¡¡hat your emotions or
thoughts were at the time about your involvement
in the wa¡?
BLAKE: Well I \ilas ... first time I remember ...
do remember a couple of us had bee,n to boxing
atthetime and I remember those times also going
I
tothe
(Ð_
NELSON: What was you military unit and what
were your duties?
BLAKE: I knew that when vve were in there to do
a job and I was doing as I was told,
NELSON: How do you think you and your group
performed?
BLAKE: I think that the mission we went into
part ofthe
_?_which
was in December
�Richard
into Bastogne. There were fifty
gliders of guns. The first few gliders ... 29
gliders made it rather safely but ftom there on a
lot of them were shot down. We lost quite a few
planes ... some of us was killed and some were
1ZZú¡ we went
taken prisoners.
w. Blake-Page
different people would feed us
people themselves would feed us.
4
... the German
NELSON: Did you have any
companions
captured with you?
NELSON: When and where !\¡ere you captured?
BLAKE: Well, none that I knew of at the time,
but there were about 50 of us that went down in
one field but I didn't see anybody get out of
BLAKE: December 27, 1944
those.
NELSON: What were you doing at the time of
your capture?
BLAKE: Éty.g into Bastogne in a glider
carrying ammunition ... aboard ship we had a
ton and a half of 155 howitzer shells.
NELSON: What were your first thougbts and
reaction about your capture?
NELSON: What was your first POW camp?
BLAKE: I was cnly in one POW camp and that
u¡as a Stalag Lucien, Barf Germany right across
from Norway in betrreen time. There was two
weeks, I think, that we would be in January
sometime we got us as far as ____JOtherwise we walked for two weeks, We took a
train from Berlin up north and stopped at a lot of
little bams and villages along with a lot of other
prisoners of war and so forth.
BLAKE: I made itto the ground! And after being
...hit my tote plane was shst down. I was
heading to the ground. You had only one way to
go and I was in the cross fire ,.. I did .,. had a
big hole and it went through the powder charges
that ... Thank the Lord we didn't blow up. I
landed in a big field and got out of the glider. I
was pinned down by enemy fire and they
captured me right there in the field.
NELSON: Was there interrogation or abuse of
you by your captors?
BLAKE: There was no interrogation at the time
of capture. I was taken later on along the line
somewhere, I was interrogated ... there was no
abuse that I can say of.
NELSON: What type of food and sheher was
provided for you?
BLAKE: The first two weeks we were prisoners
we just walked all the waythrough Belgium. We
had very little to eat. When we started on the
march I think we were given something like a
half of loaf of bread or something. Along the way
NELSON: How was the food?
BLAKE:Lousy!
NELSON: Would you like to elaborate on that a
little bit?
BLAKE: We really didn't get too much to
eat
and I don't remember exactly where we did eat
and all that sort of stuff. But I ... a lot of places I
can remember but
I dont even know how we
were fed now.
NELSON: But you said you were only at one
camp.
BLAKE: One prisoner of war camp but I stopped
at a lot of different bams, villages and stuff like
that when we were walking but I was only in one
prisoner of war camp and that was Stalag,
Lucien Barf Germany. There was ten thousand
of
us there.
NELSON: Describe the layotrt of this prisoner of
war camp.
�Richard
BLAKE: Prisoner of war camps consisted of five
different compounds, with about two thousand
people to a compound. There was barracks right
on the Bahic Sea. Each barrack held about 200
men and there was
about
?
NELSON: How would you like to describe the
living conditions, based solely on the camp in
which you were held?
BLAKE: The camp at which I was at, Stalag
Lucien ... there was 10,000 of us there with five
different compounds of 200 each. Each
compound had barracks in it which housed about
200 men. In our barrack we had about 16 to 20
people per room living in them and the compound
was closed at night. We could not go out. Some
of us had inside latrines which others did not
have. We did most of our own cooking from each
room. We did not have a mess hall to go to. Each
room ... we had ... food parcels from the Red
Cross that was fumished to us and it was mostly
all canned goods and that type of stuff like that.
It wasn't elaborate but we cooked together and
ate together. There wasn't much to do. Our bed
was just a woodem bunk bed, if you can call them
that, some of us had mattresses, straw mattresses
of some sort. We didn't have much to do during
the day, We had roll call in the moming and roll
call after we got back to the barracks at night.
We had some meetings to do ... played cards.
We did not have anywork detåils or anythrng like
that. We were just held in prisons with barb wire
fences around us.
w. BlalG_Page
5
we did not see inside facilities for two weeks or
better when we walked) they deloused us and all
that sort of stuff, The sanitary conditions that I
can remember seemed to be all right but I can't
rememberthe daails of it.
NELSON: Were there any provisions for doing
laundry?
BLAKE: I dont remember that there was. We
didri't have any clothes to change anyway but the
one set we had.
NELSON: Were hospital benefit facilities and/or
doctors available? If so, how were the sick and
wounded cared for?
BLAKE: I don't remember seeing any doctors or
any hospital care of any of the people ... the
prisoners of war camp. I had been to a couple of
hospitals in between time marching there. I don't
remember any medical facilities at the camp at
all.
NELSON: Did the men who became sick or
injured in the camp ... was there any dispensary?
BLAKE: Not that I know of ... not in our camp
NELSON: Did many men die or get killed at
camp?
BLAKE: I would sayno.
NELSON: What was the sanitation like in the
field of your camp in which you lived? Did you
have somethrng _?
latrines? What
tlpe of water supply did you have? Any
NELSON: What did you do for clothing or
blankets when those possessed at the time wore
provisiors
BLAKE: The only thing that they would ... we
did have blankets but I don't know where they
came from but we did have blankets to sleep on
but I can't think I was uncomfortable in there. It
was cold and we did have heat with the little
stove we had, We didn't have anything we could
for
washing yourself
or
doing
laundry? What did you do for toilet paper?
BLAKE: That's a lot of questions and I know
somebody should know. I don't remember too
much about it but I know we did have an inside
latrine for night use. We had a cent¡al latrine for
the day time. We did not have showers. We took
a shower once everytwo weeks or something like
that ... I know when we first got to camp (which
out?
pick up or die of anything there.
'Were
NELSON:
there any recreational facilities
available for you ... books to read?
�Richard W.
BLAKE: We had a central compound between all
the barracks in the open areas but we did play
volley ball, baseball, we did have some old books
and str¡ffto read, we did have a secret paper that
was out once in awhile. We called it the 'þow
worv" that w¿s information taken by radio on
some of the things that happened over there. We
knew even before the allies knew what was gonna
happen but that was a secret paper printed at
night and destroyed before moming.
Blalrc-Page
6
BLAKE: We could tell as the war progressed at
the tail end and this would be January and on up
to the end of May when the was over, we could
tell that the war was getting close to the end
because the guards themselves kept getting older
and older. Pretty they had just old men guarding
the camps.
NELSON: Were they brutal?
BLAKE: No.
NELSON: Did you have religious services and if
so how often? Wlro conducted them, how many
attended? Were there any special services on
NELSON: Did you talk to the guards?
religious holidays?
BLAKE:Yes.
BLAKE: I don't remember going to any of that
NELSON: Did any of the men trade any objects
with them?
tlpe of stuff at all
_?_
basically there
in the room and outside and that's about all ...
didn't have much to do.
BLAKE: Notthat I know of.
NELSON: What about organized control of the
NELSON: The POW from other nations
they inthe same camp with you?
POW'S?
BLAKE: The camp themselves
in
each
compound was nrn bytheir own allied personnel.
In our camp, if I can remember right, a Mr. Col.
Zudke and s Col. Dombruski in the camp were
the leaders in our camp. Each compound had
their own overseer.
were
BLAKE: Yes, but it was basically an Air Force
Camp. We did have one compound there at one
time ... at one time there were a lot of English
soldiers. They were from England but I don't
remember any other nation there other than the
Americans.
NELSON: Do you think any American POW
collaborated with the enemy guards to gain favor
for themselves?
BLAKE: I can't saythat I knew of one case
NELSON: OK. Were there any compulsory
exercise program? If so, how often and how
controlled?
BLAKE: Well, more or less every moming we
did go out to calisthenics. We went out there to
'We
do r¡¡hat you want to.
had a leader which was
up in front ... maybe an hour or something in the
moming just to be active.
NELSON: Was it possible to make contact with
them?
BLAKE: You could not make contact with any
other compound.
NELSON: What was a typical day like at camp?
What time did you get up ... what activities did
you do all day ... what time did you go to bed?
BLAKE: Time diùr't mean anything so we didn't
watch the clock. You got up in the morning; you
had something to eat. I don't remember even
doing that. We we,trt outside; we took roll call.
We did
NELSON: What were the guards like?
�Richard W.
have some calisthenics ... we had probably a
light lunch of some sort, I was used to having
three meals a day. We had probably two meals a
day. The aftemoon consisted of just reading,
playrng cards or something like that.
Blalß-Page
7
BLAKE: Yes, skip that. One final point along the
line before we got to camp we did kind of repair
railroads at night butthat was only a few days.
NELSON: How were you liberated o¡ released
from you camp? Give out all the details that you
NELSON: What affects were made by the
POW's to stimulate, simulate, or change normal
can remember.
interpersonal conditions between the men? Were
NELSON: How were you liberated or released
from your camp? Give or¡t all the detâils that you
there,
for
example, games rituals, holiday
can remember.
celebrations and so foaù?
BLAKE: Notthat I can recall ... you \üere ln
camp with northing to do.
a
NELSON: How long did the POW's maintain
their own military discipline and their outlook?
Who were the leaders of your camp or in the
camp. How did they enlist as leader? How were
they chosen to assume leadership roles
BLAKE: We had two air force aces in charge of
our camp once. One was Col. Dombruski. One
... he is still alive today because I see him up in
Oshkosh every year.
NELSON: In Europe the first POW camp was
usuallythe staging or processing camp where the
soldiers stayed only for several days before being
sent to the permanent camp. Officers were
divided from the enlisted men and all air corps
personnel separated from them and other
branches of the service. Non-commissioned
officers were sometimes sent to separate camps.
Enlisted men were sent to camps, stalags, from
which they would be sent out on all kinds of
work detail. Almost all of the Pacific data says
they were sent out on work ddails. But for
interviews if any interviewee were sent to the
work detail camp the following questions should
be asked: 1) Did you go to any work camp?
BLAKE: We did not have anywork camp?
NELSON: So we'll just skip that
BLAKE: OK. I think, in May or some sort there
it seemed like it was Mother's Day or
certainly before that the Russians liberated our
camp. If they hadnt surrounded the camp ...
opened up the gates ... we could pretty much do
what we wanted to. Some of us did venture
outside. I can remember seeing some of the
civilians that were there were mother, father and
baby laþg on the sho¡e and baby over there
somewhere laying on the shore. For most of us it
was safer in ståyrng inside the camp than going
out somewhere. We stayed there and then were
evacuated by a 817 from the air base back in
Germany airdrome or whatever they call it. They
flew us out of there back into France ...flew over
Cologne ... and all those areas when we went
out. It was quite a ride. We did see a lot of
devastation in Germany from the air. We ended
up in the heart of France and stayed there in a
camp. I did go from there back to my outfit in
Shadowen (?) France. They came up and picked
me up on the plane. I went back there for a week
to visit everybody then they took me back to
LeHawe andthen came home by boat,
NELSON: How and when were you able to first
contâct your family?
BLAKE: I probably did it by letter, after getting
back to my owr outfit or maybe it was after in
LeHawe r¡¡hen we was in the staglng area there
to come home.
NELSON:Were you hospitalized or rehabiliøted
in any way after your release?
�Richard w, Blake_-Page 8
BLAKE: No
NELSON: What were the immediate and.long
term affects and problems, mental and physical
of your POW life?
BLAKE: Well, I would say the biggest thing is
that you just never thought of it much for the
BLAKE: I think that I was welcomed back home
and I was glad to get back home. My family and
my wife and everybody treated me very good.
Why would I complain at all about that?
NELSON: Why do you think ttrat it had taken so
long for the POW's to organize and speak about
such experiences?
next 30 years.
NELSON:
Did you still or ever did
have
post traumatic stress disorder
nightmares and
aboutthis experience?
BLAKE: No.
BLAKE: I ttrink it was just part of your life ...
you just went through it yourself and it don't
mean nothing to a lot of peo,ple, so you just cant
say anything about it.
NELSON: Would you listthe military campaþs
in which you participated and the decorations
NELSON; How has the POW
experience
you received?
affected your life today?
BLAKE:
I
think you just lived through it,
ftankfi¡l for what you did. I did feel sorry for the
people who are prisoners of war or missing in
action because it isn't just yourself it's the
family that you left behind, your wife. In my
case, for instance, I was married ¡vo days before
I went overseas and missing for four months.
NELSON: Have you ever been treated at a VA
hospital? If so, will you clariS your treatment.
BLAKE: I have never
been
to a VA hospital
NELSON: Do you have war related disabilrty
today?
BLAKE: I've gone to a couple of meetings of
prisoners of war in Illinois and I had one, I think,
in '88 or something like that. We did go to a big
ceremony that gave you a medal for being an ex-
POW and so forth, but I've not gone to too
of stuff. All the ribbons and
so forth that I've got in a case that I have at
home that somebody made for me.
many of those type
NELSON: Prior to the end of the war were you
aware that any civilian concentration camps
existed? If so, please explain how you wrote
about them and how much you knew at the time.
BLAKE: I don't remember anyttring abor¡tthis.
NELSON: Did you help liberate any prisoners of
BLAKE: No
war at camps?
NELSON: Has your attitude today about and
PO\M experience changed during the last fifty
we got out but
years?
BLAKE: I cant saythat it changed any
NELSON:Would you careto commerit aboutthe
support you did or did not receive from your
family after you came home and how that
influenced your life during the last fifty years?
BLAKE: No. We went through a couple before
I can't say we liberated anybody.
NELSON: How did you leam about V-Day?
What was your reaction to that?
BLAKE: We
_?
the day
I
was home
this happened in August.
NELSON: That was
_?_May,1945.
�Richard
BLAKE:Well, May, that was the war in Europe.
We was still in prison camp and it just came
about through the camp that the war was over
and shortly after that the Russians liberated us.
NELSON: How did you leam about VJ-Day?
w. Blake_Page
9
BLAKE: I think it was necessary for it ...I did
think ... I'd hate to think that the use of the Abomb and so forth was necessary. It saved a lol
lives ... American lives ... when that happened. I
stayed in the service for two years after that and
got out
n
1947
.
What was your reaction to that?
BLAKE: VJ-day
I
was at home on a leave of
absence and v¡hen we heard about that I was just
glad the war was over ... and I think that we did
the right thing at that time.
NELSON: What was your opinion of the use of
the atomic bomb when it was used against
Japanese civilians at all in August of 1945?
NELSON: Has your opinion changed over the
last fifty years and how?
BLAKE:
I
can't say that
I
was necessarily
changedtoo much.
NELSON: Well, thank you again for cooperating
with this prqect.
�I
)
)
�
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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Richard W. Blake
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
Richard W. Blake
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 16, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born September 6, 1921, Richard W. Blake served in U.S. Army Air Corps from 1941 to 1947. He died February 12, 2012.
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25224/archive/files/bb61a1aabb3e2cf021458efc005ab2a5.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=EzGn0YdlrwizQ3Kl%7EjzMT8LN0pJqBbK29dV4zNb7xS-KjWYhtpm55-kRMGNejqnROkk7FpvsJx6OgWnBNgMWga0RBuMOKJkCP2mFJdVEvqSDaPkRL4mUs69ycyvuOFm2s0aNIR7Xh7G%7EEG6god-IeIPxUmG9naX9bI2SRaAUnfZsoTQSdZoium6D37ETMrRBaCFA%7EMb%7Et5JcjEH6wbHI9akKMZzKMjcPCHaRDOrxQSxTvhjFULf0K0IJcifwfDZhyzZF6V65oC4TGSop3kbDraAOYdDnRbeu01gMxXtVe2Z-pwsyjSiUc1tfQH00fNvI0Gp%7E6QuCKaXWz47WKx48kQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
cff666f03f893250669412fbf9e7667c
PDF Text
Text
Robert [Brooks] Stringer
Transcribed by Lorraine Lightcap
For Midway Village and Museum Center
9766 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone 815 397 9112
�Robert Stringer
My name is Charles Nelson and I am a volunteer at the Midway Village and Museum
Center in Rockford, Illinois which is cooperating with the statewide effort to collect
oral histories from Illinois citizens that participated in the momentous events surrounding World War II. We are in the office of
Midway Village and Museum Center interviewing Bob Stringer. Mr. Stringer served in
a branch of the United States Armed Forces
during World War II. We are interviewing
him about his experiences in that war. Bob,
would you please start by introducing yourself to us and please give us your full name
and place and date of birth. We would also
like to have the names of each of your parents.
NELSON: What thoughts did you have
about the war before the United States became directly involved in the conflict?
STRINGER: My name is Robert [Brooks]
Stringer. My parents’ names are Gordon
Stringer and [Meta F.] Stringer.
NELSON: Did you have any brothers or
sisters?
STRINGER: We figured that this was a call
we were going to be inducted. Two of my
friends working with me were officers in the
ROTC in the horse drawn artillery. They
went home immediately and started writing
letters to get into the Air Force instead.
STRINGER: Yes. I had 2 brothers. One
died as a result of the South Pacific and the
other is living down in Arizona.
NELSON: Had you formed any prior opinions or developed any feeling about what
had been taking place in Europe or Asia?
NELSON: Are there any details about your
parents and/or your family that you would
like to give?
STRINGER: We didn’t like to see Germany doing what it was doing but we didn’t
know very much about it. Didn’t hear much
about it.
STRINGER: My dad was a high school
teacher in language and did coaching.
NELSON: This is about entering the military. What was life like for you before the
war and specifically during 1941?
STRINGER: I was in College of Engineering, University of Illinois going to school.
STRINGER: Very few. I was busy at college. (Chuckle).
NELSON: How did you hear about the December 7th 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor
by the Japanese?
STRINGER: Sharing the noon meal on
Sunday at Sigma Chi Fraternity and it came
through on the radio at that particular time.
NELSON: What was your reaction and the
response of those around you?
NELSON: How about Asia?
STRINGER: Didn’t know anything about
Asia.
NELSON: Do you recall reading newspaper
accounts of German aggression in Europe?
STRINGER: No, I don’t.
�NELSON: Did you have any knowledge of
Hitler’s speeches, ideas or actions?
years of ROTC and I think I could have
taught most of the drill sergeants how to do
it.
STRINGER: Very little.
NELSON: What events led to your entry
into military service? Were you drafted or
did you volunteer?
STRINGER: I volunteered.
NELSON: Was your response to entering
military service influenced by family and
friends’ attitudes towards war, the threats of
national security or any other consideration?
STRINGER: I entered because I wanted to
have a place of my choice instead of drafted
rather than end up doing something I didn’t
want to do.
NELSON: Do you have any special memories of this event when you first were inducted into the service?
STRINGER: Yes, I was inducted in Chicago. We were put on a train and for 3 days we
rode around the country getting to Shepherd
Field, Texas. When we got there they decided they didn’t have and uniforms so __?__
another week while they tried to find uniforms for us.
NELSON: How old were you?
STRINGER: That’s a good question.
NELSON: Where did you take your basic
military training?
STRINGER: Shepherd Field, Texas. Worst
place in the world. The only place you could
stand with water to your waist and have dust
blow in your eyes.
NELSON: What were you trained to do?
STRINGER: As far as I know, absolutely
nothing. We moved from there to San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center for evaluation.
NELSON: I think I’ve asked the next question. What did you think of the training?
STRINGER: The training was all right if
you never had any before. If you had some
idea of what you were trying to do it would
be fine.
NELSON: Did anything special happen
there?
