Roy Long Library of Congress Interview (2009)

Today we're interviewing Roy John Long, R O Y J O H N L O N G. Roy was born August 7, 1922. He served in World War Two in the 71st Division of the Army 66 Infantry Regiment, Company H. During World War Two, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant. Today is July 20, 2009 and we're recording in Omaha, Nebraska. My name is Donna Walter. Also present with us is Roy's wife, Joy. This interview is being conducted for the Veterans History Project. And Roy, if you can tell us a little bit about your background of where you were born, anything about your family, your parents, siblings, what you did before you entered the service?

Yes. I was born in Blair, Nebraska, as she said, in August 7, 1922. I was a fifth child. I had three brothers and one sister. And my parents lived on a farm south of Blair, Nebraska. And that's where I spent most of my youth until 1940 when I graduated from high school. I attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. And joining the University of Nebraska, the ROTC at that time was a requirement for students in their freshman or sophomore year. The senior or junior year, you could advance to the ROTC. And at that time, that was in 1942. And I joined the Army Reserve at that time. That was in September of 1942. We were taken into active duty in May of 1943. And at that time we went through Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. And then to do basic training, I went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for armored basic training. And at that time I was selected for Officers Candidate school. I came back to Fort Knox, Kentucky for Officers Candidate School and graduated as a second lieutenant in June of 1944. And after June 1944, if you recall, that was right after D Day. And so many of the infantry officers had been killed during the invasion on June 6, that our entire class was taken to infantry school down to Fort Benning, Georgia. There we went through infantry school. And after the completion of infantry school, I was sent to the 71st Division, which at that time was still at Fort Benning, Georgia. After our training and preparing everything, we were sent overseas. And we arrived in France and we fought through France, Germany, and finally at the end of the war, we were down in Austria.

Let's back up just a little bit. What was it like adapting to military life when you first went in?

Getting up. You had to get up in the morning, like when the bugle blows, you got up in the morning and everybody was in formation. That was quite a change from what we'd been doing like in school. You got up and you had to go to class. And you went to class, but then when you got in and when the bugler blows, everybody gets up and you had to get up and get dressed and go to the mess hall for breakfast. And it was quite a change. It was really quite a change.

Food as good as Mom's?

Well, that was debatable, I think. Although, we did have the quantity, quality was pretty good. I think the quantity was okay. But it was it was quite a bit different then what mother had, but we survived.

In your early days of the military, what social activities? What were some of the things that you did?

In the military?

Uh huh.

Well, really...

During your training and...

The social, really, I don't quite understand what you're saying.

Movies.

Oh, oh.

Leave. That kind of thing.

I know at at Fort Knox we trained. We got off Saturday afternoon, and we'd been at Fort Knox. We were there during the summer and it was very hot, very humid. And when you got off Saturday afternoon, most of us would go up to PX and get a malt or a soda. And then after that, in the evening, Saturday evening, we'd go to a movie. After the movie, come back and go to bed. And then we sleep. We didn't have to do anything Sunday, so most of us just slept late or get up and go to church. That was... that would be our activity on the weekend. It was, it was really when they say that it was a day of rest, it really was a day of rest because they really worked us and it was hot, humid. And even though we were only in our 20s, it was it was still pretty hard work.

Where was your first then overseas? Where did you go after your training? Where did you go first?

Well, we landed at Le Havre, France, and then we spent probably about two weeks training in that area of Le Havre, France. And then from there we pushed on, went on into the... what was the eastern part of France. And that's where we went on line there. St. Louis was one of the towns in France that we went through, but that's where we did, we trained for probably a couple of weeks in France before we actually went up online.

What did your training consist of?

