Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Harold Smith was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Spelling errors are indicated with [sic]; however, recurring errors in spelling within a single document have been marked the first time and not subsequently.
Mr. Smith, were you drafted, or did you enlist?
I was drafted.
And what was your family's reaction to that?
Really, my dad had a bar in town here in those days. And I graduated in 1940. I went to business college for a year in town. And at that time I did not have an automobile of my own.
Mm-hmm.
So I took my dad up to where our tavern was to open it up on Sunday noon, and I was waiting for him to give me the okay to use his car --
My.
-- because my wife lived in Niagara. She was my girlfriend at the time. Niagara, Wisconsin, which is only seven miles away from here.
Okay.
He turned on the portable radio in the back bar right after he opened up the bar -- the doors. They announced that Pearl Harbor was attacked. And so I told my father right at that moment, "Dad, I want to enlist in the air force." He says, "Nope." He says, "You have three sisters. You're the only boy in the family." And he says, "I don't think you should go." He says, "I think they'll get you soon enough." October of the following year I was drafted.
My. Was there any particular reason that you chose to serve in the army, or did they assign you to the army?
I was sent to Sheridan, Illinois. I was interviewed by a sergeant there. He didn't say what I'd like to be in, but after he got done, he said, "Well, Soldier, you're in the army now."
My.
He says, "What would you like to be in?" And I said, "I just love the big guns." I said, "I'd like to be in the artillery."
Mm-hmm.
So that's where he put me, in the artillery. I was in the artillery from the start when I went in the service until I came out in 1946.
And what did you think of boot camp?
Boot camp was all right, but you have to remember. We were all young, and I had just turned 21 when I was in the service, and it's all new to you as far as that's concerned. I never went to any camps or anything in the summertime like that. So I went directly in from civilian life. It wasn't -- I didn't consider it being very hard --
Mm-hmm.
-- because it was all new to me. I was learning all this. So I don't -- I didn't have any objections to whatever they said to do. I think I did it, whatever they said. I kind of enjoyed it because I had never been where there was -- outside of high school with another group of men around my age or younger or older.
Mm-hmm.
So . . .
Did you think you had good instructors?
I thought I did, yes.
And where did they send you for boot camp?
My first camp was Camp White, Oregon.
Hmm.
That was already a division. The fact is, I was put in the 91st Infantry Division at Camp White, Oregon.
Hmm.
That's -- that's where I had boot camp training.
Where did they send you?
I was right with my division. That's where I took my training was right with the division that I was with.
My. Where did they send you after that?
Well, after that, with the artillery -- we did have a training center for artillery. I was in 105 Howitzers.
Oh, my.
They did send us up to Yakima Valley, Washington. That was a training center for big guns. We would go up there for a couple of months to the training. And in the meantime, we heard that they were starting another new division.
Hmm.
So they had -- I was a corporal at the time.
Wow.
So they came and interviewed each one of us and wanted to know if we would like to go on a cadre. If you're not familiar with a cadre, the cadre is a group of soldiers, teachers that they're taking from one division to start a new division, and they are going to be the teachers for all the new recruits that came in.
My.
So they interviewed me. The fact is at that time I had elected to be a cook. I wanted to be a cook in the artillery. We had 75 men to feed.
My goodness.
So when I was interviewed, he said, "Would you like to go on a cadre for the new division?" I said, "Yes, I would." So shortly after is when we got -- I believe that was up in Yakima Valley, first of all. But then we got back to Camp White, Oregon. Then they said, "Pack up. You're leaving. You're going to Camp Adair, Washington," which is the new division -- at that camp, our new division, the 17th Infantry Division, was forming there. So we were moved there. The cadremen were moved to Camp Adair. That's when I started with the division.
And what did you teach while you were there? What was your responsibility?
Mine was -- well, mostly it was learning.
Oh, okay.
Because I was a cook, and there was learning as you -- as you learn cooking, you're learning more all the time as you're doing it, you know.
Mm-hmm.
And then you did -- you were -- you were like a teacher, but you were still preparing the meals for the rest of the fellows, and the new recruits as they came in, you were feeding them.
Mm-hmm.
So you were learning from books that we had, on recipe books, how much to serve. And then you also had -- like we had a mess sergeant.
Mm-hmm.
In the kitchen we had a mess sergeant, a first cook, and a second cook. Now, I was the first cook. I had a mess sergeant. His name was Spinx (ph), his last name, from Texas. And I was the first cook. I was a sergeant. I was the first cook. And there was another one that was the second cook.
My goodness.
So actually our training was mostly in the kitchen.
Mm-hmm.
Because that was our duty.
Yeah.
We had to go train with the guns. We had to go -- if we had an hour or so time off, we had to go and learn how the gun was operated. And there were ten-men teams for each gun. So we had to go with the -- with the team and learn how -- what they did, which was -- the main thing about it was we had a cannoneer. We had other -- I wouldn't -- helpers, you might call them, or soldiers, and one deal we had to perform was there was about four of us on a big canvas on the ground behind the gun, and the gun -- the cannoneer would call for a three-shot. So we would have to take the casing away from the lead in the shell, a howitzer shell, which was about this big and about that big around. We'd have to take the casing away from the lead on the ground, and inside there was five bags of shot attached to each other with just like a string.
Huh.
So if they called for a three-shot, you took off two of them and broke it off and threw that in the pile. Later on that was burned. So then we would put those shells back in the casing, put the lead back on, and when that was completed, you'd send it to the next soldier, and he'd send it over to the next. Finally it would get over to where the cannoneer -- where -- the one that would put the gun in the case -- in the gun -- put the -- put the shell in the gun. He would put it in there, and then the cannoneer would pull the cord and shoot the -- fire the gun. But this was all training. We never fired anything at that time.
Wow.
This was the training, what we had to do, so . . .
So the three-shot, was that required to be done very quickly, to take it apart and --
Yes --
My goodness.
-- it was. This -- this was -- yeah. It was timed for -- when you're getting to the lower part at the time because they called for that, and you had to do it right away.
My.
So . . .
And I imagine at times that kind of thing could be very dangerous.
Well, any gun is dangerous.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and the rifle. And then also we had -- we had carbine guns, which -- in that division we had carbine rifles, which was a smaller -- a smaller gun compared to what the infantrymen used. They had another different kind of a gun.
Okay.
But it was a smaller -- a smaller rifle. So we had to learn how to use those also.
So when you were cooking, what kind of food did you prepare for the men? Was it pretty much like what Mom used to make at home, or . . .
We had recipe books. We also did our own meat cutting.
Wow.
We used to get in a cow, and they would be all cut in bigger halves, and then we would have to take it and cut it up for our food and put it in the refrigerators or in the freezers and that. But then we did have big -- I still have them at home. We had big cut -- beef-cutting books, one for beef, one for pork, such-and-such a thing. And then we had a recipe book for recipes for 100 men.
Oh, my.
So everything you would cook with was for 100 men in our battery. Infantry was different.
Mm-hmm.
Okay. You would cook for more men. So . . .
How many men did you usually have at a meal?
Well, like I say, 75 men.
My goodness.
That was just a battery. Now, say you had four gun batteries.
Oh, my.
So . . .
You must have cooked just amazing amounts of food.
Well, we did. We really enjoyed it.
I imagine.
We learned a lot. And one thing about our mess sergeant, he was from Texas. He was in the army quite a while before.
Mm-hmm.
