A Platoon Leader's Perspective - Interviewing WWII Paratrooper 1LT Andrew Carrico of the 511th PIR

You're listening to Down From Heaven, a podcast that covers the history of the 11th Airborne Division from World War II through today. I'm your host, Jeremy Holm. Thank you for joining me today. Let's jump right in. Okay, today is September 30th, 2010. We are here at the Simmons Media Radio Stations, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. And we're here today to interview a World War II veteran, Andrew Carrico III, and who's visiting here from Venice, Florida. His name is Andy, but he is also my grandpa, so you might hear me call him Grandy throughout the interview.

Also in the studio today, we have his wife, Grinny, Jane Carrico, who will also be participating in the interview. And we have also Jane's daughter, Candy Holm, and I am Jeremy Holm. Again, these are my grandparents. So let's go ahead and get started. Andy, are you ready? Ready. Perfect. And if you could, for the record, could you state your full name? Andrew Carrico III. And which war did you serve in? World War II. World War II. And which branch of the service? Army. Army, okay. And what was your rank when you were discharged? First Lieutenant. First Lieutenant, okay.

Now, before we talk about your service, we'd like to get a little background, maybe a little history. When and where were you born? I was born in Washington, D.C. I was born in Washington, D.C. In October, 1917. Okay. So did you grow up in Washington, D.C.? Went to high school in Washington, D.C. I went to a couple years of college in D.C. I never finished, though. Okay. What was life growing up for you? What was it like? Well, I was, excuse me, I was born in the middle of the Depression, so times were hard for most people. Actually, they're not too bad for us.

My father worked for the federal government as a prohibition agent. So he kept busy. He was after the bad guys. Yeah. So we didn't have it too bad, but that was generally what we went through. Okay. What were maybe some of your hobbies growing up, some of your interests? Mostly sports. Yeah? Particularly baseball. And that's about it. I went to a Catholic high school, although I'm not Catholic. And, consequently, most of my friends are Catholic and still are, or those that are still living. And that's about it. Just for the sake of curiosity, what positions did you play in baseball? Usually third base. Okay. Great.

Great. Okay. So, what were you doing with your life in the years leading up to World War II? Well, mostly looking for jobs. I had quite a variety of them. And finally, I went to work for the Western Electric Company, which is part of the build system. And that's why I was working when I got drafted. Okay. So you were drafted, you didn't? I was drafted. That's right. Okay. Now, when you were drafted, when you got that first letter, what were your feelings? Well, it didn't make much difference, really. Drafting was a law of the land. And so, you know, I followed the law.

I got two weeks' notice to get ready to go and finally went. Okay. Now, if I remember, you were doing the ROTC program before you were? No. Oh, okay. Okay. Where was your first assignment? Or where did you do basic training? Oh, I was drafted in the first draft in Montgomery County, Maryland, in February of 1940. No, no, 1941. And I went to Fort Meade, Maryland. And from there, I went over to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where I took a basic training. What were your first days in the service like? Busy. I think I reported to the draft ward at 7 a.m.

And by 9 o'clock that night, we had finished all the, what they give you to do, you know, the physicals and so forth. And so, we hadn't eaten all day. And finally got to Fort Meade at about 9 p.m. at night. And they fed us and went to bed. That was it. You're probably pretty tired. Huh? You're probably pretty tired. Yes, exactly. Excuse me. What were some of your other experiences in basic training? Well, maybe I should ask, what were some of the things that you went through? What was basic training? Okay, basic training, as I say, was at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

And that was 13 weeks. And we were taught how to march, how to obey orders, and actually shoot a gun and things like that. Do you remember your instructors? Vaguely. Are you trying to forget them? No, they weren't too bad. Yeah? We had a corporal who was in charge of us, 10 of us. And he was a nice guy. And it wasn't too tough. So, it was all right. Okay. Now, you were a private first class during basic training? No, just a private. Just a private. Okay. Making $21 a month. Wow. Now, were you at Fort Knox when Pearl Harbor occurred? Yes. Yes, I was.

Can you tell us about that? Well, we had big maneuvers in Carolina and Louisiana. And at that time, I was in the 1st Armored Division. And I was a messenger on a motorcycle. And strangely enough, I'd had a motorcycle accident just about a month before Pearl Harbor. I broke my foot. So, I was in the hospital for a month with a cast on my foot. And when Pearl Harbor happened, I was out of the hospital and in my barracks when it happened. And I didn't even know where Pearl Harbor was. I'd never heard of it. So, it didn't mean too much at the time.

Except for the fact that the Japanese had attacked the U.S. So, actually, I was ready to get out of the service because I'd been in that 10 months because it was just tested for a year. Oh, okay. But that stopped everything. Yeah. So, your initial draft was just for a year of service. That's right. But after Pearl Harbor, did it become for the duration? Yes, that's right. Okay. What were the feelings on base after Pearl Harbor occurred? Very patriotic. Extremely patriotic. I guess everybody that I was associated with the service, they were mad as hell. You know, that's the Japanese. And that was a feeling.

Yeah. Okay. So, you were in the hospital for a month when Pearl Harbor occurred. Is that when your basic training ended? So, you had the 13 weeks. Where did you go after basic training? I went to the 1st Arbor Division, which was stationed at Fort Knox. Okay. So, I didn't go anywhere other than a different locale. And that was it. Yeah. Now, was it at Fort Knox that you went to Officer Candidate School? Yes. That was in 1942, and I've forgotten the exact time. I'm sorry. Everyone was allowed to go to OCS if they wanted to, if you passed the test. Okay.

And we all had to take tests and be interviewed, and the 1st Arbor Division, right away, went to Europe. So, I didn't go, because I went to OCS instead. So, it may have saved my life. Who knows? Yeah. All right. Okay. What was, so, you took the test and you passed, and you got into Officer Candidate School. Right. What was OCS like? Tough. Really hard? Really hard. And, three months, as I recall, and, you know, the term 90-day wonder. But, we were taught, everything I can think of, we were taught. Map reading, such as I do with the motives of track, tanks, and first aid.

Everything you can imagine, we were taught. So, it was 90 days. 90 days. And, so, that's where the term 90-day wonder comes from. That's right. Okay. Okay. Now, after OCS, what happened when you finished OCS? Okay. First of all, you had to pass. There were some people who did not pass. I did. And, I was assigned to the 5th Arbor Division in California. Actually, I asked for that, because I've never been to California. So, I thought you'd go see the sights. Yeah. And, yeah, I went to the 5th Arbor Division as a second lieutenant. And, I don't know, it was good.

There were just a lot of pleasant females around. I wasn't married, so. Yeah. Now, what did you do, as a second lieutenant, what did you do in the 5th Armored Division? Okay. What were some of your responsibilities? I reported into the 5th Armored Division. I was assigned to the 34th Armored Regiment as a second lieutenant. And, they put me in Company B. And, I reported to the company commander. And, he says, okay. He says, tomorrow morning, you want to give a class on 155 millimeters. I'd never heard of them. I quickly got out of the book and read all I knew about it.

But, I got through it somehow. Learn fast. Yeah. Okay. And, then, I went to usual company requirements. And, you know, like, close or drill to teaching other people things. And, I've had different assignments. And, finally, I got promoted to first lieutenant. And, my job was, I was a regimental and community cases officer, which I hated. So, I didn't like it at all. So, in order to get out of it, I volunteered for the parachutes. Okay. Well, I want to talk about that in just a second.

