Leonard Dziabas

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Machine gunner Leonard Dziabas reveals why the 88th Infantry Division was known as the Blue Devils. (2:12)

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The two main machine gun parts were the tripod and the receiver, which was the main body of the gun. As machine gunner Leonard Dziabas advanced in the assault on the Gustav Line, he and a friend became separated from the unit with only a receiver between them. Trying to find their unit, the two stragglers crawled right into the German lines. Eventually they discovered that their whole outfit had been captured in their absence. (9:32)

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Leonard Dziabas had trained on a different mortar but he jumped into the 81mm mortar pit and fired shells all night until he couldn't hear. His hearing returned in a few days as his unit advanced through Italy. During a lull, he spotted something shiny to which he would become attached for the rest of the war, and he intervened when his buddy began beating prisoners. (9:32)

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On loan to a French unit, Leonard Dziabas had to sit idle while an Italian village was brutalized, but not by whom you might think. When he got back to his unit, his platoon had not eaten for five days, but the rations brought to him by a friend proved to be a mixed blessing. Moving on, they employed an unusual tactic to fool Bed Check Charlie. (7:45)

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After a deadly friendly fire attack from their own planes, the unit got a small reward in the form of a hot shower and then joined a task force to move on Rome. Leonard Dziabas describes the rush to be the first Allies there, including a race with a German motorized column. (8:44)

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As he raced toward Rome, machine gunner Leonard Dziabas took out his machete to clear some corn stalks when he startled some German soldiers who cowered at the sight of cold steel. After that heroic capture, which earned him a Bronze Star, he was soon marveling at the sunset glow over the great city as he approached from the hills above. (7:38)

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One of the first American soldiers to enter Rome, Leonard Dziabas was on a quiet, dark street when a paisano tugged at his arm and asked if he was German. When he answered, the street came alive and the cry, "Americano" reverberated through the city. Soon he was swarmed with girls and offerings of food and drink. But the combat wasn't over. (9:07)

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Moving through Italy, Leonard Dziabas saw the Pope's summer palace on his way to the coast, where he threaded his way through minefields to take a swim in the ocean. Back on the march northward, it was mountains, snipers and, finally, a well planned and executed assault. (8:10)

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The machine gun squad was waiting on ammunition, but when they heard a noise coming from a cave, they pointed the unloaded weapon and soon Leonard Dziabas was accepting the surrender of an entire company of German soldiers. (5:48)

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Fleeing German bombardment in a small Italian town, Leonard Dziabas pulled a grate from a wall and his unit tumbled down into a catacomb full of frightened civilians. Moving on to the Arno River, he had difficulties with an inexperienced Lieutenant and a cow, before receiving yet another barrage. (9:11)