But he demanded that when we were on duty, we always had to cook some kind of desserts.
Oh.
Cakes, pies. We always made sure we made some of those for the rest of the soldiers so that they'd still have some of that, and not just plain meat and potatoes and peas and carrots and stuff like that, so --
Right. Well, I imagine they burned off lots of calories --
Sure.
-- so they had to eat well.
The fact is -- can I show you something?
Absolutely. I'd be happy for you to. Oh, my.
This is my certificate for . . .
Huh. School for Bakers and Cooks, Certificate of Proficiency. Dehydrated foods course.
That's right. I was the instructor for dehydrated foods.
My. So did they teach you how to reconstitute the dehydrated foods?
Whatever there was. There wasn't too much in those days. But they did -- like the milk, they got it in as powder, you know.
My.
And several things like that.
Was this something that they had started doing just because of the war, dehydrating foods, or had they had them before?
No. No. They started -- that started during the war. I don't know exactly when it started, but . . .
My. So they wanted to be able to issue the dehydrated foods and have you get them ready and --
Yeah. Like I say, we had classes for that, too, you know, the dehydrated foods, so . . .
What kind of dehydrated foods did you have?
I can't recall now.
Oh, my.
I just can't recall all of them now.
Did the men usually like the food or --
Some they did; some they didn't. It's just like today. You have a lot of powdered milk.
Right.
A lot of people don't like it.
Right.
And other people do like it.
Huh.
To me I think -- I think it was great at that time because we needed it at that time.
Sure.
We couldn't carry milk or anything like that, liquids. You had to have powder, so . . . It's so far back now, and I don't recall.
Mm-hmm.
The only way I could tell would be to get my cookbook out, and then I could tell what -- which was -- what was dehydrated and what wasn't, you know.
Did you have a favorite thing you liked to make for the guys?
Yeah. Well, one thing we liked to make, which the soldiers liked, S.O.S.
Really. What does that stand for?
Well, it was on a shingle.
Oh.
On a piece of bread? You probably --
Yeah. Oh, my goodness. So what was it made --
But that was good because we made it -- we flavored it very good. It was just like -- something like -- like making a hash, you know.
Huh.
It was similar to that.
But the men didn't care for it or . . .
I don't think -- but it all depends now. We were in the artillery, and we took pains in cooking it and making it palatable, you know. So we always did -- our mess sergeant at that time always made sure that we seasoned things good.
Right.
So . . .
Maybe the name kind of deterred them, huh, from enjoying it like they should have.
Sure, sure.
So after you remained parked there, where did you go from -- from there?
Well, from Camp Adair -- incidentally I did -- I then got married in Camp Adair.
Did you?
Yes. My wife lived in Niagara, Wisconsin, here, which was only seven miles away from Iron Mountain.
Mm-hmm.
We had started going together in 1939.
Oh, my.
And so I went into the service in '42. We were engaged. Back then you would get engaged. And then in -- I came home for a weekend furlough, and we had decided we were going to get married.
Mm-hmm.
So she came -- she was 20 years old, too, like me, or 21. She came all the way out to Oregon by train.
Oh, my.
And she told me, she says, it was scary. All there was was GIs on the train. It was just loaded with soldiers going someplace, you know.
Oh, my goodness.
But she had met a woman -- an elderly woman there, and she asked where she was going, and she told her, I'm going to Portland, Oregon. That was only 85 miles away from our camp.
My.
I was supposed to pick her up there. So she said -- "Well," she says, "I'm going to go to Portland. I have a daughter there." And she said, "You just stick with me. You be my daughter," she says, "and I'll make sure that you're taken care of," which she did. So -- and she had never left home before outside of -- she used to go to India, Minnesota, with her folks on a vacation where she was born.
Oh, my. So I bet that was really --
So we got married on the post. There was two witnesses, two soldier buddies of mine, witnesses. There was the chaplain on the post's chapel. We got married. After that, we went from the camp, Camp Adair, we went up to -- some of these names -- Eugene, Oregon, which was roughly around 25 miles away from our camp.
Mm-hmm.
We went up there for our wedding dinner.
Oh, my.
Came back to camp. My wedding night, my wife spent it alone in our apartment. I had to go out in the field. They call them "overnight problems."
Oh, sure.
We had to go overnight on the training there for overnight, camping out. That was my wedding night.
So she had been able to find or had you found an apartment for you?
Yes. We had -- I think we had a room at that time.
Okay.
That's all it was, a room.
Oh, dear.
So . . .
So after you came back from the overnight problem, did you get to go to your apartment then or --
Oh, yeah. Then I lived with her.
Well, that's --
I had a room -- in this barracks we had, we had a -- they had for the privates and everything, the rest of the barracks, and we had rooms for this kitchen personnel up in the beginning there.
Oh, okay.
We had our own room there. And she -- we had -- I think, first of all, we had a one-room apartment.
Mm-hmm.
And then we got -- the fact is later on we rented a house, a small house with another couple --
Okay.
-- that had just got married, too. So, yes, she was -- she was with me all the time I was there. And then we were -- we were supposed to go overseas --
Mm-hmm.
-- to the war. So we were going by convoy down to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. That was like a stepping point to our -- to going overseas.
Okay.
And we were there for roughly maybe six months or eight months training --
Mm-hmm.
-- there.
Was your wife able to follow, or did she have to stay?
No. Now, then, later on when I found out how long we would be there, my wife came down. She stayed there with me while I was there.
Oh, good.
She had an apartment. The fact is she only had one room. A one-room apartment is all we had, and it was a basement apartment. And we had an awful lot of company.
Oh.
We were coming in from a movie at night, and the cockroaches were going up and down the walls when we turned on the lights.
Oh, my. Oh, I bet that made it hard to sleep, knowing that.
You could hear them click, click, clicking, when they were bumping each other, you know.
Oh, my.
But my wife will never forget that.
Oh, I bet. What a wonderful memory, huh?
Yes. And so then we went there to -- you know, I have to look at some of these. I believe it was Boston where we shipped out.
My. Goodness. So you really traveled across the country there.
Yes. I think it was Boston. Well, they left the USA on January the 8th, 1945, and I arrived in Marseille, France, January 18th, 1945.
My. What were the conditions like when you arrived in France?
Well, one thing I should mention, our infantry of the division, which was maybe 30,000 soldiers, they went overseas before we were because they had to ship out because they were looking for -- they were losing so many men during the war. This was after D-Day. They were losing so many men and everything -- and this was part of D-Day, too -- that they were taking our division over to fill in for the soldiers that were being killed.
Oh, my.
So they went before we did. But then -- where is that? We left the U.S. January the 8th, 1945, arrived in Marseille, France, January the 18th, 1945. Entered combat around St. Jean-Rohrbach, France, on February the 9th, 1945. That was when I was first in combat. Yeah. So this here -- see, now, here, this is our division book.
Oh. Boy, what a treasure.
Here. See, they used to have some other task force -- Huron was dissolved, and the 70th division was a unit again. See, that's when our artillery and other parts of the division that makes up a division, then we were together with them again. So it took almost a week for the 274th, which was a battalion of infantry. It was almost a week to wind up its responsibilities with the century division. That's what they called it when they was over there, another division. When they finally arrived in the trailways area around St. Jean-Rohrbach, February 8th, the 78th was complete again. Its headquarters were in a bomb-damaged complex that had been living quarters for the families of French officers once assigned to the maginot line a few miles over.
My.
Now, that's -- that's exactly the dates that we started in combat.