But, are there any, before we move on, are there any experiences from basic training or officer candidate school that you remember that you want to share? The OCS was tough. You were busy all day and sometimes all night. It was not fun. But, you know, if you wanted to become an officer, you had to do what you were told. And, I can't remember any specific things. You know, but, it was, it was, the toughness just started. Because, when I became an officer, you were expected to know things, you know. You were in charge. That's right. Now, you said that you volunteered for the paratroopers.

How did, how did you hear about that opportunity? Or, what made you decide to do that? Okay, they, it was sort of like the Air Force. They were accepting volunteers from either the Air Force or the parachute troops. And, probably some others, I don't know. It's like something was going, they showed the voting board. If you wanted to volunteer, you did something. That's basically how I heard about it. It was, I knew I couldn't go to the Air Force because my eyes were not that good. So, I didn't have, uh, real expert vision. Okay. So, that was a requirement for the Air Force. Okay. Okay.

So, I took the rest of the two evils and went to the first. So, now. Additional money. Additional money. Oh, baby. Did that help your decision? A few more dollars a month? It was an extra hundred dollars a month. Oh. So, considerable bit more. Yeah. Now, you went to jump school in Fort Benning, Georgia. Is that right? Do you remember your first days at Fort Benning? What was it like? Well, let's see. The jump school at Fort Benning was really tough. It was four weeks. And, uh, they, I think they tried to make you quit, really. That's my opinion. So, it was really tough.

Physically and, and not too much mentally, but mostly physical. Yeah. Um, what, what was, um, so, so, so jump school was hard. What were some of the things that you were all training on or, or practicing or even learning? Uh, the first, uh, the first, as I say, it was four weeks. The first week was nothing but physical. Extremely hard runs. Uh, I've forgotten some of the times. Push-ups. Oh, it was always push-ups. You know, anything wrong with, you give me 25. So, uh, and, uh, as I say, the first week was just physical.

And, as I said before, I think they tried to make you quit. Second week was, uh, uh, I see, still physical, but the, you had a destruction on packing the chute. For instance, you pack your own chute, and at the end of the school was, you made five jumps. Every one of them was a chute you used to pack yourself. Oh, wow. So, I can imagine how long it took. I bet you were very careful in packing your chute. Absolutely. The third week was, uh, uh, that was the high towers.

They had 250-foot towers, which you still use today at Fort Benning, and they hauled you up with an open chute, and they got to the top. They somehow or other released you, and you came floating down. That was the, uh, the height. But they had one other, one other course. You climbed up a 35-foot tower, which was about as high as this house, I guess. Okay. And jumped out attached to a cable. And that, that particular one wiped their war people and anything else. Really? The 35-foot one? Absolutely. Wow. Because you could look at it, and there's nothing but the ground, you know.

You don't know what the cable was going. Uh, what was it like the first time on the 250-foot tower? Scary. Yeah? Uh, but after the first couple ones, well, you know, you got to, you knew it was okay. It was safe. I don't think they ever had any fatalities there. Okay. So after the 250-foot tower, what, what happened next? Okay. The fourth week was, you actually jumped out of a plane. As I say, you made five jumps, and you qualified. Uh, I believe it was, yeah, one, one jump per day. Okay. You'd stay out of a plane. Yeah.

And they, they had jump masters there that, great as you and all that. Now, I, I've heard that if you hesitated in the door, you were done. Is that true? Absolutely. Because you've got a whole bunch of people behind you. Oh, okay. See, we had, uh, the officers jumped out first, and with, behind you were enlisted men, also going through the jump school, but behind you. So it was up to the, up to you to, you know, show you, you weren't afraid or anything else. Now, the, the, didn't they call, uh, the, each group of paratroopers in the plane a stick? Yes. Is that right?

A stick? Okay. How many, how many jumpers were in a stick? Uh, it could be as many as, uh, uh, 20, I think. I've really forgotten. Okay. Uh, I think that's the usual term, but I, I really have forgotten that. Okay. Do you remember what, what plane, what kind of plane were you jumping out of at the time? Uh, C-47s. Okay. Which is a great plane. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. It's the forerunner of the DC-3s, which, I don't know if you may have heard of them, was a great passenger plane. Yeah. Yeah. Um.

Now, on your first jump, I have to ask, what, what were you thinking as you were taking off? I was thinking, I must be nuts to do this. Uh, but, uh, you, you, you weren't carrying any equipment or anything, uh, which we'll get into later. But it was nice. It was jumping at the, I think it was a thousand feet. Okay. And you just, nice, sunny day, and once it's open, you knew it was safe. Yeah. And that was it. Wow. So, uh, so you were scared at first, and once you jumped out, you were okay. Yeah. That's great. Okay.

Let me find my place in the questions here. And you said you had to take five jumps to earn your wings. Right. Okay. Now, after Fort Benning, and you completed the four weeks of jump school, um, where did you go next? Okay. There was still Fort Benning, uh, was put in a pool of officers. Must have been a hundred officers in this pool. Mm-hmm. And as the various divisions, parachute divisions, needed, uh, replacements, they, they used them at this pool. So, I, frankly, I'm, well, I'm going to leave, and, uh, I frankly got tired of sitting around not doing anything.

So, they came out one morning with, they needed so many officers to, uh, uh, parachute division in North Carolina. And so, I volunteered, and which turned it to be the 11th Airborne Division. That, you were our first lieutenant at this time. Okay. Okay. Uh, and then, so you went to North Carolina, to the 11th Airborne Division. Um, how long were you in North Carolina? Well, uh, okay, I was with the 11th Airborne Division for the whole war. Mm-hmm. And we were in North Carolina for maybe six months, and then we went to Louisiana. And then, we went overseas. Okay.

Now, in, in Louisiana, that was, that was a, uh, there were maneuvers and training exercises, right? Right. And the 11th Airborne, um, let's see here. Okay. So, you, you were in Louisiana, um, for staging. Um, what happened after Louisiana? Okay, um, We went from Louisiana to, uh, San Francisco, for the embarkation, for travel overseas. How did you get to California? Just curious. Train. Train. Uh-huh. How long was that ride? Very long. Yeah. It was a tube train, and it wasn't much fun. Yeah. They didn't, they didn't, they didn't have bumps and stuff like that, you know.

Um, so, but after we got to California, it was okay. Yeah. Well, I, I thought it was the Navy they tell you to join up to see the world. So, and, you got to California, and, is that where you disembarked for the Pacific? Uh, yes. We were there about, uh, 10 days. Okay. Um, we didn't, we just, didn't have much to do, close order drill and things, just, you know, things to keep you busy. Mm-hmm. And we were restricted to the base. Oh. Oh. Supposedly. A lot of guys. That was the engineer boots. The engineer boots.

And that's where we got mixed up with the engineer. Now, you were, during a break, you were saying that, as a paratrooper, you got special boots, and you were allowed to parachute, or, your pants, you were able to balloon your pants out. Yes, that's right. And that was an honor. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. So, uh, if you want me to tell you about the engineers, I will. Definitely. There's an engineer regiment there. Uh, for some reason, they wore a jump boot, and that was just a spark that ignited with them. They had fights all over the place. Of course, the paratroopers didn't like that.

They wanted to, they attacked the engineers and take the boots off them. And even the officers got into it one night. In fact, a good friend of mine was, who was a former heavyweight champion of the Army, we talked him into fighting one of the, one of the engineer officers, which they did. Mm-hmm. And, uh, he got in a lot of trouble with that. Really? Yeah. Carol's wing. Yeah, the, yeah, the commanding general of the limb there, born to, he was furious. One of his officers would get in a fight, you know. Mm-hmm. Uh, so he had actually transferred out of the paratroopers. Wow.

