Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
1:27 | Henry Miner lost many friends in the sinking of the SS Leopoldville, including one who gave him a diary to return to his family should anything happen to him. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Keywords : Henry Miner SS Leopoldville Jim Reese Lenoir NC diary
He was from a small, coal mining village in Pennsylvania. When Henry Miner was on the way to basic training, it began to get hot on the train with blacked out windows. Was it Texas? Mississippi? It was where he would come face to face with some deadly wildlife. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
It was an eventful trip across the Atlantic for Henry Miner, with depth charges and rough seas making it interesting. That was nothing compared to the disaster awaiting many of the men in his division when they crossed the English Channel. He missed that event, but the deadly winter weather was waiting for him. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
He came close to having his legs amputated, but Henry Miner managed to avoid that and was on his way back to the States to recover. Faced with factory work or a coal mine in his home town, he decided to work for the government again in a less dangerous job than infantry rifleman. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