And how many men were with your particular group at that time?
Oh, well, like I said again now -- I've got to kind of explain a little bit of this to you. This is stuff from the computer.
Oh.
I was in the 3rd -- I was in the 883rd field artillery battalion.
Okay.
Now, just listen to this. You are here. Support battalions, 883rd Field Artillery Battalion. 883rd Field Artillery Battalion. The artillery units consisted of the following: The 725th Field Artillery Battalion, 155-millimeter guns -- that's the big ones.
Mm-hmm.
-- and 882nd Field Artillery Battalion, 105-mm, and 883rd Field Artillery Battalion, 105s. And the 884th Field Artillery Battalion, 105s. Now, that's the four different batteries.
Mm-hmm.
Each battery -- each battalion, I should say, had four-gun batteries.
Okay.
And, here. In addition, each of the infantry regimens had an attached anti-tank company, AT. The AT company had nine guns divided into three platoons of three guns each. There were ten men per squad with each man a gun. Each artillery battalion had three batteries. In the artillery battalions, a battery consisted of four guns. One gun and a battery was designed to debase peace. It would fire the first shot of engagement, and the adjacent three would adjust their aim for readings of the base cannon.
Hmm.
The 883rd Field Artillery Battalion, 105-mm, was usually in direct support of the 275th Infantry Regimen. See, now we supported them --
Mm-hmm.
-- if they called for fire. So our guns would fire some -- maybe it was a -- buildings or whatever it was, or maybe it was a group of German soldiers. I think there was a lot of them. They'd call for guns to hit certain areas, and we had observers for that. The fact is in our -- in our battery, we had -- the fact is that one of my closest buddies was a forward observer for our gun.
Mm-hmm.
He had a group of maybe four men, and they went forward, and they had to find out what the conditions were. They had field glasses and everything. They were forward -- FOs, forward observers.
Mm-hmm.
They would go ahead, and then they would tell the sergeant -- the commander of the battery. They'd tell them -- the battery commander would tell them what happened or they needed some shells in certain-certain areas. They would give the firing commands, and our guns would fire over toward where it was needed. So that's that -- that's kind of an explanation of the 883rd.
Now, you'd been trained as a cook when you were in France. Did you spend more time cooking or more time with the guns?
We had -- during the war now, we had -- we had field kitchens. There was a big like -- at that time all the guns were like trailers.
Okay.
I've got a picture of one. I got it in a different place.
So they could be wheeled along?
Yeah. We had a big what they call a 2 1/2-ton truck.
Okay.
That's what the truck was we had. And our kitchen was in the back of this truck. It had a canvas top.
Oh, my.
Our kitchen was in there. We had two camp -- two gasoline-operated stoves, and they were, oh, about that wide, about the width of that.
Mm-hmm.
And so high like that. It was a big box. It had ovens in the bottom, and you could fry things on the top.
-- my goodness.
Fry grills and that. We had two of those in the truck, and then we had a big wooden refrigerator, like a freezer. That was in the truck also there and the other equipment. Then we had a trailer.
Mm-hmm.
And our trailer kept a lot of equipment that we had, too. We had a covered trailer with it that was on the rest of our equipment. So -- but then during combat after we got done feeding, say that so many servers came in at a time for lunch, you know, they'd come in, and as soon as our shift was over -- say that we went on for 24 hours. Cooks always had shifts.
Okay.
24 on, 24 off, we used to call it. You used to work for 24 hours, and then you were off for 24.
Oh, my.
You made three meals in a day. So like during the wartime service, as soon as you had your duty done, you'd go in and you'd rest awhile, and then you'd have -- if they were firing the guns at that time, well, then you had to go work on the guns. Like I said, you had to sit behind the guns, and when they'd call for a shot with other -- with other units, a couple of the other cooks, too, we were with that group of men, and we'd have to work -- whoops -- with their shells of guns.
Almost like double duty, wasn't it?
Yeah, it was. But I mean --
It was necessary.
You had to do what you had to, you know, so . . .
Yeah. Was combat intense at those times?
Yes. Like I say, now that -- it's -- it's hard to -- there used to be German shells coming over. Some of them they used to call them "screeching meemies" because all you would hear is sheeee, sheeee, sheeee.
Oh.
They'd whistle like that. They'd go overhead, and maybe they'd land in back or something like that, you know.
Mm-hmm.
But mostly, though, like I say, the infantry had all the combat.
Mm-hmm.
Because they would fire -- our guns would fire shells and say like clear the area for them to move in and take over. If it was a town, they'd move in.
Mm-hmm.
It's too bad I can't show you a lot of stuff I got --
Oh, yeah.
-- because there's a lot of -- there's a lot of different things that are on -- that go on with it, you know.
Mm-hmm.
So . . .
Were there often casualties of the men that were firing the guns from being -- you know, return fire or --
I don't recall of any in our battery, but I just had -- they sent me this, too.
Oh, my.
This is memorials that they put over in France and Germany; the division put over there.
Okay.
That's the 75th Infantry Division. Now -- this is one of the guns.
Oh, my goodness.
That's one of the artillery guns that we had. They were just like -- they were on wheels. They were towed behind one of those trucks like we had, so -- and they were set up in different places, see? Now, this is a 155 howitzer.
Okay.
That's the big one I told you. There was one battery of that. And then there was four batteries of the 105 Howitzer, which is a smaller shell than what that is.
And it looks like in the picture that they've tried to camouflage it with brush and --
Yes. Big netting.
Netting?
With a great big camouflage netting over the whole thing there, and the only thing that was open was the tube of the gun.
My.
Now, this was -- now, you asked about -- now, this was -- this was all the soldiers that were buried over there in our division.
My goodness.
Now, see this -- see now -- I thought there was another page here. Yeah. See? This is a -- Epinal was a town over there, and this is what was in the cemetery that they had after the war was over.
Okay.
Now, you asked about a soldier from an artillery?
Mm-hmm.
All right. Here, this Butler, Jimmy Butler, was a private.
Mm-hmm.
See? He was an A belt, Battery, 882nd. See, now, I was in the ___ Battery, 883rd, which is another group.
Right.
But he was killed in action there, see? 18th of February, 1945.
My.
And then there's -- most of these are infantry, but there are different -- see, that's are all different companies and that.
How did the French people react to all these Yanks being in their country? Were they happy or . . .
The French people were very happy.
Were they?
I can show you some of this here.
Yes, absolutely.
Now, this was -- remember we were going during France?
Okay.
A lot of these French people used to come in our kitchen, and we'd give them the left-over food.
Oh. I'm sure they were very hungry.
Right. Now, this was given to me. A little girl -- this here was handmade by a little French girl about eight years old. She made this for me, a French flag.
Ahhh.
That's a souvenir I had from that.
Oh. What a treasure. Boy, you could tell she really appreciated and cared for you to --
Sure. They were -- they were nice people, you know.
I imagine. Was it hard to communicate with them, or did you have people that spoke French?
Well, we did have interpreters, but we seemed to get along with them. The fact is, see, my father was from Luxembourg.
Okay.
The country of Luxembourg.
Mm-hmm.
My mother was from Austria. My mother was killed when I was only five years old. She was killed in a Model T down in -- uncle's farm down in Oconto, Wisconsin.
Oh, my.
My dad never remarried. But it seems -- they must have spoken German between themselves when I was just a little kid.
Oh, okay.
I had an -- excuse me. I had an older sister, and they taught German in schools in those years.