Which cost him $100 a month. Into the gliders? What? Was he, did he go to the gliders? Yeah. We had a glider regiment. Okay. And the division had two glider regiments. Okay. Now, so your division, there were, there were two, um, paratrooper divisions, then two gliders. Just one. Just one. Okay. One parachute regiment and two glider regiments. Regiments. Okay. And the gliders, I felt sorry for them because they got no extra money and that was very dangerous. As it turned out, you know, a lot of people were killed from crashes and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Um, let's see. So, after, after California, um, what happened?

We went on, went, they got on a, a merchant marine ship to go. They took a cruise. S-S-C Pike was the name of the ship. And the whole regiment got on the, the, the, the ship. Okay. They carried all of us. Uh, two meals a day. Um, food was horrible. And, uh, it took us, I think, uh, almost a month to get to where we were going, which is New Guinea. Oh, wow. You didn't know at the time. Oh, no. No. Um, what, what were some of the things that you ate on board? I, you know, I can't remember, but it was lousy.

I was going to say two meals a day, breakfast, I guess, and then dinner. Okay. You finish one, you start another one. So, it was bad. Yeah. Um, what, what was like, life like on board? Or do I, what did you do the whole time? Well, there wasn't much to do. You, uh, we had to, uh, we had to be on deck at 4.30 every morning before light, which is, they, I suppose that's the best time for submarines to attack the ship. You know, we, we went over by ourselves. We had no convoy or anything else. So, you had a lone ship out there.

That's right. Okay. So, um, we got up at, uh, had to be on deck at 4.30 the morning. So, uh, that, uh, that caused us some problems because getting everybody up and the enlisted men were in, like, five levels down. Um, and they weren't bunks. They were five, five bunks high, stacked up. Wow. Uh, not good at all for them. Luckily, I didn't have to do that. Because you were an officer. That's right. So, where did, where did you stay? Where was your, your room? Let's see. We were bunked in the, I guess, second deck or something like that. Had our own bunk.

We were in double-decker bunks. And, uh, hot as a devil and, you know, it wasn't really fun at all. Did you have any trouble with seasickness? No, no, I didn't. It was pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. So, about a month, um, now you mentioned you were headed to New Guinea. Yes. And you didn't know until you reached New Guinea, or did they tell you on the... They told us sometime on the way over. Okay. Maybe when we passed the equator. I'd have forgotten which way. But, uh, we had no doubt. We weren't, uh, they didn't tell us. So, we didn't know. Yeah.

Now, back when you were in, in, uh, when you first, um, were transferred to the 11th Airborne, um, did you know at the time that your division would be heading to the Pacific Theater? No. We didn't even know when we left Louisiana where we were going. Okay. So, when you got on the train, you didn't know? No. Okay. But, I was about to guess, and you could tell it was the way to the train. Yeah, we're heading west, and, yeah. Um, now, what happened when you reached New Guinea?

Okay, um, we got off the ship, and, um, the battalion I was in was picked to unload the ship. So, we had a big, long line of people passing stuff out, you know. And, uh, along the way, a lot of it got stolen. Now, there's a story about that. Wasn't it that somebody asked General Swing about the missing items? Yeah, he's, uh, somebody asked about, they called him General Swing Steve, I think. And, he said, my boys would never steal anything. And, I don't know, I don't read a lot of that. They stole everything they could. Especially things to eat.

You know, like, certain juices, orange juice, and stuff like that. They disappeared. You know, when you said they were the angels. I know. Now, that's right, the 11th Airborne was known as the Angels. Where, where did that come about? Was that... That came about, um, on Luzon, when we were in battle. When they had, we liberated a prison camp. And the, the nun, a civilian prison camp. Uh, 2,000 prisoners were there. And, uh, the, uh, and there's some nuns there. And they, uh, they saw the people, the paratroopers coming down. And they said, oh, they're angels from heaven.

And, uh, that's how they got their name. Okay. Now, and I do want to, I want to talk more about that story, maybe a little bit later. But, did you, did you have any nicknames for yourselves before that? Or? I can't think of any. Okay. Okay. So, you reached New Guinea, and you helped unload the ship, and helped yourselves to a few items. What happened after that? Okay, it took about a week to get the ship unloaded. Wow. Okay. And, uh, we went to an area in New Guinea for, uh, we set up camp. Mm-hmm.

And, uh, we were there about, I don't know, six months or so, and just jungle training. Okay. And, uh, there were a few natives there, uh, but we didn't go near them. You couldn't get close to them because of the smell. I don't think they ever took a bath. Okay. Now, you're talking, did, did you have any interaction with the Philippine, like the guerrillas, or? No, not there. Not the guerrilla fighters. Okay. Okay. So, during those six months, you said jungle training. What were some of the things that you did for jungle training?

Um, well, it was a good place for jungle training because there's nothing there but jungle. And we had, uh, certain things that we did for, uh, like I had, uh, uh, I was a platoon leader, so I had platoon exercises and, uh, simulated action, you know, things like that. Uh, uh, using live, live ammunition. Uh, and we had a few jumps. Uh, so you practiced, uh, jumping into jungles? Right. Okay. What was that like? Uh, it wasn't too bad. You know, uh, we, I don't think we had any, any problems with that when, because there's a space picked out to land in, you know.

Uh, we weren't jumping right in the trees and so forth. Ah, okay. Um, so, coming back, you, you mentioned you were a platoon leader. What, what were some of your duties as a platoon leader? Well, but, uh, but, uh, excuse me. Well, the platoon and the paratroopers consisted of, uh, I think it was 35 men. Okay. Three squads. Two rifle squads and one mortar squad. Okay. And, uh, uh, platoon headquarters, there's your radio operator and, uh, uh, messenger and things like that. Um, uh, what was it, what you said, what duties? Yeah, what were your duties? I mean, what, what did you do?

Well, in the training, I guess, just take charge of the platoon. That's basically. Did you have any administrative responsibilities? Not really. Well, one of them which I hated was, um, censorship. We had to censor all the mail. And the officers censored the listed men's mail. And I don't know who censored ours, but somebody. Now, for those who might hear this interview who don't understand why, why did you censor the mail? Well, I was orders from the Army headquarters. Okay. They didn't, we weren't, they didn't want anything to get out as to where you were or what you were doing. Okay.

Now, because back in the States, there were actually spies. Is that correct? That they're worried that the letter might reach their hands. They'd know where your division was. Absolutely, yes. Okay. Okay. Now, um, after, after your six months of training, um, in New Guinea, what happened next? Okay, we, at that time, um, MacArthur had landed in an island called Lady, which was supposed to be, you know, easy, easy island to capture, but not that way. The Japanese made a stand there. They poured into our 100,000 troops to defend Lady.

So we were picked to, uh, in November, the, the, the original landing on Lady was in October. In November, we got on a, uh, uh, Navy, Navy ship and sailed up to Lady to embark there. Uh, uh, the 11th Airborne was, or the 511th was picked to, uh, after we got off, after we landed, was to, uh, and we landed in, uh, in attack mode. Climbed on nets down the sides of the ship and got in these little boats that held them by a platoon. And by that time, uh, there was a big, uh, aircraft, uh, air, air war battle going on.

So we had front wall seats. Wow. And, uh. So, so you, you landed on the beach. You didn't jump into your first combat. No, we didn't jump. Okay. We, um, um, spent 31 days there. It rained every day. Miserable. Um. We had a long time without things to eat. And later on, we, uh, we went, uh, a whole week and nothing, nothing, nothing to eat. Because all our resupply was by air. Of course, we were up in the mountains. Okay. And, uh, they couldn't get in with due to the weather. So, uh, too much rain, too many storms, and the pilots couldn't fly through.