Patrolling, map reading, orientation about what to expect from the Germans, what they were doing, and what we should be doing. If you were captured, what you gave, just your name, rank and serial number, nothing else. And they were our officers were... they are... like our battalion headquarters like that. They were a little bit... they didn't want you to do too much writing as far as a diary is concerned. Because if you were captured and they said, well, you've been here and we've been here and we've been here. Although some did, I didn't. And what I tried to do when I writing my, my little book that tried to remember as much as I could, articles and so forth to help me remember what it was. But that was one of things. They they said, no, don't do too much writing or don't do writing in there because of where you've been, what you've been doing. But then it consisted of map reading, patrolling, we're cleaning our weapons, weapon inspection, weapon instruction, that type of thing in there before we moved up. And I might add one kind of an interesting... when we were in France, it was, it was cold. It was raining. It had been snowing, and it was actually kind of miserable weather. But bathing was quite a problem. So what they had done, the engineers had set up a shower point just nearby on a stream, and our H company was, our assigned time was about 08:00 in the morning. It was still cold and they had two tents set up, one where you had undress, one where you took the shower, but none of them was heated. We got in the first, then the water was pretty cold. I don't think we've ever taken a shower as quickly as getting into that cold water. Washing off, getting in and then back and in this cold tent and getting dried off. It was quite a very rapid shower. That that was one of the more amusing things that I think happened during that time.

Then what was some of your first experience and when you went on, you said went on line?

Well, the first one that still, still gives me goosebumps, I, like I said, I was on the 81 mortars, and what we had to do was after we got our mortars, we had to establish an observation post. Well, to get from the mortars to the observation post, we had to lay communication line. Well, I was laying this line and it was just, it wasn't dark, it was still kind of light, couldn't see too well. And I laid out my line and as I was walking laying it out, I felt a wire across my foot. My foot went underneath this wire and I across that wire and I left it open. And I didn't think anything about it. Well, I felt it at the time. But it was about the next two or three days later, one of my men was picking up this wire and you come back and he was just as white as a sheet. And I asked him, I said, "Well, what's the matter?" He says, "That wire that you were on there was what they call the 'bouncing betty'" And that wire was a trip wire and there was an explosion that would come up about three foot high and explode with well... there were double-aught buckshot which is about the size of, about the size of peas. And I just went underneath that wire, and that was my first experience. I still, I can still feel that wire scraping across my foot. And that was, that was in France when I did that.

What transpired then then after after that?

Then after that, another kind of experience was soon after that. Well, in fact, I think it was the next day. That this area we were in, the Germans had laid down what they called "shu mines." Now, these shu mines are actually like a cigar box with a quarter pound explosive in it. And as you step on the lid, the lid would push down on the release and it would explode. We had that right, right in just our immediate front. And there was one of the fellows got in there, one of the lieutenants got in there and he hit one of those and he fell. And before we finally got him out of there and all the men out of there, and I think we had one killed and I don't know, there's two or three that were badly injured because of these shu mines. And that was that was all right in this almost within a day of my hitting the wire on the bouncing betty. So that was what we started out with. It didn't start out very well. It was it was quite an experience of those first two or three days we were on line. And then after that, I don't know whether you say it got a routine. It was, it was patrolling and motor firing and shelling and back and forth. But was the very first part of it.

And then we moved we had to set up an outpost. And I was, because of the mortars, I was out sitting at an outpost and I was protecting the flank of our outfit there. I was getting that up and we had several men up there plus my observation post that went all right, we got through that okay. And then we started on moving. And we moved, started moving on east, and then we went through the Siegfried Line and finally got into Ludwigshafen Mannheim, which is on the Rhine river. And we crossed across the Rhine river and we were headed right for Berlin with Patton and his Third Army. At that time, we were in the Third Army. And after we got up within about 125 miles of of Berlin, Eisenhower gave a direct order to Patton to stop. And we sat there for a couple of days wondering what's going on. We didn't have any idea. And then we made a right turn and headed down towards Austria. And, and we finally, when we ran into some ambush in Austria, then we finally got into Wels, Austria and we ran into the Gunskirchen Lager, the concentration camp.

During, before you got to Gunskirchen Lager, what were some of the emotions you felt during combat? Did you see any friends perish?

Oh, yeah. I had... we ran into... we had... we hit the 6th SS Mountain Division. We hit them right head on. And there was one of our, I remember distinctly, in fact, I was just looking at him, my book in there that I bought in, where he had gotten killed. I remember exactly where it was and what happened, actually he bled to death. And then another one that I had roomed with, I was on the American the University of Nebraska football team in 40, 41, 42, and I roomed with him. His name is Wayne Sindt, and he was there near Ludwigshafen Mannheim. He was killed there. That was... that was pretty rough to take that. And those are just a couple of them that come right off my head. And this Lieutenant was, we were hitting this 6th SS Mountain Division and he was hit and bled to death. Was quite a traumatic experience.