Right.
So when you went to American school, they taught -- and she took German up. But evidently they must have spoke a little German that I didn't know of, you know, when I was that young because when I got overseas and when I got -- especially when I got in Germany and I talked to different German people -- I mean conversed with them -- we had those little army books, you know --
Right.
-- that told you how to say certain words, well, then it seems that whenever I talked to somebody and they talked to me in German because they couldn't speak English, and I would know what they were talking about.
My.
I could understand what they were talking about. I couldn't speak German, outside of looking in the book and the different words, and I got to converse with them that way, you know. And so it was kind of remarkable in my past just because my parents had come from those countries, it was in my head some way or other, you know.
My.
Military or some way or other.
Oh, that's really neat.
So this was my army book here. This is when I first went in the service, Camp Adair when I went in. See? Second army post, 70th Division, Camp Adair, Oregon. I was a cadreman for the division from the 91st Infantry Division. And then this was our -- this was our division pass. You can see it better if you hold it up to the light. This is a sticker that I put on my car. But that was our shoulder patch.
Okay. I've seen those before. My. Do you still have any parts of your uniform?
No, that's one thing I didn't have. After I came out of the service -- well, the thing was, I was -- when I grew up, I was supposed to take over this tavern for my dad, this business.
Right.
I elected -- I could have went to college, and I did prepare for college knowing this, but when I got out, my dad says -- it was understood I was going to take over the bar business from him. It was a local bar down here on the main street in Iron Mountain. And so when I came out of the service, everybody at my outfit in the service, they knew I was going to be a bartender.
And they all wanted to come visit, huh?
So when I cam home, I took over the tavern then right away, see? I come home in March of '46, and May the 1st I had my first liquor license.
Oh, my.
And I started right in business. And I did go -- I could have went to college on the GI bill, but I didn't have time. I was working, making a living, and then my children started coming and things like that.
My.
So I was in the bar for 20 years. The last three years of that, I bought a sporting goods business then in town. But this is -- if you want to just take a look at it.
Oh, my.
This is the cadre and the first group of recruits we got in our battery. All these in the top row from here -- let me see. From here, the first line, and the second line up to this person right here, all the rest were recruits. So this was all the cadremen.
Oh, my goodness.
You can kind of get a look. See if you can tell me where I am.
Oh.
Don't forget. I was 21 years old.
Well, let me see. We'll start looking at the stripes here. Gosh, I don't know. They all look young. You look here just like you do now, right? So I won't have any trouble telling?
No. I think I look pretty much the same. So many years older maybe, too, now. I was -- I was 21 there.
Oh. Now, watch. I'll guess, and it'll be someone you didn't care for, and you'll be offended. Now, that smile helps, except I know for these things, they tell you not to smile.
I kind of -- I kind of stand out.
Stand out.
Do you want me to tip you?
Yes, please.
Look in the middle -- middle of the second row.
Do you have your arms folded?
Let me see.
I don't think -- quite think --
Right here. Right here.
Ahh. Well, you were a handsome young fellow, weren't you?
Well, I was young then. Young and on the go.
Oh. That's so nice. I've interviewed so many veterans who don't have memories like this, and it's so wonderful that you do have the pictures and everything.
Yeah. I had quite a bit.
Did you start assembling while you were in or after you got out? Did you have the photo album and -- or the scrapbook?
No. I had -- just had the pictures.
Okay.
See, now, this is -- we managed to take our time in showing this one. This is when I first went in the service. This is my brother-in-law. This was my father. That's when I first went in. This was a buddy of mine, and then my -- my wife's brother. He went in the service early. This is when we were up in Yakima. Remember I told you we were up there for the firing center?
Mm-hmm.
See? We had pitched tents up there. And this is what it looked like.
Oh, it looks so barren.
Like a big dessert -- desert, rather. This was a different -- see this page was from the 91st Division, Camp White, Oregon. We were in Yakima then at that firing center. Here's some other fellows. These are all friends of mine.
My. You just got dirt upon dirt, don't you?
Right. And look at the muscles on this guy.
Yeah.
Yes. And this is the same.
My.
See, Yakima, Washington, the city. This is -- this was -- see, here's when I was a cook, a couple of the -- this was in Camp Adair now. And this is Camp White, but now we're getting into Camp Adair. This camp -- this picture was at Camp Adair. That's the one that I was a cadreman for?
Mm-hmm.
Now, this is all -- well, this is all still Camp White. This was Camp White, Oregon.
Okay.
And this was a friend of mine. Here's my mess sergeant, Sarah. And he's passed away, but she's still living, I guess, in Texas. We never hear from her. I didn't get a card from her. But this is my wife. This is my wife here. And Sarah. There's another one of my wife. And this was another couple that we knew. And this was -- this is Dorothy Alberty (ph). This was in Rolla, Missouri. We met her when she was down there with her husband. Are you familiar with ___?
I'm not very familiar.
Oh, okay. Well, Norway, which was only nine miles away from here.
Okay.
Okay. Well, that friend of mine, he was in my outfit, too. Then this was his wife.
Ahh.
This is when we were down in Missouri when I was waiting to go overseas here. Here's her husband.
My.
This is a birthday. Let me see if I've got the ___.
Western Union. I mentioned --
This was just a -- I had another one that I wanted to show you. This is a greeting I sent my wife for her birthday.
I imagine in those days, it was a little scary when you saw the Western Union boy coming to your door. It didn't always contain great news.
Well, yeah, anyway, we just got the letter, but then there's -- this was -- when I first went in, this was a part of the list of the draftees when I went in that --
My.
-- went to Marquette, Michigan, and that's where they -- they turned this in there, see? A lot of these fellows have passed away since then, but there's a lot of them still living.
My.
See here, I'm right down here?
Yeah.
36403580 here. That's my army serial number.
And I bet you could have told me that without reading it.
Sure.
It becomes like your social security -- did they use social security numbers then, or did you have a separate identification?
Yeah. 36403580. You had a regular serial number.
Oh, okay.
That was it, and it's still up there in the head.
Yeah. I imagine.
That's with everybody. Yeah. These are mostly where I was stationed at, pictures, but I did want you to . . . Okay. Now, this was in ___, France, March 1945. This was some of my buddies here. This was Woods standing here, myself in the middle, and Sheinfood (ph). That was an American plane that was shot down --
Oh.
-- when we were in that area, see? This was -- this is Durell (ph) and myself walking in this French town.
It looks like a lot of it had been bombed out and rubble?
Right. Like I said, a lot of the infantry had gone through on a lot of this stuff, see? Oh. Do you want all this personal stuff, too?
Oh, sure. That's what makes it your story. Yeah.
I never -- I had an uncle that lived in France. My dad's sister's husband lived in Paris. He had a -- I can't explain. Anyway, they had a daughter that lived there, and her name was Jermaine (ph). I had a four-day leave, and I told my battery commander that. I had a four-day leave to go to Paris, home to my sister. The only one that conversed with me was my older sister. She conversed by letter with Jermaine. So I had a four-day leave. And so the army had taken over a big hotel in the city of Paris, and we drove my truck there. And then -- with another GI. I was supposed to meet my cousin's husband. He was supposed to pick me up at the hotel there, army hotel. So I'm sitting in the -- what's the word for reception hall where the desk is?
The lobby?
Sitting in the lobby. Every now and then I would go up and ask one of these French girls behind there in mixed language, "Anybody ask for Harold Smith?"