Uh, the, uh, what saved us was the, uh, Piper Cubs, the small planes. Those are the, the single prop planes. That's right. Okay. It's a real small plane. Mm-hmm. And those pilots, they'd fly over us and just push the cartons of food out. Uh, first man of mine killed was hit by a ration box. Really? Hit him right in the head, coming down. Wow. Now, you mentioned there was, wasn't there one where a Piper Cub dropped you a box of chocolate? Is that right? Or? Well, chocolate's all shaving cream. Oh. Because nobody shaved. Yeah. It just threw it away.

Um, um, now when you, maybe we can come back to when you, when you hit the beaches, you mentioned there was, there was the air battle going on. So, did you have air and naval support when you were hitting the beaches? Okay. Yeah, we, as we were on a Navy ship, which was nice, we had a nice meal the night before, you know, like steak and stuff. And, uh, we, they, they did a good job. The sailors treat you pretty well? Yeah. No fights? No. No. We weren't made as a Navy. Yeah.

Um, so you landed on the beach and you had 31 days of fighting in the jungle. Is that where the famous rat's ass charge occurs? Now, I, your unit's famous for that. Could you maybe tell us about that? What the rat's ass charge is? Okay. Um, as I say, we'd been there on a lady, uh, 31 days. And this was in November and December. It wasn't cold. But we were wet all the time. Okay. And you, uh. So it was probably difficult to keep your foxholes empty. Oh, definitely. But the Red Cross, I just don't know the side of it.

Red Cross had knitted a bunch of sweaters. So they gave us the sweaters. And they were really fantastic. Keep you warm. Okay. Keep you dry. Yeah. They were really good. But anyway, the rat's ass charge was, uh, we were coming to the end of the campaign because we had done what we were supposed to do. Uh, what, what was your initial, um, what were your initial orders? What were, what were you? Okay. We were supposed to follow a Japanese, uh, supply trail. Okay. And disrupt it. But basically, that was it. Okay.

And to get back to the rat's ass charge, this was happened on the, I think, Christmas Eve. Very close to it. And, um, for some reason, we, uh, we couldn't break out of the mountains. They, they stopped us every time. So, um, D Company, which I was in, was picked to, uh, lead this particular day, Christmas Eve. And it just so happened, my opportunity was this leader. So, uh, we were very successful. Killed about 300 Japanese and broke through the, the, the line of defense that we had. So, um, we were very successful. Wow. That's amazing. Oh, the rat's ass charge. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

John Battori, one of my machine gunners, uh, we were advancing up this trail. And he was a machine gunner. So he grabbed the machine gunner and held it and started firing, being handheld. And that seemed to start the route, as you recall. So, you know, the Japanese were famous for sleeping late. So this is early in the morning. Okay. Like, but before daylight. Mm-hmm. Just before. So we caught him by surprise. And it was a very successful route. Wow. Now, now, somebody yelled rat's ass. Yeah. And that, when you were charging. Uh, I'm not sure who yelled it. It may have been Battori. Okay.

He was a, um, he was a soldier that, uh, was a great soldier in combat, but it wasn't worth a damn. And, uh, in, in the... Over night? Yeah, every day. Oh, okay. He was always in trouble and stuff like that, but really showed his middle when he... Right. But he came through when he... Came through. Yeah. He actually, um, stayed in the service and became a, um, command master sergeant, which is the highest, uh, enlisted rank you can achieve. Okay. Now, we'll, we'll talk later, um, when you were wounded, but after you were wounded, he thought you were killed. Is that correct, Battori?

He thought you would die. Until years later, you... That's right. Many men have a reunion, and he thought I'd been killed. Wow. Um, now, now you mentioned life in the jungle, um, very wet, right, lots, lots of rain, and, and, um, you mentioned not having a lot of, of supplies and so forth, and then there was the, the rat's ass charge. Is, is that when you ended that campaign and came down out of the mountains? Yes, we came out of the mountains. That, or Christmas Day, I think it was. Okay.

And, um, a little aside there, the, um, the regimental commander, who was incidentally killed later, a full colonel, um, he promised the regiment, he says, would you get back to the beach where we had the best Christmas dinner you ever had? Um, and he did. We had turkey and dressing and ice cream, and, and everybody got sick if we ate it, because the stomach couldn't handle it. Uh, because you'd gone so long without. That's right. And everybody got sick, including me. Oh, no. But, uh, anyway, I was just a little aside there. No.

So, so you came back to regimental headquarters, and then, yeah, well, that was your Christmas. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what, what happened when you, when you came back to regimental headquarters? You spent about a month there, is that right? Oh, you mean after that was over? Yeah. Um, well, we didn't do much, because. Well, did you do anything for Christmas? Did you celebrate in any way? Yeah. Yeah. We didn't even get mail in those 30 days. Really? Yeah. Oh. And, of course, not much food.

We spent, uh, let's see, that was Christmas Day, and then our next mission, we would prepare for the next mission, which was Luzon. So, we didn't do much, just, you know, sat around, took it easy, you know. Suntanned a little bit. Yeah. Went swimming and stuff like that, and then, uh, then we finally sailed. We took off from Lady and went to Illinois. Now, that was in January of 45. That's right. Okay. So, you were in the jungle in December of 1944. Right. Okay. Okay. And so, then you, you, you sailed to Luzon? No, we sailed to a little island called Mindoro. Okay.

There was no, no, no fighting there, but that's where we were going to take off the jump on Luzon. So, you were preparing for a combat jump? That's right. Okay. Um, then, and that was, where did that occur? Or, or what was your first combat jump? Oh, on Luzon. Luzon, okay. Island of Luzon, which is the main island of the Philippines. Okay. And, uh, anyway, uh, uh, back to just a little aside. Mm-hmm. After, we got an LCI, which is a landing craft infantry ship. Okay. Run by the Navy, uh, on Lady.

So, they took, uh, we had a whole company, plus another thing from the company, regimental headquarters. And we took three days to get to this little island of Mindoro. And myself and another officer, we both played bridge. So, a couple of Navy officers were on board there, and they played bridge. So, we stayed up all night and played bridge for three days. Wow. Drinking their coffee, you know. We had good hosts. That's right. So, the answer to a little something happened, I remember. Um, where were we? Um, we were, you landed on Mindoro? Mindoro. Mindoro, okay.

Um, when you landed on, on the island, did you set up camp, or was there already a camp? No, we just, uh, we slept where we were, you know, on the ground. Okay. There was no action going on, so we didn't have to worry about that. Okay. I think we were there two or three days at the most. Mm-hmm. And then we took off in planes for a loose arm. Okay. Now, so, Mindoro, you were, that was your, your base you took off for your combat jump. Was this the first jump that you had made with all of your equipment? Uh, overseas, you mean?

Well, back when you were in, in jump school, did you do a jump with full equipment? Okay. So, here in Mindoro, was that the first time doing? Yes. What, what kind of equipment did you wear? You had your parachute, of course, but. Two parachutes. Okay. Your reserve occurred a, what they call a reserve chute, which is right in front of you. Okay. Their, um, main chute was on your back. Okay. Uh, plus, you carried your weapon, uh, three days rations. Um, ammunition, uh, about 50 pounds of, when you got on a plane, you were 50 pounds old. It's a little bit of weight.

