COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

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Showing : WWII Videos

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  A year of college got Alan Kinder tagged as a possible operator for a new sound ranging system the Army was using to spot enemy artillery. Microphones picked up the firing and the source location was plotted. The unit didn't do all that well during training but, once they were in Europe, it all fell into place.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  Carrying a 500lb bomb that hadn’t been discharged, Frank Troup was engaged by a Japanese fighter who got the drop on him. His Hellcat was riddled with bullet holes and he was dropping fast.

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  Frank Pomroy - Marines +35 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Frank Pomroy prepared his last stand. He had a bayonet wound and three machine gun bullets in his leg but he was still ready to fight. He lined up his hand grenades on the coral ridge in front of him and waited. At daybreak he heard Japanese voices coming. Part 4 of 4. (Second interview)

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  It was a lot rougher going home. Alan Kinder had come to Europe on a big ocean liner, very smooth. He went home on a tiny Victory Ship which pitched and rolled all the way home. Once there, and once Japan surrendered, the Army didn't have a lot for him to do.

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  Carl Beck - Army +12 Total Videos

  501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division

  In the middle of the night, thousands of paratroopers loaded into C-47's for the crossing into Normandy. Carl Beck was just a teenager but he was ready. His plane was hit by flak when it neared the drop zone and the jump was rushed, resulting in scattered men and equipment. Part 1 of 2.

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  LtGen Lawrence Snowden - Marines +16 Total Videos

  23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division

  The first operation for the 4th Division was the landing on Roi-Namur. Lawrence Snowden remembers that, though it was an easy victory, valuable combat experience and important lessons were imparted on the Marines.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  Alan Kinder was astounded when he got to Luxembourg City because they still had electricity and it was brightly lit. He was apprehensive because the Battle of the Bulge had broken out and the Americans were suddenly on the defensive. After a cozy little Christmas celebration in a tavern with some civilians, his unit moved to support the forces holed up in Bastogne.

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  Don Scott - Army Air Corps +8 Total Videos

  560th Squadron, 388th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

  Two engines were out, a third smoking, and they were were losing airspeed and altitude, but they were flying level and pointed home. Then time ran out for the B-17 and Don Scott had to slip down the hatch into the slipstream. Part 2 of 3.

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  Clyde Burnette - Army Air Corps +13 Total Videos

  713th Squadron, 448th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force

  It was their third mission over Berlin and they were heading home. Four German fighters pounced on the B-24 and it was engulfed in flame and going down. Clyde Burnette fought for consciousness as the other crew in the back of the plane bailed out. He woke in free fall with no idea how he had made it out, and soon he was in German custody. Everyone made it out of the plane except George "Danny" Daneau, the nose turret gunner, who went down with the aircraft.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  The Germans had a big artillery piece and brought it out every day to fire at the Americans who had taken over the French city of Nancy. Alan Kinder was part of a sound ranging artillery unit that was trying to locate the gun using microphones.

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  B.E. Vaughan - Navy +9 Total Videos

  USS O'Brien (DD-725)

  After a nerve-wracking mission to bomb Tokyo and a typhoon, B.E. Vaughan and the destroyer O'Brien suffered a second kamikaze attack which killed all three of his hometown pals who served with him on board. Then, began the grim task of collecting the personal belongings of the dead and preparing them for burial at sea.

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  Ed Harrell - Marines +12 Total Videos

  USS Indianapolis

  Ed Harrell describes in detail the sinking of the USS Indianapolis from Japanese torpedoes, which left nearly 900 Sailors and Marines in shark-infested Pacific waters. Part 1 of 4.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  The Germans did not want to surrender to the Russians so the men in Alan Kinder's unit spent a lot of time sending prisoners to the rear. Eventually, with no more war to fight, they were sent to patrol empty country roads where they befriended the German farmers.