What about friendships and camaraderie of your group as you were?

Yes. This is actually lasted I think probably if I had to progress a little bit after the war, we had the division football team. And we won the division football championship in 1944, 1945. And that was one of the, talking about friendship, there's some of those are still, we still talk about, and still... other sad part of it is I think most of them are gone now. But we did, for years, we communicated and it was we go to these reunions that we see each other. In fact, I think the biggest reunion we had was out of Colorado Springs, and that was 1990, I believe. And I think they were something like 18 or 19 of the football team there, that that was quite a reunion to see those. But during the war there's one of them that I haven't talked to him here for probably six months or so. That was in my crew that I talked to him, but it's been about six months, I guess, since I actually talked to him. The sad part of that, most of those are, they're already gone. That's what the part is that makes it difficult.

Okay. So, you had the order to stop from Eisenhower and then you headed to Austria?

Yes.

Pick it up there.

Yeah. And that's where we finally wound up at in Wels, Austria. And one of the units, I don't remember which one it was now actually found or discovered, Gunskirchen Lager and I had the pictures, I think I have them in my book in there. Where they the ones that were living still alive were brought back into a concern... or a German camp. And this camp consisted of a square with a open courtyard in the middle. And this courtyard is where they brought the inmates that were, that could still living. And they would bed them down in that area. And each morning a command was given for them to get up and move. And then the ones that had died during the night, they were carried out. It was during this time that they were deloused and were given as much medical attention as they could. The main the big problem of these people had they were so emaciated and hadn't eaten that they couldn't. I've heard, and I can't verify this, but they said it where they've given them C rations and they ate it and died because their body just couldn't stand. And I don't know exactly how they did it or what they did, but they did, they tried to give them a medication to help them to regain some of their strength. But each morning, the ones that were alive would move. The dead would be carried out and then go ahead. And then this went on for several days there until finally they they were all the living ones were brought out so they could get to hospital care. And then of course the ones that died were...

Had, were you the actual group that liberated the camp? Were there other... was there a group that had come before?

There was the 71st Division was the first group in there. Myself, I did not see the actual camp. I did see some barracks, I guess you would call them barracks. That nobody had checked them yet. And I came into this barracks and I would say that this building was probably, oh, probably 30 by 40 feet. And it was bunks around on it. I think they were two or three high. And then these bunks, were these inmates that were they were living or existing in their own filth. They couldn't move and I couldn't do anything with them, that many. So I went reported back and then they were they got aid in to help them to get out. But that was one that I actually got into myself. But the original one, I did not I didn't I wasn't the first one in that, no.

What was your reaction when you saw those people in that?

I didn't believe it. Just, just you cannot... It's difficult to believe what a human body can look like after they've gone through what they've gone through and some of them were still alive. It's just, they were... they were just skeletons covered with skin. That I guess is the best way that I can describe it. And living, they were just lying in their own filth, it was very difficult. And just like when some of these come out, like Schindler's List, I couldn't see that. But, even today, and when we was, we saw the Holocaust Museum in Washington. And it was very difficult seeing that. But after I saw that, I'm glad I did. But yet it was difficult to see it. To see what they... to actually experience the... To see what we actually saw there, and then see what we saw in the in the Holocaust museum.

What were the reactions of the prisoners when you came into that building?

So glad to see you. I mean, they just they was grabbing their hands and they thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It was they were the ones that couldn't move like that. They were expressing their their feeling their thoughts like that. And I mean, just I mean, it really tore up because, I mean, what can I do for you? I mean, I couldn't do anything. I mean, myself, I had to have some medics come in and do that. But they were they were just like I mean, they were, Thank you. Thank you. And at one of reunions down in San Texas, San Antonio, Texas, they were two of the inmates that had been rescued out of Gunskirchen Lager that attended that reunion. That was really something to see. And they had, I don't remember now their names, but they had survived it. And they had apparently done quite well that they, but they had survived it. And they were trying to figure out or find out who the GIs were that actually picked them up. They were actually walking on a... right outside the camp, there's a road and they were actually kind of walking on this road and fellows in the jeep actually picked him up and brought them into the camp. But then they wanted to know if anybody there that didn't they wasn't, there wasn't anybody there. But that was quite an experience to see them. But they had rescued these two fellows and they showed up there at the reunion. That was quite, quite extraordinary.