STRINGER: Absolutely nothing. We used
to have drill most all day and every once in a
while the Sergeant would say “Well, we got
to have a measles inspection” so we’d march
through this empty barracks and pull up our
shirt and walk through. It took about a half
hour. I never did see anybody looking at us.
Took time anyhow.
NELSON: Probably 21 or 22?
STRINGER: 21 I suppose in 19
NELSON: What happened when you were
inducted besides no uniforms?
STRINGER: We went to Shepherd Field
for basic training. I already had a couple of
NELSON: Tell us about any other training
camps you attended.
STRINGER: I spent 2 summers at Fort
Sheridan in Citizen Military Training, 1939
and 1940. I learned more there than I
learned in the regular army by far.
�NELSON: Did you have any leaves or
passes?
STRINGER: I was offered a pass into
Shepherd Field to the town if I learned the
General Orders. That was so long ago I just
gave up the pass. Nothing in there I wanted
to see.
NELSON: Okay. What was your military
unit?
STRINGER: Well.
STRINGER: That was a good deal. We got
on a Liberty Ship, Newport News, Virginia,
and took us 28 days to go over to Oran,
North Africa. We were there for about a
month. We don’t know why. We were just
sitting around waiting. Then we were taken
across the Mediterranean to Naples in a luxury liner called Merundo Castle whish was a
super tourist ship. My crew was taken over
in a cattle boat. I mean cattle boat. They
took the cattle off and put our people on it.
The toilets were holes in the floor and that
was it.
NELSON: This is still in the States.
STRINGER: Oh, I have no idea. We were
just recruits.
NELSON: At that time it was the Army Air
Corps, I suppose?
STRINGER: I don’t think. I guess, maybe
we were. Yeah, I didn’t get assigned until
after I finished San Antonio.
NELSON: I’m going to go right into the
conflict. Where did you go after completing
your basic military training?
STRINGER: San Antonio Aviation Cadet
Center to be evaluated to see what attributes
I had and what they needed.
NELSON: If you were not sent overseas
immediately following basic training, when
did you finally leave the United States?
STRINGER: After San Antonio they sent
us to East Central State Teachers’ College
for some additional education. It so happened there, I did too well on the test so I
didn’t stay but a month.
NELSON: When you were sent overseas
how did you get there?
NELSON: What did you think of the Nation’s war efforts up to this point?
STRINGER: I thought it was very slow and
poorly organized. They didn’t seem to know
where they were going. Just an example: In
1940 I was up at Fort Sheridan and they
took us on the red(?) range and they showed
us a grand rifle. Consider that as something
wonderful. We looked at it and a couple of
us got to “shoot it.” In addition to that they
pulled .037 millimeter gun, out there on
rubber tires yet and they could tow it behind
a truck. Wasn’t that wonderful? That’s as far
advanced as we were in 1940.
NELSON: If you did not immediately enter
combat zone, where did you go before entering combat.
STRINGER: To Oran, North Africa to cool
our heels until they’d get us over to Naples
and then from there to __?__ on our way to
the combat zone.
NELSON: Tell us about your experience of
entering your first combat zone or mission
STRINGER: Our first mission, I flew with
another copilot so he helped out to get started right. I remember it was quite uneventful.
�We flew up and dropped our bombs then
and back home.
STRINGER: Yes. Got a few letters, too.
NELSON: Yes. How often?
NELSON: Did you consider that a milk
run?
STRINGER: No, they shot at us.
NELSON: Can you list for us in order of
occurrence any subsequent combat experiences in which you were involved?
STRINGER: Altogether I flew 30 missions.
Some of them were a little rougher than others. A few mishaps but we generally got out
pretty well.
NELSON: Taking these one at a time, first
tell us in full detail, if possible, about the
approximate number and types of casualties,
how they occurred and how they were treated.
STRINGER: We had no casualties on our
aircraft. We had holes put in it. We had people pass out because they didn’t carry their
oxygen right. Nobody was worse for wear.
NELSON: Did your mental attitude change
as combat continued?
STRINGER: Gee, I don’t know. I think we
could see toward the end, the missions were
getting to be different because there just
weren’t the places to bomb as we started
with.
NELSON: What did you think of the war so
far?
STRINGER: We thought we were winning.
We could see progress.
NELSON: Did you write many letters
home?
STRINGER: Oh, probably once a week.
NELSON: Did you receive packets through
the mail?
STRINGER: Yes, we had to do that in order to get something to eat. We had lousy, I
mean lousy man that ran the Officers’ Mess.
We couldn’t eat what he put out. Then they
came in one day and said. “Well, no meat
today. Somebody dropped off on the overpass and unloaded the truck before it got
there.” The man was just incompetent, that’s
all. We’d have pancakes in the morning and
we’d feel the pancakes. They were cold. We
would throw them up against the wall. If
you can see a whole squadron eating there
you can’t imagine all the pancakes laying
around that place. He didn’t seem to mind at
all. He always wanted you to have a tie on
before you came to eat. Real, shouldn’t say
the word.
NELSON: Did most of the other men write
or receive letters?
STRINGER: Yes. Most of the time we
wrote to get food that you could hang on the
back of the door and eat it when you wanted
it. We just didn’t get any food worth eating.
NELSON: Did you forge close bonds of
friendship with many or some of your combat companions?
STRINGER: Yeah. The crew I saw all 13
last summer. We met together. Some of the
other people I’ve never heard from. I’d like
to but I don’t know there they are and they
don’t either.
�NELSON: And you remain in contact with
World War companions?
STRINGER: With the crew, yes. Some of
them I can’t find.
NELSON: Did you ever have to help retrieve a wounded buddy in a field of combat?
told the co-pilot to drop the gear. He did.
The left gear came down and the right gear
went up! (Laughter) Try them both up. So
he pulled them up and they both came up.
He took off over the Adriatic. We got back
about 2 hours after the mission got back,
about 100 feet off the water all the way
across 5he Adriatic.
NELSON: But how did you land?
STRINGER: No, but I was asked to identify some bodies in a plane we crashed and
some were friends of mine.
NELSON: You weren’t involved in any of
these concentration camps in Germany or
Poland or anything like that?
STRINGER: We dropped bombs on some.
NELSON: But you never actually
STRINGER: No, I wasn’t a prisoner of
war.
NELSON: What was the highlight occurrence of your combat experience or any other experience you can remember?
STRINGER: I think the most highlight
mission I flew, we were going somewhere
up in southern Germany and about 2/3s of
the way there, the right gear on the airplane
came down. It wouldn’t go back up. With a
full bomb load you can’t fly with one gear
down. So we asked for some fighter escort
to get back home. They said, “Forget it.
Go.” I got down low and found a target of
opportunity and dropped a load of bombs
on. They were surprised. Then we flew back
to a place called Sanski Most which was a
designated landing field in Hungary that we
could have landed on and been safe. Rather
than land there it looked like a cornfield to
me so I pulled through once to see what it
looked like and made the turn around and
STRINGER: In our regular
NELSON: Your wheels came down okay?
STRINGER: Yes. Soon as we got down
low enough there was ice in the hydraulic
fluid. It melted and then they worked all
right. About 2 days later that same plane
cracked up on the end of the runway because
they hit the brakes and nothing there. We
only had a 5000 foot runway. He sheared off
into the countryside.
NELSON: You didn’t have the same plane
each time?
STRINGER: No, never did. They found out
that the planes were a lot more reliable than
the crews. Somebody was always sick or
couldn’t fly and the planes flew every day.
NELSON: Tell us what you and the other
men did to celebrate America’s traditional
family holidays such as Thanksgiving and
Christmas.
STRINGER: Well, the first Thanksgiving
we were on the luxury liner, the New(?)
Castle and that’s an English boat. They
didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Forget it. We
had kippered herring and that was it. I
grabbed the waiter to get some bread so
we’d get something to eat.
�NELSON: When and how did you return to
the United States at the end of the war?
STRINGER: Well that was interesting. We
went to Bali to wait for a plane to fly back.
The crew waited with me. They gave me a
plane and I took it up and flew it. It was a
junk. You wouldn’t trim up. It wouldn’t fly
correctly. So I took it back and said “That’s
it. I don’t want it.” They said, “Well, you
won’t get home for a long while.” I said,
“That’s all right, I’ll get home in one piece.”
spent about 3 days in Marrakesh then we
took off for the Azores, flew over an overcast⎯ The whole complete day. Never saw
water or anything and you’re supposed to
find this little island out there. I had an excellent navigator and he found it right on the
money. We stayed there for a couple days
until it cleared up and then we flew to Gander, Newfoundland. At Gander it was in July
but it was cold. We had steam heat on. Then
we flew from there down to a field in Massachusetts around Boston.
NELSON: Were these B-24s?
NELSON: Can you think of the name of it?
STRINGER: Yes. I don’t want to fly that
thing that you got. Forget it. He gave me all
kinds of admonishments that I would be in
trouble. I didn’t fly this long to get killed on
the way home. They looked at you like you
were some kind of a nut. It was only 2 days
later they gave me another plane. It was a
beautiful plane. It was a lead plane. It had
radar on it and everything. We flew that
down to Marrakesh. First of all we got in a
sand storm. We flew up to 10,000 feet and
the sand was so white it looked like snow. It
was like grit in your teeth. I was worried the
engines were going to be eaten up with that
sand in there. You couldn’t go any higher,
we didn’t have oxygen masks with us. We
just figured 10,000 was high enough. When
I dropped down on the water, we were in the
Mediterranean, flew right up to the Rock of
Gibraltar. I didn’t get too close. There was
one plane on each wing. They said, “Turn
around and go the other way.” So I went out
and around the coast of Africa and went
over to Casablanca. We heard about it and
thought that’s a good place to land. So we
landed there. They wanted to know, “What
do you want?” Well, we just landed here.
What else can we do? They said, “We’ll put
gas in and you go.” So in about 20 minutes
we gassed up and flew to Marrakesh where
we were supposed to go to begin with. We
STRINGER: With the overcast weather I
was flying around the hills down there. You
couldn’t get up into the clouds and I thought
this is for the birds. I’m not going to do this.
I flew over a real nice looking airfield, a
commercial airfield. So we tried to contact
them but they couldn’t talk to us. So we
used __?__ which is green lights using code.
They answered back, “Come on land.” So
we pulled around and landed It was the
Hartford, Connecticut Municipal Airport in
Hartford, Connecticut. Some airliners had to
go around while we landed. We started getting out of the plane. Some guy rushes out
there and says, “Oh, you can’t get out.”
“The hell we can’t.” “Oh yeah, you can’t,
you haven’t been through customs yet.”
__?__ They were gone. The gals that were
stewardesses came out and shook hands with
us. We went in a little place to eat there and
ordered all the hamburgers and things that
they had. We didn’t have any money. All we
had was this Italian script which was worthless. Then they called the man at Miles
Standish. I said “Colonel “Look I got your
airplane down here. What will I do with it?”
I said, “It’s assigned to me and I’m not going to be charged for it.” He said, “That’s all
right. You leave it there on the field and
we’ll send a truck for you.” They sent a semi
and we piled all our gear in there and they
�took us up to the base. Then we were allowed to call home.
NELSON: Please tell us about your military
rank and your decorations, especially your
campaign decorations.
STRINGER: I was a 1st Lieutenant and I
had air medal with about 3 clusters and had
European
this __?__ running around the tents and the
houses we built and he’d stop at your place
and you know he’s going to get one of your
crew. The 4 of us lived together. And after
he did that then you’d go back to sleep and
sleep. Otherwise you waited until the jeep
came around and picked you up.
NELSON: Is there anyone thing that stands
out as your most successful achievement in
the military service?
NELSON: Did you get the Distinguished
Service Cross?
STRINGER: Getting back in one piece.
STRINGER: No, didn’t do anything spectacular.
NELSON: Lot of guys say completing their
missions.
NELSON: Now we’re going to turn to civilian life. How did you get along with the men
with whom you had the greatest contact?
STRINGER: I didn’t finish. I had 5 more to
go. But they finished the war before they let
me finish.
STRINGER: We got along real fine. Two
of the crew were Jewish, one that was a
Mexican and the rest were just normal people. We got along fine.
NELSON: How did you learn about VE
Day? What was your reaction to it?
NELSON: Were there things that you
would do differently if you could do them
once again?
STRINGER: Yes. I think I would spend
more time with the crew and teach them
what I want them to know. But at the time
we were so busy doing what we had to do,
we had no time for anything else.
NELSON: What was the most difficult
thing you had to do during your period of
military service?
STRINGER: Being assigned to a mission.
You never knew⎯You’d go up the night
before and look. But then you’d find out
what plane you got. That wasn’t worth
knowing. So we never did. We just waited.
In the morning about 4 o’clock, you hear
STRINGER: Well, our radio. Somehow
somebody had a radio and told us it was
done. The mission was called off, as I remember. We didn’t need to go on the mission. We celebrated by shooting rockets up
__?__. The Colonel came down and said, I
know it’s a lot of fun but you’ve got to
stop.” The flares were falling on tents and
burning them up.
NELSON: How did you learn about VJ
Day? What was your reaction to it?
STRINGER: I was home as a civilian on
VJ Day. I had been mustered out. I had all
the points and they didn’t need me any
more.
NELSON: What is your opinion of the use
of the atomic bomb when it was used against
Japanese civilians in August of 1945?
�STRINGER: I think it should have been
done. It shortened the war.
NELSON: Has your opinion changed in the
last 50 years and if so, how?
military life?
STRINGER: Well
NELSON: And what did this support mean
to you after these years?
STRINGER: No. Not at all.
NELSON: When and where were you officially discharged from service?
STRINGER: June, 1945, because it was in
July when the bomb was dropped I was already a civilian.
NELSON: Do you have any disability rating or pension?
STRINGER: No.
NELSON: Do you have any opinion or feelings about the nation’s military status or its
policies?
STRINGER: The nation’s military status
now is not what it should be. Our great president is trying to save all the money he can
and put into his liberal programs where they
give away to get votes. One of these days
we’re going have to get in a conflict somewhere and he’s going to look around behind
him and there ain’t going to be anybody
there to send.
NELSON: Do you have any contact with
the Veterans’ Administration?
STRINGER: No.
NELSON: You’ve gone to a Veterans’ Administration Hospital or anything?
STRINGER: No.
NELSON: Would you like to tell us about
how your family supported you during your
STRINGER: Wasn’t very much. My wifeto-be but girlfriend at the time use to send
me letters and clip out the funny papers.
NELSON: I know over the subsequent
years, what has that support meant to you?
STRINGER: Made all the difference
__?__.
NELSON: That’s a real fine interview. Is
there anything else you would like to add to
this, Bob?
STRINGER: I think the training I got in
San Antonio, Aviation Cadet Center, was
one of the finest things he’d ever done. They
had to have God, I don’t know how many
pilots, copilots and bombardiers⎯he had no
way of knowing who could do it or how to
get it. We spent over a month in testing and
the first time during that the testing decided
whether you had the qualifications. It
worked very well. I would like to have been
a navigator but they said “No, you’re going
to be a pilot.” I think that was a real milestone in placing people where they belong.
The army is always telling “You’re going to
be a cook,” then give you a job someplace
else. They were notorious in not knowing
what to do with people. In this case the Air
Force did an excellent job.
NELSON: Thank you very much.
STRINGER: You’re welcome.
�
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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Robert Brooks Stringer
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 Brooks Stringer
Description
An account of the resource
Born in May of 1922, Robert Brooks Stringer joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and was discharged in June 1945. He flew a B-24 Liberator Bomber. Robert died May 16, 2007.
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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PDF Text
Text
Robert George Miller
Transcribed by Lorraine Lightcap
Midway Village & Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone 815 397 9112
�Robert George Miller
Today is May 16, 1994. My name is Charles
Nelson and I am a volunteer with the Midway
Village at Rockford, Illinois, 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 interviewing Robert Miller who participated in the
Army Air Force during World War II.
NELSON: First give us your full name, place
and date of birth.
MILLER: My name is Robert George Miller. I
was born here in Rockford, Illinois, a secondgeneration native born January 15, 1919.
NELSON: We would also like to have the
names of your parents.
MILLER: I am the son of Adolph and Hilda
Miller.
NELSON: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
MILLER: I had one sister, Mary Jane Nelson.
NELSON: Are there any details about your parents and/or your family that you would like to
share.
MILLER: I don’t believe so.
NELSON: What was you life like before the
war, specifically during 1941.
MILLER: I worked at the Rockford Machine
Tool Company. It was engaged in the war effort
out there making machine tools, so I had a deferment out there. But I felt like hadwasn’t
doing enough for the war effort so that’s the
place I was when I enlisted in the service.
NELSON: How did you hear of December 7th,
1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese?
MILLER: I had been married 2 years at the
time. I had built a house a year before we got
married. It took me a year to build the house. I
carried my bride over the threshold in our new
home in October of 1940. I was just in this
house on December 7th 1941. My wife and I
were having company over for dinner, her three
brothers and a cousin, all males. So we stayed
home from Sunday school and church that Sunday to prepare for this meal. As we were sitting
in our dining room with the radio turned on, we
always had music going in the house, during the
eating of the meal, maybe half way through, the
radio was interrupted by a special bulletin informing us that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
It was such a shock that I don’t believe we finished our meal but we just sat around listening to
the radio for the entire afternoon, trying to get
all the reports in on this tragic event.
NELSON: Had you formed any prior opinion or
developed any feeling about what had been taking place in Europe or Asia?
MILLER: Yes, but I didn’t know too much
about what was happening with Japan. I really
wasn’t looking for any problem there. I was
concentrating all my efforts on the European
problem with this mad man going loose over
there, taking one country after another, lying to
everybody he talks to. So I knew that he was
someone who had to be stopped and stopped
quickly.
NELSON: What event led you to enter military
service?
MILLER: Like I said, I was in the war effort in
a small way in the machine shop, but I felt like I
wasn’t doing enough. I wanted to get directly
involved. So about ten months after the bombing
of Pearl Harbor I enlisted in the service.
NELSON: Do you have any special memories
of this event?
MILLER: Yes. Enlistment was a little unique in
a way in that it has held on through these many,
�many years. I went out to Camp Grant with a
high school buddy of mine, Franklin Lindgren,
who after the war was the chief pilot for Ingersoll Milling Machine Company. We went out
there to Camp Grant and took our examinations,
qualifying exams for the aviation cadet program.
We both wanted to get into fly. Unknown to us,
one of our other close friends went out there the
next day and took an exam. His name was Stanton Olson. Who was a navigator in the war. Well
anyway, we both passed our exam and Stan
passed his. A couple months later we allthe
three of us got a letter together, at the same time,
ordering us to report into Chicago for induction.
So as I said, I had been married. Franklin had
been married the same amount of time, so our
wives drove us down to the I. C. (Illinois Central) depot on South Main Street. Stanton Olson
was taken down there by his mother and father.
They’re a wonderful Christian family from the
Tabor Lutheran Church. The three of us rode the
train together from the I. C. Railroad going
downtown Chicago to a large warehouse where
there were many, many hundreds of young fellows just like us, just being inducted into the
service. We got on a train and it took us down to
Texas for our basic training.
NELSON: How old were you at that time?
MILLER: I was 23 years old when I went in.
NELSON: Did anything special happen there
during your training?
MILLER: During the training, of course, that
was very exciting for any young man going into
the flying program. After we took our basic
training at Sheppard Field down in Texas we
were assigned to college training at Texas Tech,
Lubbock, Texas, and we were there for five
months. During the five months they gave us a
concentrated two year college course. It was
very exciting and challenging. From there we
went out to California to Santa Ana to pre-flight
training.
NELSON: Did you have any leaves or passes?
MILLER: Yes, we had a few. Well, no leaves.
We had our weekend passes. Franklin Lind-
gren’s wife and my wife lived in town and they
worked in town. They followed us all over the
country. We got to see our wives on the weekends. That was the only pass that we really had.
NELSON: What was your military unit?
MILLER: My overseas unit?