Mm-hmm.
They'd say, "No." So this one time I walked up to the counter, and a fellow came up to the same counter. When I asked for Harold Smith, if anybody asked for Harold Smith, he had asked the same thing for Harold Smith. He was standing right next to me.
Oh, my.
So I went, and I -- I still -- I can't recall if I stayed at the hotel or if I stayed with her, but then they had to go on the metro. There was a train like in the suburbs where they lived, and these are just pictures here. This is my uncle.
Oh, my.
Uncle Strasso (ph). This is April 8th, 9th, and 10th of 1945 when he was there. This is my cousin Jermaine. She took me on different -- this is her daughter. Her daughter's grown up now, and she's got a son that's grown up, too.
My.
But this was pictures that we took around Paris when I visited with them. I had never met them before in my life.
My.
I don't have a picture of her husband, but we do have her wedding picture. The only thing I ever knew about them is -- well, then this is later on when I got home. This is when my uncle died. The announcements and the letters, that's in black, when they passed away.
My.
They sent me that. And this is -- this is pictures before they had the war damage, you know.
Uh-huh.
The cards that I had with her. And then we took a lot of pictures too, but these are the ones that were already . . .
My. So when you were there, what was the condition of Paris? Was there a lot of damage?
No, there wasn't too much damage, but I did remember one thing. When my cousin took me on the city tour like, my dad went back after my mother died. I don't remember exactly what year it was, but he took a trip back to the old country, and then he went to Paris, and they had taken him to several street cafes to have a glass of wine, which they do a lot over there. So my cousin took me to some of the same restaurants that my dad had a glass of wine in several years before that, so that was something to remember, too.
Oh, sure.
Because the only -- the only thing I knew about my cousin and her husband was when they had -- their wedding picture was roughly around 1936. We had it on the radio in our living room. That's the only thing I could picture 'em. But like I say, after that, well, we still exchanged Christmas cards and everything. The only one living now is my cousin.
My.
She was married to a fellow from Switzerland, but they lived in Paris. So they had a summer home, and that was -- Switzerland was their regular home, but then she had my father's home in Luxembourg.
Oh, my.
She still has it. We still converse. At Christmastime we still write each other letters. She can't write anymore. Her daughter does the writing for her now, I guess, but we still are together. In fact, I planned on making a trip over there, but I couldn't make it on -- oh, here. This was in France. Okay? German children looking for food. See, on the border of France and Germany, they spoke mostly German. The people that are in France, that's right on the borderline.
My.
But they used to come over -- after we got done with our meal, they would come over with tin cans, anything, just to get the food that was left over. We let 'em -- you know, we didn't put it in the garbage can, and they'd -- whatever was left, they would eat.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. This is in Grosskrotzenburg, France. These are all pictures over there.
So how long were you in France?
Um . . .
Just a guess is fine. I was just wondering.
Well, let's see. We landed -- what did I say? On -- when did we land in France?
It was in --
When did we get back together? That's when it was. Okay. We entered in combat somewhere around February 9th, 1945. Okay. From then on, from there up to our combat through the Siegfried line -- we went through the Siegfried line. So that was -- well, that was until the war was over. May the 8th.
My.
That's when they declared V.E. Day was May the 8th. So from this time, that's when we were in combat. From that time up until May the 8th.
And then after that you went into Germany?
Yeah. After we moved into -- well, here. I was going to show you this, too. This is a little booklet that they put out. Here it is. Now, see? This was when we dropped off at Marseille. Now, this is where the whole division went. From Marseille, we went up to Filixburg (ph), then up to Langen, Germany. And this is all up into Germany. Fellbach, Saarbrucken. And then this is -- this is into -- see here?
Mm-hmm.
To Frankfurt, Koblenz, and Mainz. So it was -- these are French towns up here. They don't have a border telling which is which, but see? It says into Germany.
Okay.
So . . .
How did the German people react at the Americans coming in there?
Well, it was a little different for us being the rear echelon like than it was for the infantry when they were there. They were happy. Everybody was happy about it.
Really?
And the German people were really nice when we -- we met them through that. The fact is we had -- in some of these little towns, we got acquainted with those people, you know, and --
So there was no bitterness or any of that at being defeated by the army?
No, they all were happy. For one thing, they were happy that the war was over.
I imagine.
That's the main thing about 'em because, you know, for them that started way back in -- what was it? 1933 or something like that when it first started?
Was there a lot of devastation to the towns in the countryside?
Yeah. In Germany there was a lot. Well, I can probably show you some of them. This is when I got -- first noticed I had poison. I went to the hospital in July of 1945, Grosskrotzenburg, France [sic]. I had an infection in there, poison. I had poison in there.
How did that happen?
That was from a bee sting.
Really.
Later on I -- see? Here's different towns. These are some -- these are some German towns, see? These are German pictures. I don't even remember where I got these. I must have picked them up in a house or something.
My.
But that's how some of the town -- well, you probably saw some of that, too.
Had looked. Oh, with the flag with the swastika on it.
Right. This is a little girl that we met, see, in Geislingen, Germany. That's a little neighborhood that they'd be sneaking around in the kitchen because we'd give them food and that.
Was there a lot of hunger in Germany at that time?
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Now, here -- here was a couple of French soldiers that we had with us. They were -- now, here's some more. See? German kids getting left-over food from our kitchen. This was after every meal in Germany.
My.
They'd come with those cans and everything.
I imagine trying to get for themselves and their family.
Sure.
My goodness.
Now, this -- there's a story with this, too. This is Hassan. He's a -- let's see. Hassan, he was from the infantry.
Mm-hmm.
Now, this isn't the one I wanted to show you. Yeah. This was Hassan. He was from the infantry. And this was -- they were both -- oh, he was Russian too. He was Russian. But this is Petro (ph). One of them was in the infantry, and the other was a tank commander.
My.
And this is a little Polish deplaced [sic] person that stayed with our outfit.
My.
But anyway, they were POWs. They were released from one of the camps, and they were with us for a while until they got back to their own -- where the other officers were, you know.
My. So in your travels across Germany, did you come across former POW camps and POWs?
No, no. We never -- never did get to see any of those.
Hmm.
One thing about it because -- yeah. This is different pictures in Germany.
My.
See, those are those Russians and some of my buddies and that. Yeah. And this is in Eichstaett, Germany. These are all -- Eichstaett, Germany, where we were at. This is after the infantry went through a lot of this, see?
Mm-hmm.
A lot of these pictures. Yeah. And then Darmstadt, Germany. After the war was over, they -- they kind of broke up our division after peace was declared, and they put some of us in third infantry division in Darmstadt, Germany. That's where I went afterwards. And so they went by points, you know.
Mm-hmm.
Now, I had 53 points. And some of the infantry ones that were there before, before we might have accepted them, a lot of those had a lot of points. So they would -- they'd ship them home first.
Oh, okay.
They went by points. So the first bassinet, they went to -- they went over to England.
Hmm.
And then they stopped, and there was a couple of people taken out of our outfit. Like I had one close buddy from Minnesota. He was like a clerk, battery clerk for us, and he was picked out to go because they needed clerks to do the bookwork and that, see?
Oh, okay.
So some of those went over to London. So they went home before we did. Now, the war was over on May the 8th, 1945. I never got home until March of '46.
My.
About a year later. But part of this was because I had yellow jaundice.
Oh.
