America's Greatest Generation Living Their Finest Hour: World War II -- 1941 - 1945   Stories of Men and Women who experienced the greatest event in the history of the world -- World War II...As seen through their eyes and told in their words.   The pages that follow in the category of "Army Heroes" are dedicated to the men and women served with distinction in the forces of the U.S.(Military) Army. They served in every theater of the war including North Africa, the Italian Peninsula, D-Day and the massive invasion of Normandy. Many served thought the arduous campaigns of France and continuing on into Germany. Still others fought in the campaigns in the Pacific theater including the bleak, terror filled early days of the war -- during the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, the Batan death march -- to mention but a few. Though less heralded, there were many who served throughout the war at home and were just as determined and dedicated in their efforts. Many of these helped train the men who went off to fight and others served less glamorous rolls in guarding vital military installations stateside. These men and women were common citizen soldiers who were placed into heroic situations and performed their duties -- not for glory or rewards; but, because the job had to be done. They did their part. These citizen soldiers came from every walk of life in this vast country, putting on their uniform and marching off to an uncertain future. When the war finally ended, most returned to family and home...many did not. They all served -- with pride! Not all came home boasting a chest full of medals -- nor all did heroic deeds on the great battlefields of the world. But each one was a hero in his own right all the same; enduring and dedicating himself to the task at hand. Thus, another small piece of the vast picture we called the "great war" was fulfilled. Another soldier had done his duty and could come home to his just rewards holding his head high in pride. This series of pages will be a sounding board, have you, for the generation referred to as "America's Greatest Generation". Their generation, collectively, experienced the most turbulent and terrifying era in the history of this great nation.In their own way they played their small part in doing their part in World War II -- helping to shape the world and stopping the tide of world domination by some of histories greatest tyrants. Heroes: the Army

	Our Newest Story War Diary of Samuel O. Channell, PFC., Btry C., 516th F. A. Bn.   Story added on 11 April 2008. "...We didn't do any celebrating on this Christmas like we used to back in the States. We were all very cold but all we thought of was to keep the gun firing at the Germans. This was Hitler's Christmas present adn I didn't mind giving it to him..."
	Another New Story Arthur "Art" Roth's Account of Service with the 407th Infantry in World War II -- Addendum to the Haubenreich and Schaible Account   Story added on 8 April 2008. "...all hell broke loose as shells began landing all around us. Fred Woelkers was hit almost at once. I ran to him to see what I could do, but Cpl. Sergio Francolini just behind us shouted ,"Roth, it's okay. I've got him. Keep going!"..."
	"Here is My Story": Robert F. Geesaman   Story added on 15 October 2007. "...After leaving France we entered Germany and we halped to remove obstacles of the Siegfried Line that the Germans had built to keep troops from coming further into Germany..."
	"Once a Deadeye, Always a Deadeye": Memories of a 96th Division Veteran, William R. Hill   Story added on 1 August 2007. "...Pop, a flare went up, and when it exploded it spread light on two figures I could see in the glare, ninety feet away. I swung my BAR up quickly to my shoulder, pulled the trigger and fired the entire magazine at them; and that was twenty rounds in six seconds. Wow..."
	Memories of Service in the Second Platoon, Co. K., 407th Infantry, 102d Division   Story added on 20 April 2007. "... Bullets from long bursts of machine gun fire are now cracking all around us. Mortar shells begin exploding just behind us. Sergeant Radice, who is bringing up the rear after finally leaving the shelter of the house, is hit almost immediately. His body threshes convulsively as Greenfield runs to his side..."
	"My Time with the Ozarks," Albert Schrut Anti-Tank Co., 407th Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division   Story added on 28 February 2007. "... As we began to move up the hill silently, I could see some of our rifleman about a hundred feet behind us quietly slinking forward.  I knew they would be walking over my incinerated body in a short while..."
	Robert Enklemann Co. H., 405th Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division   Story added on 28 February 2007. "...About 15 minutes later I heard the explosion of the mines, ran back to the house where I had been sleeping in the basement and realized that had I not been awakened 15 minutes earlier I would have been BURIED ALIVE when the building caved into the basement..."