As you approached the camp area, were there degrees of things that said to you that you were getting closer to something terrible or...

Well, like I say, I didn't see the main camp. The one I saw, the one I got into was in this in this building. I guess like kind of like a barracks I guess was in there. And well, right away, I mean, the odor was... I mean, that was in itself, was that told you what was going on. But then when I actually got inside to see it was... I did to that extent, yes. But it was... they just lying in their own waste that... And their clothing, they had very little clothing on. And what they did have was pretty, well, torn and worn like that. It was it's quite a wrenching experience. It was it's quite a wrenching experience.

I can imagine. So they were brought then from that area to Wels or near Wels?

Well, yes, this camp is right. How far? I don't remember now. I mean, it was within probably two or three miles of Wels. And then they were brought into this big concern German army camp with the open courtyard. And that's where they were treated in there for. They were deloused and they were given what medical attention they they could give them at that time. And then that's where at night they were bedded down. And then it's, so we went through the routine of taking the dead out then in the morning. But it was it was quite an experience. And like I say that I couldn't, I didn't want to see Schindler's List and and even watching AZ now, they have reruns on there about... that I don't care about seeing.

Okay. How long did you stay there then with these people?

Oh, I would suppose it was probably probably the better part of the week before they finally got them. They were they they brought in all kinds of medics, and cooks, and vehicles and everything to, to help to, to revitalize them and take care of. But they didn't take too long. I think it was possibly at the most a week that went on there before they finally got got them all cleared up. And of course, they what the original camp. I didn't see that. It's what they told me about what the original camp was. They, they, they had German soldiers, German prisoners come in and actually bury the ones that had died up in there. They, they made them bury them up in. I didn't see that, but that's what they told me, that they happened up there. What I saw was just like in this one building where they were lying on these bunks, I think I don't remember now. I think it was probably maybe two or three high lying around this building and just lying in their own...

Were you able to communicate with any of them? Did any of them speak English or did you speak German?

No, I didn't speak German. I don't remember talking. That one, when I came into that building, I saw what was going on in there and I got out of there and then I reported back. And so I really didn't have an opportunity to speak to them. And some of them as I remember that some of them could speak some English. Now, most of these were Hungarian middle professional, I guess it was like maybe like accountants or... they weren't, they weren't doctors, but they were kind of professional, semi professional people. Not semi but middle, kind of middle grade professional people. But some of them that they were able to communicate somewhat. But for myself, no, I did not.

So, what about any of your comrades when you talked about this? What was the conversation while you were there?

Oh golly. It was just really what how awful it was and what they saw out there and what they had to go through and and it was just kind of in general really. I don't remember any specific comments that were made or other than this is a pretty pretty bad stuff, pretty awful. The odor and that was tremendous. I mean, to talk over there about that, well, really there wasn't an awful lot of discussion about it. I mean, it is, it's one of those things that was too awful to really talk too much about.

Medicine was brought in, food was brought in?

Well, you see that was a problem on food, they couldn't really have. They were, they were doing liquid, as much liquid as they could because they couldn't take food. Took what we think is solid food. They couldn't take it. They just couldn't. And then they brought in, they had the medics come in. And I don't remember now just exactly what how they did, whether they give them IV's, whether they gave them water or not, but they were medics did come in and trying to revitalize them the best they could, but they couldn't give them solid food. Solid food just... like that story. I've heard that before now. I can't verify that they give can of C-rations, he ate it, and he died. I can't verify that, but that's a story that I've heard. So it was, it was a problem. Getting those people food or getting them getting some energy back at the because they've been literally starved to death for some time.

Could you estimate ages of people or was that nearly impossible?