And I was in the hospital with yellow jaundice. When I got to the -- when I got to Darmstadt, Germany, and I was going -- I went to the day room where they were playing pool and that -- and this is after the war now. I went to the day room. I was going to go to town with somebody else in Darmstadt, and some of the guys I was playing with said, "Hey, Smittie. Look at your face. It's all yellow." My complexion had just turned yellow.
My.
So they said, "You'd better check in the orderly room there." I checked in there, and the nurse says, "Upstairs." So I went in the hospital then. And -- for the yellow jaundice. But then I had, ___, Germany, I had some more blood poison in my whole system. First I started losing my nails. Then there was -- I was losing my toenails. They turned black. And then I -- my foot swelled up, and I couldn't get my boot back on, so they put me in what they call a field station, which was a hospital in a tent. They put me in that field station. They put my -- I was lying out on a cot, and they put my leg up on the pillows, and then they put hot compresses on my shin right here.
Uh-huh.
Well, they did that, and then at that time they give me -- I got my medical records at home. They give me 40,000 units of penicillin then.
My goodness.
So they kept doing that for about two weeks. Then they sent me back. They said, "Go back to your outfit now." I went back to my outfit, and it wasn't a week later I couldn't get my boot back on.
Oh, no.
So they put me in a hospital in ___, Germany. I was in an army hospital. And at that time they gave me -- as soon as I got in there, they gave me 600,000 units of penicillin. And they just -- I don't remember exactly how long. I think I have pictures when I was in there. They're someplace, you know.
So did they ever tell you what had caused it or how you got it?
Nope. There was blood poisoning in my whole system and -- I think it's that batch there.
Did you suffer long-term effects from it?
Here. Well, I've got to show you. See now? See that injury? See that foot?
Oh, my.
How big it is?
Oh, goodness sakes.
That's when I had the sock over the thing.
Was it painful?
Yes, it was painful at the start, you know.
Mm-hmm.
But after they get the penicillin -- well, anyhow, I almost lost this left foot. This is what came off. Blood poison. See? That was a hole in my leg.
Oh, my goodness.
See. That's where I get my disability from.
So did that hole just happen, or did they have to make a hole to let it out?
No. It started when I got back to my outfit, and I noticed there was a black spot right down here.
Uh-huh.
And here the whole thing was like this here, but then, you know, it was all open, but there was a black spot down here. That was -- that was where the infection really was, I guess. So -- and that's when they give me the penicillin, and that's when they sucked it right out of me.
My.
Right there. This doesn't come close to losing that foot.
So how long then were you in the hospital? Was it quite a while?
Oh, I don't have dates in here. That's the -- that's the thing. But as far as telling a story, I've been here a long time.
You're fine.
Yeah. See here? Another picture, ___, Germany, with blood poisoning in the hospital.
Goodness sakes. That must have been kind of aggravating because I'm sure you couldn't do much --
No.
-- but just lie there.
But after I was able to walk -- I was out in this hospital, and they started making me walk down the hall. So I walked down the hall, and there was a dental office there. And I looked at the dental office. He was working with his back toward me by the window working on a patient, a GI. And I walked up, and I came back, and I said, Geez. It seems to me I know that guy. So the next day I walked up there again, took my walk, and I looked in there, and I seen him again. So finally I was sure of myself, and they had a soldier, a private helping him in there, you know, and he come over and he said, "Can I help you, Soldier?" I said, "Yes. Would you go and tell" -- names. I said, "Would you tell Dr. Lobin (ph), somebody from his home town would like to see him?" Now, Channing is a town up north of Iron Mountain.
Yeah.
He was from Channing, but he lived in Iron Mountain because he was a dentist who had practiced.
Oh, my goodness.
So he came over, and I shook hands. I says, "Dr. Lobin, aren't you?" He said, "No." He says, "Tobin" (ph). I said, "Well, do you remember my dad, Jake, who had the tavern?" "Oh, yes, good friend." I said, "Well, I'm Harold, his son." "Harold. Geez." He shook hands with me. So every day he came and he brought me a Hershey bar and a pack of cigarettes. Now here's some pictures of him. You can see. You can read what it says.
My.
See that? Dr. Tobin.
Of Channing, Michigan.
He says -- I have a picture of me with him there.
Huh. My goodness. You meet up again in Germany.
Sure. And, well, then he got back home in his practice, and so -- yeah. He was a dentist. The fact is I had partial plates in the service they gave me, and I never did -- I never could wear them. They had those wires across them.
Oh, yeah.
So he gave me a new set, but I could never -- from the army. They gave me one set after, and I never could wear them, because -- Well, another feature here is -- this was after the war. They had a big football game. I believe it was an 82nd Airborne and some other outfit that was over there during the war. And they had a big football game in a big football field in Berlin.
Oh, my.
So they went around the different office, and they got cooks, and they picked me as one and picked this other fellow from Norway. His name was Bob Alberty. And we had trucks, and we went to Berlin, and we stayed at this -- this was a Tempelhof Airborne -- Airport. That was the biggest airport in the -- in Berlin. Tempelhof they called it.
And these are German airplanes there.
Right. And there's some others here, see?
With the swastika?
There were planes all over the place. And we stayed in there doing the cooking. So --
My.
-- that was --
Well, you really got to see a lot of Germany and a lot of --
Yeah. And then -- I'll never forget one thing that -- they had MPs around, you know, black market. A lot of black market was going on. So when we got there -- when we found out we were going to, we had three cartons of American cigarettes, and I had two K rations. Did I tell you what a K ration is?
I'm not familiar.
Oh. A K ration was a packet like this here just like -- like a video packet.
Uh-huh.
And they had a can of meat in there, like maybe, say, like, for instance, Spam, you know, one can of Spam, and then they had something else. And they had -- I can't recall everything, but then they had a stick of gum in there. Then they had some chocolate -- a piece of chocolate. And so I took the gum out and I took the chocolate, and I taped it up again. I knew we were going to go to Berlin, so down in the city part that we were in, the main street, they had just like barn doors. They had stores alongside it, a street like our malls have stores. They had barn doors that opened up that would go up into apartments that people lived in up there.
Oh, my.
So I got behind the doors, and Bob -- we called him NATO. So Bob was on the outside, and German people would come walking by when they had a little boy or a little girl with them, and they'd say, "Cigarette? Do you have any cigarettes?" And he'd say, "Yeah." They'd come back to me. So in a half hour I had $350. I got $100 a carton for cigarettes and $25 for a K ration.
Oh, my goodness. So they were -- the money didn't mean anything to them --
No.
-- because they didn't have any access to cigarettes and chocolate.
Now, here's where -- when I went to -- after they broke up our division, I went to Darmstadt, the third division, well, take a look, and you can see. That's after I had the yellow jaundice. See how thin I was here?
Oh, yeah.
I was down around a little over 100 pounds then.
My goodness.
From the jaundice. But I was lucky. I didn't have the -- I guess the bad one is C.
Okay.
What do they call it again? What's that illness they call? Hepatitis.
Oh, okay.
Hepatitis C is the bad one. I had the Hepatitis A, which because I told the doctor -- the doctor here at the VA -- I says, "Have I got that?" And he said, "No," so . . .
So have you had lasting effects from having the blood poisoning over the years?
Nope, not that I know of.
That's wonderful. I wanted to ask you about keeping in touch with your family. Was it hard during the war to keep in touch?
No. We -- we had v-mail they called it in those years. We weren't allowed to tell them where we were and that during the war years. After the war, then you could tell them where you were at and that.
