Name: Donald James Robinson
Dates of Service: 1942 – 1945
Highest Rank: Sergeant First Class
Branch: U.S. Army
Conflict: World War II
Unit: 643rd Tank Destroyer
Awards:
Location of Service: European Theater of Operations
Collection #: VHP/2009/209
See more about this veteran in the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Digital Library: https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll27/id/5209/rec/2
Well good afternoon everyone my name is Ted Gardner I’m an interviewer with the Library of Congress oral history project which is so capably put on by our wonderful Public Library here in Cincinnati Dennis Daly is our videographer historian World War II uh history buff and so forth and so on we’re lucky today
To have a dear friend of mine to interview and his name is Jim Robinson and Jim is a cincinnatian Jim where were you born born Amelia up in Caroline County Amelia Ohio downtown Amelia on a farm about three miles out how about that when were you born
1922 okay I’m old you’re coming up on a number 87 87. I don’t know about that now um tell us about your family did you have brothers and sisters I had a sister that’s all and on the farm and uh that’s all I had of course your your
Family were farmers well my dad was Farm well we yeah we had did about everything we had fruit orchards we raised tobacco an interesting point on that if I may for a moment absolutely white Burly tobacco was discovered during the Civil War on my great-grandfather’s farm he was uh
Again a lot of military he was Captain G company 59th Ohio he was down Stones River in a battle down there when it was discovered up in higginsport in fact I was up there last Sunday they just they have the monument and they had a guy portray him
Portrayed it I got I got the meat my yeah reenactor and what was interesting about him was he said if my ancestors could see me right now in a union Captain uniform he’s from Mississippi he always does Confederates so it was kind of that was kind of funny yeah that is that’s kind
Of funny but anyway that uh uh they were my dad family was from there and the full family is I’m quite proud of it couch Albert he was an admiral rear Admiral graduated from Annapolis August Couts uh where did he serve he’s Civil War these are civil war going all
The way back Civil War and then Uncle August and one interesting thing about him he wrote books on customs and orders for commission non-commission and company clerks I think the other one and still in print today on 10 3 printing believe it or not required reading at the West Point oh
So uh he was a real scholar yeah yeah and uh but anyway back to answer your question we had we raised tobacco we had dairy cattle fruit orchards that raised also drug Jersey Hogs breeder so forth and uh well that’s fascinating and that is so uh you know that is that is so
Ohio yeah I mean that is just wonderful and I love to hear things like that well now where did you go to school where did you start school well I went to Amelia in fact by my first grade was in a one-room schoolhouse on White Oak Road
Right outside of Amelia is that building still there no no no it’s long gone long gone and then I graduated from Amelia went to Ohio State in uh 1940 41 I would be I guess yeah 41-42 because it might to start what you want to cover uh
Uh 42 I enlisted in what they call the ERC enlisted Reserve Corps sworn in but inactive Duty now you know I always like to bring this out because in everybody’s life uh there are certain points certain dates that one never forgets where he or she was on that date where
Were you on the 7th of December 1940. I was in the Ohio Theater I knew you were going to ask me yeah no up in Columbus OH I was at Ohio State I went to Ohio State and I was in uh came out of the came out
Of the theater and it was a Newsboy shouting Pearl Harbor bomb Pearl Harbor bomb and had no idea never heard of Pearl Harbor huge headlines yeah yeah in fact I have a paper at home cover that yeah something and uh so that was kind of the beginning there and
Eventually in 42 because my discharge even reads that from 42 to 40 almost 46. did you have um did you have a particular desire for a branch of the military I want to go in the Air Force in fact of course I took Arturo to urazzi at Ohio
State and those were the old out of World War One houses 75 officers did that and then when I enlisted there and then I got carried away I guess I’d come home to Amelia and when he dies it was a great thing with girls because you know you had all the girls yeah
But anyway uh uh I just got uh I was ready to go in you know I wanted to go and I told him in April 43 put me on active duty and they obliged without too much difficulty steps of Life Rites of Passage let’s drop back just okay where did you
Go to high school Amelia Amelia all the way yeah right up to college days and what inside the the Ohio State University uh my dad went there my father yeah he went there and he was he an engineer well I’ll tell you let me clear that a little bit Yeah I wanted to
Really go to Miami is where I wanted to go in fact I had a roommate I had a room in David’s swing Hall and what have you up there at Miami and then I went to a 4-H Camp if I remember somehow then the junior dean of
Agriculture came down got a hold of me and convinced me to go to transfer at Ohio State for Smith Hughes teaching right I wanted to coach well that was great and um he got me to move up there and her transfer up to Ohio State so so uh
And of course it’s interesting about your going into the ROTC at Ohio State because Ohio state was a land-grant college that was one of the requirements you had to go the first two years of a land-grant college then it was optional after that so what did you do you went downtown in
Columbus and signed up or uh you know I missed the lung I don’t remember I guess because he’s been on campus or they had something else yeah I might have gone down I don’t know I don’t recall and they said to you well I know well I went in and uh I then
When I went over to came down here in induction Center I took a physical right downtown Cincinnati and then I went over to Fort Thomas yeah and they said what do you want to go into you know and I saw one Air Force I want to go Air Force I think
They’re very what heavy and of course you go where they decide to put you sure and since I had the artillery background up at Ohio State oh yeah automatically I went I went to Fort Bragg for field artillery well that was quite a jolt wasn’t going across the North Carolina