NELSON: Well
MILLER: From Santa Ana pre-flight we went
into the actual flight training program which is
three phasesprimary, basic and advanced. I
took my primary flight training up at Tulare,
California, in the San Joaquin Valley at the
Techs Rankin Aeronautical Academy. That’s
where I learned how to fly. The first time I soloed in the Stearman bi-plane. I was really lucky
there. I was one of the few who had a World
War I ace fighter pilot as an instructor. The most
ironic part of it is, he was a German. He flew for
the German Air Force in World War I, but he
was the finest flight instructor a man could ever
have. Anyway, after primary training, I went a
little further up the valley, San Joaquin Valley,
to ___?___, California, which is the gateway to
Yosemite Park, and took the basic training up
there in the old __?__ vibrator and then from
basic training went down to Fort Sumner, New
Mexico, for advanced flight training in the AT17 Cessna Bobcat. While we were at Fort
Sumner, New Mexico, on the 23rd of May, 1944,
that I received my wings, silver wings as a pilot,
and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the
United States Army Air Corps.
NELSON: When you were sent overseas, how
did you get there?
MILLER: I’ll pick it up from graduating. I had
toafter graduation, we were sent home for one
month. Then I reporteddown in Missouri to
the troop carrier command for five months transition flying in a C-47 Douglas plane which is a
transport plane for troop carrier. This is what I
wanted all along. I felt fortunate getting into
this. I didn’t want to get involved in the shooting
end of the war. My conscience and my make up
wouldn’t really allow me to go out and to kill
�people. I knew it had to be done but I didn’t
want to be the one to do it. I wanted to get into
something else that was just as important to our
effort but it would be something that would be in
a more helpful way. I asked for troop carrier
ATC work and I got troop carrier which was fine
because when we did get overseas I hauled hundreds of wounded and brought them back to the
hospitals and was helpful in that way and I
brought gasoline and food into the men on the
ground that needed it badly. Well anyway after
my transition flying I went to Bear Field, Indiana, and on our way overseas, I was assigned an
airplane, brand new C-47 “B” model, and we
checked it out. I flew it for a couple days with
my crew and we were given clothing but that
was the disappointing end of it. We were so
happy with the airplane, we wanted to gobut I
had my eyes on Europe but the clothing they
gave uswrong time of the yearthey gave us
summer clothes. So we knew we were going to
go to the Pacific instead of the European Theater. A couple days later they called me in and
told me I had to turn in my plane. I had to sign it
off. That was disappointing. I thought maybe we
were going to get a different model or whatever.
But then after that, they asked us to turn in our
clothes. We turned in our “suntans.” They issued
us winter clothes. So then we knew we were going to go to Europe. We waited for a couple days
and didn’t get a new airplane assignment. That
was real disappointing but instead of that we got
notice that we were going to get on a train and
go to New York so we knew it was going to be
by boat. When we got off the train, got off at the
dock there and we looked up at that huge thing
up there. I really didn’t know what it was, but it
was the Queen Elizabeth, the largest ship afloat
in the world. There were 18,000 of us on that
ship when we left New Yorkfour day journey
over to Scotland. That was the beginning of our
tour in Europe.
NELSON: If you did not immediately enter the
combat zone, where did you go after entering
combat?
MILLER: From Scotland, we went down to the
Midlands, the first day, and got our assignments
at Stone, England. And from Stone, we went
down to Basingstoke, England, which is about
70 miles west of London and I was assigned to
the 434th Troop Carrier Group with the 71st
Squadron. On the first day with this Squadron, I
was on a mission, across the Channel, over into
France.
NELSON: Can you list for us in order of occurrence all subsequent combat action in which you
were involved?
MILLER: One of the very first bigger missions,
more important missions, I participated in was
the Air Relief Drop at Bastogne, Belgium. A big
group of our men were down on the
grounddown there at Bastognetotally surrounded by the Germans and they had run out of
supplies. They were short on food, ammo and
gas, but more short on the ammunition than anything else. There was only one way to help these
fellows out was to give them a huge air drop. So
I went in there three days in a row and dropped
supplies to these men. Rather cloudy conditions
the first couple days but our groupour small
groupwe were only nine planes in our group
that we found a hole and went down through
itwent underneath itwe saw the fellows
down there and they had the ground well marked
for us. They were waving at us. You could see
them very clearly. We dropped their supplies
right on top of them. So that was really exciting.
The only thing is we lost a couple planes on the
first day mission when we went under the clouds
and dropping ours right on the boys. The fellows
that didn’t get under the clouds were dropping
their’s by parachute. The chutes were coming
right down on top of us. They were hitting their
targets but they were hitting us, too, and we lost
two planes that day.
NELSON: Did your mental attitude change as
combat continued?
MILLER: Oh, yes, it sharpened and it made us
more furious as time went on. We wanted to get
this thing done. We thought it would be finished
sooner than it had but we had to put up a terrific
fight.
NELSON: Did you write any letters home?
�MILLER: Yah. Many letters. Of course, being
a married man, I was writing almost every day.
My wife was writing. We had our letters numbered. We had a little secret code. I even had a
map so thatand she had a map so I could tell
her exactly where I was when we looked at our
maps. That was fun.
had to make that flight. We finally ended up in
Georgia with my plane. That was a nice long
flight.
NELSON: Did most of the other men receive
letters?
MILLER: I’m always real thankful to go out
for looking after me and my family all these
years and I’ve got fifty-two years of marriage in
already and for Christmas and Thanksgiving and
all, I’ll tell you most of our thanksgiving is to
the God for looking after us and keeping us together.
MILLER: I’d say most of the men did, yes.
And everyone was so good. Somebody got a big
box of cookies or whatever, he’d share them
with everyone else. It was the same thing with
mine. I’d share them with my buddies.
NELSON: Did you forge close bonds of friendship with many of your combat companions?
MILLER: Not a great many but my co-pilot
and I have maintained a very close relationship
during the years. He’s a fine, fine gentlemen, a
fine Christian man. He lives down in Kentucky
and I’ve been in his home about ten times, I’d
say, over the years, and we had some very enjoyable times together. It’s sad right now, he’s in
a nursing home. I went down to see him this last
year again. I keep close contact. Our radio operator is down in Oklahoma and I’ve kept in contact with him, too.
NELSON: What is the highlight occurrence of
your combat experience?
MILLER: I think the highlight of it was flying
my plane back home after the war. That was a
long, long flight with a little twin engine C-47,
you know, and can’t go straight across the ocean
with that little thing. It was big, in a way, but it
was still too small for a cross Atlantic flying.
We left to France and went down to Marrakech,
Africa, and Dakar, Africa; down to Roberts
Field in Liberia. Form Liberia, we flew over to
Ascension Island which is about a little bit better
than one-third of the way across. We flew to a
little tiny island only a mile and a half long in
the middle of the Atlantic. We had to find that
thing by ourselves. Then from Ascension Island
we flew over to Natal, Brazil. Then up to Belem,
Brazil. I never knew Brazil was so big until I
NELSON: Tell us about what you and the other
men did to celebrate America’s traditional holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
NELSON: What happened when you arrived in
the United States?
MILLER: There was an interesting time, too,
because I left my plane down in Georgia and I
hated to say good bye to the “old bird” so I had a
littleall of us G.I.s carried a little GI knife in
our pocket and it had a lot of tools on it. One of
them was a screw driver. So I pulled it out of my
pocket and I took the clock off the instrument
panel and I’ve still got that home on my desk
today. I took a train up to Fort Sheridan here and
then was home for a month. We got a one month
leave and my orders were to report out to California, pick up another new airplane and go to
the Pacific and end the war over there. During
my thirty days home, the two atomic bombs
were dropped which changed everything. We
didn’t know what was going to happen but I still
had to at the end of my thirty days I had to go
out to California and report in out there. And
there we stood. Really tens of thousands of us
fellows out there in California, on their way to
the pacific and they didn’t know what to do with
us. So we sat there for about three months waiting and waiting and waitingjust reading the
bulletin board every day to see what was going
to happen. Finally we were discharged out there
so I didn’t get to go to the Pacific.
NELSON: Tell us about your military rank and
decorations, especially your campaign decorations.
�MILLER: Well, I don’t usually go into that
much. I break down a little bit when I think
about this. My youngest son, our fourth child,
graduated from the University of Illinois Architectural School. He graduated about six years
ago. During his fourth year at the university, he
took a one year course over at Versailles,
France, which is just outside of Paris. It’s an
extension of the University of Illinois. The
French Architectural School at Versailles. During the Easter Holiday, he said he had time and
he wanted us to go over there and visit him. He
said, “I’m lonesome for you.”
NELSON: If you’d rather not talk about this,
that’s fine.
MILLER: Well, anyway, young Phil is very
close with us. My wife and I jumped at the invitation so we went over there and spent three
weeks over there. I got to visit with Phil. We
rented a car. As the war went on after England,
we moved over to France. We moved over to
Mourmelan, France which was about twenty
miles southeast of Rheims, France. That’s where
we were stationed. I finished out the war there at
Rheims. And so we rented a car. We went
around and visited the graves of some of my
buddies. Anyway, after visiting these beautiful
cemeteries over there, seeing the crosses on the
graves of my buddies, knowing that we had been
on the same missions, and here they were over
in Europe. Some of them had been transported to
the states but the crosses are still there. The military has left all the crosses in the cemeteries. It’s
at a time like that you reflect and on your own
self, was I fortunatewhy am I still here today
and my buddies never got home. They earned
the same medals we did and that’s why it’s hard
for me bring up all the decorations and all but
being in the transport unit like we were __?__
many medals the way the boys did in the big
bombers, medium bombers, the fighters. They
were in many more engagements than we were. I
only ended up with two air medals, distinguished flying cross and the European ribbon
with three battle stars. I cherish them very, very
much, but I never think of them for myself, I
always think back on these other fellows that are
still over there.
NELSON: How did you get along with the men
with whom you had the greatest contact?
MILLER: I never saw any problem any time.
Times were so different way back then in the
war, everybody worked together. Everybody
followed his orders. He was expected to accomplish his orders and there was never a question
asked. It’s so different from today.
NELSON: Were there things you would do differently if you could do them again?
MILLER: During the wartime, no. I did exactly
what I wanted to do. I thought it was the right
thing.
NELSON: What was the most difficult thing
you had to do during your period of material
service?
MILLER: I think it was when we brought some
supplies into Germany on this one particular trip
and we were right by a concentration camp. We
went in there to pick up a plane load and bring
them back to a hospital over in Paris. We were
waiting and waiting. I got on one of the trucks
and went over there, my co-pilot and I so we got
to see the entire camp. We saw the ovens. We
saw hundreds and hundreds of bodies laying like
cord wood. We saw these people that we were
going to take back to the hospital. People that
were half starved to death and in bad need of
medicine and help. It was real depressing but I’ll
tell you, to see the smiles on those people and
get hugs from them and me telling them that in a
couple or three hours they were going to be back
in a hospital, it was a great deal of gratitude.
NELSON: How did you learn about VE Day
and what was your reaction to it?
MILLER: VE day waswe were expecting it
but, to me, it came as a surprise. I was on a flight
from Rheims, France, up to Holland. I went up
there to pick up a plane load of hospital beds to
bring back down into France. It was a long flight
and it took a long time to get all of these beds
together and get them in the plane and get them
tied down and all. By the time that we were
ready for takeoff it was almost dark. We had
�heard about it then when we were on the ground
up in Holland. But on my flight from Holland
back down to Rheims, France, was one of my
closest calls during my time over in the service.
I came back and I had twenty-one holes in the
airplane. It was a beautiful sight to behold from
the sky flying at night time. Where ever you
looked they were firing their guns and a lot of
tracer bullets, only a lot of those tracers were
coming right up at us and there was no way to
get away from it. We just kept on flying. But,
like I said, we were lucky that day to get back
home with twenty-one holes in our airplane. It
was all small arms so just didn’t hit the right
spot.
NELSON: When and where were you officially
discharged from the service?
NELSON: How did you learn about VJ Day and
what was your reaction to it?
NELSON: Do you have any opinions or feelings about the nation’s military status or its policies?
MILLER: After the war had ended over in Europe, I flew my plane back home here and I was
given a thirty day leave before I was to report to
California for overseas assignment on the Pacific. Pick up a new plane in California. It was during those thirty days I was home waiting that the
two atomic bombs were dropped and VJ Day
was declared. There was a lot of whooping and
hollering going on that day, I know. We got it all
on the radio, but I had to drive down town to see
what was going on. It was really exciting.
NELSON: What was your opinion of the use of
the atomic bomb when it was used against Japanese civilians in August of 1945?
MILLER: I fully endorsed that decision. It must
have been a tough one for President Truman.
There were many lives lost but many, many
lives were saved. Many times more lives would
have been lost if we had not dropped that bomb
and we had fought Japan in a conventional way
having to have invade Japan with ground troops
and also there were a few Japanese that had to
sacrifice their lives in order for maybe millions
of Americans.
NELSON: Has your opinion changed over the
last fifty years?
MILLER: Not a bit.
MILLER: Let’s see, I was actually discharged
in Santa Ana, California, where I was waiting
for my assignment to go to the Pacific. The war
ended and I was discharged at the time out there
but at the very same moment, I enlisted in the
reserve. I stayed with the reserve forI served
34 years total in the reserve.
NELSON: Did you have a disability rating or
pension?
MILLER: No.
MILLER: I think we’re going the right route
with our military but it is a little unfair right now
that we are the one and onlywe’re the number
one military in the world now that Russia is
bowing out so a great deal of responsibility is
left on our shoulders. I’m just afraid if we’re
going to be used as a police action from here on
out that there’s going to be a lot, a lot of men
that are going to have to be used up in many actions which really have no direct relations with
the United States if we’re going to be a police
force for the whole world. That I don’t like. If
anybody threatens us in any way, I’ll be behind
it 100%.But as a policeman, I don’t quite go
along with that yet.
NELSON: Do you have any contact with the
Veterans’ Administration?
MILLER: Yes, I do. They’ve been very good to
me. I go into Great Lakes to the VA Administration there and pick up medicine for my wife. We
have to get that for her. The VA right in town
here has got a fine installation on Parkview Avenue and they take care of me. I’m out there every month, it seems for one thing or another and I
do get my medication from them.
NELSON: Would you like to tell us about your
family support of you during your military life.
�MILLER: My wife actually supported me when
I was in the service. She made more money than
I did
NELSON: How about moral support.
MILLER: Oh, moral support. Oh, wonderful. I
had a very understanding wife and mother and
father who were behind me on everything all the
time. They didn’t like to see me go but they
knew it was a thing that had to be done. So they
kept me in their prayers and backed me 100%
NELSON: Over subsequent years, what has this
support meant to you?
MILLER: I’m just one of the lucky ones that
has the love of a family, a caring family and a
praying family, one who really knows the importance of family which we seem to be forgetting here in the country lately, the family support
unit.
NELSON: Okay. Thank you.
�
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
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Midway Village Museum
Language
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English
Format
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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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Robert George Miller
Location
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Rockford, Illinois
Original Format
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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 George Miller
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 16, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born January 15, 1919, Robert G. Miller joined the Air Force in October 1942. He retired from the military in 1976. Died October 2, 2010.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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PDF Text
Text
Robert Lucas
Transcribed by Lorraine Lightcap
Midway Village & Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone 815 397 9112
�Robert Lucas
Today is February the 16th, 1994. My name is
Charles Nelson. I am a volunteer at Midway Village and Museum Center in Rockford, Illinois,
which is cooperating with the statewide effort to
collect oral histories from Illinois citizens that
participated in the momentous events surrounding World War II. We are in the office at Midway Village in Rockford, Illinois. I am interviewing Mr. Robert Lucas, 1624 Scottswood,
Rockford, Illinois. Mr. Lucas served in a branch
of the United States Armed Forces during World
War II. We are interviewing him about his experiences in that war.
NELSON: Please give us your full name and
place and date of birth.
LUCAS: Robert Lucas. August 21st, 1921.
LUCAS: We were a close knit family. I was
educated in private schools and like I say, very
close with my sister, mother and father.
NELSON: What thoughts did you have about
the war before the United States became directly
involved in the conflict?
LUCAS: At that age, I didn’t give it that much
thought.
NELSON: How did you hear of the December
7th, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese? Where were you and what were you doing
at the time?
LUCAS: We were having a family reunion at
my house with my parents, sister aunts and uncles when the news came about the attack on
Pearl Harbor.
NELSON: Where were you born?
LUCAS: Born in Dubuque, Iowa.
NELSON: We would like also to have the
names of your parents.
LUCAS: Frank Thomas Lucas and Bertha
Wanda Lucas. Both deceased.
NELSON: Did you have any brothers or sisters?
NELSON: What was your reaction and the response of those around you?
LUCAS: I wanted to sign up. I really did. In
fact, I did about a week after Pearl Harbor. I
tried to enlist in the Air Force as an aviation cadet. I did take the exam at that time.
NELSON: Had you formed any prior opinion or
developed any feeling about what had been taking place in Europe and Asia?
LUCAS: One sister.
LUCAS: No, I hadn’t.
NELSON: Are there any details about your parents and/or you family that you would like to
give?
LUCAS: Not especially. My mother was born in
Latvia and came to this country at the age of
eleven, so she had a pretty exciting background
in her younger ages. My father was born and
raised on a farm right outside of Dubuque.
That’s about all I can say that is really significant about my parents.
NELSON: O. K. What was your life like before
the war and specifically in 1941?
NELSON: Do you recall reading newspaper
accounts of German aggression in Europe?
LUCAS: Very little.
NELSON: Did you have any knowledge of Hitler’s speeches, ideas or actions?
LUCAS: None.
NELSON: What events led to your entry into
military service? Were you already in service,
drafted or did you volunteer?
�LUCAS: No. Like I say, I tried to volunteer into
the air corps but I didn’t pass, so I thought I’d
just wait then until I was drafted which I did.
About eight months later I was drafted.
LUCAS: No, nothing special.
NELSON: Was your response to entering the
military service influenced by family or friends’
attitude toward the war, the threat to national
security or other considerations?
LUCAS: That was really the onlyafter basic
training our company was shipped to Miami,
Florida. I was stationed in Miami, Florida, for
fifteen months as an M. P. and it was there that I
took the test for the aviation cadet again. I
passed it and I went from Miami into the Air
Force over to Miami Beach. I took basic training
all over again.
LUCAS: My father was a veteran of World War
I, very active in the American Legion in his
home town. I think he might have had a little
influence on me.
NELSON: Tell us about any other training
camps you attended.
NELSON: Did you have any passes or leaves?
NELSON: When and where were you inducted?
LUCAS: October of 1942 at Camp Dodge in
Iowa.
NELSON: Did you have any special memories
of this event?
LUCAS: Yes, I was drafted on December 23rd.
NELSON: How old were you?
LUCAS: Twenty.
NELSON: What happened after you were inducted? Where were you sent?
LUCAS: Basic training on New Year’s Eve we
were shipped out and eventually ended up at
Camp Blanding outside of Jacksonville, Florida.
NELSON: Where did you take your basic military training?
LUCAS: At Camp Blanding.
NELSON: What were you trained to do?
LUCAS: I was drafted as a military policeman.
LUCAS: The first year I had one pass or one
leave.
NELSON: What do you recall of this period
about the places where you were stationed and
the friends you made, your association with civilians?
LUCAS: I still have a friendship of a man who
was in the military police with me and his wife
who I knew when I was in military police. Another friend of his who still lives in Miami,
whom I still correspond with.
NELSON: Where did you go after completing
basic training?
LUCAS: After basic training in the air force I
went to radio operator’s school in Sioux Falls,
South Dakota.
NELSON: If you were not sent overseas immediately following basic training, when did you
finally leave the United States?
LUCAS: After radio school I went to gunnery
school. Then I crewed up in El Paso, Texas. We
were in El Paso, Texas for three months and
then we went overseas in December of 44.
