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| World
War II |
 Robert
Louis Curl
"We began leading the first wave into the beach as the bombardment
began. The large projectiles flying overhead looked like footballs. We
recovered the bodies of numerous soldiers who had drowned because the
sea-swells sank their DD tanks. Things were not going well early that
morning." More...
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Carl
Carson - USS Arizona
 "Well,
I was out on deck doing the morning chores, which you did every morning…
all of a sudden, this plane come along, and [I] didn’t pay much attention
to it; because planes were landing at Ford Island all the time. And all
of a sudden, the chips started flying all around me and the plane –
it was strafing me…" More...
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Clark
Simmons - USS Utah
 "When
I first went down to what they call a battle station, we all were frightened.
We didn’t know what was going on. But we knew the ship was taking
water in and there was no way to close the water tight doors...it was
just a matter of time before the ship was going to sink. And actually
it took 8 minutes…" More...
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Kichiji
Dewa - Japanese Sub
 "We
went to places along the Inland Sea of the Japanese coast, where there
were bays like Pearl Harbor’s. We trained to enter narrow places
at night. And we worked in the day, too." More...
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Bill
Geiger - RAF, Eagle Squadron
 "I'd
wanted to be a pilot all my life. My uncle was a West Pointer, and I think
he was the second man in the United States military to be licensed as
a pilot. And I always wanted to be one…I thought if I'd go in the
RAF, and... the United States entered the war, I'll be one of the few
that had combat experience, and that would give me a leg up." More...
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Royden
Stork - Doolittle Raid
 "...
after we headed out the, out of the Golden Gate, and headed toward Japan…
we knew ... speculated pretty correct that it was going to be Japan. Especially
after Pearl Harbor, and what they did there." More...
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Madelyn
Blonskey - Army Nurse Corps
 "As
I stepped out of the nurses’ quarters, I had an awful feeling. Usually,
the smell of gardenias and hibiscus from the garden was delightful. But
I smelled the odor of sulfur and burning oil. I heard some buzzing above
me. There were about twenty very small planes, flying low, almost touching
the treetops." More...
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Ruth
Erickson - Naval Hospital, Pearl Harbor
My heart was racing, the telephone was ringing, the chief nurse, Gertrude
Arnest, was saying, "Girls, get into your uniforms at once, This is the
real thing! More...
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Lee
Soucy - Crewman aboard USS Utah (AG-16)
"I had just had breakfast and was looking out a porthole in sick
bay when someone said, "What the hell are all those planes doing up there
on a Sunday?" Someone else said, "It must be those crazy Marines. They'd
be the only ones out maneuvering on a Sunday." More...
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Horace
D. Warden - USS Breese (DM-18)
"The first thing I remember was the sound of firing and then they
called general quarters. We were not a large ship so we were not immediately
threatened. After the Japanese delivered their bombs on the large ships
they had to come up over us." More...
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William
J. Stanley
"Thinking we were on the beach, the coxswain dropped the ramp, which was a signal to disembark. We ran into twelve feet of water. There was widespread panic. The weak and nonswimmers drowned. The war ended for them one hundred feet from the invasion on Omaha Beach. The shock, fear, and reality of what happened is indescribable."
More...
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Ellsworth
Wallace Haynes
 "The
war ships had fought the Japanese airplanes all day and had kept them
away from the transports, but just at sunset one lone torpedo plane got
through and hit us with a torpedo and crashed his plane into the superstructure.
That changed my life forever." More...
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J.D.
Osborne, USS Napa
 "Noda
caused many men to be beaten and roughly treated. We were run on a black
mark system. If we failed to bow properly, or caught stealing food, or
found smoking more than 6 feet from an ashean, we received a black mark."
More...
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Millard
F. Simmons, USS William D. Porter
"The sea was too rough to tie the two ships together, so our crew
rigged a boatswain chair and rigged it between the two ships. I was put
into the chair and they pulled me out over the water. If either ship should
vary too much in the rough seas I would have went down between them."
More...
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General
of the Army Henry "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General U.S. Army
Air Forces
"If some understanding is not reached between England, France and
Germany, I am afraid we are headed for a disastrous war."