It was really a pleasure to get out of there. Yeah. Yeah. Um, when you, now, you took off, um, what were your feelings as you were flying towards Luzon? Well, uh, frankly, for me, I was worried, uh, concerned, but made sure we jumped at the right time, you know, in the right place, which, uh, is a lot easy, because sometimes the, the, uh, ground looks different than you're up in the air, you know. So, uh, that was my concern. I got out at the right time, and, uh, all about 25, 35 men behind me, you know.

But, because you had to gather them up when you, once you landed, they were. That's right. Yeah. Plus, I also had a mission, uh, when we landed, uh, uh, company commanders gave me a mission of going to little jeopardy's town about 10 miles away, and, uh, making sure there was nobody there, or no, no enemy there. So, we had to, after I gathered the men up, we had to start walking. And so, uh, because we had no, uh, parachutes don't have any, on initial jump, you don't have any transportation, you know.

So, the way we jumped on Luzon was a place called Tegaitai Ridge, which is overlooking a lake. And so, um, the airborne landed by, on ships prior to our jump. And we jumped ahead of them, and then met up with them, you know. Okay. So, that was, that was the air, the divisions of, um, uh, objective. Okay. Now, that was the, the group that landed, that was the, the glider regiments? Yes. Okay. Okay. And so, you met up with them. Um, did you pick the ridge because it was the high ground, or was it a strategic?

Well, let me answer that to say, I did not pick it. You true? The generals picked it. They told you, go there. That's it. Yeah, that's right. You were right. There was a, uh, it was an extinct volcano. Okay. Actually. And, uh, so we landed, which is, I used to say a high ground, overlooking this lake. Now, when you were heading towards the Japanese village, did you encounter any of the natives, any of the people who lived there from Luzon? No, I didn't encounter, didn't see any natives until we got there at this little town. I don't remember the name of it.

And, and no one knew, uh, Japanese either. So. You had a nice little walk in the jungle. Actually, it was on a paved road. Oh. Yeah. Was, was that on the highway? Is that right? One of the highways. One of the highways. Okay. Okay. So you, you, um, let's see. So you went to the village and there were no, um, Imperial Japanese forces. Right. Uh, what happened next? We just stayed there, um, uh, set up, uh, uh, different places of the platoon, different parts of the town that they guarded. And, uh, we stayed there about, I don't know, half a day.

And then we were told to come back while radio. So then we started walking back. So you went back to the ridge? The ridge. That's right. Okay. Now, I, I forgot to ask, when you were, um, after you, you came down off the mountain, um, back in Lady, did you receive replacements? Or? Oh, yes. You did? Okay. We received, got replacements for the people that had been killed and so forth, you know. Yeah. And you, you carried your wounded as well off the mountain. That's right. Yeah. Okay.

Um, so, so coming back to Luzon, you, you came back to, and how do you say the, the ridge again? The? The Gaetai. The Gaetai. Yeah. The Gaetai Ridge. Okay. So you came back to, to Gaetai Ridge. Um, and then where did you go after that? Well, we were, our objective was Manila. And that's the capital city of the Philippines. Okay. Um, the, the vision was picked, we were in southern, uh, Luzon. The 1st Cavalry Division and all the other, the big divisions in the army were in northern Luzon. So, um, it was actually a race to who kept there first. Yeah.

Uh, uh, uh, 511th was picked to lead the 11th Airborne. Our regiment was picked to lead, oh, how did I say that? Um, the regimental commander picked the company, which I was in, to lead the, the regiment. And, uh, the regimental commander picked my platoon to lead, so I'm out in front of everybody. I think he had his eye on you. Leading the waves into Manila. Wow. Yeah. Um, and that was pretty much constant fighting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um. Uh, I might, uh, let's add a little bit, Jeremy. Sure. Um, uh, Luzon was very much like the understates.

They had paved roads, two lane highways, and things like that. No jungles. It was all city. Okay. So, I just wanted to say it. So, it was more urban warfare than jungle warfare. And, had you trained for that, or were you, did you train mostly for jungle warfare? Well, if you're, you train for jungle, but you, you've got the other thing, too, you know. So, it's quite different. Yeah. Now, that's, that's when you, you broke through the, the famous, is it the Ginkgo Line? Ginkgo Line. Ginkgo Line. Ginkgo. Yeah. Can you tell us about that? Uh, Japanese, uh, I'll back up a little bit.

Back when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, MacArthur declared, uh, Manila an open city. In other words, he did not defend it, because he didn't want the city to be demolished. Okay. The Japanese did not do that. They defended it. They defended it with, um, five-inch naval guns, turned the other way, toward us, which they sound like a freight train when they're going over, you know. Yeah. They really make a noise. Um, where were we? The Ginkgo Line? Oh, yeah. And the Japanese sent up this, what they called a Ginkgo Line to, and they, to defend Manila. Manila was a crucial city for them.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And so they did it with pillboxes, uh, which is sort of like a little fort, you know. And, uh, and a lot of, a lot of, uh, heavy, uh, heavy, uh, guns, things like that. Yeah. Yeah. So. Um, so you, you fought for a month and a half, right, to, to get to Manila. Is that right? And then how long was the battle for Manila itself? Well, the month and a half, I'm not quite sure what you mean there. Uh, we, uh, oh, maybe I, I might have my dates wrong, so. Okay. Sorry. Okay.

Because right after we jumped, we headed from Manila right away. Okay. And it only took a day or two to get there. Mm-hmm. Okay. Um, let's see. Now, after you, you broke through the Ginkgo Line, um, what happened next is, because you were wounded shortly thereafter. Is that right? Uh, yes. Wasn't long. So, um, our division was, objective was changed. Once we got to Manila, uh, we went south of Manila, the whole division, and, uh, I can't remember the name or any name of the town, but, uh, we went south instead of north. Okay.

Because, I would say, the first cavalry division had come in from the north. Oh, that's right. So we met up there. Did you meet up with them in Manila, or? Yes. Okay. I don't know who was first. We'll say you were. Um, we went at a little, we went at a sugar mill, south of Manila, and, uh, there's a little mountain there called Mount Pajang, and this is the day I was wounded. Uh, one of the company, uh, one of the other companies of the D company had tried for a couple of days to take their mountain, and they weren't successful.

Um, so then we tried, and then we, me, the D company. Uh, at that time I was, uh, I was not the platoon leader anymore, it was the executive officer of the company, which doesn't mean a damn thing. Well, anyway, so, um, we got to the top of them, but changed the Japs off the top, and, uh, then they counterattacked. Uh, and they really did a good job. I lost, uh, 19 men, of which I was one, and, uh, I was in a Jap foxhole firing at them when I got shot.

Um, so, um, I was firing, so I was in a firing position in a Jap foxhole, and I got hit twice, once in the right hand and once in the left shoulder. And you can see how close that was to my head, you know, so I was pretty damn lucky. Yeah. Um, so you, so you were hit. What happened next? Okay, I was next to the company commander when I got hit, and he got hit also in his helmet, and he said that later, the bullet ran around and didn't hit anything, so he said, I didn't have any brains. Anyway. That was Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh, and, uh, uh, he decided that, he said, this is not for us, because he'd lost so many men. Another officer and myself was shot and out of commission, so he'd lost half of his, uh, brains, so to speak, and, uh, so he decided to retreat. And, uh, and, uh, and, uh, he, he, he, he arranged it, and, uh, by the time I was walking back, somebody was carrying, not carrying me, but holding me up, I don't know who it was. And, uh, and, uh, you told him he'd been hit. I know that, but, uh, uh. Did they give you morphine?

