Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:41 | Bob Baker was drafted off the farm and, before long, was at Ft. Bliss in Texas, trying to stay out of trouble. He was a gunner on a halftrack, firing four .50 caliber machine guns, and when he got to Europe, the first plane he fired on had the wrong markings.
His armored unit spotted a German convoy fleeing the frigid Battle of the Bulge and they opened up on them. "It was pretty bad," says Bob Baker, who was gunner on a halftrack. Later, after crossing the Rhine, he saw the unforgettable sight of a German jet streaking across the sky as well as the terrifying sight of an artillery round hitting his foxhole.
The Germans in many towns had hung white flags or cloths from their windows. In the towns where people hadn't, Bob Baker says that his armored unit would back their vehicles into the town, in case they had to get out fast. After the war, he drove a truck and was impressed with the German prisoners who supplied the labor.
After the war, Bob Baker was sent to the 82nd Airborne and received glider training and jump training. It was a supply job he was interested in and he was disappointed when he didn't get it. He landed another assignment and found out that a supply clerk could get into some real shenanigans.