The ones I saw, I would I would say that were probably probably in their late 20s, maybe 30s like that. They they weren't old men, they were probably in their 20s, 30s like that. I don't recall... the ones I saw. I don't recall seeing any old beard like that. But I think most of them were like they're saying as I recall, that they were kind of that middle profession, like accountants, something like that. Which would put them in their late 20s maybe 30s and something like that.

When, when the war was over and you thought about these things. Well, let's talk about the return from the war.

Well, after, well, there's another part in there too. After we got, the war was over, I came back up to Nuremburg, Germany, and at that time I was the 71st Division was sent home. I didn't have enough points. I believe you rotated on a number of points, I didn't have enough points. So I stayed there and I was transferred to the First Infantry Division, 26th Infantry Regiment, which at that time was at Nuremberg, and the war trials were just starting. And we had our company, M company, the 26th Infantry First Infantry Division, had guard on the judges for the war trials. And as a result of our duty in there, we could go in and watch the war trials. And I was able to go in and watch them. And in fact, they had I was probably within probably five or six feet of Göring and Hess when they walked in for the trials, and that is that's a very chilling experience to see him walk in like that. That was... that'd been early.... latter of 45, early 46 when it was the war trials were up there and we were able to actually go in and see the trials. And see the... but seeing Göring and Hess, Jodl and Keitel all of them come walking in and almost reach out and touching them. It kind of gives you, really gives you a chill. And then after then, about the middle of 1946, I think in June of 1946, I was came back to the states. And then I was released from service in August of 1946. And after that, I went down to Lincoln to school, and when I was got down to Lincoln. Starting to enrolling and that's where I met my wife, Joy. And that's a whole other story. Then I finished, I finished my degree in in the summer of 1947, and I went and took a job of coaching and teaching down in Fredonia, Kansas, which is in the southern part of Kansas. And then Joy and I were married in October of 1947, and I spent four years down there in Kansas teaching and coaching. And then there I joined the National Guard unit in Fredonia. We were called into the Korean Conflict. And I mean, that's another story.

Right. Right. Let's back up a little bit to the war trials.

Okay.

What was the attitude of Göring and Hess, and you talked a little bit about your emotion too, I could see it in your hands.

This one particular day Göring was on stand and he was doing his very best. It was almost a mockery of what he was... Biddle and Jackson were the judges and they were I could see they were getting very frustrated with... because Göring was, he was kind of making, not exactly making light of it, but he was just his, his whole attitude about the questions he was asked, they were asking and what was going on. And I think Jackson was about ready to shoot him if he could have. He was he was really frustrated, Göring was, he was he was putting on quite a show up there. That, that was one of the and that in particular was was quite a quite a show that he put on there. But the fact is we could I could sit in there and they coming in and you'd be sitting and watching them there. It was it's quite a chilling experience to see them in there. That what they've done, what they what they'd caused and all the problems and everything, because it was it was quite a chilling experience. So that was and we had like I said, we had the guard the guarded the houses of the American judges, the French judges, and the Russian judges. That we had those we had actually the gardeners right around their building all the time. But that was... you look at that, back on that now, and in fact, I've seen the movie and I've seen pictures of it, and it's kind of difficult really to see what I saw in there and those pictures in the movie and everything to put it all into perspective that just immensity of what went on there. That it's very, it was really quite an experience.

And then too, another one that we had on when Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta, one of the parts of Yalta, they said all prisoners of war shall be returned to their country of origin, which sounds pretty good. Well, the story on that was that the 15th Ukrainian army was fighting for Russia. But then it was captured almost intact by the Germans. So the Germans... The history of Ukrainia is that they haven't, the main part of Russia, they haven't really liked it too well. So the Germans repatriated the 15th Ukrainian army and sent them back fighting the Russians. Well, at the end of the war, they were captured by some of our American outfits and brought back to prisoners. And they were, they were made to, we had to send them back to Russia. And the last units was unfortunate enough that they had about 100 of them that we had to send back to Russia. We had and we had to load them on cars, locked them in the railroad cars and send them back. And we knew that right away that... what their fate was, that was that was a horrific experience that we knew that we were just sending them back to their death.