My first aid man did. Okay. Now, you, now, you mentioned that your, the, the first aid man, the corpsman, was, during the fighting, he was still going around and treating the wounded. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He was a great guy. Yeah. Is it Al Haar? Is that right? Al Haar. Al Haar. We became very good friends after the war, and went on, cruised together and stuff like that, you know. Great guy, who's since died. But, uh, anyway, I got down the mountain, and, uh, and they had ambulances waiting there. They must have known what was going on. Yeah.

And I, so I got in the ambulance and went back to a place like, it's like a Nash outfit. Okay. That's what it was like. A field hospital. Sort of. Okay. You know, just one room. Mm-hmm. It was like, just like the TV program, you know. Okay. Didn't have any nurses, but, uh. That was the first thing you looked for, right? So, uh, I think they worked on me all night. Not me, but all of us all night. And the next day, I, uh, they. So, you were in the field hospital overnight. Overnight.

The next day, uh, what they do in the, those little mass units, is just cleaning up, you know, get the dirt and stuff or whatever. And then the next day, I was put on a Piper Cub, strange as it may seem, and flew back to the hospital. Okay. Kevin Ospo came by to see you. Yeah, he came by to see me. But, uh. So your company commander came to see you. Yeah. Okay. But, uh, they, they, they had missions to go on, so, you know.

So I was in, uh, going back to this hospital, which is an old prison, and, uh, and where the doctors, uh, I don't know what they did to me. I don't know what they took off my finger and, uh, uh, put me in a cast. So. Okay. Uh, now, so you were there, and that was in New Guinea, right? That hospital? Beg pardon? That hospital you were in was in New Guinea? No. It was in, uh, the first hospital was in, uh, Luzon. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, well, basically, you got put on a hospital ship and went back to New Guinea. Okay. That's Billabed, Billabed Prison.

No, Billabed was in the Philippines. Okay. Now, so you were in New Guinea for three weeks, is that right? In the hospital there? In the hospital there. Uh, I think so. I really don't remember. Yeah. But, uh, that was okay, you know. Good food. They take good care of you? Yeah, they did. Yeah. And, uh, I was there at Easter time, I remember, they called all the nurses dressed in civilian clothes on Easter day. And, you know, that made it a treat for all of us, you know, just to see the nurses dressed up that way. Yeah.

Um, so there were three weeks, um, and then, then what happened after that? Uh, I was put on a hospital ship again and came back to the States. Okay. I landed at, uh, Los Angeles. Uh, I was put on a hospital in L.A. somewhere. I don't remember where it was. And, uh, just a few days. And then I was put on a hospital train to go back to, uh, sent to Mississippi, which was the closest hospital to where my wife was living. Oh, so you were married at this time? I was married. That's right. Um, when, when did you get married?

I got married when this, that came a call. Okay. Um, how did you meet your wife? Uh, about a blind date. Um, and, um, we got together and sort of decided, you know, to get married. Now, didn't you also have a son when you? Oh, yes. You had your son when you were, uh, when you were wounded. Yeah. When did you find out that your son had been wounded? Uh, New Guinea. Um, I got a, uh, cablegram. Um, saying that the son was, uh, a son. It says, son born. Didn't say much. Everything is fine. Amen. You know.

That was in August of 43, uh, 44. And, uh, so I didn't see him until he was nine months old. Wow. When I got back. You had a little celebration. Yeah. Oh, yes. So, we were allowed to get booze in New Guinea. So, I didn't, usually I didn't take mine, but I saved out a fifth of whiskey, so I had a little celebration. That's a good thing to celebrate. Yeah. So, you, you landed in L.A., hospital there, and then transferred to Mississippi, to another hospital. That's right. Okay. And your wife and son were able to come visit you, or?

Well, they, my wife was living in Kentucky, once there's our home. And, uh, when I got to the hospital in Mississippi, uh, they put me in another cast and went 30 days leave. So, I only weighed 140 pounds. Wow. When I went in the service, I weighed 170, and when I got wounded, I was about 140. So, anyway, I went, went home for 30 days, and then, uh, which everybody did, they sent a telegram back to the hospital requesting another 30 days, and it was ingrained. So, uh, it was the first time I was home and ballooned up to 190.

Um, so your family was there. Were, was the rest of your family there in Kentucky when you came home? No, no. My wife and son were in Kentucky. Then I went on, we got on a train and went to D.C. where my mother was and so forth. Um, what was it like to come home? I mean, what was it like to come back to the States after being... Oh, it was wonderful. And when I was in the, uh, hospital in, uh, Luzon, the doctors told me, they said, you're going to go home. You know, so, I think, every day I'm with school, Captain, not.

Uh, it was a wonderful feeling. It really was. Uh, a lot of things. I was in, uh, Lexington, in Lexington, Kentucky, when the Japanese surrendered. So, the, uh, the 11th Airborne was picked, they flew from Luzon to Japan and MacArthur picked them to be the first, uh, division in, in Japan. Oh, one of the first. So, again, the first cavalry, we were still a race with them, but who could sit first? Uh, so, the 11th Airborne band was on the dock at Japan, playing the old green mare. She ain't what she used to be. For the 11th Calvary. Yeah.

For the Calvary when they came in. That's great. Of course, I wasn't there. Yeah. I would love to have been able to go to Japan, but it didn't work out. Yeah. How were you, how were you treated when you came home? Wonderful. It really was. Everybody was still patriotic, you know. Uh, you were a service man, so you couldn't do any wrong. That's what it was. Sorry, because remember, you were an angel. That's right. You were the 11th Airborne, you were an angel. Yeah. Um, now, you were, you were discharged in October of 1945, is that correct? Uh, December. December, okay.

Well, I was on leave from October to December. Okay. Yeah, my actual date was December. Okay. Um, what, what did you do after that? Well, as I said, when I went in the service, I worked for Western Electric Company. Okay. I went back there. They, uh, they were very good. They carried my service in this military as part of, uh, service of them. Uh, and so I went, luckily, I went back, went back to work, right, with them right away, and, uh, we, of course, there was lots of work, and the war was over, you know.

Uh, and, uh, the U.S. had not made anything for three years, and they didn't make automobiles, or, so it was a big boom, and a lot of, a lot of, a lot of work to do. Uh, because everyone was, uh, using their ration cards and so forth during the war. Oh, yeah. I didn't get into any of that. Being in the service, you didn't need a ration card. Your rations were being in the jungle. That was, that's, that's a good question. Your wife probably did. Huh? Your wife probably did. Probably, yeah. I'm sure she did. Yeah. Um, let's see here.

Now, you were, you were discharged, and you went to work for Western Electric. Um, did you stay in Kentucky, or did you? No, it was in D.C. Oh, so you went to, you lived in D.C. Yeah. Okay. Um. Um, I guess, um, let's see, and, now that we've kind of covered your, your history in the service, um, do you have any more, any memorable experiences that you'd like to share about your time in the service? Any special stories, or? Uh. And, and maybe, um, Jane, if, if you know of any, or Candy, if you know of any, either.

Or, like to, uh, jolt his memory, or? No, he's, he's done pretty good in covering everything that I've documented for him. There, there is a photo that I've seen where you're hiding, oh, is it a bottle of liquor behind your back? Oh. I, I, would you like to share that story? Yeah. Well, that was in California. Okay. Uh. After I got an OCS. And that was before your, you disembarked for the, the Pacific Theater? I was, I was, before I was in parachutes, parachutes. Oh, okay. I was in the Auburn Division. It was just a ticket outside of an officer's club. Mm-hmm.