More...
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Johnnie
R. Beaver, 106th Infantry Division, 423rd Regiment, H Company
 "There
is not a day that pass but what I do not think of you; my son and those
I love. All that I have had to do since my capture on Dec 12, ’44 is nothing.
It is so hard to sit around hungry, remembering your good cooking and
those chocolate pies. I am going out tonight if can get by the guard.
I saw some rabbits in a pen while I was going for a shower."
More...
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Fred
Carmichael
 "Went
back to the woods and put us in trucks and took us to [a supply point]
and let us out and told us "whatever you take, you hold." We
still didn't know it was the Battle of the Bulge. All night long, I laid
near a jeep. The sky was lit up with artillery, but nothing fell on us."
More...
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Claire
L. Chennault, Brig. General, Commanding, A.V.G. (Flying Tigers)
"Pictures were taken of the ceremony and shall be sent to you at
home at some later date. In this letter I shall enclose the cards which
came with wreaths for his grave. On his person we found several articles
which we shall send on to you with all monies realized from sale of his
personal effects." More...
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Letter
to Mrs Grace W. Duke informing her of the death of her husband Pvt. James
D. Duke
"I fully understand your desire to learn as much as possible regarding
the circumstances leading to his death." More...
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James
Forrestal, BT 122361/69
 "I
have the sad duty of announcing to the naval service the death of Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States which occurred on
12 April. The world has lost a champion of Democracy who can ill be spared
by our country and allied cause."
More...
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Capt.
"Squeak" Greenip
After the break out of D-Day, Capt. Greenip led E Company, 8th Infantry
as it tried to shore up control of the Contentin Peninsula. This
vignette tells his story of a critical ammunition run to resupply troops
facing German opposition. More
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Sgt.
Burrell Hartley, POW, Stalag 13
 "There
is no need for worry or anxiety am all right. I think of you always and
dream of our future. I love you. The war is over for me, all I have to
do is wait for the end of the war. I miss you. Someday we will again be
together to fulfill our plans."
More...
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Col.
Fred Leviseur
 "I
just had Roger de la Rochefoucauld and his wife in to dinner at our mess.
26 years ago I saw him last - he was 3 - remember. Now he has a bad leg
from an aviation accident, had 3 brothers in the Maquis." More...
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Pvt.
C.B. Martin Co. B, 81 Tank Bn.
 "Well
old buddy I finally received your address. Kuba sent it to me a couple
of days ago. How are you any way? I am swell, but a little tired of this
dang business." More...
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Lt.
Commander Medical Corps, Donald R. Nelson. Tarawa
 "On
our way in landing boats and tank lighters were being sunk all around
us by Jap anti-boats guns 50mms. and we really had some close ones, but
on we went. As we got closer to shore we encountered considerable machine
gun fire. We headed for a pier but about 50 yeards from it our boat broke
down and we had to wade in still receiving machine gun fire while in the
water." More...
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Staff
Sgt. David "Rose" Rosenkrantz, 82nd Airborne Division
"Well, I have had my fling of being an actor before a camera. The
army took some pictures of our blitz course to make a training bulletin.
I happened to be in the right place at the start so they took pictures
of me going all the way through the course." More...
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 Ernest
Strauss
Born March 17, 1916, near Worms, Germany, Ernest Strauss remembers the
difficulties of living in his native country after Germany's crushing
defeat in 1918. As harsh as conditions seemed then, they grew far worse
for the Jewish Strauss and all of Germany's Jews after Adolf Hitler and
the Nazis came to power in 1933. Strauss was one of the lucky ones. He
got out before it was too late and came to the United States, where he
joined the effort to defeat the Nazis. More...
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 Edward
Ambrose White
White's unit was shipped out to Europe on a troop ship in April 1945.
White learned of President Franklin Roosevelt's death during that voyage.
Once they made landfall at Le Havre, France, they headed across the Saar
to Bitburg, Germany. On May 8, 1945, the war in Europe ended, and White
and his unit became part of the occupation forces. More
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