Any other emotional reactions to all of these things that you experienced?

Well, yes, I think probably, I think it's been kind of interesting in a way that most of the fellows didn't talk about these things, didn't mention these things, didn't didn't... Just didn't talk about it until actually until about, it was probably 1990 or... I don't remember just the exact time. But before... we started talking about. We just didn't talk about it. They didn't talk about seeing Göring or Hess, or talk about the concentration camps. They just didn't talk about it. And finally, when it got in, 19... I don't know 1990s, and there are some things then we started, starting open up and they started talking about the "Great Generation." They started talking about these other things. Well, these people are all dying off. What all do we know about this? Can we find out about this or what went on? And that's when I finally started, started thinking about, that's when I started writing my book and I thought we'd better get that written down. If it's too long here, I'll forget about it, won't know it, and the kids won't know it. And that's what we were. And I think it was about 1990s or around there when we started, really started thinking but before that we didn't think too much. I mean, I shouldn't say we didn't think about it, we just didn't talk about it.

How often did it go through your mind?

Oh, I'm certain just like I don't know, there's times I was back, like in Korea. There, I was, had to go back where I spent a year over there. I was having to go back over... dreaming I was going back over there. What am I going to do back over there? I mean, those things, they'll keep recurring. I don't know. We fought the battles in Germany there too. And finally they, they decrease in frequency. And finally they don't do it anymore. But at the time, you wonder, "What the heck am I... what am I going back over here? What am I doing back over here? What's going on?" And finally it decreases and you don't... I mean, you think about it but not like you did.

Did you tell your family much about these things when you returned?

No. No, not really. Until I would say it's been probably the last ten years maybe. That's when I've written, I wrote the book and written that, but other than that, I really didn't, didn't talk about it.

So were you able to step back into civilian life then rather easily?

Oh, yes, I think so. I think, see I had I had finished three years of college and my main objective was getting back here, getting out of the... Finished up, getting it in there, getting, getting on alive. Then when I did finish up that, I went down to Kansas to coach and taught down there then four years and then before I went back into Korea. Then after that, I came back after the Korean War, I came back to Omaha, that's where Joy's parents were, and we came back and, and then I was at the Omaha Public Schools for another 32 years, and then I retired from there in 1984.

If you were to share some lessons that you've learned from your military service, what do, how could you phrase that or, or how have your wartime experiences affected your life?

Well, I think one of the... I think you value life... as I can see, just like I had so many friends that were killed. And you value... Hey I'm, I'm still alive and I value that. That's, and then too, what's happening at... I get the American Legion state paper and you see the ones in there that are, that are dying. And you feel very fortunate that you're able to, to have today. And we're sitting here talking about it. I think that's, that's very important. I think that's actually... value in life has, after seeing what has gone on in the past, I think it's been very important.

What was that like for you to meet with some of the survivors a few weeks ago?

Well, that was... although none of the, none of the survivors were from the Gunskirchen Lager, they were from other areas in there, but seeing them, and they survived that. How did they do that? I saw those people. How did they? I saw what happened to those people, how they were. How did they do that? I mean, just like those two fellows we saw down in San Antonio there, how did they get that? Gosh, they looked healthy and everything else, how did they do it? And that was the way these I think they were. I don't remember how many were there at that reunion. I know this one lady, I think she, I think she was fairly young. I think she was only maybe in her teens, I think, when she got that. So, but I think it was really marveling to knowing what I saw, how some of them survived, what they looked like when they were there, and then to see them in this condition that... it was, it's really remarkable that they're able to survive that.

Anything else that you would like to share about things that you've witnessed during your wartime experience?

Well, I think one of the things, the statements that's kind of irritated me over the past, where here some of these, I don't know what who they are, they say, well, that never happened. Well, I was there, I saw it did happen. And I pray to God that never happens again. I guess that would be my thoughts on that, that just irritates me that... when you hear somebody say "That never happened." I was there and I saw it.

And you've already mentioned staying in contact with some of your fellow comrades. How did you communicate with your family while you were in...

During the war?

Yeah.