And I felt it, it didn't feel like it was necessary to show a bottle of booze. Ha, ha, ha, ha. So, um, I was trying to think of some memorable things that happened. And, um, is that what you asked me? Yeah, yeah. Now, you mentioned that, that you were, see, you were home when Japan surrendered. But do you remember hearing the news of when the first atomic bomb was dropped, or where you were? Yeah. Uh, oh, the atomic bomb, uh, over here. I mean, I didn't get it straight. Um, this was after the war, of course. Well, no, the war ended because of that. Yeah.

Uh, I, I don't remember where I was, I think in Kentucky somewhere. Mm-hmm. And it didn't mean much. I didn't know what the atomic bomb was, you know, like most people. Didn't know about it. So, but all I knew was the war was over. Um, I think it was a great thing. Um, some people these days say, oh, it's horrible. They did that and killed all those Japanese people. It shortened the war to the end of the war and saved untold American lives. That's right, because Japan was willing to fight to, yeah, to the end.

I've seen the, um, uh, write-up on the invasion of Japan that, and 11th April was right in the middle of it. And they expected a million casualties, American casualties, that they'd had to do, to invade them. Um, so, in my opinion, it was a good thing to do, so. Um, during your time in the service, were you awarded any medals or citations? Yeah, I got, of course, a purple heart. I got two purple hearts. I got two proud stars. Uh, a bunch of other, you know, like battle stars and things like that. Um, could you maybe tell us what the two bronze stars are for?

One of them was a rat's ass charge, which, in my opinion, should have been a silver star, but. Yeah. Uh, the other one was, uh, I can't remember anything specific. I really don't remember. Now, didn't your, your regiment or division receive a presidential unit citation? Uh, yes, the regiment did. And what was that for? Well, that's for overall, overall excellence. Overall, okay. Um, you know, nothing, anything specific. Okay. Okay. Um, as an officer, were you, did you participate in any of the planning for any of the campaigns or experiences you had? Yeah, no.

As a local, you know, once we got an objective, then we, the, on the county commander, we get the other officers together and we decided what to do and so forth. Okay. Um, how did you, how did you stay in touch with your family when you were in the service? Uh, well, the email. V-mail. V-V-V-V-V. V-mail. V-mail, yes. Okay. Yeah. Which, uh, as you probably know, it's a microfilm that's taken of a letter you write, or you had a special, special, uh, paper to put it on. Uh, and, uh, they, but they got it to back home in days instead of months, you know.

Most, uh, any packages or things like that took months to get the way you were. Uh, my grandmother would make me a mocha cake and send it, it took a month and a half to get there. Uh-oh. Uh, other people would send me cigarettes and I spoke to them, but, and, uh, that took a long time. They were pretty, pretty sad when he got there. Yeah. Um, what, now you've talked about the food. All throughout you've talked about the food. Um, let's see.

Did you feel, um, um, yeah, did you feel, uh, I guess as an officer and being in combat, did you feel the pressure and the stress of that? Yes, definitely. How did you, how did you cope with that? Well, you did or you didn't, you didn't. You had a job to do and you did it. That's, that's basically what it was. I didn't, I didn't care for, I didn't like people getting killed. Um, as I say, the, my first man killed was, uh, hit by a ration box. Uh, the second man killed was, uh, in the jungle, we set up a perimeter defense every night.

Uh, like the old Indians and wars, you know, you made a circle and, and, uh, Indians had to go ride around you to, and you shot and killed them. Uh, uh, uh, we set up a perimeter defense and, uh, we stopped about early afternoon and set it up. I think your foxhole, eat if you had food and then wait, because the Japanese were notorious for, uh, uh, uh, attacking at night by individuals, you know, they'd crawl through the jungle and if anything moved in front of you, any noise, you shot and killed him. Uh, so the second man killed was, killed by an American.

For some reason, he got out of his foxhole, who knows why, and the, the foxhole next to him heard the stories and, and shot him. Didn't know he was American. But that, that, that, friendly fire. That happens in war. There's a lot of that. Yeah, I'm sure you've read a bit, certain Iraq missions that people have been killed. Yeah. How about your, uh, foxhole, uh, I, uh, I shared a foxhole, you know, there was two people in a foxhole. I shared it with my, uh, platoon sergeant. And, um, he eventually got killed. How come they lost all three platoon sergeants? All three were killed.

Um, and whereas, uh, E-Company, coming next to us, lost all three of their platoon leaders. Officers. It was just, you know, uh, I really hated that, uh, um, people being killed. And you see them, you know. Um. How about the position in the foxhole, where you changed position from this? Oh. Uh, I told you that we set up a perimeter to the defense at night. Mm-hmm. So I, um, I, um, put my foxhole right on the perimeter, uh, outside of the perimeter. Not outside of the perimeter, but on the perimeter. Okay. So, if anybody, if there was any noise or anything, I could shoot. Mm-hmm.

Well, uh, no. Is that right? Oh, I know what it was. Um, when we first started that, I put my foxhole in the middle of, well, which meant I couldn't shoot because I'd hit, you know, Americans. Yeah. But I decided that wasn't for me, so I moved it to the outside. Okay. And you had a bodyguard, too. Oh, yeah. I did have a bodyguard. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, yeah, what was his name? Corral. I brought a run, Corral, yeah. From, uh, Toledo, Ohio. Um. I had good people. I really did. Yeah. Um, did you do anything special for good luck? No, not really. Not really? Uh-huh.

Um, how did you, when you were, um, I guess when you weren't in combat, um, you mentioned you, you played bridge on, on the naval ship. What were some of the other things that you did to pass the time and, and entertain? Uh, well, it wasn't too much, really. Uh, uh, because we trained from sun, uh, from daybreak to day, to the end of day. So, we, well, they had movies, which always broke. Yeah. Basketball on you, can you? We did not much basketball. Yeah. They mentioned swimming. Huh? Yeah, you mentioned you got to go swimming in Michigan.

Oh, yeah, we did have to go swimming in. And if you were near the water, of course, and, uh, there wasn't a whole lot to do. because we didn't have lights, you know, so we could go to bed or stay up in the dark. Yeah. Do you recall any humorous or funny events in your time in the service? We had an officer in the company who really wasn't worth much. And he gave it to me. He says, do something with him. So I said, what was his name? Filipele. Huh? Filipele. No, Filipele was the first sergeant. Oh, I don't know.

Anyway, I said, you go back to the rear of the column and stay there and do something. And he got, he got, he was the first man wounded. And who, I don't know what happened, but he got wounded by a grenade. What, who was he doing with it? Who knows? So we had to, we had to stop the, uh, advancing, it was just his own lady. And we had to stop and so, uh, Kavanaugh says, well, you, you, you, your platoon, stay back here and take care of this guy. Oh, get rid of us, um, so we did, we were, so they kept going.

There was, we stayed about two days. And I said, this is ridiculous. So, uh, uh, we had a first aid man who was not harmed, somebody else. I said, can he be moved? And he said, yeah, I think he can move. So I had him, bunch of, four guys, take him back to, uh, the hospital back there, wherever it was. Because we were not doing anything. It was ridiculous. I never saw the guy. I never saw him again. That, to me, was funny. Yeah. Were there any, uh, any pranksters in your unit? Oh, definitely. Thieves. Thieves. Yeah. They stole everything.

But Tori, Jabba Tori stole a whole crate of eggs. And he put them in his tent and buried them. And because the food wasn't too good. We had mutton every day. Every day. And they could only cook mutton a certain way, you know. But you like meatloaf now. Oh, yeah. Um, coming back to your, your fellow officers and, and your comrades, um, what did you think of them? What did you think of the men in your unit? Absolutely fabulous. Really were. All good Americans. And the, this. High IQs, which was helpful. Oh, yeah.