NELSON: What did you think of the training?
LUCAS: I enjoyed it. I enjoyed army life.
NELSON: Did anything special happen there?
NELSON: What were you assigned to do after
arriving overseas?
�LUCAS: No assignment. We went on a few
training missions before we flew regular combat
missions.
NELSON: What did you think of the national
war effort up to this point?
LUCAS: Very good.
NELSON: If you did not immediately enter
combat zone, where did you go before entering
combat?
LUCAS: Before combat. I went right towe
picked up our plane after training in El Paso,
Texas, and flew overseas. I was assigned to my
bomb group and I went into combat five days
after I got there.
NELSON: What did you think of the war so
far?
LUCAS: I thought we were there for a good
purpose and hopefully we wanted the war to
end. I had no objections to being in the service. I
was glad to see the war come to an end. I was
satisfied with the job and what my other crew
members were doing.
NELSON: Did you write many letters home?
LUCAS: Yes, I wrote weekly to my parents, I
wrote weekly to my sister and I wrote weekly to
friends back home.
NELSON: Did you receive any letters or packages? If so how often?
NELSON: Tell us about you experience of entering your first combat mission.
LUCAS: I received letters from my parents, sister and friends weekly, also. Maybe every two
weeks.
LUCAS: Very scared! But it was interesting. On
my very first mission one crewmember was
wounded. Other than that it was a hairy and
scary experience.
NELSON: What types of things did you get in
packages?
LUCAS: Nothing overseas.
NELSON: Can you list for us in order of occurrence all subsequent combat actions in which
you were involved?
LUCAS: I flew 14 combat missions and after
that the war had ended. I think that’s about it
that I can say to that question, I think.
NELSON: Taking these, one at a time in chronological order, what was the approximate number of casualties that occurred and how were
they treated?
LUCAS: The only casualty, like I said, was to
our navigator on the very first mission. His
wound was a piece of shrapnel or flack went up
along side of his leg and through his chair that
he was sitting on and into his buttocks. It was a
minor. He was back flying again in two weeks.
NELSON: Did your mental attitude change as
combat continued?
LUCAS: No.
NELSON: Did most of the other men write or
receive letters?
LUCAS: Some. Maybe in our crew, maybe four
of my crew members did as I.
NELSON: Did you forge close bonds of friendship with any of your combat companions?
LUCAS: I had a close friendship with a crew
member on a different crew. I had a very close
relationship with him, but he was killed when
we were flying overseas. His plane crashed in
England.
NELSON: Have you remained in contact with
any of your World War II companions?
LUCAS: No. Only the one who was in the Military Police with me.
NELSON: Did you ever have help retrieve a
wounded buddy from a field of combat?
�LUCAS: No.
NELSON: During your combat duties, did you
ever capture any enemy prisoners? If so, describe the circumstances.
NELSON: Please tell us about your military
rank, your decorations and especially campaign
decorations.
LUCAS: No.
LUCAS: I was a staff sergeant, __?__ medal
and I received a citation for theI’ve forgotten
the campaignwith three battle stars.
NELSON: Prior to the end of the war, were you
aware of any civilian concentration camps existed? If so, please explain how you learned about
them and how much you knew at that time.
NELSON: How did you get along with the men
with whom you had the greatest contact?
LUCAS: Very good.
LUCAS: I had a friend, who I later found out,
was in a prison camp. I knew that he was a Prisoner Of War but the strange part of the whole
story is when his prison camp it was liberated by
his brother’s infantry outfit.
NELSON: What was your highlight occurrence
of you combat experience?
NELSON: Were there things you would do differently if you could do them again?
LUCAS: No.
NELSON: What was your most difficult thing
you had to do during you period of military service?
LUCAS: I would say my very first mission.
NELSON: Why was that?
LUCAS: It was exciting. It was a tough one and
the head the one casualty on our crew.
LUCAS: I would say taking the aviation cadet
exam again for the second time.
NELSON: Is there any one thing that stands out
as your most successful achievement during military service?
NELSON: Where did you go?
LUCAS: No, I wouldn’t say so.
LUCAS: I believe my first mission was at the
Brenner Pass. Northern Italy, Germany. I’ve
forgotten.
NELSON: How did you learn about VE Day
and what was your reaction to it?
NELSON: Tell us what you and the other men
did to celebrate America’s traditional family
holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
LUCAS: The announcement came over the loud
speaking system at our base camp. There was
really no big celebration.
LUCAS: Nothing special. We usually had good
meals on holidays. We enjoyed that.
NELSON: How did you learn about VJ Day and
what was your reaction/
NELSON: When and how did you return to the
U. S. after the war?
LUCAS: I was home on furlough at the time
after coming back from overseas. I heard it then
and that was a joyous occasion because finally
the whole affair was over.
LUCAS: We flew back in a B-17.
NELSON: What happened when you arrived in
the U.S.?
LUCAS: I kissed the ground.
NELSON: What was your opinion of the use of
the atomic bomb when it was used against Japanese civilians in August of 1945?
�LUCAS: I was completely for it.
NELSON: Has your opinion changed over the
last fifty years, if so how.
NELSON: I think you have answered the next
question. Have you ever gone to a VA hospital
for medical services?
LUCAS: My father has. Not I.
LUCAS: No.
NELSON: When were you officially discharged
from the service?
LUCAS: I was discharged in October of 1945
from Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Illinois.
NELSON: Do you have any disability rating or
pension?
NELSON: Would you like to tell us about how
your family supported you during your military
life?
LUCAS: My dad was active in the American
Legion and he always said it was great to be in
the service. My mother supported me and my
sister supported through correspondence. The
whole family supported me throughout my
whole career.
LUCAS: No.
NELSON: Do you have any opinions or feelings about the nation’s military status or its policies?
LUCAS: Right now?
NELSON: Yes.
LUCAS: I don’t like the cuts in the defense.
NELSON: Over the subsequent years, what has
this support meant to you?
LUCAS: My dad insisted I join the American
Legion after I got out of the service. I still am a
Legionnaire. My parents are deceased now but
my sister is still in supportstill close. That’s
about it.
NELSON: Do you have any contact with the
Veteran’s Administration?
NELSON: Thanks a lot, Bob. Is there anything
else you would like to add to this interview?
Any stories you would like to tell or experience
you would like to tell about?
LUCAS: Right now, I don’t, but I did have with
the VA when my mother was in a nursing home.
She was treated royally by these people and she
received compensation each month because of
my Dad’s service in World War I. I thought the
VA did a tremendous job.
LUCAS: The only thing I would like to say is in
regard to the Veterans’ Administration. Like I
said, they were great to my mother through
compensation, through health and to this day I
am in full support of the Veterans’ Administration. That’s about it.
NELSON: Thank you, Bob.
�
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
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Midway Village Museum
Publisher
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Midway Village Museum
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-2001
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Language
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English
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Robert Lucas
Location
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Rockford, Illinois
Original Format
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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 Lucas
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
February 16, 1994
Description
An account of the resource
Born August 21, 1921, Robert Lucas was drafted into the Airforce in August 1942 as a radio operator. He was discharged in August 1945. He died March 17, 2012.
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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PDF Text
Text
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
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Midway Village Museum
Publisher
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Midway Village Museum
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-2001
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Language
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English
Format
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pdf
Type
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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
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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
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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
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Ebensee Concentration Camp
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War II
WW2
-
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PDF Text
Text
Robert Robertson
Transcribed and Edited by Margaret Lofgren
Midway Village & Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone – 815 397 9112
�Robert Robertson
Today is March 30th, 1994. My name is Jim Will. I
am a volunteer at Midway Village & Museum Center
here in Rockford and we are cooperating with a state
wide effort to collect oral histories from Illinois
citizens that participated in events surrounding World
War II.
Today we are in the home of Robert Robertson who
lives at 210 April Court, Machesney Park, Illinois.
Mr. Robertson served in a branch of the United States
Armed Forces during World War II. We’re going to
ask him some questions about his experiences in that
war.
JIM: Can I call you Bob?
BOB: Never looked into that. Then my mother’s
father was born in New York state and her mother
was born in Virginia.
JIM: Life, just before the war, what was it like?
BOB: I was busy going to high school in Detroit. I
was taking a technical course at Cass Technical High
School in Detroit and I was interested in aeronautics.
I was into building aircraft models and gas models
and that. I had a car. I bought an old Model A. Of
course, it wasn’t so old in those days, but I worked
one summer down here in Illinois for my grandfather
who built and repaired grain elevators. I’d saved up
enough money so I bought this car and it was⎯$25 is
what I paid for it.
BOB: Yes. Please.
JIM: Oh my gosh.
JIM: Would you give your full name and date and
place of birth to start off with?
BOB: I was born in Detroit, Michigan, on October
19th, 1924. My full name is Robert Travis Robertson.
JIM: How about your parents’ names?
BOB: My father was Alexander Robertson and he
was born in Rochelle, Illinois and my mother was
Maurina Travis Robertson, of course, and she was
born in Westchester, Iowa.
JIM: Okay. Did you have any brothers or sisters?
BOB: No. Only child.
JIM: Any special details about your family like did
they come over from the “old country” maybe or
were they born⎯
BOB: My dad’s grandfather was from Canada and
they had lived in Canada. Before the Revolution, they
were in North Carolina and then they stayed loyal to
the king so they moved to Canada. And my⎯his
wife, my grandmother, was born in Dublin, Ireland..
When she came over as a family, her name was
Kennedy.
JIM: Not the famous one. (Laughter)
BOB: It was in running order. It only had about
20,000 miles on it but the man that had owned it
drove back and forth to work in it. The upholstery in
it was really a mess inside. He apparently didn’t care
if he had greasy clothes or not but otherwise it was in
really good shape⎯no rust or anything.
JIM: You tinkered with it.
BOB: Yeah. My dad worked for Ford Motor
Company and he managed to get me any spare parts I
wanted.
JIM: You say you went to high school in Detroit.
When did you graduate from high school? What
year?
BOB: When I went in the service.
JIM: Yeah. What year was that?
BOB: 1943. I⎯It was kind of a funny thing. I, of
course, had registered in the draft and all that when I
was 18 and I hadn’t heard anything more from them.
It was getting close to⎯graduation was about a
month and a half away and I kind of wanted to stay
for graduation so I called the draft board and asked
them about it and they couldn’t find any record of it.
JIM: So they put you down right a way.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 3
BOB: I asked them⎯I said, “Well”.⎯when they
called me I said, “Could I have another twenty days
and graduate with my class”? and they said they’d
look up my grades and I was all set. I didn’t have to
take any more courses or anything so away I went.
JIM: You must have been in high school during
Pearl Harbor.
BOB: See it was the Army in those days. They
hadn’t divided it up yet.
JIM: The Army Air Corps.
BOB: Yeah. The Army Air Corps. I didn’t
particularly want to go in the Army. I had an uncle
that lived with us⎯my mother’s brother⎯and he had
been in the first World War in the Navy.
BOB: Yes.
JIM: So he recommended it kind of.
JIM: Do you remember what you were doing that
day?
BOB: Yes. We went to church on Sunday morning.
Got home around eleven o’clock and we heard it on
the radio.
JIM: What was your opinion of what happened?
BOB: Of course, we didn’t know all about the radar
follow ups and that but we was all optimistic. My
mother wasn’t too happy but I think as a kid you
think of the romance of it.
JIM: You betcha.
BOB: I know I had tried to get in the Air Force
before you could get in the cadet and maybe even
take the⎯you’d pass a test⎯a qualification test and
then you could get in as an air cadet. Once you
reached the age of 18 well then there was no
JIM: Whatever they wanted you to do.
BOB: Uh Huh. And he had done very well in the
Navy.
JIM: When you were drafted into the Navy⎯after
your physical⎯where were you sent?
BOB: They gave us nine days off after we were
officially in
JIM: After your physical.
BOB: Uh huh. After the physical. We had nine days
then. And then we had to report at the post office
there in Detroit for induction. Then they marched us
down to the railroad station and we took the train
over to Great Lakes.
JIM: Oh okay. In Chicago.
BOB: North of Chicago.
JIM: Do you have any special memories of basic
training?
BOB: Yeah where they wanted to put you.
BOB: No. My mother wouldn’t sign for me because I
was seventeen so I missed that chance.
BOB: I had kind of funny deal. The first night I was
there⎯it was kind of⎯kind of was⎯of course, most
of us there was⎯you was either 18 or 19 or else you
was 38 or 40. I meant it was just the way they had
taken
JIM: So you were drafted then after.
JIM: A big gap.
JIM: So you enlisted there before you were drafted?
BOB: Yes.
JIM: When you were drafted, how did you end up in
the Navy?
BOB: They gave us a physical. A pretty good
physical. That day, apparently, they asked me what
branch I wanted to be in and I said Navy.
JIM: You didn’t pick the Air Force or Air Corps.
BOB: The eligible ones you know, so there was a lot
of us there that was pretty young. And we⎯I
remember the first night there, I drew guard duty. It
wasn’t guard duty. It was a fire watch they called it.
And you had to patrol the barracks to look for fire I
guess. I think it was just inaugurated to give us
something to do.
JIM: What did they train you to do there?
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 4
BOB: They trained us to row a boat, rifle practice,
marching primarily but there again I got out of that
because I had worked in a library⎯in the Wayne
County Library in Michigan there in Detroit before I
went in the service and they post things. If you have
special qualifications, they post it. I saw on the
bulletin board that they wanted a helper for the
librarian at Green Bay Station there. I applied for it
you know, and everybody said, “Oh heck, you’ll be
washing dishes or some⎯not as nice as it sounded”
and, gee, it turned out to be really a nice job. The girl
that I worked for was⎯I suppose she’s in her mid
twenties but she was a civilian and she would take
the books around to the different hospital wards for
guys to read. I’d’ drive the truck and unload the
books and that and then she’d take them around. So
I’d just wait til she came back. That got me out of all
the marching. All I went to were the “musts”. They
call it “musts”, M-U-S-T-S. You would miss
everything but⎯oh, like seamanship, knot tying, and
rifle practice, the essentials. So that turned out to be a
good deal. Plus I think she really put in a good word
for me because when it came to service school, there
was only two of us out of that whole company of
probably around a hundred people that got to go to
service school. Right at that particular time they were
really anxious for looking for armed guards on the
civilian ships, the Liberty ships and that, cargo ships
and they really took a lot of people into that branch
which wasn’t very lucrative.
JIM: Immediately in demand.
BOB:: Yes, because they were sinking so many of
our ships, I suppose.
JIM: After your training at Great Lakes, where were
you sent or what did you do?
BOB: About thirty days.
JIM: About thirty days.
BOB: Anyway it ended up⎯ when I got sent back to
Navy Pier, it was about a week before Christmas.
JIM: 1943?
BOB: I got back to Navy Pier. In the meantime, my
class had graduated but I did get pretty good grades
so I got a rating upgrade to __?__ Machinist’s Mate,
3rd Class. That’s the lowest pay office there is. They
asked me if I wanted to stay on their ships company.
I said I didn’t know if I could or not, you know the
way I felt in the cold weather. They said, “Why don’t
you try it.” So I did. I was just making up booklets
for the people, introducing them to diesel engines and
that. Just a matter of stapling different sheets
together. I was there a couple weeks but boy I
started⎯it got cold again. Funny thing, when you’d
go to bed at night everybody just went to bed with all
their clothes on.
JIM: Didn’t have any heat in the place?
BOB: The wind would blow through. It was all glass
like a factory. So then you always hear about⎯it’s
like the library deal. You hear about the chaplains,
you know. If you got troubles you take it to him. So I
went⎯I went down to see him but I told him that I
just felt that I was gonna⎯not going to make it
without getting sick again. So I don’t know if he had
somebody in mind for the job I had or not but⎯what
he give me⎯he fixed me up and gee, I think it was
about three days I got my orders. And so I went out
of the frying pan into the fire.
JIM: Where did they send you?
BOB: I got a⎯I think I got an eight day leave after
boot camp. I think we got eight days and then I went
to diesel school at Navy Pier in Chicago. I suppose
the school⎯I imagine it started in August and I went
there seven weeks and by that
time it was
cold⎯well not real cold⎯but Navy Pier, if you know
where that is, sticking out in the lake. I got
pneumonia and they put me in the hospital over at
Northwestern University Hospital. I was in there a
couple weeks and I was feeling better and then I
came down with scarlet fever. That’s contagious so
they transported me up to Great Lakes Naval
Hospital.
JIM: How long were you there?
BOB: Solomon, Maryland. Which is about, oh
probably eighty miles from Washington, D. C.
JIM: Were you attached to any special Naval unit
then?
BOB: Yes. I⎯we went well it was a school there.
They had a school there for diesel mechanics on the
particular types of engines they had there for the
landing craft. So I went to school there and then, I
think it was just a week but it was just on a General
Motors six cylinder diesel engines.
JIM: Just certain ones.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 5
BOB: Mm hm. And I went to school there for a week
and then they assigned me to a crew and what they
did⎯I was destined for an LCT Landing Craft Tanks
and
JIM: Training for small arms. Did everybody have to
take them.
JIM: What was the training like?
JIM: Everybody participated.
BOB: It was hands on actually⎯worked on the
engines tearing them apart and putting them back
together again. They formed a crew there of a
⎯everybody wasn’t rated but they had one for a
boatswain mate, quarter master, a gunner’s mate and
a Motor Machinists Mate. So there were four of us in
the basic crew. So we went
BOB: Mm hm. They had towed targets by airplanes.
Fire 20 mm is what we fired.
JIM: So you were the Motor Machinists Mate?
BOB: Yes. They assigned us then to an LCT which
was a training crew and for two weeks we were the
trainees. They’d be training us. The next two weeks
we’d train another crew.
JIM: Passed down to somebody else. Training was
like hands on actual out on the water.
BOB: Yes. We’d go on maneuvers __?__ all the time
Then when it became our turn to teach, they moved
us down to Little Creek, Virginia, which is right
outside of Norfolk. Then we really went on
maneuvers all the time. We’d go out into the ocean
and there was an amusement park there. I don’t know
what the name of it was. They had roller coasters
there. Of course, this was during the winter so they
weren’t opened. They’d have their army maneuvers
where they’d be shooting off tear gas and stuff like
that. Then we staid⎯It was a total of four
weeks⎯two weeks as a trainee and two weeks as the
trainer. Then soon as that was finished they shipped
us up to New York, Pier 92 in New York.
JIM: New York City?
BOB: New York City. Then they moved us out to
Lido Beach, Long Island, to take training and for
shooting all the small arms and anti-aircraft guns that
those ships were carrying.
JIM: Where about on Long Islands? The far eastern
portion?
BOB: It was in the southeast part of Long Island.
Lido Beach was a real snazzy resort, I guess, during
non- war times. It was probably a 10 or 12 story
building.
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: Oh. I see. How about ship targets?
BOB: No, just aircraft. And they hit, of course, you
just had one chance, you know. So you’d⎯one day
the pilots quit because they started out too close to
hitting them. And then they issued us gear. They
issued us winter clothing. Up til then they’d given
you no idea if you was going to go to the Pacific or
Europe. They issued us all clothing what we called
foul weather gear, all lined⎯really, really good
clothing. They issued us each a carbine⎯the regular
standard army 30 caliber carbine. Then they took us
back to Pier 92. I don’t think that was such a funny
place. The Admiral that ran it was really a nut. I
guess him and Walter Winchell was
JIM: That was in New York.
BOB: Mm hm. They made us have a bag inspection.
A bag inspection was all your clothing and gear and,
of course, in those days we had a mattress, two
blankets and a pillow issued to us and a hammock
and we had to keep that with us all the time. Well, we
had the darn bag layout and like if you were short
anything like a hair brush, and they issued you a hair
brush in the first place and you didn’t have a hair
brush, you had to buy another one and all that
paraphernalia. Then they made us wear⎯instead of
wearing dungarees which were overalls we had to
wear dress blue uniforms which was __?__. We had
to wear boots and they had leggings that you lace up.