Okay.
But, yeah, there was -- I corresponded with them pretty much so.
Did you get care packages in the mail?
I can't recall. I can't recall.
Was your mail delayed?
I think we did. Now, that's something I can't recall.
Hmm.
I know we got some of that, but like I say, I don't -- I don't recall that.
Did they delay your mail very much? Did it take a while for it to catch up with you?
Only things that were sent during the war.
Okay.
You know, they'd come a little later on. We got that in bunches later on, so . . . But it wasn't -- I thought it was pretty good then. Now, when I went overseas, I went on a French liner, S.S. Mariposa, 5,000 troops --
Oh, my goodness.
-- in this one plane. When we come back, I came back on the victory ship.
Oh, wow.
See, this is -- this was when I went -- no. This is when I came back home. I was on the S.S. Lehigh. It was a victory ship. It was a smaller ship. That's when I came home, see?
Oh.
A ship from ___, Germany. That was a port. Yeah. This is my port of ___.
My goodness.
And this was the ship.
And how many troops did you say?
Well, when I went over, it was a regular big liner.
Mm-hmm.
French liner. It's 5,000 troops then going over. And coming back here, now, I don't recall. This is a smaller ship, you've got to understand that, too. Then these are pictures on the ship coming home. And the two -- oh, yeah. Here's one I wanted to show you.
Oh. V-mail.
Yes. I sent this to my wife.
Wow.
I have to show you this. I sent this to my wife for her birthday. And a friend of mine that was in my outfit was a cartoonist, and this is what -- this was the v-mail I sent to her.
Oh. What a picture. Oh, my goodness. Oh, I bet that tickled her, getting that in the mail. That's pretty cute. Boy, you've got quite a waist there.
Yeah, sure.
So how long did it take you then to get back to the states?
Right here. It was 12 days.
My.
Daily progress. Here's the first day. We went 366 mic (ph) -- miles. They don't call them miles. 366. And this totaled 3960 all the way down to nothing. It doesn't actually say. It's probably in here someplace. I can't recall where it is. It probably tells where we landed, you know.
You came in through New York, did you?
Yes.
My. Was your wife able to come there and meet you or . . .
No, no. She waited at home.
Now, where was home for her by then while you were overseas? Where was she waiting at before you --
Oh. Well, she lived in Niagara.
Did she?
She lived with her folks at that time. She had -- before that, during the war, she lived in Milwaukee. She worked in the defense plant down in Milwaukee.
Okay.
So -- but --
So then you had to travel from New York to Niagara?
No. I went -- I went to -- here. Convenience of the government. What in the heck. This is the American military money they had over there.
Oh. So the military had its own.
Right.
Oh, my goodness.
Yep.
I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.
Yes. And here's some I picked up over there. I don't even know what these were. This is Polish, I think here. Yeah. Polski (ph). I had some -- a lot of coins in there, too. I gave it to -- do you remember that song, "Lili Marlen?"
Yes.
Do you remember that?
Uh-huh.
Okay.
From my grandma.
There it is in German.
Oh.
See? Vor der Kaserne, Vor dem groben for, Stand eine laterne.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, that was in German. Here was another one, cums a lif (ph). That means "come back" in German. That was another song there.
My.
Yes. This is the "Stars & Stripes."
Yes.
V.E. Day. I should have washed these things.
Yeah. Oh, my goodness. "Germany Quits."
V.E. Day.
My.
That's the "Stars & Stripes," the paper we used to get overseas.
Yeah. That was for enlisted people, right?
Yes.
So do you remember the day that you were officially out of the service?
Not -- just conscience. I don't know. I can't recall. Boy. You know, when you get 82, there are little things that are hard to remember.
Oh, well, I hope I do as well as you at 82.
This is -- I can't recall. There was a camp -- Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. I was shipped from New York. After we got off the ship we were sent by truck or busses, I guess, to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. That's where we were discharged.
Okay.
And then from there we came home.
What did you do in the days and weeks after getting out? Rest and relaxation?
I told you I got in in March. May 1st, I was in business.
So you spent the time in between just getting ready to take over, wow.
Well, like I say, my uniforms and everything, at that time the fad was dye -- we dyed our uniforms.
Did you?
Yeah. The summer ones we left -- because they were O.D.'d. They were colored, you know. I mean tan. But our winter ones, we had -- one uniform we had dyed green, one of them, one set. And the other one we said it was kind of a burgundy. But then after I didn't like them. I never wore them much anyhow. I took them off, you know.
Really.
A lot of guys never wore them. Some kept their uniforms, but I never did. But then when my sons were growing up, the youngest one especially, they had a lot of fads around. I had an army wool coat. They were wearing those around to school and that.
Right. Uh-huh.
And they were wearing the caps and all this other stuff. The fact is I still can't find out what happened to my dog tags. One of my kids -- somebody --
They were probably wearing them for you, huh?
They disappeared, yeah. So --
Did you -- you said then you were too busy to take advantage of the GI bill?
Right. I knew I was going to be in business, you know, but . . .
That's true. Did you keep in contact with any of your buddies from the service in the years after you came home?
Well, we did when we -- like I said, when -- they had lots of reunions, especially the infantry had lots of reunions. And my wife and I took one of these bus tours down to --
Yeah.
-- Nashville one year, and the year after I got a notice that our association was having a reunion down in Nashville. So we went down the second year to Nashville again. But I did see nine of my closest buddies that were -- that was the closest, you know. They were -- they were -- mostly they were cadremen anyhow, and we met at the ___ inn, and we told about our married lives and how many kids we had and all that. But then, like I said, everything was infantry. When you'd go to conventions, everything was infantry.
That's true.
When you'd go to conventions, everything was infantry.
I know.
Because they were the peak of the thing. They were the ones that were in the fighting all the time. And -- but then after, we started exchanging Christmas cards, and now I think we're just down to one or two of them.
Yeah.
I don't know what happened to some of them. Well, one of them turned out to be a lawyer in Milwaukee. He was down there. But a lot of them just -- they didn't answer. They didn't die because in this paper we got, they had "Taps" in there. Whenever somebody died --
Sure.
-- well, then we found out that way, you know. But I think -- I think my wife said we only got two of them last year, so she stopped sending out to the other ones, I know, as long as they weren't sending anymore. But, you know, another thing -- what's your first name?
Amy.
There's a lot of -- see, now, this is our 70th association book. And in here there's a lot of parts in here -- now, this here -- let's see. Okay. See? This book was made up -- we sent in a lot of things. On page 35, they put that in. I sent that in. That's the thing --
Oh, yeah.
I sent my wife there. Okay. And then on page 193 -- see now? This is____. That's a German town here. The word came March the 3rd is D Day for the 70th attack. Right here. After a ___ barrage, the attack began on the northern part of ____. And this is -- this is the only thing talking about what we did, you know. See, we supported this 375th. Let me see what else is there. 202. Yeah. See here? Fired howitzer ___ all that day, the enemy falling back with return for a brief stay in a counterattack that began at 6:30 in the morning. Took the first battalion to ___ to repulse. Despite that delay, the battalion mounted an attack on the Seigfried line, 4:15 p.m. following a heavy risk artillery barrage. The big guns blazed away for 20 minutes, stopped for 10 minutes, and fired another 20-minute cannon. See, this -- they're -- that's the only thing they're talking about what we did, you know.
Right.