When they formed the regiment, a regiment commander says, in order to be in this regiment, you've got an IQ of 110. Now, that's a high IQ. So, consequently, they were all good men, but they were, really should have been leaders, see, instead of, uh, uh, just ordinary privates, you know. Yeah. But, uh, the whole, it was fantastic, the Americans were. Yeah. Some officers were not, not, my best friends. Differences in personalities, right? Yeah. Um, did you keep a diary? No. No. Sure did have, but I didn't. Wait a minute.

You kept a little notebook where you wrote down, you had a little notebook, yes, you did, where you wrote down citations, you wrote it for, like, for hours. It was a diary, though. Well, it was, well, okay, it was a, you wrote your, uh, citations, like, for horror and several others. Yeah, that's true. We had that, which is like a diary. Oh, okay. So, you had a notebook that you kept track of? It was a small, just a, yeah. Four by six notebook. Okay. Um, let's see. So, after, after you were discharged, you went back to work.

Did you do any more college after that, or? No. Oh, no, I did. I went to, uh, uh, Tucker County. And, um, some school. I went to college, so, yeah, that's what I did. Okay. Okay. Uh, were you able to use the, uh, the GI bill for, for that? Yes, definitely. Uh, that was a good bill. That helped. Helped a lot of people. Mm-hmm. Resurrected from college, you know. Yeah. I didn't go that far, but whatever schooling I took was paid for. Okay. Um. Now, you mentioned a few of your, your friends in this service. Did you remain friends after, after the war ended? Absolutely.

Um, mostly they enlisted men. See, officers were not allowed to associate with, socially with enlisted men. Um, so they did their, they had their things to do, and the officers got, had their own. Um, but after the war, uh, started going to, started going to the reunions, and got to know them. Um, and really, they're really nice, nice guys. The first, uh, I'll tell you a little story. I, um, after my wife, first wife died, I was home one day, and the phone rings, and I answered him, and he says, The horse says, Mr.

Carrie Coole, and I said, yes, who's the ugliest man you ever knew? And, uh, I said, Sam Y. Moore. He said, you son of a bitch. And that's what it was. He says, he says, this was a week before Jane and I got married. Yeah. And, uh, he was on his way to Philadelphia to a reunion, and I didn't know there was such a thing going on, you know, the organization for 11th and 3rd. Anyway, he wanted me to go with him, and I said, no, Sam, I can't go. If I go there, I'll be divorced before getting married. Now, what year was this?

When did you, when did you meet Jane? Uh, well, we worked together. That's where we met. At Western Electric. At Western Electric. At Western Electric. And what year was that? Hmm. Well, I started working in 15. You were out at Western, did you? 59 is when I started working. Oh, okay. But I was, you know, I was in my own marriage, and he was, his wife was in a halt, but we knew each other, you know, we socialized in the cafeteria and that kind of thing. So, um, you mentioned reunions. Did you join any veteran organizations? Uh, yes. The 11th Airborne. Life member.

I became a life member. Uh, but nothing else. I didn't join the American Legion or go for veterans or foreign wars. Just the Airborne, which I joined up as soon as I talked to Sam that day. Yeah, as soon as you found out, yeah. Huh? As soon as you found out they're, they're working. Yeah, I didn't know there was such an organization. But from then on, I went to every reunion. We did. Yeah, Jane and I did. Tell about the Tory at our reunion. Oh, we mentioned that. Well, run out upon him when he thought you were dead. Yeah.

He says, uh, we met him at Fort Bedding. He was still in the service, I think. Yes, he was. And, uh, we were at a reunion there in a social gathering. And he says, there's my old platoon leader. He says, I thought he was dead. He was dead. That's the first time I'd seen him since the war. Wow. Uh, he was a great guy. Mm-hmm. They all were. Uh, as I said, we became real good friends with Al Haar, who was my medic. We went on a cruise with him. His wife. And his wife was a great girl. Pretty too, like Jane.

And, uh, they had some good friends. And, of course, they're most of my old days. Did your military experience influence your thinking about war, or the military in general? Not really. Mm-hmm. No. It was, uh, I considered it a job. Something you had to do. Mm-hmm. Um. Now, you're getting ready to attend another reunion in a couple days. Is that right? That's right. Yeah, in Reno. Yes. Yeah. Um. How many, how many members of the 11th Airborne do you think will be in attendance? Uh, not many. Yeah. Because, uh. Less than a hundred. Oh, yeah. Less than a hundred. We started there first.

There used to be a thousand people there. You know. Two big hotels. Yeah. Two big hotels. That's true. But not anymore. But, uh, I think this will probably be the last one. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's nobody to run them. Part of, uh, yeah. Now, there's an experience a couple years ago when they dedicated the World War II monument in Washington, D.C. You got to go to that, didn't you? Not the, not the dedication. Oh, okay. But I actually, when I actually saw, visited that, uh, we went to D.C. Visited it. Yeah. It's great. And you had a general wheeling year-round?

Uh, Jane's cousin, who's a retired major general, um, he went, he went with us. We stayed with him. Stayed. We actually stayed with him. And nice people. And, uh, they, he got raised to have a wheelchair. There, of course, he says, too much work for you to do. Here I am, um, lowly lieutenant. Here's a major general pushing me. Um, I told you about how the people came up, but they saw you there and came up to pay tribute. That was great. The people came up and shake my hand, and, uh, it was really great. Nobody knew. Very touching. It was.

So, it's a great thing. If you haven't seen it, you should go see it. Yeah, it's definitely on my list. Okay. Um, yeah. Oh, that's, that's what I was going to ask. Um, what did it mean to you as a veteran to see a memorial like that for you and your fellows? It's a great idea. It's wonderful. Uh, sometimes I think maybe they have too many of those, but, uh, they all serve a purpose, and, uh, uh, particularly to the people who it's honoring. You know, uh, really well done.

Um, is there anything else that, that we haven't covered in the interview that you'd like to talk about, or any experiences you'd like to share? Uh, no, I've done pretty good. Very well on my dad. I did a little research. Yeah, that's obvious. Uh, uh, I guess I could say war is hell. It really is. And, uh, uh, I'll never forget the people that are going and got killed. Uh, hopefully I wasn't responsible for any of that. Uh, the people that are left, or have been left, are really great, great, amazing, real great friends. From the great gene. Still patriotic. Yeah.

And, uh, I love America. I know. Mention your other two children. I love the two children. Mention your other two children after a trip. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I see. You know, I had three children, four, but one stepdaughter, who's still living. They're all living. Uh, Chip and Michael and Shelly, and my stepdaughter, um, her name is Susan. Susan, okay. Well, well, Jane or, or Candy, do either of you have any stories or experiences that you've heard Andy tell that you'd like to have him talk about? Well, I think he covered it very much a pleasure for me to share this life with him.

And now, one thing I learned from him, I finally got it right. Amen. Now, you've been married how long? Thirty. Four years. Yeah, thirty-four years. Thirty-four years. And when you married her, you got the rest of us, right? That's right. We all came in the package. You, you, you, you're from a great family. All of you. Yeah.

Well, Andy, thank you so much for your service to our country, and thank you for allowing me to interview you to, uh, record your experiences for your posterity, but also for anyone who might hear this interview through your family or through the Veterans History Project once we submit it. Um, you, you're a great man, and you've left a legacy that, you know, is an inspiration to all of us. But you and your generation did something that changed the world and gave us and protected the freedoms, um, that we are able to enjoy today. So, thank you. Thank you, Jeremy. Thank you, Jeremy.

And Jane and Candy, thank you for being here with us today. Thank you, Jeremy. Thank you, Jeremy.