COMBAT STORIES FROM World War II

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Showing : WWII Videos

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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  Michael Mirson was a prisoner of the Germans but that was actually better than being in the Russian Army. He was a trained veterinarian so he was valuable to them as they retreated from the Caucasus. One day, an officer told him that the Americans were fifty kilometers away in that direction and the Russians were close in every other direction. That began a mad dash to the American line.

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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  As the fighting raged around Aachen, Antonio Mendez watched men fall all around him. The Germans had a tank with an 88 dug in and it was forcing them to withdraw. Antonio Mendez saw a perfect spot for cover and dove in. He yelled for others to join him and they soon had a good fighting position set up. Before it was over, he had earned a Silver Star. Part 1 of 2.

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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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  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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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  The officer stumbled upon a group of men hunkered down in a gully during the battle of Aachen. Where's the line? Right here. Where are the Germans? Right over there. Who's in charge here? Silence. Finally, they pointed to Antonio Mendez. He had put the ad hoc group of GIs together and rallied them to fend off the Germans, worthy of a Silver Star. Part 2 of 2.

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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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  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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  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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  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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  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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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  Michael Mirson had just recovered from the wounds he received in his first battle as a Russian soldier when he was sent back to the battlefield. Some poor tactical decisions by his superiors led to his capture by the Germans. They didn't feed him but neither did his own army.

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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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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Antonio Mendez was still waiting to go home. They sent him to Le Havre, where lots of GIs were doing the same. Then he heard, Mendez, report! Oh, man. What do they want me to do now? It's happening again.

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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  After enduring grim experiences in the Russian Army and as a German POW, Michael Mirson was finally catching a break. He emigrated to the United States after a sponsor was found and he found peace and prosperity at last.

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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Antonoio Mendez tried to volunteer for the paratroopers but they told him he was too small. There goes the $50 a month! After his number came up in the draft, he was picked for motor pool because he'd been a truck driver. Then they trained him in communications. Then he missed the boat.

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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.

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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  The Russian Army was coming. Michael Mirson had been in that army but was now a POW in a German camp. Rather than than face a dubious "liberation," he set out with several thousand others in the direction of Germany. By chance, he was selected to aide the Germans at the front, which ensured he would get fed.

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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Because he had tried to volunteer for the paratroopers before he was drafted, when Antonio Mendez got to England, they tried to make one out of him there. He balked at that idea because of the minimal training he would have received. Instead, he became a machine gunner.

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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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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  He saw no future in the collective farm so Michael Mirson set out for Yerevan, the capital of Armenia and applied himself to college. He was nearly done with his education as a veterinarian when the Russian Army pressed him into service.

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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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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  The Soviets put Michael Mirson in a transportation battalion. He was a trained veterinarian and took care of the horses but it wasn't long before he was shipped off to the infantry. He was expected to fight the Germans with little weaponry and an empty stomach.

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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  They were getting ready to attack in the morning near Cologne when the order came. Pack up, we're leaving in an hour. The Germans had broken through in Belgium. Antonio Mendez recalls how his unit manned a thin line before successfully pushing them back.

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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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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  Something hit him and knocked him down. Antonio Mendez was in an assault on a farm house full of Germans when he was knocked to the ground. He felt his side getting wet and he was sure he was bleeding badly.

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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  The hunger was getting serious. Michael Mirson had been captured by the Germans and he watched them butcher a horse. He begged for some meat but was ignored. A little later, he was given the head and a lung, which was shared by the prisoners. They took him to a prison camp where his survival was assured when he went to work in the infirmary.

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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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  Antonio Mendez - Army +9 Total Videos

  47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

  The war had just ended and the Russian soldiers were causing trouble on the streets of Berlin. In the American sector, Antonio Mendez was told to take a squad and go restore order. They had just got out of the jeep when the opportunity presented itself.

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  Michael Mirson +8 Total Videos

  Russian Army

  After Michael Mirson emigrated to the United States he worked his way through a series of jobs and owned his own business for a while. He was frugal and saved enough money to help his relatives back in Azerbaijan.