http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57NHRko_u4

U.S. Navy Lieutenant Otis Wheeler, Jr. describes a time during World War II when he and his fellow soldiers had to fly a search and rescue mission on Christmas Day–a mission in which he was the only one to return from. View more veterans’ stories at the Veterans History Project and see more interviews conducted by the Missouri Veterans History Project.

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Lieutenant Describes His Wartime Christmas appeared first on Witnify.

Source: Paul Hardart

In this laconic letter of Lincolnesque eloquence is the barbed challenge of the soldier to the scoffers of democracy’s virility and courage. Selfish interest is completely submerged. Before the war, Lt. Robert Hardart was boxing champion, cheer leader and captain of the cross-country track team at Fordham University. His classmates voted him the most likely to succeed. What man amongst us dares say that this soldier has not already achieved a spiritual and physical apex far beyond the reach of most mortals? The letter was read into the Congressional Record.

Dear Pop:

Here we are again. Things are coming along fine. It’s slow work, but I’m improving daily. Just had a long talk, yesterday, with my nurse, and she convinced me that I should tell you what I’m going to. You will have to know it eventually, but I was going to put it off as long as possible.

First of all, I want you to know that I’m really cheerful and looking forward to getting home and learning to live a kind of new and different life. Instead of being blue and discouraged, I am very happy and have plenty of faith in a happy future. Now I’ll tell you what happened to me. So kind of brace yourself.

My legs were pretty badly wounded, but in time will be as good as new. However, I lost my right arm just below the elbow. Right now I can’t see, but with the facilities in the hospitals at home, the eye doctor here tells me there is a slight chance that they can make me see. However, I’m not really counting too much on that, because I feel that I will remain this way.

Well, dad, that is the story. I hated to tell you, but I know you would have wanted to know. For “gosh sakes” please don’t feel sorry for me. If you could see me here in the hospital, and all the fun I’m having – kidding the nurses and talking with all the swell visitors we have, you would say “there is nothing wrong with that guy, send him back to duty.” I’ve still got a lot to live for and that plus my fait hwill probably make me the happiest fellow in town.

By the way, a British major visited us the other night and we chatted for two interesting hours. Next day we got a box from him with a quart of milk, a bunch of apples, and two bottles of beer. Wasn’t that swell of him?

Say, I’m running overtime. You are getting more than you deserve. In closing, besides sending my love to all, I beg you to believe me when I say I am happy and contented and have a great faith and hope in the future.

Lovingly,
Bob.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qb6CzBlORQ

Ethel LaSalle served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II from 1944 to 1945. The Women’s Army Corps became a full status branch of the Army in 1943, with around 150,000 women serving in it during World War II. Women who served in the WAC were the first to perform jobs other than serving as nurses. After leaving the Army, LaSalle, “Never gave it a thought that I was a veteran, because the women–we weren’t acknowledged, let’s face it.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswHbCZmT0c

Captain Ed “RIV” Hrivnak of the U.S. Air Force Reserve describes his experience of Operation Iraqi Freedom: “What my crew saw was a very up-close, personal human experience.” Hrivnak and his team took care of wounded soldiers on their plane–culminating in his unit evacuating 7,000 people within five months. U.S. President George W. Bush authorized Operation Iraqi Freedom to rid Iraq of the dictator Saddam Hussein and his alleged weapons of mass destruction on March 19, 2003. After Hrivnak’s time in Iraq, he believes, “War is not this glorious thing.” When he returned from his service, he published a book on what he had seen in Iraq, titled “Wounded: A Legacy of Operation Iraqi Freedom” in order to inform the public on the Iraq War: “It seems like America…has forgotten that there was a war going on.” Hrivnak’s book was published on May 21, 2013.