	"Letters Home" William H. Hall Battalion Surgeon, 406th Reg., 102th Infantry Division (Click on "NEW" for Story)   Story added on 7 January 2006. "... I am, as you know, a battalion surgeon and have a little section of 21 men who work with me. Our works consists of treating the wounded man as soon as possible, fixing him up for transportation and then getting him back to where he can be properly cared for...."
	Stephen F. Tobia Co. C., 1st Btn., 119th Reg., 30th Infantry Division   Story added on 4 August 2006. "...shortly after this picture was taken...stepped on a "bouncing betty" and lived to tell about it -- it was a dud...."
	It's My Story and I'm Going to Stick With It Thomas "Tom" P. O'Connor 405th AT Pltn, 3rd Btn., 405th Reg., 102nd Div.   Story added on 4 May 2006. "...Whenever we'd get shelled everyone would drop the stretcher and head for the nearest shell hole. I was so tired I would take these opportunities to get my breath and kneel right at the head of the wounded guy I was carrying saying Hail Marys..."
	Donald C. Boyd's World War II Story 32nd "Red Arrow" Division, 128th Infantry, Cannon Co.     Story added on 11 April 2006.   "...Harper said "I saw him first," raised his B.A.R. and fired the whole clip. The 1st round hit him in his left foot and some of the following rounds tore through his body, killing him instantly..."
	"The Winter of 1944" Robert B. Ward, Co. E., 407th Regiment 102nd Infantry Division Story added on 30 June 2005.   "...The 88s fired with a muzzle velocity greater than the speed of sound. When you heard a shell scream it had already gone past. The 88 could fire up in the air or fire flat trajectory..."
	"Message for the General" Martin J. "Mike" Maloney Story added on 1 June 2005.   "...Maloney stepped out of the jeep and reminded the guards of protocol. Top-secret, urgent messages only go to the addressee-especially when they're for the general..."
	Nicholas L. "Nick" Bonilla 502nd PAR, 101st Airborne Division "Love, Honor, and Cherish"... A Book of Letters from Two Lovers Caught Up in World War II Story added on 7 March 2005.   "...Do you remember the night before we were married? I said terrible things to you, but you didn't say a word. I wanted you to despise me so much that you wouldn't marry me, a soldier, might ruin your life..."
	157th Combat Engineer Battalion: History Story added on 26 May 2005.   "...The 157th Engineers left Southampton, England and landed at Utah Beach, Normandy, France on June 25, 1944. It served in France until March 1945 and subsequently served in Germany and Austria...."
	In Honor of the men who served in the 102d Infantry Division, 60th Anniversary the Roer River Crossing Added on 16 February 2005. Crossing the Roer River: Personal Accounts   "...The Jerrys had the place zeroed in and big artillery shells started dropping around us. A big one fell about 50 yards in front of me and I could hear screaming and moaning of the wounded. Another fell much closer and it seemed everyone was hit. All around us medics, engineers, and infantrymen lay dead or wounded. Galloway was beside me when he was hit in the hip and the foot..."
	Carl Heintze "The Forest"...A Book on the Huertgen Forest Co. L., 39th Reg., 9th Division Story added on 14 February 2005.   "...I was sent back to L Company and was back two days when I was wounded in an all-day company strength combat patrol Jan. 1, 1945..."
	Roy L. Gray "The First Few Days of Combat for A Young Soldier in 1944" Co. B., 399th Reg., 100th Division Story added on 6 February 2005.   "...Then "Look out! Grenade"! It burst just a few feet behind me . Not hit yet, well something was felt in my pants, but it wasn't blood. Then someone up ahead of me hollered out for a pair of nippers and I crawled forward and passed them to them..."