They took us and marched us over to __?__ and in
these funny uniforms from what people usually see
sailors you know. We didn’t have any of the white
striping or anything on them. Then we had to march
over to⎯I can’t tell you the pier number but it was
where the LST was docked. It was really funny
because people would really stare at us because they
wanted to know what army it was or what Navy it
was.
JIM: The enemy. During any of this training did you
ever get leaves or passes?
BOB: No.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 6
JIM: They kept you right there. Did you meet any
friends or make any friends?
BOB: See, I was assigned to an LCT and the ship
that carried us over was an LST. They’re a
commissioned ship but they didn’t have names. Just
numbers.
BOB: Not really. Not really.
JIM: Nobody that you still keep contact with.
BOB: Now that isn’t true. I guess, after they formed
the nucleus crew, I kept in contact with the gunner’s
mate.
JIM: What was his name?
BOB: Frank Moore.
JIM: Okay. Did the Navy have assigned unit
numbers or names like the Army had for different
groups?
BOB: You don’t mean the serial number.
JIM: No. I mean like the 3rd Army.
BOB: No.
JIM: The Navy didn’t have designated names.
BOB: No.
JIM: Okay. When you were in New York were you
assigned to an LCT?
JIM: You were telling me early that ship was⎯Tell
me a little bit more about that ship.
BOB: When we got over to⎯The ship going over
carried⎯I don’t know how many⎯a bunch of trucks
inside what they called the tank deck which was an
enclosed area. It also carried oil. They used the oil for
ballast. When we got over to England they took the
oil off, you know. Then they could use it. We went
up first to Scotland and they had to form a convoy to
go back down because I guess there were subs in the
Irish Sea⎯German subs. So we had to wait for a
convoy for a couple of days and then there were
some other landing craft there by that time. We went
down then to Wales to __?__ and then we went
around the very tip of England to __?__ and then we
went up the __?__ River and they launched our LCT
from the deck of the LST.
JIM: Do you remember about when this was? Do
you remember the dates? Was it early in 44 maybe?
BOB: Oh, yes! We left Boston Harbor on March
10th, put into Halifax, Nova Scotia for a day and then
they formed a convoy March 12th. Then, as I was
saying, on March 28th and the next morning we
entered the __?__.
BOB: Yes, we had received our⎯that we’d be on
LCT 663.
JIM: Okay.
JIM: Then what happened after that? Where’d you
go.
BOB: And went to Rosa (?) Scotland. We stayed at
anchor there for two days and then went to Port
Talbot in Wales.
BOB: Well, we got on board the LST and they gave
us an option if we wanted to become a part of the
ships crew the LST crew that is, we’d be able to have
a better place to sleep and that and we’d eat the same
food as everybody. Otherwise they⎯when they were
carrying troops⎯and they had some troops on board,
that they ate at a mess after us.
JIM: You showed me a picture early of the ship that
carried the LCT. What was the name of that ship?
JIM: This was just a stop over?
BOB: Mm hm. And then we went to the Rall (?)
River on April 7th, and the LCT was launched from
the deck of the LST. On April 19th
_______?__________our engines were started for the
first time and on April 21st she had her trial run and
compasses were set.
JIM: You had a lot to do then to get everything
started up.
BOB: The LST?
BOB: Yes.
JIM: No. The ship that carried it⎯Remember the
photo
JIM: What were your duties on board?
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 7
BOB: Take care of all the mechanical equipment.
JIM: Like for instance. Can you describe what daily
work on the ship was?
time when it was getting close to D-Day we’d take
the soldiers out and go down and they had a beach
there that they had explosives rigged in the ground
and they’d be shooting machine guns.
BOB: Since we got aboard we painted our engine
room. The LCT was propelled by three six cylinder
diesel engines and we had two⎯almost like a big
lawn mower to raise the ramp. They had a ramp, the
bow ramp. We had a pump, a water pump on a single
cylinder Briggs and Stratton engine and then we had
two fire engines. They were outboard motors is what
they were but they had a high pressure steam⎯it had
an intake. You put a hose over the side and it was
high pressure but they were temperamental because
⎯and they were Johnson outboard motors.
JIM: Give them
JIM: You maintained them.
BOB: No. No. This Major⎯our skipper wouldn’t do
it. He __?__⎯they could walk off and only get wet
up to their knees and the Major, he jumped out and
the Skipper said, “Well, I’m in charge of this vessel
and I’ll do it my way.” He really stood up to the
Major.
BOB: Yeah, we had to start them about every day to
see that they run alright. And then besides that one of
the important things was the anchor. What we’d do
with this anchor⎯when it was going in to hit the
beach, we’d drop the anchor on the way and then
when you left and it was maybe a quarter mile or so
you’d stop it and service it and this to pull yourself
off the beach. It had six-cylinder continental (?)
gasoline engines.
BOB: And gas. Know that we, our shippers, the
captains of these LCTs were mostly young college
graduates and ours was a little older. He was around
28. And we went in and hit the beach and when this
Colonel wanted us to __?__, Army Major, wanted us
to land was __?__. You could see the guys were
going off in really deep water.
JIM: This was on D-Day?
JIM: Now how many on the crew of the LCT?
BOB: Well, normally it was twelve but they
increased it to around sixteen on the invasion. They
must have had about sixteen.
JIM: It had a lot of engines on it.
JIM: Why the extra?
BOB: Yes, like I say, we had two generators.
JIM: Over in England⎯when you were over in
England, they didn’t give you any idea what was
ahead.
BOB: Well, it gave you⎯if you could have three
men like diesel men⎯whenever we were under way
they had to __?__ and that way you get your watches
so you wouldn’t have so much time.
BOB: Yes.
JIM: Okay.
JIM: They did?
BOB: We did a lot of interesting things on
maneuvers because these were relatively new type of
craft⎯the type six and they were designed to make
bridges out of because they had an open stern end
with the ramp down you could put the ramp of our
ship on to the back end of another one and you could
lash them together.
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: When did they tell you their plans?
BOB: Well, they never did tell us until we were
actually at sea.
JIM: Single file?
JIM: Just before D-Day. How long did it take to
organize that⎯get all their ships together in the
channel?
BOB: Really not long. They came from different
places. One interesting thing was, prior to the
invasion, we would go on maneuvers. We went one
BOB: Right. I don’t know if they ever used it or not.
We never did. Then we went out on night maneuvers
one time. The soldiers all had been issued
ammunition and we figured we was going
JIM: That it was the real thing.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 8
BOB: Yeah. Because it was at night, you know, and
that’s terrible when you’re out there with no lights
JIM: How did you feel at that time?
BOB: __?__. Because they seemed to be doing such
dumb things from my standpoint⎯of course, you
look back and think they was preparing you
JIM: At that time.
BOB: Yeah. And then they came and they issued us
all army clothing because I guess they had trouble at
Anzio where the Germans would try to pick off the
sailors, you know. I guess that was the reason. They
gave us regular wool and all these clothes that we got
had gas protectors.
JIM: Flammable or flame proof.
BOB: No They just⎯well like the shirts were regular
buttons and then there was a flap inside and I think
that they must have really planned on the German’s
using gas. Because we, besides that, they gave us
another like a coverall and we had to wear that over
all the other stuff. Then we were issued a⎯these
were like big garbage bags that was clear on one end
and then khaki on the other. If we got gassed you
had⎯it gave you a chance to pull this thing on before
you put the rest of your clothes on. So we had that .
Then we had to wear a life jacket which ⎯they’re
really cumbersome. Big old Mae West things, you
know and boy you really got warm with the gas
protective clothing. It wouldn’t breath like regular
clothing.
JIM: Is there anything else happen on maneuvers
that might come to mind?
BOB: Well, the LST 507 and two others were sunk
by German torpedo boats. We were there but we
didn’t know what was happening. You could see the
fires and the shells exploding in the air. Some of
them looked like they were coming our way.
JIM: They really kept that a secret?
BOB: Our commander thought that probably we
were still listed as being in the crew of that LST 507.
They advised us to wire home. All it said was
disregard the information. Nothing else about it.
JIM: Talk about writing home or wiring home⎯how
about mail or packages. Did you get a lot?
BOB: We were prepared then for the invasion. Then
they take you out and you’re just following the guy
ahead of you so you really don’t know what direction
you’re in all the time cause you’re always changing
directions.
JIM: The guy in front had to know where he was
going.
BOB: Yeah. He had probably⎯Most of the time he
had like a small vehicle⎯small warship ahead of us
like a patrol craft or a PT Boat or something like
that⎯something to kind of keep you in line. Then in
May, we went about every day some place.
JIM: On maneuvers.
BOB: Mm hm. We got the extra crew aboard then.
We got this even before then but then with additional
ones plus the other ones we’d gotten earlier we had a
total of fifteen men. Now I got these dates from the
ships log. I wrote this menu; down so I know I’m
right on the dates. When we got the extra guys we
had another ensign. Up to the time we just had the
one officer. Then we had an ensign. His name was
George Edwards and he came from down by Peoria,
Fairfield, Illinois. My uncle ran a grocery store in
Fairfield, which is a town of 200 people and, of
course, he knew my uncle.
JIM: No kidding.
BOB: Anyway, on May 23rd, we began to load the
LSTs with supplies.
JIM: They had troops out there?
JIM: For the crossing.
BOB: Yes. They lost a lot of men. That was called
Operation Tiger.
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: Is that why they never said anything about it?
Never recorded it or anything until afterwards?
BOB: Yeah.
JIM: That was pretty early wasn’t it?
BOB: Mm hm
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 9
JIM: When did you find out you were going to
France?
along the coast taking an eastern course. By this time
other LCTs and LCIs and LCNs would get in the line.
BOB: When they handed out the sheets and our
money. __?__Eisenhower __?__.
JIM: Now LCIs that was the infantry:
BOB: Mm hm. They looked more like at ship.
JIM: Okay. You got money from⎯everybody got
money
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: French?
BOB: I don’t think it was really pay money. I think
they just gave us that money so we’d have it.
JIM: What was the other one, LC
BOB: LCN would carry one tank. There was just on
tank (Inaudible. Jim and Bob talking at the same
time). Very small steel boat. They had LCVPs which
is Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel. They could carry
one jeep and so many soldiers. They were
wooden⎯plywood. They had one engine where as
the LCNs would have two engines
JIM: To use over there.
JIM: Okay. They were all different sizes.
BOB: It was like $20 worth.
JIM: On the morning of June 6 of 44?
BOB: Well let me go back.
JIM: Okay. You want to back up.
BOB: On the night of June 1st we went over to Tor
Bay. We were in Tor Bay which is a coastal bay. We
pulled up to a __?__ and loaded on thirteen jeeps,
two two-ton trucks, a weapons carrier which was a
smaller size truck and a water trailer and seventy-one
enlisted personnel and two officers also came aboard.
They were members of the 1st Division. Most of
them were combat engineers. One group was going to
set up a field hospital and the other group was going
to blow a hole in the sea wall. All the soldiers that we
had on board had been in other invasions.
JIM: Oh, they did? Like Italy and North Africa.
They knew what to do.
BOB: Yeah. Then we went back over to⎯after
loading up on the 1st, we went back to
Dartmouth⎯camouflage netting over the tank deck
so you wouldn’t be able to tell if we had anything on
board. Of course, that was on the 1st. At 19:20 which
is 7:20 on the evening of June 3rd, we left the
anchorage with the rest of our flotilla of LCTs. I
think there were twenty some LCTs in our flotilla.
JIM: What did they do on the 3rd?
BOB: We was under our way. When we went
through the town of Dartmouth, all the people We
joined the escort ships out in the channel and sailed
BOB: Yes. We had escorts. It was getting
rough⎯the channel got rough and on the 4th (Both
talking. Inaudible).
JIM: There was a storm?
BOB: Right. So we received word by signal that it
was to be postponed until 5:30 a.m. on June 5 th. It
was set back twenty-five hours so that it would occur
on June 6th at 6:30. But obviously we had been out
there parading up and down the channel.
JIM: Waiting for the weather to clear.
BOB: Mm hm. So we went in to a harbor and staid
for⎯I don’t know. It wasn’t all night. It was
probably six hours or so. Then we started out again. I
think then we headed west. We were supposed to be
in the eleventh wave in the first time so that we
would be up close to the obstructions. __?__ is where
we staid. When we left in the morning⎯we again got
underway we again formed the convoy and headed
east in the channel toward Dover. In the afternoon we
turned around and headed back the other way again
staying in about the center of the channel. That night
we then went south towards France. At 6:15 in the
morning of June 6 we sighted the coast of France. At
that time we could hear heavy fire in the distance.
Huge flights of bombers and fighter planes were
going over us. We proceeded along the coast line for
about two hours all the time we kept passing
warships which were firing on the beach. We staid
about five miles off shore when we came to sort of a
shallow bay in the coast line. We were ordered to cut
our speed and circle around until we received orders
to hit the beach. At 0920 we received orders to go
into the beach so the other LSTs and I got under way.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 10
There twelve ships of all sizes of our U. S. LCTs and
the British LCTs . We were the second ship in line in
our wave. We followed it immediately behind the
LCT 777 which was our sister ship and was the flag
ship of our wave. At 10:30 we were about three miles
from the beach. The triple 7 hit a mine. The mine hit
in the aft section and cracked the 777 in half. Many
men were blown off the ship including all the men in
the __?__. Fortunately though two LCVPs rescue
boats were near by and came immediately to pick up
the survivors. Our orders were not to stop. We
noticed an increase in shell explosions around us and
they continually increased as we neared the beach.
We could then make out clearly the figures of the
men on the beach and the burning vehicles and gun
flashes. A control boat pulled along side and ordered
us to hit the beach as close as possible __?__. We
beach at that location at 11:55 and the ramp was
lowered and the vehicles were starting to debark. The
water then was about three feet deep at the end of the
ramp so that it would come to the hoods of the jeeps.
The vehicles were fairly waterproof but nevertheless
some of them stalled as they hit the water. We
figured it was because they had disconnected the fan
belts. The first jeep was just leaving the ramp when
three shells hit around us and landed near the bow
and one near the stern on the port side and one close
to the stern on the starboard side. The shrapnel
thrown by these shells splattered the ship killing our
executive, killed Ensign Edwards and a soldier.
JIM: That was the new Ensign?
BOB: Yes. And wounding Ensign Kurtz. That was
our acting skipper and quartermaster Thomas so all
was on top of the __?__got hit.
JIM: Where were you at?
BOB: I was on the throttles. You could control the
engines. In fact that is the only way you can do it.
JIM: At the rear?
BOB: Yes. It’s a little square cubicle.
JIM: Was it⎯Did you have some armor protection
on these ships.
BOB: They claim (inaudible) See that’s the __?__
over there.
JIM: Oh, okay. Like a square box.
BOB: It sets on top. Like this was⎯on this side it
was the officers quarters __?__ and on the opposite
side it was the crews quarters and then there was this
where the toilets were and the showers and then on
the opposite side was the stove for cooking. The rest
was storage area. There were several other soldiers
killed. They went out __?__.
JIM: They had good rescue ships? A couple of them
picked up survivors.
BOB: Yeah. After that at fifty second intervals shells
would light around us and they came in salvos of
three and landed at fifty second intervals almost to
the second and it was said later that the shells were
from a German __?__ located several miles away.
Well, anyway we were up on the beach and we
unloaded about half the jeeps and we got rid of the
two truck which we were happy about because they
were carrying explosives for blowing a hole in the
sea wall. And then we were⎯the water was getting
deeper for the jeeps to get out so we tried to back
around and hit the beach square again instead of
getting off at an angle. In doing that we caught the
anchor cable which we dropped the anchor a quarter
of a mile back. That was when __?__ caught the
anchor on the propeller. We couldn’t go forward or
we couldn’t go backward.
JIM: So then what?
BOB: We tried revving up the engines to see if they
could cut the cable. Then the __?__ was we couldn’t
decide if we cut the cable by one of the other screws
__?__ propeller or a German shell landed on it.
JIM: Oh, okay.
BOB: The only thing I knew about⎯we went back
out then. We went to the hospital ship then.
JIM: Which was out in the channel.
BOB: Yeah. We took the⎯The skipper had a hole
right in the front of his helmet but he didn’t have the
chin strap on it, you know, and it just knocked the
helmet and put a line⎯just like someone had taken a
red pencil and made a line across his
JIM: You never got hurt did you?
BOB: No. We had one of the gunner’s mates got hit
in the hand and then the quartermaster, he’s the
signal man also, he got hit in the butt. (Laughter)
JIM: Sore bottom. Not bad I presume.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 11
BOB:
No. We took him to the hospital ship and
they dressed their wounds and they came back. Then
we had to⎯we didn’t only go in without an anchor
but we carried a spare anchor so they told us to put
the anchor out and then they said not to go in. By
then it was getting toward dusk.
JIM: You had to wait for the next day then?
BOB:
Yeah. There really wasn’t much night. It
was really funny. It wouldn’t get dark over there until
eleven o’clock
JIM: Did you find that the medical treatment was
excellent, superb or adequate?
BOB: We would haul out wounded and we had a
Chief Pharmacists’ Mate which is like a combat
JIM: Medic like?
BOB: Medic. And he would⎯I mean when they
would bring them on on cots or stretchers, some of
them were in real bad shape. He would give out⎯to
kill the pain.
JIM: Morphine?
JIM: Oh, yeah?
BOB:
Mm hm. Of course, that was near the
longest day of the year, June 6th. But it really stays
light a long time. They wouldn’t send us in in the
dark. I don’t know. I suppose they didn’t want to
have them ramming into each other.
JIM: Now at this time you only had part of your
cargo unloaded.
BOB:
Yes. We only had⎯we got rid of the big
ones but we still had probably six or eight jeeps.
JIM: Do you remember what happened the next day?
BOB:
One thing that I thought was really
marvelous⎯well, there were a couple things. Going
into the beach, the cruiser⎯the heavy cruiser,
Augustus, which was a neat looking ship⎯it had a
clipper bow, you know, a real pointed bow and it was
a (blank for a short time) and then when we was on
the beach there and these jeeps would be stalling
when they’d get to __?__ there was some soldier
driving it a big “cat”
and he was really
impressive⎯pulling those jeeps. At least everything
that was falling there.
JIM: Then the day after, did you have to go back in
then?
BOB: Yes.
JIM: Finish the job.
BOB: We attached our cable __?__ the day before
__?__. I think the things that we were hauling in
weren’t, you know, __?__field hospital.
BOB: Morphine. And __?__ presently the hospital
ship came by. It seemed like they took their time.
JIM: Best they could at the time.
BOB: That evening when we went off and anchored
by ourselves, just at dusk there was some DC3s came
over and they dumped out parachutes but if they were
men or supplies, I don’t know. I thought they was
awfully low if they were men because they couldn’t
have been more than __?__.
JIM: Now on the beach, you’re talking about.
BOB: Mm hm. The Germans would⎯every night
and they did this for a long time⎯they’d come over
and drop what we called chandelier flares⎯a whole
group that I assume was magnesium __?__ on fire
and you could read a newspaper under them.
JIM: Light up the area.
BOB: They really fired a lot. Our ships
JIM: Were there a lot of German enemy planes?
BOB: Never saw any of them but one night⎯I think
it was the next night or so they strafed the beach and
you could __?__you could⎯most of the time the
tracer bullets were going up from the ground up but
these were coming out of the sky. All the gunner’s
mates were eager to shoot and we⎯that first night we
just anchored ourselves and didn’t have anything to
shoot at. The next night we had three men⎯we had
20mm cannons is all we had like overgrown machine
guns. We would have three men hand over the
ammunition. One guy would be the trainer and pull
the trigger, and the other guy would put up the⎯as
soon as it was empty would put up another magazine.
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 12
JIM: From the top down.
JIM: What did you do there?
BOB: Yeah. The next night __?__ was right close.