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Veteran on Assisting the Wounded During Operation Iraqi Freedom appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RO0m7HMYlA

U.S. veteran Gerald M. Boe, the guard for Hermann Göring during the Nuremberg Trials, shares his memories of that time. Göring was one of the surviving leaders of the Third Reich and the highest-ranking Nazi to be tried at the Nuremberg Trials where he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. Boe would have to frequently tell Göring to sit-down because he was “ranting and raving about the sentence that he got.” The night before Göring’s sentencing to death by hanging was to be carried out, Boe recalls how Göring took the cyanide pill that was smuggled into his cell–committing suicide. The Nuremberg trials in Nuremberg, Germany began on November 20, 1945 and ended on October 1, 1946 held by Allied forces after World War II for the prosecution of members within the Nazi leadership.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv-Jh8XkltA

Bill Boving, who served in the U.S. infantry during World War II, recalls his time as a guard during the Nuremberg Trials. Boving sat in on some of the days and mentions how it dragged on for a long time–noting that some people after a few months felt it was just a “job” to be there and less “the greatest trial in history,” as it was described by Norman Birkett, a British judge presiding over the military tribunals. The Nuremberg trials in Nuremberg, Germany began on November 20, 1945 and ended on October 1, 1946 held by Allied forces after World War II for the prosecution of members within the Nazi leadership.

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Guard Duty During the Nuremberg Trials appeared first on Witnify.

“First of all, I want you to know that I’m really cheerful and looking forward to getting home and learning to live a kind of new and different life. Instead of being blue and discouraged…Now I’ll tell you what happened to me. So kind of brace yourself…”

After sustaining severe injuries during combat in World War II, lieutenant Robert Hart maintains a positive outlook for his future. In this letter for his father while in recovery, Hart demonstrates remarkable courage and determination. Omitting the details of the trauma that would leave him permanently disabled for the rest of his life, Hart reassures his father that he still has “a lot to live for”:

“Dear Pop:

Here we are again. Things are coming along fine. It’s slow work, but I’m improving daily. Just had a long talk yesterday with my nurse, and she convinced me that I should tell you what I’m going to. You will have to know it eventually, but I was going to put it off as long as possible.

First of all, I want you to know that I’m really cheerful and looking forward to getting home and learning to live a kind of new and different life. Instead of being blue and discouraged, I am very happy and have plenty of faith in a happy future. Now I’ll tell you what happened to me. So kind of brace yourself.

My legs were pretty badly wounded, but in time will be as good as new. However, I lost my right arm just below the elbow. Right now I can’t see, but with the facilities in the hospitals at home, the eye doctor here tells me there is a slight chance that they can make me see. However, I’m not really counting too much on that because I feel that I will remain this way.

Well dad, that is the story. I hated to tell you, but I know you would have wanted to know. For “gosh sakes” please don’t feel sorry for me. If you could see me here in the hospital, and all the fun I’m having – kidding the nurses and the talking with all the swell visitors we have, you would say, “there is nothing wrong with that guy, send him back to duty.” I’ve still got a lot to live for and that plus my faith will probably make me the happiest fellow in town.

By the way, a British major visited us the other night and we chatted for two interesting hours. Next day we got a box from him with a quart of milk, a bunch of apples, and two bottles of beer. Wasn’t that swell of him?

Say, I’m running overtime. You are getting more than you deserve. In closing, besides sending my love to all, I beg you to believe me when I say I am happy and contented and have great faith and hope in the future.

Lovingly,

Bob”

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[Text] Wounded WWII Soldier Exemplifies ‘Soldiering On’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6NxVjxUutc

Survivors of the Bataan Death March describe what they went through when they were forcibly transferred from Mariveles to San Fernando in the Philippines during World War II. These American soldiers describe walking many miles each day in the blistering heat, while some days they would just sit in the heat for the entirety of the day. They describe being the victims of many forms of physical abuse performed by the Imperial Japanese Army. One survivor describes spending long periods of times without food or water and another instance where water was forced into his lungs. The Bataan Death March began on April 9, 1942 and included the transfer of 80,000 American and Filipino soldiers over the length of 80 miles. Thousands of these soldiers died before the march was over and later, after the war, the march was judged to be a Japanese war crime.

