Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:01 | Richard Hurd had a very important job in wartime, paying the troops. He details the tasks and problems facing the Financial Section of the 1st Army in Europe. He also describes the grim task of taking care of the effects and property of deceased soldiers.
Keywords : Richard Hurd Payroll Accounting AWOL Venereal Disease Effects Quartermaster Currency
Despite assurances that fathers would not be drafted, Richard Hurd found himself inducted and in training. When it became known that he worked in a bank, he was considered perfect for Financial services in the US Army effort.
Crossing on the Queen Elizabeth, Richard Hurd never noticed the effects of a large storm because of the size of the ship. He also had enough powdered eggs to last him a lifetime.
Richard Hurd came ashore four days after D-Day and his Financial Section followed the progress of the infantry inland. When they reached Paris, he was so far down the list for leave that he only had enough time to sleep overnight in a hotel room.
Richard Hurd was billeted in the home of a Belgian photographer as the Battle of the Bulge broke out. The man fled his home, fearing German reprisals for a large poster he had hung involving Hitler and a hog.
Richard Hurd describes the inner workings of the Invasion Money scrip that soldiers were issued in Europe. Since the men were supplied with all necessities, the "Funny Money" was often used for gambling and buying silk stockings to send home.
Finance Section soldier Richard Hurd found out that Russian soldiers had the same Invasion Money that the American soldiers were issued. In fact, they had received so much that their pockets were overflowing and they were buying anything and everything.
At the end of the war, Richard Hurd was in Weimar, very near to Buchenwald. Touring the site with his unit, Hurd saw for himself the horrors that many refuse to believe existed.
Despite having the names reversed, Richard Hurd has firsthand experience of the effects of the new German weaponry, the V1 Buzz Bomb and the V2 rocket.
Too experienced to be sent to the Pacific and not experienced enough to be discharged, Richard Hurd was assigned to keep working as troops shipped home. As everyone celebrated and took R&R, he had to work every day on the payroll.