We were again anchored by ourselves. We were
trying to get away from the big ships cause they were
shooting up there. So we were sitting back there and
also didn’t have a gun station cause everybody had to
be out when they called GQ, they had to be right in
the __?__ there was a JU88. That’s a medium sized
bomber, German, and I’m sure he was probably
dropping mines and he must have thought because
there was nobody out there where we were and he
came over and he was painted white underneath but
you could see the pilot. He was looking. Our guys got
chewed out before for shooting without waiting for
the skipper to tell them when to shoot so they had
radio telephone communications and he said that he
(of course, ones could argue either way) but I don’t
think he had the button pressed and the guys never
got the word.
JIM: So they sat there.
BOB: Otherwise the only time we saw a German
plane was⎯probably ten or twelve days after that, a
Messerschmidt 109 came out of the clouds. Nobody
fired at him. You could sure tell what it was. And
then a P47 came down and they down and they really
opened up on him.
JIM: Oh, my gosh. Your own plane.
BOB: Yeah.
JIM: He was chasing the German?
BOB: Must have been. We saw a couple of them
crash although they weren’t shooting at them but I
guess one of them was on the beach there and it had a
projectile in the engine but it didn’t explode.
BOB: Well, you see we would dry out. When we
were carrying gasoline, we’d go out and we’d just
wait ‘til the tide went out and go in as far as we could
and then when the tide went out __?__ otherwise
__?__. Because we’d carry five thousand of there
__?__.
JIM: You didn’t like that either.
BOB: No.
JIM: I can understand that. After you got off on
shore⎯after the area was secured, I guess.
BOB: We’d go around looking for __?__.
JIM: Looking the area over.
BOB: Some of the other LCTs would be there in our
group __?__.
JIM: You mentioned you found a German helmet.
BOB: Well, I didn’t get that until later on.
JIM: It wasn’t there.
BOB: When Bresser entered there in Brittany the
Germans⎯they took⎯or we took our soldiers took
rifles and helmets and had them all in different piles.
They let you take one of each. You could always
trade them or sell them to the merchant. They were
wild to buy anything.
JIM: I suppose. What were your duties after D-Day?
Where were you sent then?
BOB: Yeah. There were some big shells, too, like
battle ships⎯fourteen inch or so but they had flagged
them. You’d walk fast to go by them.
BOB: We stayed right there on the beach til⎯it
must have been⎯it was after the storm⎯A big storm
came on June 19th. We really⎯In fact they brought a
Liberty type ship in and beached it just to get ammo
off it because it was getting that close. __?__ we got
washed up on the beach.
JIM: I’ll bet. Say after he beach was secured⎯first
of all, you went in on which beach?
JIM: I heard stories or somewhere I read, they had
regular piers out to⎯after the storm.
JIM: They had to disarm it then.
BOB: Utah.
JIM: After the beach was secured you had a chance
to go ashore you mentioned earlier.
BOB: Mm hm.
BOB: Yeah. That’s__?__ steel. Most of them were
busted up. They were all shook loose and that but it
didn’t take long to get them back up. But what they
also did, they had about eight or nine of these Liberty
ships⎯I call them Liberty ships. They’re freighters
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 13
and they brought them in and blew the bottom out of
them to act as a breakwater.
JIM: Oh. To make part of the pier.
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: There’s a picture that looks like you beached.
BOB: Yeah. That’s when we got blown up on the
beach⎯where the Army tried to get us out.
BOB: Mm hm. But they went on and they captured
everything up to Brest because the Germans just
retreated on to Brest. They fixed up the holes in the
ship and we went back to the beach. We was carrying
big semis. They had like machine shops in them. The
Army did. They were Army and welding shops. The
truck part wasn’t there⎯just the trailer part. I think
there was one truck. Anyway, we had to dry out
because they couldn’t get them off except one at a
time. Then they’d take it out and park it someplace.
We’d carry cranes. Very seldom tanks. A couple time
we had tanks.
JIM: Okay. Did they ever get you out?
JIM: How long were you in England?
BOB: Yeah.
JIM: With balloons?
BOB: It was when the “Buzz” bombs were coming
over. We must have been there five or six days.
BOB: Well, the bulldozer pushing and there was a
tug ran out a cable for us and between the two of
them they pulled us. We hauled all kinds of
stuff⎯like, I said, nurses⎯one time we had a whole
bunch of nurses on board.
JIM: You weren’t anxious to stay then.
JIM: The hospital they set up.
BOB: We went back to Morlaix, a big railroad base.
BOB: Someplace. We never knew but that was
when they went off on the ramp. They had trucks
waiting for them. then⎯like say, we hauled all kinds
of things from the Liberty ships. The LSTs would
generally beach themselves. They had the same kind
of deal where they’d __?__ and we didn’t try to
unload them.
JIM: With Patton’s equipment and supplies.
JIM: From France, where did you go? How long
were you in France?
BOB: We were in France until⎯we were on the
beach head until it was in July. Then we went back to
England because some of our tanks had been pierced
and they had water in them and they were low in the
water. We went back and they welded those up. We
went
JIM: Did you make a lot of trips back or not?
BOB: No. Just that one. We went with⎯to meet
Patton. We had⎯I don’t remember if we had gas on
or lube oil. We had a bunch of lube oil, I know and I
can’t remember
JIM: __?__, I suppose.
BOB: No.
JIM: Where’d you go from there?
BOB: Yes. We stayed there. We had some funny
incidents. Do you want to hear about them?
JIM: Sure.
BOB: One time we went out and there was a
Brazilian ship came in loaded with coffee. It was a
gift from the people of Brazil to France. They came
in one hundred pound bags. Great big bags. Maybe
there were fifty pounds. But anyway they were really
big bags but they were really poor quality. The damn
coffee would leak on the deck. They were green
beans. They weren’t roasted. We let the
people⎯they’d see all that coffee. We would just
sweep it over. So they came and we let them on
board with their dishpans or whatever to get that
coffee. Just about that time, we must have had about
two hundred of them on the deck, some old lady fell
between the ship and the sea wall but she⎯It was
shallow water. It was only three feet deep or so. And
then she couldn’t even get down because she was
wedged in there. The ship was here and the sea wall
was at an angle and she was hollering her head off.
Just then our group commander came up and he was
raging that we was doing that and he said, “Get those
people out.” It really was tough to get them off if
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 14
they didn’t have there bag full yet. We finally got
them off then we’d fill their containers.
JIM: Oh, okay. French.
JIM: Dished it up.
BOB: Mm hm. They couldn’t even get into the bay
where we normally had an anchorage there. It was a
big French liner and they
BOB: Right. One time we⎯I remember it was in
November. It was when the Army and Navy football
game was on. I always remember that because we
cold get that on our ship’s radio over there.
JIM: They were taken care of.
JIM: Who’d you cheer for?
BOB: Navy. They brought down a bunch of
Senegalese. They were French troops.
JIM: From Africa.
BOB: From Africa. They were all big guys. All with
like scars cut in and everything, you know. There
must have been⎯there was three of us carrying them
and I imagine there was over a thousand. There was a
lot of them. They hadn’t been paid like months and
they were revolting. The paymaster was on board and
he was scared to death. They issued us all side arms
__?__. He showed them a bag full of money and he
said when they got on the transport that they’d give
them their pay which I hope they did. Boy, I was up
on the bow this day. I don’t know why. I was in the
bow and brought up the ramp. He really scared me
because I didn’t know that to do with him. I told him,
“Go down. Go down.” He said “Just want to see. Just
want to see.” I said, Okay”. He could speak pretty
good English. He told me they hadn’t fed them that
day or anything. So I said, “Well, gee, we can give
you something to eat.” We had a bunch of processed
cheese in gallon cans. It was like Velveeta. We had
some⎯because they couldn’t eat meat. I don’t
understand that. (Not audible. Both talking at once.
Anyway we gave them a bunch⎯we unloaded a
bunch of canned goods we didn’t like. This was all
when we were at Morlaix. We had a bunch of French
that had been down to Africa. DeGaulle was there
welcoming these people. He must have been kissing
somebody or something because he was head and
shoulders above the majority of the people. The
Army had a band there.
JIM: This is a photo of unloading French refugees.
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: Okay.
BOB: That’s what I call them. They’re really service
people.
BOB: You could see they built a ramp for them and
everything. One poor guy⎯when we were in the
channel the sea was running. It wasn’t a storm but we
still had waves probably eight foot waves. But, Geez,
one French man⎯we had a terrible time because they
couldn’t come down the cargo ramp. Normally troops
and that go down the cargo ramp then you can jump
over. They had a gangway that they had and, boy, we
had to keep the bow of the ship up against there.
When the waves would go up, they had to jump just
at the right time __?__. One guy dropped his bicycle.
He was carrying his bicycle when he jumped. He
made a grab for it but it went over. Geez, he cried.
Poor guy. You even felt sorry for him. (Laughter)
JIM: See, there’s the railroad bridge.
BOB: Yeah. That’s the big one.
JIM: Mm hm.
BOB: So we staid there and we were going to have a
big party. Those kind of things were interesting. It
broke the monotony.
JIM: Do you remember any humorous things outside
of the guys not firing at the⎯of course, that wasn’t
humorous at that time but looking back, I suppose
BOB: We got a kick out of it.
JIM: After your stay in France, you mentioned you
were
BOB: We were going to have a big party on New
Year’s Eve. Well, it was New Year’s Eve day. We
made a deal with an old gal there in the black market
to get champagne. What they were doing then⎯It
was rough crossing the channel __?__. The Germans
had subs out there. They were going to have a big⎯I
can’t think what they call it. It was a landing ship.
They could carry three LCTs in it and they could
float them in. They still had these for like the Army.
We were headed up . We didn’t have any cargo.
They didn’t have any ships in there. We were going
to go up to⎯up to Morlay for the night and we got
about half way there and there was two other ships
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 15
coming the opposite way and they said then we had
orders to go back to England.
JIM: You didn’t have your party. You had to go
back to England?
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: Did you write her a lot?
BOB: Pretty good, I think. My dad wrote.
BOB: Then we had to re-paint the ship and fix
everything up. They tore out the engines and put in
new ones and was sent to the Pacific.
JIM: You didn’t have to go to the Pacific, did you?
JIM: Do you remember the end of the war? VJ Day.
BOB: Yes.
JIM: Where were you?
BOB: Yes.
BOB:: I was on Okinawa.
JIM: Did you? Where were you sent⎯from England
then?
BOB: No. I came back and went to diesel school at
Fairbanks Morse in Beloit up here.
JIM: Oh, okay.
BOB: I put in for that. That was another thing where
they say that you never get what you ask for. I asked
for that because it was close to Shirley.
JIM: And you got it. You knew Shirley at that time.
This is his wife.
BOB: Oh yeah.
JIM: When did you meet her. You knew her before?
BOB: Yeah. When I was working for my granddad
on the grain elevators. Her dad owned the country
elevator and we met
JIM: Oh, were you. Out in the Pacific?
BOB: I was going to be on an LSM. It was a new one
that they came up with toward the end of the war. A
brand new ship. It was a little smaller than an LST. It
had an open tank deck. It was sort of like an
overgrown LCT, I guess.
JIM: A lot of celebrating at that time or not over
there?
BOB: Well, they celebrated the fist one that was
dropped. The first bomb. The ships were all⎯the
battleships and that were all in Buckner Bay. That
was really a sight. You couldn’t believe it. All the
battleships and these big aircraft carriers⎯generally
you see one or two, you know. Boy, they were all in
there. There were all the big cruisers. It was really
something to see. When they dropped the first bomb
they figured it was all over and they were shooting of
flares and these⎯they got a shell⎯like the battle
ship has got a shell. I forget what they call that stuff.
JIM: Near Detroit?
JIM: Like fireworks.
BOB: Oh, no. By Ashton, Illinois.
JIM: Ashton. Oh sure.
BOB: Yeah. A Jap plane came in and torpedoed the
USS Pennsylvania.
BOB: She lived out in the country.
JIM: Oh, my gosh.
(A considerable blank space on the tape.)
BOB: So that⎯the actual night⎯We was on beach.
We stayed there and it wasn’t much of a celebration.
JIM: Now you didn’t get married until after the war.
BOB: Right.
JIM: You just⎯quiet thinking.
JIM: I think this about winds it up.
BOB: Yeah. We was living in a tent. We must have
got there the end of July and I didn’t get any mail
from when I left home until I got on ship in October.
BOB: We corresponded.
JIM: You did. Did you get a lot of letters from her?
�Robert Travis Robertson⎯Page 16
JIM: You went straight from the U. S. over to
Okinawa.
BOB: Yeah. We went to the Philippines and they had
dysentery there and they wouldn’t let us off so they
took us⎯we were supposed to get off there and they
took us up (blank space on tape).
JIM: VJ Day. After the bomb was dropped, you
didn’t do much celebrating?
BOB: No. We got put in a camp that the CBs had
built and it was tents⎯these pyramid style tents
because it was warm weather there. We just kind of
rolled up the tent sides so the air would circulate.
They warned us about snakes. They had poisonous
snakes on Okinawa and that they were around and I
was sleeping just with my shorts on, laying on the
floor and, God, I felt something on my back. I
hollered and said, “I think it was a snake.” Everybody
got up, you know, and looking for it. It was a little
rat. We had all our gear and our clothes and that in
the middle of the thing __?__. I think that’s where it
was. I could feel that on my back for a week. Not that
it scratched me or anything but I could just
JIM: Okay. At the end of the war when the Japanese
finally surrendered, do you remember that?
BOB: Yes, I do. They were still holding out on
Okinawa for quite a while and what they’d do there
at that base⎯Camp Costello they called it⎯they’d
issue them grenades and rifles with ammunition on
Sundays and they’d go souvenir hunting. On the
south end of the island there was an old castle⎯
Cheree Castle⎯and there were just all kinds of caves
down there. Those guys would go up there and look
in those caves for Jap souvenirs.
JIM: How about the Japs. Were they out of the
caves?
BOB: No they were still in there. It was really scary
around there because there were so many places they
could hide. They had guys on guard duty our
guys⎯and one night the guy said there was
somebody and he shot about ten rounds. Scared the
heck out of everybody. Nobody could go back to
sleep.
JIM: I suppose not. One thought I had in
mind⎯being on Okinawa, so close to Japan. Was
that close?
BOB: Yes, to me it was.
JIM: Did you hear or feel the atom bomb at all?
BOB: No.
JIM: You couldn’t. It was still too far away. Never
thought to ask anybody that. Okay, I guess we’re just
about done here. Do you have any contact with the
Veterans’ Administration?
BOB: No.
JIM: You were never injured in the service?
BOB: No.
JIM: Have you ever gone to a VA Hospital?
BOB: For myself? No.
JIM: How did your family support you when you
were in the service? Were they against you going in?
BOB: No.
JIM: They let you go.
BOB: Mm hm.
JIM: And you wrote a lot to your wife⎯your fiancée
BOB: Yeah. My mother and dad.
JIM: Well, Bob, I guess that about winds it up. I
enjoyed talking with you. Would you like to say
good-bye?
BOB: Good-bye. I’m a history buff and it meant a lot
to me to see something like that and I don’t mind
talking about it.
JIM: Any last thoughts? If you had to do it over
again would you pick a different branch of the
service.
BOB: No. I’d stay with the Navy.
JIM: they had good food, I suppose.
BOB: Yeah. The food was generally good.
JIM: That about ends it. Bye.
BOB: Bye.
�
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 Travis Robertson
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 Travis Robertson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
30-Mar-94
Description
An account of the resource
Born October 19, 1924, Robert T. Robertson was drafted in 1942 into the Army Air Force. He died January 6, 2002
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
4.25" x 5.75"
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
Rockford Elks' New Club House
Description
An account of the resource
This card is in a booklet stamped "Souvenir Letter: Views of Rockford, Ill." This depicts the Elk's two-story structure with a US flag on the roof.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wilson Bros. Co. Printers
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).923 4 of 12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Elks' Club
Rockford Illinois
West State Street
-
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d9d8d407abc8388edca025c04a2550b0
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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
4.25" x 5.75"
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
Rockford Trust Building
Description
An account of the resource
This card is in a booklet stamped "Souvenir Letter: Views of Rockford, Ill." This depicts the Trust building's seven impressive floors.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Wilson Bros. Co. Printers
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109(I).923 9 of 12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
Rockford Trust Building
West State Street
-
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e6e6d643835ac3eb77163b9b6df42853
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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Rockford Trust Building, Rockford, Ill.
Description
An account of the resource
Color graphic rendering of the Trust building with trolley cars in the streets.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
E. C. Kropp
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
85.109.846
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
Rockford Trust Building
West State Street
-
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146bf66d4172c9c0c1ec9d4cebb74afb
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
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Rockford, Ill. West State St., looking East.
Description
An account of the resource
Rockford Abstract Company on the far left; C. F. Henry's in the second block.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
82.164.3
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
C. F. Henry
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Abstract Company
Rockford Illinois
West State Street
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25224/archive/files/94e5e028b9aac607228f04278f8be408.jpg?Expires=1712793600&Signature=qoqkGOQDqxy3JPUeHsg6cP1WS4iMuAWt7hw4OV1uBe30M68FiLfWYeYVAtmU84DNGLSxWHxioc7zjcpIGUxZ52bgG32guFt-JNawDw92B6%7EKwONVfSVljHhssPbCX52FPItN6EJuRVfBE1PlsrIjt5S5tKzdCFNT%7EOXgvNTAVYOtN7UopRu0IE9HOrb2nORq%7EPOkitEThz5zli93qIZECBglhMS8t3SBSugy4ywQZyHLDI9k9Gy3ziIDD2vTUNV7W22aY9yjk-UsVjm1wm4JG51Xr83l04UJ3qtHlUNX9BozzSkw25E9ouecqz%7EEtKgjadZBfJVixreTfN0J%7EfeCug__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
95eb51d703cbb3d0e806670c0a19eb1c
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Title
A name given to the resource
State Street, Rockford, Illinois
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of postcard views depicting the business districts of East State Street and West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. The majority of views cover the era of 1900-1930.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1900-1990
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Original Format
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Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image
3.5" x 5.5"
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
Rockford, Ill., Trust Building
Description
An account of the resource
Candy Kitchen lower left, people on the sidewalks, and bicycles lower right.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
J. A. Croon & Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1910
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Midway Village Museum
Format
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jpeg
Identifier
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85.109(I).65
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still Image
Midway Village Museum
Rockford Illinois
Trust Building
West State Street
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25224/archive/files/79713adb08d9925e813ea9f73e65ff30.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=G0O0qjc5mdv311y09qlFUFyxLC7n0fDhMKNsUJMb64JxT%7EZcYc0HEPUbR3sXnXMB3zeLWZ8AOxBSTqzmMLHg8My%7EoLXnXW29VDfSdhQAGGFaNdT-bDDIrHITyHPRmPtZ0wHlkq0pj6mYyP8OnSSJo6FRCjpczOqSOw5l8K%7E2dMsq6x0IzVvTEjLpYXiiZOtVPgNWs4xmHCkanolFcBY18tYSgXakqx14YSNZMI9u0KLU9LPFh32ltTcrSweDVMuSV%7EvW7IXVWq7N78esqwFJGhpZIGEeRdUGPQMDa%7ELz7ddEOvhKuDRPzhMA03G-KA4iDmIoA1jrGbgjkeQ5XZHBtg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
1e78fb8aef274050a83282fa628088ba
PDF Text
Text
Russell Peacock
Interviewed by Chuck Nelson
Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61109
Phone – 815 397 2112
�Russell Peacock
We are in the office of the Midway Village and
Museum Center in Rockford, Illinois. We are
interviewing Mr. Russell Peacock who served in
the United States Armed Forces during World
War II. We are interviewing him about his experiences in that war.
NELSON: Russell, would you please start by
introducing yourself. Please give us your full
name, date and place of birth. We would also
like to know the names of you parents and if you
had any brothers and sisters.