Uh down south there I got a little this is jokingly but uh I claim title to the best trained soldier come out of Fort Bragg in World War II I had 30 weeks basic training I’m either slow learner or 30 well what happened it probably saved my life because I it was
A 13-week cycle in the field artillery down a break on 105’s 105 millimeter Houser yeah we’ll meet him actually the one five fives were the bigger ones yeah and a 240 was a real big one but anyway uh anyway I I got about the 12th week and
It was so hot we took our bunks out in the street and I woke up in the morning and I’m hurting right here underneath my ears and I went over to the dispensary doc took a look at I mean hell Soldier he said you you got swollen glands but
You run the fever get over to get over to a hospital I got to change the hospital went over there and the doc said swollen glands you see you got the mumps had mumps so I went in went in the hospital there in nine days
And I was trying to make air Cadets all at the same time I had been there you have been tested the whole thing and then I went back to my battery they were set up my batteries in called batteries I went back to that and I’m in the
Orderly room and I called the pope field to find out what I made Cadets or not I said we’re shipping out we’re down to about 10 guys out of the battery you know they’re all send out the line outfits and the T5 in there he said you’re Robinson yeah he said you’re not
Going anywhere you missed too much too much basic you two too many days it made 28 days they had my record screwed up but anyway so you’re good got to go to Second regiment do another cycle that was 17 weeks that’s where I got to 30. so
Anyway I went uh and I had a girl up in Raleigh I was going every weekend up to see her but anyway I wound up going to Second did 17. if I had finished and shipped out where I was supposed to I’d have gone into gliders attack 75s and I’ve
Gone in on D-Day because they lost a lot of guys a lot of guys I was with the mortality rate on that flying coffins plywood yeah it was a one-way one-way flight you took the Wings off and they come in well uh your training there at Bragg
Again how long was that 17 well it’s supposed to be 13 but then my the way I wound up I wound up 30 weeks but now you met a lot of guys and here you were from a small community in Ohio and first time you’d ever run that far away from home
Probably yeah yeah probably so probably right all over the country and right anybody left over that you still keep in touch with and that what do you mean well from basic you mean all the way through with no no not really no that was that was
Too yeah well there is a guy in fact you may even recognize the name of a mill Partridge he was uh dean of Education Xavier and he and I were in the same Battalion together yeah no Partridge Dr Partridge guy’s doctorate and milk was also a brag and we were a shipment when
We went out of there when I finished the 17 when we went out and you’d never know where you’re going you have no idea and we wound up came Brewer Oklahoma and here’s all these trucks lined up with six six forty third TD tank destroyer and they got they really got murdered in
North Africa wow because they had a half track with a 105 mounted on there and then they lost a lot of you know a lot of guys but uh was that kind of equipment Jim was that something that was less than the best yeah yeah
Uh at the I don’t know at the time I guess they thought it was great but even in on I wish I can get to in a moment but uh um I wound up from there as I say we joined the uh 643rd which came out of Connecticut Connecticut National Guard and uh
The uh equipment even we had them which I call one of the dumbest weapons that ordinance ever developed was a half track pulling a three inch gun and McNair General Leslie McNair got the idea that uh this was a great weapon and and the because we got a lot of guys
Came out of the um uh 610 or 608 a TD Battalion and they were they were m10s which was a good one that was a three inch mounted and then tank destroyers that say they’re open as you heard me mention out there uh so we couldn’t button up typically on
A tank you can pull the lid down and you know you can button up but uh we couldn’t but anyway back to the total load uh to go into action it was strictly a defensive weapon because you had to uncouple you had to get the TD
Off the or the TD the half track off the road turn the gun around this is what happened to us in the balls when we went in by that time you could have been wiped out oh yeah yeah and it was like wait a minute we’re not
Ready you know we got to turn this gun around here rules yeah yeah so it was really a stupid weapon and uh and that’s what we had we went into bulge and uh we needed the Bulge with that yeah yeah you were inside one of those things uh whatever
That was a 10-man crew I was a loader on that one man 10 man crew gun uh ammunition handlers and a half we’re in a half track and uh when we went in I don’t know where you want to pick up on over there in Europe well uh first of
All let me interface here uh you left Bragg I went to Gruber huh came Gruber Oklahoma oh that’s right near Muskogee so then you had but then you had to come by train across to the team we left after we finished training there and in fact one of the crazy things in service
We left one time and we left uh old Battalion which is 850 men yeah we went to Camp Swift Texas out of near Austin went down there did absolutely nothing so all of a sudden we turn around come back up to Gruber and then started getting ready for the overseas
Deactivated uh to go to Europe we had no idea where we’re going where did you Embark from uh Boston Boston out of Boston on a on a transport uh that was a like a liberty ship oh yeah the exceller in fact the division or the Battalion uh headquarters company and a company
Headquarters company we were on the acceler and then BNC company run another one called the Robert Sherwood two different trips or ships like that now this was the 634th 6th 43rd yeah when we went to Gruber that’s we were going into into that one okay yeah yeah
Because I’ve heard of that outfit before but it was about 75 tank destroyer battalions that we were structured and organized as battalions and we’re attached and detached and attached and detached and you had everything though as far as as Armament was concerned did they did you have machine guns well they then
Eventually after the what the we had the three inch gun that’s what we had there that was it but after the Bulge we converted over to self-propelled and we went to an M18 they called it Hellcat and we had a uh aircraft engine in our seven cylinder radial