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  Harold Barber - Marines +14 Total Videos

  7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  He didn't even notice that he'd been hit. A piece of shrapnel from a Japanese artillery shell found Harold Barber's leg but he kept right on fighting because of the adrenaline. The Corpsman bandaged him and he was right back in the battle for Peleliu. The Navy was able to stay and take part in the fight unlike when he was on Guadalcanal.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  They landed at Utah Beach. It was after midnight and Alan Kinder never really saw the beach until he returned to Normandy decades later. It was a couple of months after D-Day when he made that night landing and the fighting was 30 miles inland at that point. His unit moved rapidly across France until they stopped at the Moselle River.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  On a routine combat air patrol, Frank Troup got orders to intercept an enemy plane they had picked up on radar. It was something of a close call, and he recalls watching the enemy pilot’s final moments.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  After the war, Alan Kinder did not keep in touch with the others in his unit. They all scattered and there never was a single reunion. He does have a lot of fine memories of them including a memorable Thanksgiving day during which the men begged not to go and eat turkey and dressing.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  They were always going on bombing missions, and on one occasion Frank Troup and his fellow pilot destroyed a Japanese ship in a quick pass.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  Alan Kinder was part of an artillery sound ranging unit which sought out enemy artillery using the sound of the guns firing. They were attached to different units as needed. Eventually, they crossed the Rhine into Germany and occupied an abandoned German air base.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  After his initial pilot training in the Navy, Frank Troup ended up piloting the Grumman F6F Hellcat. This phase of training was even more dangerous as they were single seat aircraft, and the airspace wasn’t entirely theirs to work in. Frank describes a midair collision that nearly cost him his life.

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  Frank Pomroy - Marines +35 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  In combat, you have tunnel vision. Frank Pomroy experienced that when he faced waves of Banzai charges on Guadalcanal. They were intended to frighten you enough that you turned and ran but it didn't work on the young Marines. (Second interview)

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  The 14th Artillery Regiment was heading to Europe. D-Day had succeeded and Alan Kinder boarded a huge converted ocean liner bound for England. He was still an inexperienced country boy so he wasn't on the hunt for British ladies but he and some pals did discover Stonehenge by accident.

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  Harold Barber - Marines +14 Total Videos

  7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  The Italian Marines were a breed of their own. Harold Barber describes how they would receive food from home with a surprise inside. He also recalls that age old soldier's tradition, coming up with some alcohol in a war zone.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  As quickly as they could, these Navy pilots were hurried to the Pacific Theater where the Japanese were causing damage to a number of US ships and planes. Frank Troup recalls the journey across the country and onto the USS Cabot where one of their first duties was to escort a damaged cruiser out of immediate danger.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  Alan Kinder grew up in a small coal mining town in the mountains east of Seattle. When he came of age during World War II, the Army found out he had myopia and sent him home but he came back. They fitted him with glasses and sent him along to training.

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  Frank Pomroy - Marines +35 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Frank Pomroy was painting his sister's house when someone drove up and said Pearl Harbor had been attacked. He and another seventeen year old boy hitchhiked to the recruiter who told them they were too young. A ruse was required.(Second interview)

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  During World War II the country was filled with a spirit of togetherness and cooperation that has long ago faded away. Alan Kinder remembers that time and knows how much we could use that same spirit again.

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  Nollie Carpenter - Army +11 Total Videos

  8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

  After a brief stint as a civilian, Nollie Carpenter returned to the Army and was assigned to Germany. While there, a call went out for volunteers to go to Korea as Forward Observers. A Sergeant could get a 2nd Lieutenant's bars.

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  Frank Troup - Navy +6 Total Videos

  Fighter Squadron VF-29

  The Japanese had a large fleet of fighters to dominate the Pacific air space. Frank Troup describes his experiences against their fighters from when he piloted a Hellcat. He was engaged in so many events that he was able to achieve the status of Navy Ace during the war.

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  Alan Kinder - Army +11 Total Videos

  14th Field Artillery Regiment, Observation Battalion

  He remembers hearing President Roosevelt on the radio in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Alan Kinder had two more years until he was draft age. During that time, he and his mom and dad were part of the great outpouring of can-do spirit that swept the nation. Everybody pitched in to do what they could.