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“Where is the coward that wouldn’t dare to fight for such a land?” - Scott |
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“I was on my belly with my Thompson pointing at a group of German soldiers when I felt a crushing blow to my back. My first thought was ‘I’ve been shot!’ I rolled over just in time to see the butt of a rifle come down on my stomach and then my face. A German had sneaked up behind me. As he delivered the blows again and again, I thought to myself, ‘beat me all you want , as long as you don’t kill me’. - First hand account of a U.S. Solider being taken prisoner in the E.T.O. |
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Pix of Soldiers & their weapons |
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Pix of soldiers with war souvenirs |
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SOUVENIR QUOTES “I took this (Luger) off a German officer. He didn’t need it anymore.” “There were bayonets laying everywhere” “I took the sight off a German 88. If I could have fit the whole thing in my pack I would have done it!” -First hand accounts of souvenir collecting. |
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“We never took an SS man prisoner.”
“We used explosives to get through the hedgerows”
“I looked inside the burned out tank to see what was left of the crew...I wish I hadn’t” |
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This section seems a bit slanted toward the operations of the Marines in the Pacific but I am well aware and grateful to the job the Army did there was well. As I get Army/Pacific Campaign photos I will add them to the appropriate sections. |
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“One night I heard rustling on our makeshift foxhole roof. I took my bayonet and thrust it upward killing a Jap soldier who had been unwittingly crawling over us.” |
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“We had just hit Iwo and I was in a shell hole taking cover. This Marine jumps in next to me and I look over and it’s my brother from another unit! I hadn’t seen him since we left home.” |
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“I had been shot in the stomach and everyone was pinned down by heavy enemy fire. I would have died there on the beach if a tank hadn’t rolled up and a crewman rescued me.” |
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“We knew we couldn’t make it back with that much damage so the pilot crash landed in a field in Belgium right on the front line. There were tanks still burning on the hill nearby” - B17 Navigator |
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“We landed in headhunter country. The night jungle suddenly came alive with scores of tribesman. Thank God one of them could read one of the languages on my blood chit.” |
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CONTAINS SOME GRAPHIC PICTURES |
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“We had gotten lost in the jungle on the way back to the ship. We ended up missing her by an hour or so. We were put aboard another ship until we could rendezvous with her. About a week later we were summoned into the Captain’s stateroom. We figured they had finally got around to us and we were in big trouble. Sadly and to the contrary we were informed that our ship was missing. Later we found out what had happened to her and our shipmates and I as sad as I was, I thanked God for us getting lost that day in the jungle and missing the ship.” - A crewmember of the USS Indianapolis. |
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“I used to deliver Western Union telegrams on my bicycle during the war. It was the worst job I have had. People would see me coming down the street and run into their homes and lock their doors. And when I did stop at a home to deliver a telegram, I could hear the wailing and crying before I even got to the door.” - A Young Western Union delivery boy speaking of telegrams from the war department. |