And uh very fast in fact there’s a there’s a M18 up in Danbury Connecticut right now called The Amazing Grace up there they clocked that one at 51 miles an hour that’s a 22-ton full track on that one we had a five minute this is the one that uh we went across Germany
With 83rd five-man crew driver assistant driver Gunner which I was loader and a gun commander and we had a ring mount with a 50 caliber mounted uh you when when you got uh when you got across the water uh where did you go in shorebird we were the first Convoy into shoreburg
Yeah now were you still under General McNair no no no we’re not the McNair all he did was they had he was had the brainstorm of the half track pulling the three inch gun and that was his big idea we weren’t under him we went into the Bulge we were
First Army under Hodges yeah under Hodges first Army then he was he was a pretty good job he was a good one yeah yeah he was a good one there were some that weren’t too good Courtney Hodges yeah Courtney Hodges yeah forget that it was good well that that is
That’s just fascinating so okay so you got ashore in sherbourg and you formed up and uh then you just started we were in the apple orchards one in temporary just off of Normandy beach near Saint Mary glees I remember I remember going up or the cemetery there that was from
D-Day and I mean the Grays were still dirt and the wooden crosses and the dog tags on them and um someone up I went up to see that and we were there maybe three weeks something like that we was pretty wet we had uh tents we’d
Build up the size of them and then from there we moved down across into Brittany or the uh Channel Islands they call them Jersey or in the island there’s 10 000 Germans out there yeah we just left them out there yeah yeah and then uh we were there for a while
I had a little side light and you might be interested in we’re we’re guarding prisoners there one night we had no idea what we’re doing went down and this is kind of Interest all of a sudden I get a tap on the shoulder and uh I’d like to
Turn around it was a Loof German officer he said pardon me he said can you tell me where C company is I had no idea where in a house University county was I don’t know I’ll find out I said where’d you learn to speak such good English I
Mean he spoke better English than I did and he said Kent he went to Kent Kanye in England oh Kent University yeah went over there and here he has a liftoff officer very very interesting guys but then it then what becomes interesting is we uh a
Company which I was in third platoon a company uh headquarters headquarters and then they went into recon at that time Recon company we went up to Fontainebleau 40 about 26 miles out of Paris that was Napoleon’s Calvary School Chateau we were into Chateau we thought we had it made yeah we were supposedly
Going to be teaching uh cooks and Bakers because they were you know could run out of men or begin to get low and we’re going to teach them and um on one morning unfortunately about three in the morning being Chelsea comes in and everybody up roll them up you know
We’re moving out you know where are we going so anyway we headed out and then started heading north up into that was the that would have been the 20th of December 44. and 21st of December we went to town a man hey you know she had no idea
And what’s interesting on that is we’re pulling we’re going south and here comes the third R my columnist third or third armor tanks heading north you know we met we had to pull off so he could go by he said we know the guy said I don’t
Know where in the hell you guys are going but there’s nothing up there but Jerry’s but Germans well we found that out and we went to position about seven at night where the Germans entrenched no no no no no well I didn’t well I the first
Time at first I heard daddy that we went in about seven o’clock at night on the 21st about four in the morning I was on guard with the governor Benny ashbaugh and my buddy there we we were set up one gun here gun across the road about 75
Yards away then there were two downs of Crossroads called Parker’s Crossroads become pretty well known now quite a history with it and uh anyway uh all of a sudden I heard it was uh cloudy or cloudy foggy heavy fog cold snow and uh anyway I heard this a little bit
Lost Boy hello boys and they were being captured taking prisoner about 75 yards away and and I said I told the band I said I said hey man I said that’s not English that’s German yeah I says to everybody up let’s get the hell out of here they’re going to attack mayonnaise
So we got out there and hooked up and uh they’re right down the road you know from us I don’t know how we got out I have no idea how we got out you were lucky we were very lucky oh my God because they were those guys were
Prisoners for eight months is that so and they had a tough time they had a tough time well 75 yards you could you could see the enemy almost and we knew where they were but it was so foggy that morning yeah yeah and because the uh Tom Teeter whose brother Robert Teeter by
The way invented cruise control for cars uh out of Traverse City Michigan anyway uh he uh he wrote a journal as a copy of it if you like Rita sometime called captured this is what happened but anyway uh he said they told him to be quiet they
Didn’t want to alert the rest of us you know but I heard him we heard him you know Real playing so we got out of there went into man hey and now um you’re mentioning the 20th and 21st of December right 44. um where were you how close were you to the
Ardans that was the ordinance that was the art that is the Ardent you were right in the form oh yeah you were right in the heart of the Bulge oh yeah oh my gosh for sure oh my goodness sakes yeah so that was where your action basically
Was yeah right there well we got out of there and uh and from there we didn’t have our officer the we’re missing our platoon Sergeant he had been hit pretty bad he got Silver Star our Lieutenant he disappeared we were different stories on him I’ve got buddies that said they heard him being
Or saw him being interrogated by the Germans then there’s conflict that because then all of a sudden he came back he appeared it came back and uh so then we had a lieutenant again because all we were was squirt all by ourselves so we went into uh we’re at man hey
Christmas Eve 44. this is kind of interesting yeah this has been a book I’ve got for you if you want to read it anyway we’re set up in the Town Square in mayonnaise Christmas Eve and also here comes a it’s either third arm or seventh armored and we’re sitting there