PEACOCK: My name is Russell Peacock and I
was born January 1, 1925. Not the first baby
born. I was a born loser, second born. My parents were Charles W. Peacock and Mary Peacock. I have one brother, Glen, and one sister,
Shirley.
NELSON: Okay. Are there any details about
your parents or your family that you would like
to give us?
PEACOCK: My parents died quite young and
my sister died when she was 28 years old. My
Dad and my sister died from sugar diabetes. My
brother is still living, he and I. He is a veteran,
too.
NELSON: What was life like before the war
specifically during 1941?
NELSON: How did you hear about December
7, 1941, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the
Japanese?
PEACOCK: This is quite interesting because
my sister was going with one of the soldiers
from Camp Grant. On this particular Sunday
morning my dad, brother and I took this young
soldier and we went hunting out in the country.
We left early in the morning and when we got
back around noontime, we immediately heard
about the bombing to see the look on this young
soldiers’ face at the time it would be something
to really remember because I think it scared him
terrible.
NELSON: Had you formed any prior opinions
or developed any feelings about what was taking
place in Europe and Asia?
PEACOCK: Not at the time, no. I don’t think I
really knew too much about it.
NELSON: Do you recall reading newspaper
accounts of German aggression in Europe?
PEACOCK: Oh, yes. I remember that. I
thought that was terrible.
NELSON: Did you have any knowledge of Hitler’s speeches, ideas or actions?
PEACOCK: Not really, no.
PEACOCK: My dad owned a lumberyard and I
worked in the lumberyard part time and I was
going to school at the time.
NELSON: What thoughts did you have about
the war before the United States became directly
involved in the conflict?
PEACOCK: I really wasn’t particularly interested in it becauseI read the papers and so on
but I never felt that I would ever have to get in
it, but I did.
NELSON: What events led to your entering into
military service: Were you already in the service, draft or did you volunteer?
PEACOCK: I was drafted. As a matter of fact, I
was drafted right out of school. But I did get a
delay. They wanted me to go before I even
graduated. I did get a delay so that instead of
going in May, I went in September.
NELSON: Was your response to enter military
service influenced by family and friends attitudes towards the war, the threat to national security and other considerations?
�PEACOCK: My brother was in the service at
the time. He is older than I am m. I kind of
looked up to him and followed in his footsteps. I
was not sorry to go.
NELSON: What did you think of the training?
NELSON: When and where were you inducted?
NELSON: Did you have any leaves or passes?
PEACOCK: I was inducted in at Camp Grant,
Illinois.
PEACOCK: What?
PEACOCK: I liked it. I really enjoyed it. I was
number 1 in the class.
NELSON: Did you have any leaves or passes?
NELSON: Do you have any special memories
of this event?
PEACOCK: Not until I got back from overseas.
PEACOCK: No, except that one interesting
thing, when I was working for the lumberyard,
we used to sell chunk wood to Camp Grant that
they used for the cook stoves on the troop trains.
About a week before I went into the service I
hauled a load of wood out there. Then after I got
inducted out there, the next thing I knew, I was
out there chopping the wood.
NELSON: What do you recall about this period,
the places you were stationed, the friends you
made and your association with civilians?
NELSON: How old were you at the time?
NELSON: You were assigned as an aerial gunner, as top turret gunner. Is that right?
PEACOCK: I made a lot of friends, got along
good with the fellows. At that time, it was easy
to do. Once we got a crew, an airplane crew together, those fellows were your real buddies.
PEACOCK: I was 18.
PEACOCK: That was a ball turret gunner.
NELSON: What happened after you were inducted? Where were you sent?
PEACOCK: Well, at Camp Grant they put a list
on the boardanyone that wanted to volunteer
for cadet, to be aviation cadet could sign up. So I
thought it would probably be better to fly than to
have to walk. So I signed up for aviation cadet.
NELSON: Where did you take your basic military training?
PEACOCK: I was sent down to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and I took the basic training
there.
NELSON: What were you trained to do?
PEACOCK: From Jefferson Barracks I was
sent to Lawrey Field, Colorado. I went through
12 weeks of Armor School. After Lawrey field, I
was sent to Timber Field, Florida, for 6 weeks of
gunnery
school.
Actually
what
they
calledwhat my title would be was an Armored
Gunner.
NELSON: Okay. Where did you go after completing your basic military training?
PEACOCK: Well that’s when I went to Armor
School and Gunnery School after basic training.
NELSON: Okay. When you were sent overseas,
where did you go?
PEACOCK: We took overseas training down in
Georgia and then I was sent up to New York
City where our crew picked up a brand new
B24J airplane. We flew it around there for a
couple of hours and checked it out. From there
we went up to Bangor, Maine, where we were
issued overseas equipment. From there we went
to Newfoundlandflew up to Newfoundland.
From there we flew down to Azore Islands.
From there we went to North Africa and from
North Africa up to Italy where we were stationed at by Carinola, Italy.
NELSON: Tell us about your experience in entering you first combat zone.
�PEACOCK: Oh, boy. That I remember quite
well. The first flight mission that I went on was
to Athens, Greece. My job was to make sure that
all the bombs were out of the bomb bay and to
watch for enemy planes and so on. I was so busy
looking at the flack, and the planes and everything that I don’t remember where the bombs
went. They said we were bombing an airfield but
I didn’t see it.
NELSON: Did your mental attitude change as
combat continued?
NELSON: They didn’t get hung up in the bomb
bay?
PEACOCK: I was hoping it would get over
with. I didn’t like it.
PEACOCK: Anybody that says they are not
scared on their first mission was lyingyou
were scared.
NELSON: Did you write many letters home?
NELSON: Can you list for us in order of occurrence all subsequent combat action in which you
were involved, just briefly.
PEACOCK: Well, I was on 18 missions. Of
course, the first 5 missions that you fly when
you get overseas, you split up from your own
crew and you fly with a different crew so to get
checked out. The pilot that we had at the time
was flying with another crew and they got shot
down over Vienna. So we were without a pilot.
Then they sent another pilot over from the States
by himself and he was assigned to our crew. One
mission thatit was on my 5th missionI really
wasn’t broke in too good but I remember that
one quite well. There was the Black __?__ oil
refinery in Germany and they had sent up a barrage at the aircraft right ahead of us. I remember
getting cuddled down in the waist of the plane,
flack suits on me and staring at the side. The
flack was breaking all around. All of a sudden
there was a hole right in the side of the plane
where I was staring. We dropped the bombs and
flew through this flack. When we got backwe
finally made it back to the base on 3 engines
because one engine had a hole right through it,
about a 6-inch hole right up through the engine.
When we counted we had 78 holes in the plane.
That was one of the worst ones that I was on.
The navigator got hit in the face and the tail
gunner got hit in the leg with some
flackwasn’t anything serious but we did get
hit pretty bad on that one.
PEACOCK: I hated the Blue Danube River
because I flew over Vienna they were shooting
at us like crazy. I’ll never sing that song again.
NELSON: What did you think of the war so
far?
PEACOCK: I wrote home, not probably as
much as the family would like but I did correspond as much as possible. Wrote quite a few
letters.
NELSON: Did you receive many letter and/or
packages? If so, how often and what type of
packages did you receive?
PEACOCK: Oh my folks, my mother was a
good cook and she always sent cookies and candy and I’d get packages maybe once a month
something like that.
NELSON: Did most of the other men write and
receive letters?
PEACOCK: I think most fellows did. I think
most fellows had families that they wrote to. It
was always a big treat to make sure that you got
a letter in the mail and to hear from home.
NELSON: Did you forge close bonds of friendship with many or some of your combat companions.
PEACOCK: Like I say, the crew that we had,
I’ve kept in contact with most of them. Some of
them have died but I have several that I keep
pretty close contact with.
NELSON: Okay. Did you ever have to help rescue a wounded buddy from an airplane?
PEACOCK: Well, this one time when a fellow
got hit but they weren’t really serious. There
�wasn’t anything death defying but we did help
them get out of the plane.
NELSON: You were never involved in the capture of prisoners or anything like that?
PEACOCK: No. No.
NELSON: Prior to the end of the war were you
aware any civilian concentration camps existed,
if so, please explain how you learned about them
and how much you knew at the time.
PEACOCK: No, I didn’t really know about any
concentration camps that were there and I had
no contact with them.
NELSON: You had nothing to do with liberating?
PEACOCK: No.
NELSON: What was the highlight occurrence
of your combat experience or any other experience you can remember?
PEACOCK; Well something that was kind of
breath taking and kind of interesting, not heroic
or anything, but this new airplane we picked up
at New York City and flew overseas. When we
got over there, of course, they remodeled it.
They do a lot of changing with that airplane and
they wereall the ground crew, everybody was
quite proud of that plane because it was the
newest one that they’d seen. So they painted
pictures on it and did a lot of work on it. Of
course, they were dispersed out on the runway.
One night we were sitting in our tent playing
cards. We had candlelight and all of a suddenit was about 9 o’clock at nightwe heard
a lot of shotslot of shooting. My goodness,
what could that be and so we run outside. We
looked over toward the line and we could see a
bunch of flashlights coming through the trees. It
couldn’t be enemy people because they don’t
come around with flashlights. So we couldn’t
figure what was happening. Then about that time
we heard somebody called that the airplane was
on fire and it was loaded with 500-pound bombs.
So we had slit trenches there and I jumped in the
slit trench and abut 10 guys jumped in on top of
me. I thought this is no place for me so I crawled
out of there and I started running fast with a
couple of other guys. We started running out
throughwe were right in the grape vineyards,
olive orchardsso we started running as fast as
we could. We ran probably ½ mile and we
flopped down under a tree. About that time that
airplane exploded. There was fire up in the air
and stuff flying in every direction, propellers up
in the air. Well, after that was over with, we
went back to our tent and that was full of holes.
We were probably about 200 yards from where
the plane blew up. It was full of big holes in that
tent. That night everyone that wasn’t on call for
the next day had to go out on the runway and
pick up all the pieces of the airplane and debris
that was scattered all over the airfield so that the
planes could take off the next morning. We
didn’t have to fly the next day so we were out
there until about 3 o’clock in the morning clearing off the runway.
NELSON: Do you know what caused that fire?
PEACOCK: One of the fellows that were loading the bombs, in that bomb bay there is little
petcocks that gasoline comes out of. Well, there
is also, generator that generates electric and they
can run the lights with. But they are not supposed to run both at the same time. Somebody
opened the gas valve to wash their hands off and
that ignited the generator and that started the
fire. Well, with 100-octane gas it goes awful
fast. The plane that we had flown over in and
had all fixed up and a pretty picture on it was
setting next to this plane. So that blew up, too. It
took about 3 other planes out of existence, too.
We had a hole in the ground about 100 feet
across and about 20 feed deep where that plane
had been setting. I can remember that quite well.
NELSON: Were there any injuries?
PEACOCK: Yeah. One guy broke his arm because he fell down when he was running. That
was the only one that got hurt.
NELSON: Tell us what you and the other men
did to celebrate America’s traditional holidays
such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
�PEACOCK: Well, of course, being in the Air
Force, we were probably lucky because they did
have turkey and all the dressing. We had some
real good cooks and they prepared good meals
for us. We were lucky we had good cooks and
they knew how to fix it real good.
NELSON: When and how did you return to the
United States after the end of the war?
PEACOCK: After the war was over, our pilot
was Captain at the time and he was in command
of the 759th bomb group. So he had to wait there
until they closed up the camp. So he made arrangements for us to fly home with another pilot.
So our crew got loaded up a B24 plane and we
flew home. We flew from Italy down to Africa
and down to [Natal], Brazil, or to Dakar, South
Africa then across the water to [Natal], Brazil up
to Cuba and up to Georgia. What was the name
of the field in Georgia? I can stillwe flew up
to Hunter Field, Georgia. We were there a few
days. That was an interesting thing, too. When
we left Dakar, South Africa, we had to fly out
over the water to Natal, Brazil. This is all over
the water. We took our parachutes and piled
them all in the corner. This plane that we were
flying home was one of the old combat planes
and it was not in very good shape. We gotwe
flew for 10½ hours and we got over by Brazil
and then we went to put the wheels down to land
at the field there, the one wheel would come
down and lock and the other wheel only came
half way. So the pilot put the wheels back up
again, tried it again, only came halfway. Well,
we’d been flying so long we didn’t have much
gas left. In fact, we ended upwe wouldn’t
have enough to circle the field once more. So the
pilot said get your parachutes on. Anybody
wants to bail out, get ready to bail out. Everybody made a dive for the parachutes and we
come up one short. So I got the hatch open. I’m
without a parachute. Got the hatch open and
said, “I’m ready to go.” The pilot said anybody
that wanted to go could bail out when he give
the order otherwise stay on the plane and it
would land with the wheels up. Well, I wasn’t
going to stay on that plane so I got ready to bail
out. He kept trying to get the wheels down and
about that time the wheels went down and
locked. So we flewwe got in and landed and
we didn’t have 5 gallons of gas left in the tank.
We couldn’t have made it around once more.
That was scary!
NELSON: You were very lucky there. Please
tell us about your military rank and your decorations, especially your campaign decorations.
PEACOCK: Okay, I was Sergeant when we
went over and I made Staff Sergeant. I was
overseas and I got out as a Staff Sergeant. The
ribbons we were given were the American Theater Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon, Middle East Ribbon, Good Conduct Ribbon, Air
Medal and Victory Medal.
NELSON: I think you said you were on 18 missions?
PEACOCK: Eighteen missions I was on.
NELSON: Okay. This is return to civilian life.
How did you get along with the men with whom
you had the greatest contact while you were in
service?
PEACOCK: I got along good. I only had one
fight. I think I won that fightI was, of course,
I’m a little guy and I always made it a point then
I got some place new, I’d make a buddy out of a
great big guy. Several times I was happy that I
had some buddies that were pretty big because
they looked out for me.
NELSON: Are there things you would do differently if you could do them again?
PEACOCK: I don’t think so. I was happy in
there.
NELSON: What was the most difficult thing
you had to do during this period of military service.
PEACOCK: The most difficult thing?
NELSON: Yes.
PEACOCK: The most difficult thing? I don’t
know.
�NELSON: How about your first mission?
PEACOCK: The first mission, the first 5 missions were the most difficult thing because you
really didn’t know what to expect. You had to
go on your own knowledge and the help of people you were flying with. I guess that would
probably be about the hardest thing.
NELSON: Is there any one thing that stands out
as your most successful achievement in your
military service?
PEACOCK: The most successfulthe thing
that probably helped me the most was after I got
home. After we got back here, I was assigned to
a different duty. After we got back to the States
and I had a 30-day furlough. After the furlough,
I returned to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Then I
was sent to Deming, New Mexico. We had so
many guys and they wanted something for you
to do so we were processed to find out what you
might be able to achieve. So when I went
through the line a fellow asked me if I knew
how to type. I said, “Yeah, I know how to type”.
He said, “We’ve got just the job for you.” I said,
“Yeah, what’s that?” He said, “Working in the
recruiting office.” “No,” I said, “I want nothing
to do with the recruiting.” And he said, “Oh
yeah. You’d probably like that. That’s a good
job.” I said, “Well, okay.” So he told me to report to Captain “so and so” over at headquarters
building. So I went over to headquarters building and I wandered up and down the halls and I
didn’t see any recruiting office. I ran into a Captain that was looking the same way I was and I
said, “Are you a Captain of the Recruiting Office?” He said, “Yeah.” Then I introduced myself. He said, “You and I are supposed to start up
this recruiting office.” I said, “Oh, that’s great.”
He says, “I think this empty office here where
we are suppose to start up.” He said, “ Go down
to supply and get some desks, typewriters, some
chairs and so we went down and hauled up a
bunch of desks and chairs and so onfiling cabinets. We opened up a recruiting office. We
didn’t know what we were doing so the captain
and I in a few days, we got on a plane and flew
down to Dallas, Texas, to be at a meeting with
Washington people explaining about recruiting.
When I walked into this room and there were
generals and Colonels and every kind of officer
you can imagine, I was the only noncommissioned officer in there. Well, they explained the recruiting to us and gave us recruiting papers. So we went back and started up the
recruiting office. We had people waiting to sign
up again. Well, when I left there I had 7 men
working under me. I have had 2 other officers
that were in charge. I just had them come in
once a day and swear the fellows in and then I
told them to take off.
NELSON: Did you get any additional rank for
that?
PEACOCK: No, I would have if I had stayed
there. I was just on the verge ofI would have
got more but they said it was time for me to go
home. I said, “Well, I’m having too much fun. I
want to stay.” “No, you’ve got to go home.” So I
left.
NELSON: How did you learn about VE Day
and what was your reaction to it?
PEACOCK: I was in Florida Gunnery School at
the time and knew it should be coming up pretty
soon and when I did hear about it, I was glad
that I was in Florida and not over there.
NELSON: How about VJ Day?
PEACOCK: I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when that came. As a matter of fact, I think
we were being processed to go to Japan but I
was glad it ended before we got there.
NELSON: What is your opinion of the use of
the atomic bomb when it was used against Japanese civilians in August of 1945.
PEACOCK: At the time I didn’t really realize
how extreme it was but I knew it was bad and
glad that it ended the war. Too bad it had to be
that way but it probably was the only thing that
could have been done.
NELSON: Has your opinion changed over the
past 50 years? If so, how?
�PEACOCK: No, I didn’t think it’s any different. I think we’re in a good country and I’m glad
to be able to be apart of it. I think all the wars
and stuff that is going onIt’s too bad it has to
be that way.
NELSON: When and where were you officially
discharged from the service?
PEACOCK: I was discharged after I left Deming, New Mexico, I was sent to Truax Field in
Madison, Wisconsin. I was discharged from
there.
NELSON: Do you have a disability rating or
pension?
PEACOCK: No, no definitely not.
NELSON: Do you have any feeling or opinion
our nation’s military status or its policies?
PEACOCK: No. I think we had some good
leaders. Like I say, it’s too bad we have to fight
to keep it that way. It’s too bad that most of the
countries can’t be good. I guess they can’t, so
NELSON: Do you have any contact with the
Veterans’ Administration?
PEACOCK: No, no.
NELSON: You have no opinion of the VA
then?
PEACOCK: No, I don’t.
NELSON: You have never been to a Veterans’
Administration Hospital?
PEACOCK: Nope. I tried to get in but they
wouldn’t take me.
NELSON: I see. Would you like to tell us about
how your family supported you during your military life?
PEACOCK: Well, I know my father was not
happy that my brother and I had to go to the service because he had to run the lumberyard all by
himself. He had bought it at the time for a family
business but my brother left before I did and so
my dad was not happy that we were gone but he
made the best out of it he could. He was happy
to see us come back home so we could help him.
He had quite a struggle. He was not well at the
time either. But he kept it going until we got
back home.
NELSON: And you continued the business?
PEACOCK: Yes, we continued the business.
As a matter of fact I stayed in it for 47 years.
NELSON: During the subsequent years what
has the support meant to you?
PEACOCK: What do you mean?
NELSON: The help that you got while you
were in service and the support you got from
your family. How did that
PEACOCK: Oh, I think it made us closer together and especially with my brother. My
brother and I are pretty close. My folks died
quite young and it wasn’t too long after we were
home they weremy dad was only 55. I could
do more at my age now than he could when he
was 50 years old. I just wish that he could still
be here.
NELSON: Is there anything you would like t
add to this interview?
PEACOCK: No. That pretty well takes care of
it. One other thing that I think I’m quite proud of
is the fact that while I was overseas I was part of
the lead crew. We were the lead plane on the
200th mission of the 459th bombing group of the
759th bomb squadron. We bombed some railroad
yards in Augsburg, Germany. I was part of that
crew and we had someat the time, we had
some big officers flying with us. I remember
when we got back to the field the colonel was
there, the general and Red Cross group. Everybody was out there and took pictures. This picture I have here. I was quite proud to be a part of
that crew.
NELSON: That wasn’t your last mission?
