Please: First Hand Accounts Only!

Since the inception of this web site devoted to World War II, this web master has worked alone. This project is a labor of love. It began eight years ago when I was working nights and had to stay awake at night on my days off.

Currently, my time is being devoted to a number of other ongoing projects and they take the vast majority of my available time.

If you wish to submit a story to this site, please consider the following:

1) First hand account. Stories of events witnessed by a veteran, a civilian who wrote their account of their experiences of the war years. First hand accounts could include; but, are not limited to: diaries, letters, memoirs of the time that a person spent in the military, transcriptions from audio and video tapes, transcribed interviews with family or friends, and similar accounts.

2) Second hand accounts. They would consist of an author writing a novel or book and includes quotes from individuals who served in the military, etc. An ongoing family research project to include in story form what a veteran might have experienced by "tracing their footsteps" through documents, research, military records, unit histories, maps, etc. Unit histories, etc. that are historically accurate; but, are not first hand accounts of men and women who experienced first hand World War II.

Though the second hand accounts are time consuming and may entail weeks, months or even years of painstaking research, they are not first hand accounts. There are numerous sites on the world wide web that such accounts can be displayed for the world to see and read.

Many sites offer free space and can be easily utilized to place such historical accounts.

 

When I began this project, I envisioned interviewing veterans, and ordinary folks who lived during the turbulent war years and recording their experiences for the world to read and remember.

Such experiences like a B-17 navigator on a mission over Germany -- a lonely GI who spends weeks in a muddy foxhole with only his foxhole buddy to keep him company -- a sailor aboard a ship in the middle of the Pacific scared out of his mind fearing that tomorrow he may be dead -- a young boy growing up in WWII America and watching as train after train loaded with troops, and military equipment move relentlessly off to some distant destination.

World War II Stories -- IN THEIR OWN WORDS! That is my goal.

 

I will happily place a link to your accounts should you wish to send me the web site where your account may be located, or review of your book, or where a unit history may be located. I have a page that lists each story on this web site and a new section can easily be placed to include such labors of love.

 

Thank you.

the web master

 

 

    WELCOME. On July 16, 2001, I decided as an extension to research work I had been doing on the military careers of my family members during the Civil War, that I might want to take my search a step further and look into the events that took place with my family and their service during World War II.

    I had managed to listen to a few tales of things that had happened to my father-in-law who served at Schofield Barracks and was there to see the events unfold that led this country into World War II.

    Additionally, I had heard a few brief accounts (mostly comical) with regards to my Dad and his experiences during the war years and eventual service during the last year of the war.

    Still, most of what I had heard or read about the war came as a result of my love of reading and some of the events depicted during the early years of black and white television.

    Seldom had I actually heard an account of what it was really like to be in combat, whether on the ground, on the sea or in the air. Virtually no one I had met had ever mentioned anything about those experiences.

    As a young boy growing up in 1950's small town America, war was just something that we played as children with our toy soldiers, or with our friends as we pretended to do battle with an imagined enemy.

    Many years passed and life went on. The Vietnam war came and went with its many facets. My first experiences away from home came during the time that this war was in its early stages. I spent four years serving my country during that era, but did not serve in Vietnam. My country deemed it necessary that I serve elsewhere, including a year on the island of Iwo Jima.

    Over the coming years, the war that changed the world began to emerge in my mind as a possible endeavor in the form of a collection of stories. With the advent of the world-wide-web, this became a distinct possibility.

    So, many years later, I have begun a journey. A journey to help tell a small part of the story that eventually encompassed the entire world.

    World War II.

     

    This web site makes no attempt to glamorize war.

    I am gathering war stories from the men and women who experienced World War II. Those stories are portrayed here for all to read -- and remember.

    No one went off to war to become a hero.

    The vast majority of World War II veterans that this webmaster has encountered vehemently deny that they were a "hero" and only did a job that had to be done. But, to the seeds of that "greatest generation" -- they were indeed OUR heroes.

    In my own small way, this webmaster is attempting to honor these wonderful men and women by telling their story...

    ...In Their Own Words.

     

     

     

     

     

    Iwo Jima Memoirs

     

    October 22, 2007.

    My latest endeavor. A new site that I am currently developing that will draw together stories/photographs from veterans who served on Iwo Jima between February 19, 1945 to the hand-over of Iwo Jima back to Japan in 1968.

    A number of stories are already in place on this new site.

    I am currently looking for additional stories.

    If you served on Iwo Jima please drop me a line and I would be honored to include your story. You can click on the link on the bottom of this page and e-mail me.

    Thank you...

    the webmaster

     

     

     

     

    "The Search for Julius S. Hass,
    Co. F., 407th Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division"
    A Search by a Margraten Caretaker

     

    Did you know that there are some wonderful folks
    who are still caring for the individual grave sites
    of our World War II soldiers who fell in combat?

    Hard to believe -- but true!
    To this day, the care of a grave site
    at many of the U. S. Cemeteries in Europe
    have been passed down from one generation
    to another and these wonderful folks
    take on the task of care taking
    as a means of saying
    "Thank You"
    for the ultimate sacrifice
    given by American soldiers in World War II

     

       


     

    For Your Convenience!

    You can now search the World War II Stories -- In Their Own Words web site. We have added a search engine that can enable you to search this web site for names, units, dates, etc.

    The search engine is also capable of extending your search to the web. Check out the search engine below...

     

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    Search World War II Stories -- In Their Own Words
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World War II Stories -- Bulletin Board

Check out our NEW World War II Stories -- In Their Own Words Bulletin Board. You now can post messages in your quest for information about your World War II veteran.

World War II Stories: Bulletin Board

 


 

 

Listing of ALL Stories on This Site...

For our many returning guests, we are making it easier for you to visit the stories that you want to read by adding a link that will take you directly to our List of Stories page.

Click on the link below to go directly to the List of Stories page or click on the link above to take the full tour of our exciting World War Stories pages.

World War II Stories: List of Stories

 

 


 

Please be PATIENT!!!

The main page is of this web site is loaded with graphics
and may take some time to load into your browser if you are not a broad band user!

 

 

 

Shall we begin...

World War II Stories -- In Their Own Words

 

     

    Do You Have a Story to Tell?

    Contact me, Joe Richard and I can help.

    If You Would Like to E-mail us, Click on the Image Below:

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    World War II Stories -- In Their Own Words
    All Rights Reserved

 

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