In my mode I was loaded on that loader on that and uh Here Comes This one here’s the end the Sherman’s coming through if it’s one tank looked different you know and I told him Mo I said I don’t think that’s one of ours man and they’re right on top of you I
Was close almost as I am to you because they’re coming right by and uh so anyway it turned out to be Ernst Barkman who was highly decorated on cross with leaves and what had he knocked out I don’t know how many things he by mistake he got in the column
He got in the got in this seventh Harvard column oh and came through town real close to us and I had heard it he got knocked out but found out he got out of the common head hit his panther panther tank after he got out of the college yeah he got
Out of the column and hid you should have stayed in yeah well no well he was right on top of us we couldn’t have fired anyway and then uh so finally we we pulled out of there went up a hill where we retreated I literally saw the American
Army in almost chaos I had to to get out I couldn’t even get my half track because I had to go out on a bumper I literally rode the bumper out and we got up on the up on a hill there and and a dreary officer said but this gun fire
Was yesterday and he said well get it in action and then we just because the German or Germans that captured it down capture man hey and then then another officer came along and said yes you’re gonna have to be careful he said Jerry’s got some of our equipment you know so
What are you going to do here comes a you know here comes the Sherman tank and all of a sudden his Germans in it instead of good you know instead of like it was kind of the whole bulge and I mean it was all it was unbelievable oh
It was well now were you anywhere near malmodee or the I wasn’t but I saw signs on Melody Signs Now Mel Partridge who I mentioned to you who would be a great guy he just fell and broke his neck though that’s the trouble fell down
Steps and broke his neck Milt was with a lieutenant he was like a scout with him and they were going all right they were going in the Jeep he saw the bodies in the field he did yeah he saw the bodies and uh and I didn’t
Know yeah 123 of them they had numbers had numbers and all of them and he saw them and uh and I didn’t I didn’t all I ever saw was Melody and best stone yeah yeah I saw the signs yeah we were at a town of man hey and then we wound up at
Hoofa laws Spa stay below were you anywhere near McAuliffe General well that would have been best done that’s best that’s South that was south of us oh I see yeah okay yeah well um uh Jimmy tell me about the uh I I think your family and your friends who will see this
DVD would be interested to know for example I always like to find out what was your equipment like did you have adequate equipment good good boots good well I remember getting cut in the winners yeah oh yeah oh my God I remember comment getting combat boots
And I wanted them so bad because we had those goofy leggings remember out of whirl with the hooks on them where you got a real dumb guy was when they had the hooks inside because you catch them you know wrong side yeah you had to get them outside and you kind of
Lace them up you know but and then we got combat boots and we I want them in fact I I they weren’t even my size the big thing there was so cold the coldest winter in 40 years in Belgium and you had a lot of Frozen feet a lot
Of Frozen hands uh the big secret was trying to stay dry you had to stay dry and uh so fortunately I never got that but we had some guys frostbite terrible frostbite yeah a lot of it oh God yeah well you know it’s just fascinating what
You have done and what you saw and and and you know being so close to the enemy is weird you were really now you you did you did get wounded how did that happen do what now you got wounded no no no no no no that’s right
No no no I didn’t I was lucky I didn’t get hit oh I see ahead thank God okay mindless mistake on that um but you were fired at weren’t you oh yeah yeah it just didn’t hit you no uh and what’s interesting is is the way we
Were set up there’s this Crossroad if you want to do some history uh look up on you know on computer Parker’s Crossroads in Baltimore that’s where we were it was there this Parker was uh took over out of the 82nd we were attached 82nd Airborne that’s who we’re attached to
Then yeah and uh if we’re on this Crossroads see this route 15 went to liege and fortunately if they would have kept their timetable they were trying to get to a big gas and one of the big reasons remember uh Cunningham was wrong with him and he asked Walter that Yeah
We actually won they ran out of gas yes that was a big thing the Germans yeah they ran out of gas yeah and they were trying to get to this big gas dump and in this roadblock we were one of the roadblocks that slid them down there are
Partners Crossroads that that was really crucial wasn’t it yeah yeah that they were cut off from their supplies right yeah oh boy see you have you just lived some tremendous history now you got through there when did you finally get out of the Ardennes well way after that
I didn’t finish up and I went when we were up on that Hill yeah and this guy came up and the saucer came up he said be careful you know we got Germans got some of our equipment well how do you tell I mean Here Comes here’s almost comes
The Sherman up through you’re not going to fire on your own equipment so we’re by ourselves in all honesty we finally said to hell with it let’s get out of here so we took off and we went back and got in a barn and uh didn’t know where
We were had no idea and all of a sudden womb because we’d gone back pretty far what we found out we were right across the road from a 240 millimeter Hauser and every time it’s fired it would just lift you it would just lift you right
Off the off the ground 240. yeah but then then we wound up Lieutenant McCarthy came down took over Commando we finally hooked up with him and then we went back into towns like Steve Aloha mentioned who follow us and we were then with them and then again you’re attached
And detached that’s it were a number of your buddies we lost uh one two three we lost four guys killed we had someone who had 16 taken prisoner no kidding yeah and uh platoon just if that happened didn’t you you were so lucky yeah very
Lucky I have no idea how we got out good Lord his hand on us oh he really is well uh okay so then the idea was now you mentioned liaise of course that’s in Belgium yeah yeah it’s just over there you know Germans are trying to get to the going up route 15.