Well, they had in Europe, they had the V-Mail a little. Was, it wasn't... I was trying to think about how big it was. It wasn't, it was a little more than five by seven, I suppose you'd write on that. And then they would photograph that and then send that onto to your relatives. But during the Korean War you just wrote a regular letter and you had that, but that during the, during World War Two, you wrote that V-Mail and that was sent, sent back. But then after I did, was able to call home. I see that would have been in the, or the fall of 45, 1945 at Nuremberg up there that, they had a call that you could, you could actually make a telephone call. And I don't know, I mean, I think it cost something like $20 or something. I thought it was an outrageous price. I mean. And the time was set up, he had the exact time to set up and they called home. And that was quite an experience on that. But then, during the Korean War, I called Joy, I think from Tokyo. I think I called her twice. That was quite quite an experience too to be able to, she wasn't expecting the call. But we were able to communicate.

From your family to you?

Yeah.

How did that?

She was, I tell you they would, they sent letters. We got, I received letters from them during World War Two, see letters from home and the family, but then from Korea. Then there that Joy sent all kinds of packages and, and letters and cookies and, and she kept me really well supplied with letters and cookies and things like that.

Okay. Anything else you can think of that you would like to share about your experience? A message for posterity?

Oh, well, my feeling of thought, just like I think I said in there that I saw this Holocaust. And I just pray to God that this will never happen again. And it's just too horrific to have to... anybody to have to go through to see that. Not only the people understand. I can just feel the people that went through that or had to go through that, what they must have had. But then to see what those people, I just hope we never have to see that again. And I hope we have enough wisdom someplace or somewhere to prevent that.

Okay. Well, thank you very much. I think we'll stop here.

Yes. One of the, during the action in Europe there, and I was receiving of packages or mail from home which was, was quite, this is really quite an experience, excitement, everything. And one of my men had written back to his girlfriend that when he was in the foxhole at night, darn. And he said if maybe if I had a little candles, I could light up and see what was going on. And that sounded okay. And so it must have been about a month later that he received this quite large box. It must have been probably, I don't know, maybe 16" long and, and 4 or 5" square. And he thought, oh man, he said, "I really found it, what did I get? What did I get?" He opened it up and it was long taper candles. And these candles must have been, they must have been 15, 16" long. And that wouldn't, that wouldn't work at all. That was... But Nick was, he was... he had to know Nick was my procurer. He was... if I needed anything or wanted anything, I said, "Nick, can you go do this?" And he said, "Fine." And that same night will tell a little bit more about the story. We were in this German town and we'd just been living actually off of C-rations and that gets kind of old. And he come back and he says, "Hey, Lieutenant!" He says, "I found a side of beef." I said, "You did? Well, go get it!" And we were in this, like a courthouse, I guess it was. And there's the stoves. There was a stove in there that like a cook stove. And we got our mess gear and we cut up some of that meat and put... I don't to this day, I don't know whether it was any good or not, but we ate meat. We had beef in there. But that's what Nick was. He was, if I'd need something and I'd say "Nick" and he'd say "Okay, Lieutenant." Nick would go off and get it. But those are a couple of instances that, even though the things that are really serious and you were getting shot at and everything else, but it was, those are some of the comical things that happened, kind of liven our existence up just a little bit. The candles, I tell you that was something else. He opened that box, nervous, those big taper candles. I could imagine sitting in the foxhole. It was something else. Those are some of the experiences, other than just all bad thoughts and bad actions. Those are some of the fun things that happened.

I was talking a little bit about some of the crazy things that you receive and things you do, but one of them was sleeping. I think it was quite interesting to have a foxhole dug down in, wake up in the morning with 6" of snow pile on top of you. It gets quite cold and wet. But fortunately, 20 year olds were, we were able to survive it fairly well. But that was trying to survive in all kinds of weather, whether it was raining or cold or snowing. And that really became quite a challenge to... getting it, trying to survive it. But fortunately we did. And we slept in rain and we slept in the snow and slept in the cold. And now this is all in Europe in there. And finally, when finally when the war was over, then the weather warmed up. But that was... but then during the war there it was, it wasn't too pleasant when you were getting cold, rain, and snow. That was, that wasn't too pleasant, but we survived it anyway.