�PEACOCK: No. That was probably in the middle I guess.
NELSON: Well, thank you, Russ. That was
great. Thank you very much.
�
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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Russell Peacock
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
Russell Peacock
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
circa 1994-2004
Description
An account of the resource
Born January 21, 1925, Russell Peacock enlisted in 1943 joining the Army Air Corps as a top turret gunner. Died November 19, 2002.
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
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II
-
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96cfa4a10e07dc381662b8fd3faedb7e
PDF Text
Text
Russell Sanden
Transcribed
By Lorraine Lightcap for
Midway Village and Museum Center
6799 Guilford Road
Rockford, Illinois 61107
Phone 397 8112
�Russell Sanden
Hello. Today is February 2nd, 1994. My
name is Charles Nelson. I am a volunteer
with the Midway Village and Museum Center which is cooperating with the statewide
effort to collect oral histories from Illinois
citizens that participated with the momentous events surrounding World War II. We
are in the office of Midway Village and Museum Center and we are talking to Mr. Russell G. Sanden of 3917 Crosby Street, Rockford, Illinois, who served in the United
States Armed Forces during World War II.
We are interviewing him about his experiences n that war.
S: Well, my father served in World
War I in France if that’s of any consequence here.
N: Russell, would you please start by
introducing yourself to us. Please give
us your full name, place and date of
birth.
N: What thoughts did you have about
the war before the United States became directly involved in the conflict?
S: My name is Russell George
Sanden. I was born in Rockford Illinois November 17th, 1924.
N: We would also like to have names
of each of you parents.
S: My father was George Benjamin
Sanden and my mother was Evelyn
Frances Larson. That would be her
maiden name, of course.
N: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
S: No. I did not.
N: Are there any details about your
parents or your family that you would
like to give?
N: Okay. What was it like for you before the war, specifically during
1941?
S: Well, in 1941 I was still going to
high school, East Rockford High
School. I didn’t graduate from there
until June of 1943.
S: Well, that would be during the time
Britain and France and other countries
were involved with Germany and I
was rather surprised that things were
going so badly in Europe at that time.
I thought that the allies should have
been doing much better than what was
happening at that time.
N: How did you hear about the December 7th, 1941, bombing of Pearl
Harbor by the Japanese? If so, where
were you and what were you doing at
that time? What was your reaction
and response of those around you?
S: Well, this is a high school kid laying on his stomach in the living room,
listening to some news broadcast or
whatever program it was, I don’t
know. But it was interrupted by the
�news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
But it was early Sunday afternoon before I had got started with any other
activities that day.
N: What was you reaction?
S: I thought it was rather audacious
that this little country of Japan would
attack the United States. (Laughter)
N: Had you formed any prior opinion
or developed any feeling about what
had been taking place in Europe or
Asia?
S: As I said before, I was unhappy
with the progress of the war in Europe
but not having any prior experience,
of course, I didn’t know what was really going on there. And then as far as
the Pacific was concerned, that was
just one vast ocean out there that I
wasn’t too aware of many of the
names that we would become familiar
with later. I was mostly concernedWell, I don’t know “mostly”,
but I was also concerned about the
events in Africa. What the Italian
forces had been working around Ethiopia there and rather taking advantage
of those people there .that were not as
well equipped or trained as the Italian
Army. Of course, I was concerned
abut what the Japanese had been doing in China and Manchuria.
N: Did you have any knowledge of
Hitler’s speeches, ideas or actions?
S: A small amount of knowledge as
news reports and there was at that
time, if you ever go to a movie, there
was always news section there. My
opinion of him was sort of a raving
maniac.
N: What events led to your entering
into military service? Were you already in service, drafted or did you
volunteer?
S: As a kid just getting out of high
school in June of 1943, I was automatically drafted.
N: Was your response to entering military service influenced by family and
friends’ attitude towards the war, the
threat to National Security or any other considerations?
S: Well, actually not. It was just a
matter of you sign up with the draft
and then you go when they ask you to.
N: You were drafted?
S: Yes.
N: When and where were you when
you were inducted?
S: At Camp Grant.
N: Do you have any special memories
of this event?
S: Well, yes. I could not figure out
why I was staying there so long.
�There were a few of us that kept getting tests and more physical tests,
more written tests. Everybody else
was shipping out to places that I never
heard of before but a few of us were
still around until finally somebody
said, “Well now this group is going to
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.
N: How old were you at that time?
We were sent to Carbondale, Southern Illinois at Normal, at that time.
N: Did you have any leaves or passes?
S: At that time, no.
N: What do you recall of this period
about places where you were stationed, friends you made and your association with civilians?
S: I was 18.
N: Where did you take your basic military training?
S: Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.
N: What were you trained to do?
S: Well, basic training as such was no
big deal for me because I had been in
the ROTC program at East Rockford
under the company commander there.
My major concern was keeping warm
in that wet, cold Missouri winter, in
those 6-man tents we were living in.
N: What did you think of the training?
S: Well, I didn’t associate with very
many civilians. I was rather a, shall
we say, a kid that hadn’t been away
from home all that much before. I
stayed pretty much in the school area
there. Of course, there were other civilians going to Carbondale and relations with them were very nice. I remember one thing that the cadet program people there were had fun with.
There was another detachment there
from the Marine Air Force or Air
Corps. We had a little habit of, when
we marched from one class to the
next, we would sing the Marine Hymn
to the tune of “Clementine.” It worked
real well but it was quite annoying to
them.
S: Oh, it was fine.
N: What was your military unit?
N: Did anything special happen there?
S: At what point?
S: No, other than that there were more
tests along with the basic stuff. Then I
was informed that instead of being in
the coast artillery that I thought I
would like to be in, why they told me
I was going to be an Aviation Cadet.
N: At this pointthat you were in the
Air Force?
S: Aviation cadet.
�N: What were your assigned duties?
S: Well, get decent grades in the classes and we also did a certain amount
of flying. We had to get in ten hours
in a Cub over at a small airport at
Marion, Illinois. I guess that was just
to weed out the guys that couldn’t get
their feet off the ground without
“tossing their cookies”. A remarkable
number of people have this problem
but then after that we went to San Antonio, Texas. Then at that point they
sorted out a certain group of us and
that group was assigned, supposedly,
to be in a pilot program on the P-38
which was a fighter plane at that time.
N: When you were sent overseas, how
did you get there?
S: Oh, well, there was a few other
things happened in between before I
went overseas. One cold morning in
San Antonio we were rushed out
about 4:30 or 5 o’clock in the morning with a GI raincoat and shoes and
not much else on for some sort of
formation. Now this was a little bit
unusual and it was very unusual when
the Colonel in charge of our school
there was up. He never got up that
early. But then we were informed that
we were going to be--how would they
say it? --relieved at the convenience
of the government, eliminated without
prejudice at the convenience of the
government. That’s the way they put
it. In other words they hadn’t lost as
many P-38 “Jockeys”. They weren’t
going to need us after all. We were
given the opportunity either going to
Infantry Officer Candidate School or
Aerial Gunnery. By that time I had
decided I wanted to fly so I volunteered for gunnery. I went out to
Kingman, Arizona. The field out there
for gunnery training and then
N: Do you remember what date that
was approximately?
S: That would be sometime in the
summer of ’44. When we got through
at Kingman, that was only six weeks
or something for gunnery school.
There I specialized in the revolving
ball turret, then went to Sioux Falls,
South Dakota, for assignment for the
rest of the crew and for further training in B-17 aircraft. Then down to
Louisiana near Alexandria, Louisiana,
for overseas training unit.
N: What did you think of our nation’s
war effort up to this point?
S: Well, I thought things were getting
turned around and they were going
our way. It was still touch and go out
in the Pacific and that the European
thing wasthere had been some invasions and we were out of North Africa
and onto the European Continent from
the south. We had gone from England
and opened up the beachhead in
France, of course, D-Day.
�N: Now when you entered in a combat zone, what group were you attached to?
S: I was attached to the 15th Air Force,
301st Bomber Group, 353rd Bomb
Squadron.
N: And what was the name of you pilot?
S: The name of the pilot was William
Hull.
Neal. But kind of sad too, because this
man had flown his 25 missions in Europe on a B-17 as a tail gunner and
came back to the United States. His
nerves were not the best and he just
didn’t take kindly to the “spit and
polish” of the Air Force back in the
States and so he volunteered for the
2nd tour of duty and we lost him. His
name was Leo Werderisch.
N: Where was he from?
S: Chicago. Werderisch.
N: And he was from where?
S: [Cheektowaga], New York. You
want me to spell that for you?
N: No. That’s fine.
S: It’s near Buffalo.
N: Tell us your experience in entering
your first combat zone.
S: Well, the first time we flew as a
crew in formation on a raid was over
we went over Vienna, Austria. There
was a suburb of Vienna called
[Floridsdorf] where an oil refinery
was located. We encountered rather
heavy flack. Took one burst off the
tail, lost our rudder so we couldn’t
hold formation any more. But the really bad part of it was we lost the tail
gunner. One hand of his was blown
up into the waist of the ship. We later
found that after we landed. We didn’t
know if there was anything left of
N: Taking these one at a time, please
tell us in full detail, if possible, the
approximate number and types of
casualties, how they occurred and
how they were treated.
N: Were there any other casualties or
injuries in your tour of duty?
S: Yes, there were several purple
hearts given out on the crew. I didn’t
get any. Down in the belly turret it
looked scary but I found out since
then that statistically it was a good
place to be. But then the day after the
war was overwell, not immediately
the day after but a few days after we
were told that we had to take our airplane back to the states. We had a
couple of rather tired engines by that
time and there was a couple of new
engines down at the maintenance shed
that we were told we could have. So
they were put on and we went out to
get a few hours on them before we
�tackled the Atlantic hop. We didn’t
want to do it with brand new engines
sobreak them in. Well, we took a
little ride up across Italy and visited a
few places like couple Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Florence and the canals of
Venice and Rome and flew up north
through the Brenner area. We were
rather low because we didn’t have
oxygen with us but we thought we
could go through the Brenner Pass.
But then we were following the railroad tracks and they went left into a
tunnel. The navigator informed the
pilot, “You better turn right at the
next corner.” There was kind of fork
in the pass but we flew into a blank
canyon. It wasn’t on the navigator’s
map. It’s true that this hump at the
end of the canyon wasn’t as high as
the rest of the Alps but it was high
enough to catch us.
N: And you crashed.
particularly care for the idea of being
shot at but it was part of the deal I
guess.
N: Did you write any letters home?
S: Oh, yes.
N: Did you receive any letters or
packages, if so, how often? What
types of things did you receive from
home.
S: Well, many letters. Almost daily
there were letters. Once a month or so
there was some food stuffs that would
make it through. What I sent home for
and really appreciated was an earphone and a couple of radio tubes and
some radio parts so that I could put a
small radio together and listen to various things. It was one notch above a
crystal set. It did have a variable condenser to select stations.
S: We burned. We exploded.
N: Did most of the other men write or
receive letters?
S: Well, nobody was quite killed. We
all got out, more or less.
S: Oh, yes. It was a common thing.
N: Did your mental attitude change as
combat continued?
N: Did you forge close bonds of
friendships with many or some of
your combat companions?
S: Well.
N: What did you think of the war so
far?
S: Like everyone else, I was rather intimidated by the whole thing. I didn’t
S: Just a few. Actually it was kind of
a weird situation. We didn’t really get
too close to other crews because
you’d lose them. One day you got
some good buddies in the tent next to
you and the next day someone’s
�cleaning out their luggage. We were
very close to the 10 men that flew in
the B-17 but not real close to others.
Let me take one or two exceptions to
that. One of the Rockford fellows that
I had gone to high school with was
Peter Kostanicus, was a co-pilot on a
B-17 in my group. I was, if you want
to call it close to him and also another
friend of mine, not a friend, a cousin
from Rockford, was in a B-24 outfit
over in Luchara(?) which was pretty
close to __?__. We were based incidentally at __?__, the 301st. He was
with a B-24 outfit as a flight engineer.
His name is Roger Storm.
N: Have you remained in contact with
any of your World War II companions?
S: Yes.
N: Did you ever have to help retrieve
a wounded buddy from a field of
combat which in your case would be
an airplane?
S: That’s difficult. (Laughter) I could
not walk on those clouds.
N: What was the high light occurrence of your combat experience?
S: I want to say the thing that I remember most was that crash in the
Alps. (Laughter) That’s hard to forget.
N: Okay. Tell us what you and your
other men did to celebrate America’s
traditional family holidays such as
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
S: We waded around in the mud as
usual and I suppose the main celebration would be a real decent meal at
the mess hall but that’s about the extent of the celebration. We didn’t put
up and Christmas tree or Halloween
decorations or anything.
N: When and how did you return to
the United States at the end of the
war?
S: Well, we got out of the hospital
(Laughter) and some stayed longer
than others. I was assigned to go
home as aWell, in leaving the hospital, for some reason, there was a replacement crew fresh from the States
that flew into that particular airport
that was closest to that hospital in
northern Italy. When it was time to go
back to __?__ I was sent home as a
passenger. Well, from the hospital in
northern Italy to __?__ which is about
half way down the boot on the Adriatic side, it wasn’t all that much. Here
was the inexperienced pilot landing a
plane that still had all its gasoline and
full crew with all their luggage and
several passengers and he just cut the
throttles a little bit too soon and this
thing sunk a little bit faster but that is
when we got to __?__ and we were
going to land. __?__ had been designated as a place forwhat would you
call itoverseas equipment preparation area.
�N: Supply center?
S: Yeah, they were lengthening the
runways and lengthening the approach areas. One of the army engineers had been out there with a D8
caterpillar clearing some trees, olive
trees from the end of the approach area. But he had gone to lunch and left
the “cat” sitting there in the middle of
the approach area. Of course, this guy
that was coming in with a B-17, a little heavier loaded. I got to give him
credit. He didn’t try to stretch his
glide and stall it out and crash the
whole thing. What he did do, not give
it any more. He didn’t give it a little
bit more throttle to reach over there
where the runway was. He had to hit
that caterpillar. So in ten days we got
to crack-ups. By this time I’m ready
to walk.
N: How many missions did you fly?
S: I only flew 15.
N: What happened when you arrived
in the United States?
S: What happened?
N: Where did you go when you landed in the United States?
S: Well, first placeincidentally after
that second crash, I was sent home as
a passenger on a B-24. We had to
cross the Mediterranean to North Africa, [Marrakesh] or something like
that. Then over to Dakar, French West
Africa then across to [Belem], Brazil,
and up to Georgetown, British Guyana, and from there to a place in
Georgia, but IIt slipped my mind at
the moment. Any way it was a goodsized airfield in Georgia.
N: Savanna?
S: Could have been near Savanna. But
there was a whole bunch of airplanes,
whole bunch of people. We were
more or less getting rid of some older
clothing and issued better, newer uniforms.
N: What was your rank and your decorations, especially campaign decorations?
S: Okay. As a ball turret gunner, I was
automatically a Sergeant. Decorations
were air medal with two oak leaf clusters, European Theater. Let’s see.
How many battle stars were there?
There’s one for the North __?__
Campaign, one for the Po Valley
campaign, one for Southern France,
another for the Southern Europe and
another one for Eastern Europe. We
had been involvedit was only fifteen missions but we were scattered
all over the place. Mostly we were
bombing from between 28 and 30
thousand feet and going over after oil
refineries and __?__ yards. We also
had gotten ground support missions in
there. We were dropping clusters of
white frost versus high fragmentation.
�N: How did you get along with the
men with whom you had the greatest
contact?
S: Fine.
N: Were there any things you would
do differently if you could do them
once again?
S: (Long pause). Well, perhaps but
nothing that comes to mind. After all,
you’re dealing with a kid fresh out of
high school. I didn’t know how to do
too much other than just do what I
was told.
N: What was the most difficult thing
you had to do during the period of
material service?
S: The most difficult thing was to actually shoot at a person that I could
see. That was during the Po Valley
Campaign. We had come over at tree
top level, you see. The Po River is
like the Mississippi. It’s wide, a lot of
slough on both sides of it and the
ground forces were having a terrible
time getting across that river because
the Nazi Artillery on the other side
was giving them a bad time. We were
suppose to go on the north side of the
Po River, which essentially flows east
and west, and take out some of these
mortar and artillery outfits. I was
down there in the belly turret. Things
were going past, about 180 miles an
hour. You don’t see too much out of
that little round window but here was
here was a bunch of tracers coming up
from the ground. I swung the turret
around over there and here was this
guy with a half-track, with machine
gun mounted on top, was shooting at
us. I thought if you’re shooting at me,
I’m going to shoot back. That halftrack was no match for those 250 caliber machine guns and it’s very computing sights. One burst and that halftrack went up in flames. That bothered me a lot, because up to that point
I’d never seen a person that I had to
shoot at. Don’t think I hit him but I hit
his vehicle and him but he probably
fried.
N: How did you learn about VE Day?
What was your reaction to it?
S: Well, I thought it was real great but
we didn’t do an awful lot.
N: How did you learn about VJ-Day
and what was your reaction to it?
S: Well, at that time I was out in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We were
sent there ostensibly to train for B29s. There was a certain amount of
rejoicing if you could call it that.
N: What was your opinion of the use
of the atomic bomb when it was used
against the Japanese civilians in August of 1945?
S: Well, being that I’d been involved
in dropping bombs, this was just a
bigger bang.
�N: What were your feelings toward it?
S: I thought we had one more new
tool to use.
N: Has you opinion changed over the
last years and, if so, how?
S: I now realize what a large tool that
turned out to be. Before I thought
when I heard about it, we had a new
bomb, finea bigger bang. But now I
realize, of course, that there were literally thousands of people killed in
thatthere were two blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In time of war
it makes sense to end this thing as
soon as possible. It’s like a game of
chess. You capture the king. If there is
anybody else left around well that’s
fine. It’s not a matter of attrition. It
doesn’t have to be a matter of attrition. If you can effect a surrender
without one by one eliminating all of
the enemy, in the long run it’s a good
deal because it stops things quicker
and not all of the enemy have to die.
N: When and where were you officially discharged from the service?
S: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, November 1st 1945. I know that’s kind of
early but we got a lot of points in the
Air Force.
ry kid should have a four-engine
bomber to play with.
N: Do you have any opinions about
our nation’s military status or its policies?
S: Militarily it seems to be doing rather well right now. I think we’re
probably riding some kind of a crest
due to the previous administration’s
efforts in bringing the cold war to an
end.
N: Do you have any contact with the
Veterans’ Administration?
S: No, other than through my work
with the Veterans of Foreign Wars
who do go up to this Veterans’ Administration Hospital at Madison occasionally and doing things up there
for the guys that are hospitalized.
N: What is your opinion of the Veterans’ Administration if you have had
any contact with them?
S: Like I say, I haven’t any the
people I’ve seen up at the hospital are
very fine but I have no occasion to
take advantage of their services, fortunately.
N: Did you have a disability rating?
N: Would you like to tell us about
how your family supported you during your military life?
S: Discharged November 1st. That was
17 days before my 21st birthday. Eve-
S: They weren’t really supporting me.
I was getting sergeant’s pay.
�N: Morally, I meant..
S: Morally, okay. (Laughter). They
were very supportive for that matter.
N: Over the subsequent years, what
has this support meant to you?
S: I appreciated it at the time and do
what I can to return the favor whenever possible, although it hasn’t been
directly possible because there haven’t been other people in that situation. I appreciated and let them know
this.
N: Okay.
(This is the end of the interview.)
�
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
Charles Nelson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Russell Sanden
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
Russell Sanden
Date
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2-Feb-94
Description
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Born November 17, 1924, Russell Sanden was drafted June 1943 into the Air Force as a turret ball gunner. He was discharged November 1945. He died March 18, 2004.
Rights
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Midway Village Museum
Format
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pdf
Type
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Oral History
Rockford Illinois
Veterans
World War 2
World War II