But they didn’t get much further than that they well they got the band hey and then they were in the gas problem I guess and then 82nd and other funny drove them back out and then well the big things so and Dan is our friend Danny White comes in the
Sun came out Christmas Day 44 and then the air the Air Force was able to fly yeah and when that happened when they fled then the Tigers who we couldn’t handle you know and then even the heavier uh we saw this Vapor Trails up there and
Uh I know Danny flew three missions that day but uh anyway uh that was then that was a big turning point because that way those fighter bombers could come in and really attack the tank columns and what have you and then they started retreating they had to retreat because
They ran out of gas for one thing and uh so anyway uh that was pretty much the end of the Bulge ended about July January 10th I’d say of 45. and then did it just the the environment just sort of opened up for you so yeah then we went up into
Holland we got out of there and even to this day it’s quite a bit of a still fuzzy and talked a lot we went into Holland and then we converted over eventually we converted to uh around February of uh 45 converted from the out of that stupid half track and towed gun
To an M18 uh Destroyer Hellcat yeah which was good except again we could move fast and then I became an instant Gunner on that we went on I fired 10 Rounds and but I’d fart also out in the Gruber and uh so then we went to five-man cruise in
That on the M18 now how thick was the armor on that not that thick about an inch not even that we had I had I had we used to carry the Infantry the 83rd division we got attached to 83rd that’s all the armor we had oh my gosh
Yeah that that was just a 50 caliber would almost penetrate it oh yeah guy at infantry guys that every I had Robbie Ohio my Steel there’s a Robbie said uh you know what the hell is this stop not much of anything so we had that we
Had an open turret and uh yeah the whole thing oh my God so then we went up you could close the turret no we didn’t have a tour it’s open all the time it’s all open all the time your head was up there and I had trouble I had a periscopic
Site and I had a telescopic site and the Periscope periscopic you’re supposed to be able it was like this and supposed to be able to pick up your target yeah I had trouble with that I couldn’t do it so I’d stick my head up
Do you pick it up you know and then go back down to get on a telescopic sure but anyway we then got attached to the 83rd division which was a great division Ohio Indiana and Kentucky or Pennsylvania and we went across Germany with them all the way across Germany you did across
The elbe river a town of Barbie which is below magdeburg we were the only for as I know American troops went over the Elk River we wound up 40 miles from Berlin in fact I talked to a lady last night and uh coming back from Milwaukee and
She’s from Berlin I talked to her a little bit last night we were 40 we were 40 miles from Berlin we met the Russians there that’s as close as you got pardon me that’s as close as you got to Berlin to Berlin yeah and something a little bit
Interesting there when we crossed the Yelp on the other side I had a German woman grabbed me by the legs and these shoes and my Kinder don’t shoot my children yeah and I’m gonna shoot your joint you know scared to death because they had to propaganda you know but then
When we were over there well we had we had some pretty good I got a locomotive I knocked out a locomotive on on Barbie and uh anyway we get across the river across the elm and we have some Far fight over there and uh but we finally
Finished that and we’re getting ready to come back over the L but everything’s were pretty much winding down and uh Yak Russian fighter was up there and I stayed through skiruzki and uh this one then it wasn’t the same one I don’t know with but the women were
Petrified that the Russians were coming with good reason because probably every one of them got raped a terrible in fact they would come up they’d come up to you my name I go you I go with you in the back over the L because they knew what was coming
Much Russians I mean they were Yanks they’re Russians they were bad they were they were in fact I got a buddy of mine who just stood up in Laconia they were so-called freeze but the Russians liberated yeah like in prison camp Stalag 4. he said free to hell we were
Recaptured yeah the Russians were almost as bad as the Germans were they were so suspicious oh another thing I didn’t really I think I may have shown you the picture they were their when they met us when we met them because we’re all in fatigues and typical
They got all their medals on they’re all dress uniform they got their hats and the whole bed they were big yeah on display yeah they were well Walter said that’s importance to them sure that makes them important makes them important yeah well that’s communism yeah that’s communism keeping people
Down yeah yeah well Jimmy now listen where are we now we’re you’re working your way you cross the Alp now when you got across the Yale then then you went South well actually it was pretty much over by that time and we came back we would come back over the hill we went
Into harsh mountains bad horseburg and went in there and uh which didn’t do much of anything really because it was pretty much done may have 45 the war in Europe War ended yep so uh from there we went down the Audubon down to Frankfurt and went into an Airfield bad in allheim
Bad Friedberg there they started to move to come home and uh of course then we were going to go to come back to America and go to invade Japan that’s what we’re heading for there oh boy so then I wrote we were at 40 and 8’s remember here 40 and 8th
Out of World War One for 40 horses we rode in those yeah wooden knows still alive camp like a strike and left her and we came the whole Battalion came back on a ship this sea robin came into Newport News Virginia and uh got 30-day furloughs you know come three days
And then wound up we came back to anytime Gap and from there we went to uh cross country went to uh San Luis Obispo California oh yeah sure and went into so-called by we had enough points I had enough points I had 54 points and he had over 30 days