They don't say too much. Let's see. I think there's another. Yeah. This is about what they consist of. See? A dramatic battle of the ___ demonstrated -- heavy artillery can be a final ally of the infantry. The ___ had three battalions, the 882nd, the 883rd, which was ours, and the 884th, each with three batteries, four, 105 guns, 725th fuel artillery of the battalion had 155 guns. These numbers refer to the diameter of the barrel, the tube. Ultimately the 155, for instance, had a diameter -- so ___ issued the new Howitzer M-1. Well, that's another gun that they were issued after. But see this is -- this is -- the only times you find they're talking about what we did as far as our part was concerned, you know.
Mm-hmm.
And there's maps where we were.
So when you came back, did you get involved in the veterans organizations right away or --
Yes. I started with the American Legion and the VFW. The VFW was if you were overseas.
Mm-hmm.
And I belonged to them. I wasn't -- I was kind of active because VFW was small. It was just -- some of them just had rooms to hold their meetings, and they -- I'm still in there. I've been in there now for -- since 1946.
My.
I've been in the VFW. But the American Legion, I was in there about five years, but then being in business, I belong to a lot of different organizations. I belonged to the Elks Club and the Lions Club. Well, I had to drop out on some. I couldn't afford everything.
Right.
My family started coming. So instead of the American Legion, I dropped out of there, but I stayed with the VFW.
Mm-hmm.
Then I dropped out of the Elks because that was a social club, and I stayed with the Lions Club. I was in there 35 years because that was a service club.
Right.
I belonged to that. And then later on I had my tavern when they built this place here.
Did you?
Well, I had the tavern, see, in 1946, and in 1950 they opened up the hospital here. This used to be a big mill here.
Did they?
A lumber mill.
Wow.
This whole place here used to be (?One Platten Fox?). Well, then different veterans were stopping in the tavern because a lot of them were being discharged, and they were -- they stopped in waiting for a Greyhound bus. The bus depot was on the other end of the block where my tavern was, and ___ some would be discharged going up to Houghton, Hancock, and all those other towns, and then they started coming in to the hospital, and I started meeting them, and then there were some were sitting, talking about the disabilities. And I said, "Yeah." I said, "I got disability" because I had written for my medical records.
Right.
And I said, "Yeah, I got a disability." They said, "Well, you'd better go see about it." So I went to a woman that was in charge, an elderly woman. She was in charge of the colony here of veterans, so I went to her. Her name was Freda. And I told her and I brought my records and showed her my discharge. And she said, "Okay. You can go to Dr. Bronning (ph). Take this paper and go to Dr. Bronning," which he was our family doctor really, but he was everybody's family doctor around here then.
Right.
"You take this over to him." Because he was in the service, too, you know, during the war. And he checked me over and made me fill out the blanks. He said -- well, then Freda sent it in, and I was turned down. And she says, "No way." She says, "It's in your medical records and everything" about that infection I had there, blood poisoning. So she sent it in, and then I got 10 percent disability, took that, and then I got a 0 percent on top of that, which doesn't mean anything. Then I got another 0 percent on respiratory.
My.
I still don't know what that was for, but I still got the -- but anyhow, then after so many years, I got called to go to Detroit for an examination.
Mm-hmm.
So I told my wife, I says, "I'm not going to take the time off to go there. We've got a VA hospital here." So I came out here. And we had a doctor look at me here. And a week or so later I got a letter saying that I was back to zero percent. So then -- see on the day ___ the representative was here. But the one before me, his name was Blacky. He was a rep, and I came in with chest pains. I was on the road, and Blacky was making the rounds with his deputy, and I hadn't known Blacky before.
Mm-hmm.
And I told him what happened. He says, "Don't you belong to the DAV?" I said, "I didn't know I could belong. Nobody ever asked me." "Oh, yeah." He says, "Even if you're just at 0 percent, you can belong." You had to be wounded during wartime service, wounded or diseased. So, he says, "Give me $100," he says, "and fill out for life membership, and I'll send your note through." At that time it was Bob Constantino (ph). He was a service officer in the hospital for DAV. I went down there. It was a short while after they called me in to Milwaukee for an exam, and I saw a World War II doctor, and I got it back just like nothing.
My.
So I had it back ever since, the 10 percent with the 0, 0. I tried to increase some, but -- I don't like to say this, but a lot of them, just like that hole in the leg, I can take -- I can scratch that and make it look bad, you know --
Right.
-- and they'd probably increase it or something, but I'm not built that way.
Right.
So I -- I belong to the DAV. Now, then after I got my disability back, well, then Blacky wanted to know if I wanted to be his deputy because then I retired. And I was just about -- just about 20 years I'm retired now.
My.
So he said, "Why don't you join me?" He said, "Come over here to the VA and," he says, "you can be my deputy. We need volunteers." So I figured I owed that to the DAV, so that's when I -- when I decided -- I've been here 15 -- 16 years now.
My goodness --
As a volunteer here. And Blacky, he retired, so then I took over as far as the representative here. I have two deputies now. So --
That's --
I've got a lot of time -- I've got almost 7,000 hours -- volunteer hours here now, so . . .
My. My goodness.
I like it. I enjoy it. I meet so many friends that I had before like in the tavern business --
That's true.
-- and in the clothing business and generally in town, and I like seeing them when they come. See, now, we take turns. Of course, volunteer day is Wednesday. I used to volunteer a lot more different things, but -- we have a bingo here every third Tuesday night. We hold bingo, DAV from Michigan, bingo. Well, then, every Wednesday we come in -- one of comes in at 6:30 in the morning, and we make the coffee downstairs in the outpatient --
Okay.
-- you know, and make coffee till about 11:00. And then we quit there, come up, and we have lunch, and then we make the rounds, visit all the patients, and give them (?dollar canteen books?) from the DAV.
How nice. Yeah.
So that's part of our volunteering. And then just a couple of weeks ago we had our carnival out here. Well, I gave all the -- all the patients -- the inpatients, I gave them a nice like white T-shirts, and it says: Veteran Patient. Veteran Patient, VA -- I got 'em all.
Oh.
I got -- I put blue in them.
How nice.
I got VA patient.
Yeah.
I did give them "Taps," and stuff like that, too, you know.
Yeah. That's great. Now, I was told that you gave a collection of insignia that you had had in your tavern that hangs on the wall down by the chapel?
Yeah.
Can you tell me how you came about that -- that's such a collection.
I want you to come down and see it when we get done here.
I would like to.
I'll go with you.
Okay.
Okay. Like I said, what happened -- now, this -- this was after the war, a lot of these infantry people, some were from the artillery too, different parts of a division. They went and they gave out these memorials in different towns that had battles and that, see?
Mm-hmm.
Now, here. The Rhineland, see, I was in the campaign, the Rhineland and Central Europe. Okay. Here's one from the Rhineland, and here's another one, Corbach. We were in Corbach, some of these towns, that was some of ours. And (?Spichter's Heights?). Now, these were all battles that we were in, see?
Mm-hmm.
But these were -- like I say, mostly it was an infantry. See, now they got maps here? Well, this report ended with Missouri. This was -- see, they made two dedicated memorial plaques. They did that at Ft. Leonard Wood.
Mm-hmm.
So Camp Adair was where it was at -- what region it was at. But some of these others -- see, told what they did in part of the war, where these different -- this doesn't show here. Here's 276. See, they had 274th, 275th, and 276th. They were battalions in the infantry. Like I say, we supported the 275th. Now, here.