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The Horrors of the Bataan Death March appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUYV8r8dx3g

Veterans recount the ferocious and bloody 1944 battle that saw the U.S. retake the island of Guam from the Japanese. Over twenty thousand died on the small western pacific island in a conflict that lasted twenty days and highlighted the ferocity of the war in the Pacific as American forces were unrelenting in their push and Japanese forces refused to surrender, almost each man fighting to the death.

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U.S. Veterans Remember the Battle of Guam appeared first on Witnify.

“Hemingway was here for a few days—but once you meet him you’re not likely to forget him…”

During the Spanish Civil War, many foreign volunteers arrived in Spain in order to try to prevent the Spanish Republican government from falling to fascism. This is a letter from a female American volunteer, Mary Rolfe, in Barcelona who describes the motivations that her fellow volunteers had for coming to Spain from various places, but particularly England and Germany. She talks in particular about one raid that still frightens her as it haunts her memories. Rolfe also talks about her encounter with famous American author Ernest Hemingway. The Spanish Civil War began on July 17,1939 and ended on April 1, 1939. Rolfe’s letter:

Dearest Leo [Hurwitz] and Janey [Dudley]:

The enclosed note was written after the first two bombings on Wednesday—and I thought when I started that I could overcome the reaction of the morning, but I had to stop. Now, though still a little limp and sickish, I can write of the last two days with more or less ease.

Republican volunteers at Teruel. (1936). Source: Creative Commons.

The first raid, at about 10:30 A.M., came while two American soldados [soldiers] and I were in a shop buying cigarette holders. The boys had come to Barcelona to buy some trinkets for their girls and I went along with them to help them choose. The shop we were in is some three or four blocks from the hotel and some six or seven blocks from where the first bombs fell.

The siren sounded just as we were paying our bill. We saw the people hurrying along the Paseo de Gracia (our street) into sheltering doorways, or hugging the walls. We stepped into a doorway, going out to look up when the anti-aircraft started and I spotted three planes—enemy planes flying high, they looked minute. The guns were hot on their trail and the boys pulled me back into the doorway because very often the shrapnel casings of the aircraft shells fall and get you. As we got back to the doorway we heard the bombs falling—and the boys made me crouch down, close to them with my head buried in my arms. The sound of those bombs, and they sounded close (as we found later they were) is hard to describe—crashing through the air as if to break the very air itself, screeching and whining and then the contact as they hit their target—as if a thousand wrecking crews were tearing down buildings at the same time. I wasn’t frightened then, my mind was blank—I was concerned only with crouching down in the doorway. We got up then and started walking to the hotel, the people in the streets came to life, continuing to walk to wherever they had been going when the alarm sounded; we reached the next corner to see a crowd of people pointing up at the sky and then a shout arose, and cheering as our guns got one plane—it came down hurtling through the air head over heels. We were excited, forgetting completely the bombs falling a minute before and we hurried to the hotel to find Ed. We found him there, worried but relieved to see us. Everyone talked about the downed plane—but soon life went on as usual. …

Polish volunteers in the International Brigades. Source: Creative Commons.

Hemingway was here for a few days—but once you meet him you’re not likely to forget him. The day he came I had been slightly sickish, but Ed came up and got me up out of bed to meet him. When I came into the room where he was he was seated at a table and I wasn’t prepared for the towering giant he is. I almost got on my toes to reach his outstretched hand—I didn’t need to, but that was my first reaction. He’s terrific—not only tall but big—in head, body, hands. “Hello,” he said—looked at me and then at Ed and said “You’re sure you two aren’t brother and sister?” which meant—”what a pair of light-haired, pale, skinny kids!” . . .

And now—I’ll say goodbye—I promise not to let so long a time go by the next time I write.

Mary [Rolfe]

Source: Women in World History

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[Text] An American Volunteer’s Experience in the Spanish Civil War appeared first on Witnify.