Furlough did you get a chance oh yeah okay saw your family yeah then you had to go back and then they said you across the country you went across the country we’re heading for Japan but while we’re going on train to California we dropped the bomb we dropped the bomb dropped the
Atomic bomb and they changed some plans of another 104th actually my discharge reads 334th Infantry Regiment 104th division Timberwolves and because we wound up attached okay we were deactivated but we had most of the guys had points sure we’d been in because they came out some of them went in in 41. the
Connecticut guard and those we had some old sailors that I had contact with I want to get back to your your your your amazing amazing action and and so forth did you have personal contact with the 82nd Airborne Personnel well just more observation than anything else you know
I had one instrument I gotta be careful what I say but anyway anyway we went out of Manatee we the next morning the 82nd when we went back up trying to get to our guys thinking you know maybe they were still there and uh because well let’s see what that would have been
Yeah that would have been the next day we went back up there with the 82nd and we couldn’t get to them I had the highest respect for the the paratroopers oh yeah Medics but the one I respect morning by the medics to see those guys walking in Under Fire with uh that just
All they got that Red Cross sure bag on there but anyway getting back to this guy we’re sitting there I’m sitting there on a uh at that time in that half in a half track with a gun and here’s a curve coming around and here comes this
One pair of two all by himself walking all by himself and he’s cussing I jumped and Sicily I jumped in D-Day and he and he got hit by a damn Ricochet he’s bleeding he’d bleeding out his nose bleeding out right here in mouth he’s walking along get all myself yeah yeah and he’s
Crossing all at the same time you know it reminds you of Bill Malden yeah yeah it was it was he was but those guys they were so tough guys and then there was a we were for a while we were attached to a 617th regimental combat team and they were crazier than
They uh than 82nd were they yeah they were we had six wow yeah well we had this half track and we had chickens on it we had Frozen and then we had six of them of course we had the gun you know they we set up covering a bridge there
I’ve done this room coming down and they wanted a tank they said we’d they would can I fire that can I fire that gun yeah and the last thing I wanted to see was a German tank yeah you know any part of that but uh well those guys were
Fighters God they were good did you uh did you collect any souvenirs or anything yeah well I came back with a uh well the Sailor was kind of funny when we got on the I got a Luger I took a P-38 off a German prisoner then my dad
Wrote me and he said the son if you get out of Luger I’ve heard about Luger but I treated a guy traded a P-38 for Luger and I heard the girl going pretty good it had plastic on the handle and a picture of a gal in a bathing suit yeah
That was a good one and uh so I had that and then we were going across Germany and we captured a warehouse and I had a couple other we went up in and we’re throwing them out it was German Zeiss remember the Zeiss uh cameras and whatnot sure there were jerks yeah
Optics German officer field glasses so I brought back two pair of those good for you yeah I wound up selling them eventually but yeah right anyway uh so we had that I got on the ship and I never forget this coming your I know your Navy and the sailor come up and he
Said he says Soldier he said have you got any uh uh Luger ammo and I said yeah I got some he said uh how long has it been since you had ice cream and I said uh oh God you’re you know whatever sure that coke he said come
With me we went down in the down to holding now here’s the big freezers they had down there I’m down here in ice cream ice cream of course I gave you ammo you know he wanted some looter anymore yeah I’ll never forget that there’s there’s a Navy term for that the
What gee dunk mint ice cream sweets is that right and uh the the the area in in on the ship was what they call the GI dunk stand and uh was every other day we could get uh we could get a small container of uh homemade ice cream yeah anyway
Um now golly you’ve got so many wonderful stories here and I don’t want to run out of time on important things let’s um You Got Back uh you got the news about the the end of the war dropping of the atomic bombs and so forth right so then and you were
Where were you when you got that news we were on a train heading for California you were in California no we’re heading for California and they dropped the bomb then we wound up went on to San Diego went on to now went on to San Luis
Obispo yeah uh camp San Luis Obispo then they turned you around no well eventually uh the 104th division was there and they were training going to Japan going Japan but then we got deactivated and then we wound up getting assigned over to the 104th that’s the reason my discharge reads
334th regiment 104th division because I got discharged out of 104th not not the 643rd which I preferred right you know I wanted I would have rather had well you had a lot of spirit and a lot of camaraderie didn’t you oh yeah and I mean you’re you’ve got the guys that you
Trained with the guys that you fought with uh there’s something that I was kind of I was kind of funny in a way to the company that I was in the employer Fortuna was in actually third platoon we had uh Paisans Italian from New York and Brooklyn yeah now we had Pollocks from
Massachusetts Brockton and mass and Stanford all over Connecticut all up there but then Recon I I was on the division or the Battalion basketball team and and also the baseball team and most of those guys are some of my buddies were in Recon that’s where Partridge came from
Okay Melt and then Lou Reynolds who just I just heard just died down in Florida he got hit up on Barbie he’ll run along the eye here believe me and uh I got a little Side Story if you don’t mind absolutely a guy with named Mike
Defibio was killed in uh up on that Barbie and there is a tank destroyers groups Association I got this over in Holland there’s a Henry Chappelle Cemetery over there and most of the guys we lost are buried in that Cemetery and there’s a couple wrote over here
Wanting to know some they’re taking care they adopted too and evidently a lot of people do this or in which is great sure in Belgium they they put flowers in on the graves of American soldiers and it’s the fibio they want to know something about him and a guy named
McCart Cochran I think his name was and they’ve adopted he and his wife adopted these two graves yeah like they were their sons sure I think that is sort of oh isn’t it that is so neat yeah they do that evidently and they wanted to know something
And then Robbie good friend of mine who’s up in Washington Ohio and he came very close to getting him that’s he was he these the fibio was in his M8 when they got hit and uh he knew how to reach the fibio’s sister and put them in that family came over
And they met him it’s quite a story oh my goodness I should say well the French have done a wonderful job I understand I’ve never been there but in maintaining those cemeteries and everything I guess you know and unfortunately we did not have our have you talked a lot of World War II
Guys we didn’t think too highly the French well I know of the uh not at all not even the civilians no I’ll be darned in fact I’ll give you a little sideline we were at fontablo we had just liberated Paris like a month or two before lost
Guys and everything else we got in knowing him one day into Paris went to the Follies Brazil or the girly show you know I had to pay to go into the John I had to pay to get out for Heavens yeah so many Franks I don’t know what it was
Yeah I had to pay it again I had to pay yeah well but we didn’t there’s a lot of things happen Belgium people Belgium were great belgians were great that frankly as crazy as sounds you wound up having respect for the Germans yes for the you know those guys were no
Different than who we were yeah there was so many of them were addressed I mean they they were locked in they couldn’t do anything I mean they were you know and well um and I got discharged about December 15th of 45 I got home for Christmas
Yeah yeah so you were you were in what three years from 42 yeah 42 to 45. wow and then I have four years of Reserve right I wanted to reserve for four I went in for three and Truman’s put added on another year called Truman’s year yeah now did you
Were you in the Korean War too no no you have to go to that no that’s good well that was during that same time yeah but you were in yeah I was in The Reserve at that time yeah I remember playing ball at uh Deer Creek Commons and uh the
Headlines in the paper that day 50 000 reservers called to active duty in my mind one name I had a little girl at that time married and had a little girl who’s Now 60 up in Wisconsin I just came back from and uh I thought I was gone
But we were gone and that was a terrible thing yeah well now tell us about uh peacetime you got back uh you met a gal that you married and yeah uh May or met her May the 18th uh 47. and we were married the 22nd of November the same year six months later
I was ready to get married from Northern Kentucky we had a Moonlight Gardens just from Dayton Kentucky girl yeah good old Moonlight yeah dreamed about that man stuff yeah oh my gosh yes I had a pretty good deal the guy Tabby on the gate on the main gate
He was my high school basketball coach he let us in free and act like he’d act like he’s charged as he was we got it free and then Moonlight Gardens three or four of the managers were friends of mine I got I had a cheap date it worked
Out pretty good yeah well you were on the east side there yeah right down over the hill yeah you and oh River Downs right there and everything did you ever have any contact with the horse race business no no I’m not a I’m not a horse race person so now uh when
You’re married you had children two girls two girls unfortunately we lost our youngest daughter 23. and 77 uh she had a seven month old and a two-year-old she died of a acute coronary myopathy and then my son-in-law remarried mother two grandmas raised a little little guys the boys
Who the two-year-old has done two tours in Iraq got the Bronze Star Destroyer oh I admit you met him somebody at your house that well that probably was Matt that could have been the youngest then I don’t think Bry was in then right now I’ve got Brian is he’s got 10 years and
He’s going to do the career go to a career now right right now he’s in command with special forces down a Bragg Fort Bragg wow and then I mentioned earlier my great grandson who just made a great great grandfather out of me he graduated the Citadel and a commissioned officer and went to
Um he’s right now he’s down in Fort Campbell Kentucky 101st Airborne and it was his he’s scheduled to go to Afghanistan in February which oh gosh again it worries me oh my goodness yeah yeah that is I’m fearful about Afghanistan yeah so many of you know the British the
Russians the Chinese of all oh gee well Jim and this is just this has just been so terrific now you had a successful career are you an insurance other than sales Insurance business I’ve been in sales I was in sales most of my life yeah I know
Yeah and I have a particular feel about that but you’ve always been here you didn’t move to California well I went in and insurance I went into uh home office at one point I’m just about every position there and I was invited in and then back in 63
I went into Boston in the home office of John Hancock oh yes the idea at that time was you went in you spent a year or two up there you visited other General agencies you talked to the gas you observed you know to prepare you to take
Over sure and I wound up in Quad Cities out on Iowa and Illinois I had 22 counties in Eastern Iowa and five in Western Illinois how long were you there two years or about two and a half years yeah and uh she always wanted to got caught up in politics uh the
Superintendent of agencies put his brother-in-law in so what are you gonna do and uh so then yeah so then I wound up I came back to Cincinnati managers on life out of Canada they were looking for someone and uh things kind of fell together good for you and eventually I wound up going
Back to Hancock but yeah that’s pretty much yeah you you’ve just you’ve been an amazing wonderful Citizen and uh I am very proud of and I mentioned a little bit earlier a lot of military history in the family yes uh uh great great awkwardness most of the
Civil War coming out of Civil War but I want to graduate of West Point he retired a major general and he died of six then he had more things in his life is the first one to climb Mount Rainier for station Fort Stella convolution you gave me that thing to read about that
Yeah I love that climb out Rainier and then he wounded twice with the Indians he is in on the capture of Morgan uh uh he was a Cavalry General and he’s also the military commissioner tried to Assassin as a booth of Lincoln and that his brother Albert was
And he was a wound up a rear Admiral retired out of Annapolis he went to Annapolis Navy 1895 I think he was command of the Pacific Fleet wow and the sailing ships I guess at that time whatever they had well in the 1990s they were it was it
Was pretty much steamed by this was it steam then yeah okay and then of course right after that you know just the turn of the century 1906 it was a Great White Fleet okay President Roosevelt sent around the world yeah but uh the councils that’s a
Family right and as you and I have talked there are councils here in this area right right and um I gotta call him so you’ve got a you’ve got a tremendous background and uh just a a wonderful story to tell and uh sadly you lost your wife yeah two and a
Half years ago two and a half years ago lost her daughter yeah that’s we had two girls and your other daughter’s up she’s up in Wisconsin yeah she’s up there doing very well that is so nice and I’m just sure she’s so proud of her game my goodness sakes
I think so yeah any any other incident particular that you’d like to tell us about we’ve got a couple of minutes well uh I just just recently uh I met I met some of the kind of ironic my wife had COPD and she smoked for 45 years and as
She said nobody held a gun to her head you know to make her smoke but she did and eventually I lost her life and uh White Burly tobacco was discovered on my great grandfather he was a company commander in the uh 50 G company 59th Ohio regiment in Ohio saw
A lot of the battles much in the battles but it was discovered Roy Burley was discovered on his farm and there’s a monument right now up in Ripley Ohio uh in front of the tobacco Museum up there is a tobacco Museum yep and I was up there Sunday
And got to see a guy portraying my grandfather great grandfather that was kind of interesting I should say so about 140 years old yeah well this this country of course you know you mentioned the Ohio yeah the OVI Ohio volunteer and infantry so uh such tremendous history of Civil War okay we
Got a couple of minutes uh any other funny incident that you can think of about uh being in the Bulge for example I’m trying to think you told us about the Germans in the tanks and the yeah that’s an amazing story well you mean Barkman yeah yeah oh goodness yes there
Was George winter I think I think he just passed away he wrote several books on the balls he was fascinated with it and uh one of them was Manhattan the Ardennes which I have we got the first two pages in there but he got to know bartmann very well
And they went to each other’s home and so forth but it’s still intriguing and uh that those guys say a lot of them I mean soldiers are soldiers and I do have one little story might interest you might add and this if I get time in a
Bit we when we’re 83 going across my daughter always insisted when I gave any kind of a talker I need to mention this uh we did the 83rd took a town for 329th at the regiment or through 29 at the regiment and uh it unfortunately it’s amazing
Killed a couple of GIS in the uh 329th and the next town we came into it took a pretty quick and typically what happens when you take that you set up a perimeter defense and if you got a crossroad here you’re going to set up a gun or a tank or two
Cover that in case you have a counter attack you know to come back so this town I don’t remember could have been bad lips right I don’t know what it was but anyway we covered this Crossroad and if there’s a house around you’re not going to sleep on the ground or you’re
Not going to sleep on top of your tanker TD if you go in the house go in the house which we did our and our driver broad seller spoke fluent German and I remember going up these steps and the house fraud I know we scared the hell
Out of her as you can imagine she didn’t even know we’re there and but serious clicking or something making cookies I don’t know what you’re doing but we finally told her that we wouldn’t go to herder we’re going to take anything but we still had this incident with the
Guys you know the civilians that killed a couple of 83 guys so anyway she had three sons she brought these pictures out telling her about her three sons in the German Army I don’t know where her husband was she never didn’t mention him but she had her three sons one was in
Russia and one was in Italy maybe the other one she didn’t know where he was oh my goodness but anyway uh we went to bed that night and two of us in a bed we told her it stays she could stay in her room in the corner and they’re just a
Dim light interest to remember this told the story enough I guess anyway I I saw the door open and I wasn’t sleeping but I act like it was I pulled the covers back because I didn’t know what she was going to do because she came in came to our bed
And stood there looking I couldn’t I got one eye yeah watching her and had to cover it if I she had a gun or a knife I was going to take her down you know anyway she stood there and looking down at us and all of a sudden she reached
Down and took the covers and isn’t that she doesn’t know whether she was making believe that we were her sons home or hoping maybe a mother somewhere else was you know but probably didn’t she probably I never forgotten that one and then my daughter always insists of
You know want me to tell the story but that’s beautiful yeah beautiful story Jim thank you sir you’re welcome my pleasure and especially with a dear friend such as you to have this great story and I know that your family and your friends are going to love seeing this DVD thank you