Our Largest Section of War Stories! Now 165 Stories and Growing!     We Have Just Added Some New Stories!	Our LARGEST Section of Stories AND Still Growing!!!! Stories of the 102d Infantry Division Additional Kitchen Histories from the Men Who Lived Them Now ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE Stories and Growing!!! Stories of the Men of the 102d Infantry Division Stories Added on 30 June 2005. Look to this NEW Section of World War II Stories -- In Their Words for a new series of oral histories of the men who served in the various units to make up the 102d Infantry Division. This is a NEW and exciting section. We know that you will enjoy reading these new stories written by the men who made history in their exploits as the 102d Division moved into Germany in the latter part of 1944 and into 1945. We are proud to place these stories as a sequel to the series of stories we have just completed of Co. F., 405th Infanty Regiment (2nd Battalion) -- Those Damn Doggies in F.
	Robert Rogge "Panther" 90th Infantry Division Exerpt of book: Fearsome Battle Story added on 23 November 2004. This exerpt is from the book, entitled, Fearsome Battle, written by Robert Rogge, an American serving in the 3rd Canadian Division during the war. The book is written in the third person and is riviting! "...The Panther crept forward, engine roaring, invulnerable, crushing stone and timber in its way. Gray and brown and green, dented and scarred and horrifyingly majestic, the tank lumbered down the street, a wall of doom, bullets pouring from it..."
	Herbert Stanley Seaman 63rd Field Artillery Battalion, Battery C "WWII Japanese Flag" Added on 15 October 2004.   "... He was wounded when a bomb exploded nearby during the attack and spent six months recouperating from his wounds. After recovering from his wounds, Herbert served in the following campaigns: New Guinea, the Southern Philippines and Luzon...."
	James C. Watson "A True American Hero" 90th Infantry Division Story added on 24 September 2004.   "...Another barrage knocked out my Bazooka man and another ammo bearer. About an hour later a white phosphorous shell burnt hell out of my first and second gunners. Then I had to take over the gun...."
	Jerome J. Levitt "War Memories" 86th Infantry Division Story added on 15 September 2004. "...Later I learned he was shot in the leg! I believe it was on D-Day but he was standing in water and he didn't even feel it. The bullet went right through his leg and when he came out of the water he saw the blood. I'm sure he just sprinkled some Sulfa Powder on it and the wound healed..."
	John G. Lengyel "Memories from My 1946 Diary" Co. C., 405th Reg., 102nd Division Story added on 15 September 2004.   "...Suddenly a shell hit between myself "Tag" and Sheldon who were on both sides of me. All of us were thrown up in the air. Within a hot smell, with my head and helmet stuck in a mud. I was afraid to look. I was stunned and felt as if my feet were blown off!..."
	Parke G. Hoover "War Memories" Co. F., 405th Reg. 102nd Infantry Division Story added on 15 September 2004. "...On November 23, 1944 we were just outside the German town of Immendorf, near the Siegfried Line of pillboxes, when I was hit in the back of the leg late at night..."
	An Updated Selection! Battlefield Art Selection of Battlefield Art by Lt. Ben D. "Stookie" Allen Story added on 21 August 2004. This page has been compiled from a series of artwork images created during the war by Lt. Stookie Allen of the 1106th Combat Engineers. Originally the artwork depicted here was in our section devoted to the men of the 102nd Division. Now the artwork sellections have been added to and have their own page. This page continues to grow with new additions sent to us on a regular basis.
	Julius S. Hass Co. F., 407th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 102th Infantry Division The Search for Julius S. Hass Story added on 26 July 2004. "...Company F was soon pinned down by heavy fire coming from Korrezig within the zone of the advance of about five hundred yards..."
	William F. Bannister 269th Field Artillery Battalion One of My Life's Greatest Experiences Story added on 12 July 2004. "...the road, without exception, was completely littered with destroyed German trucks, tanks and other junk. The wrecked equipment seemed to be 90% German and 10% GI..."
	Lester Leonard McLean 618th Ordnance Ammunition Co. 6th Engineer Special Brigade 74th Ordnance 29th Infantry Division Story added on 14 June 2004. "...According to my grandfather, artillery shells landed and exploded to the left and to the right of his landing craft. He told my dad, "I just knew the next one would hit us. All I could do was pray..."

	A Powerful and Must Read Account of Man's Inhumanity to Man! This Moving Story of Hardship and Survival was Written by a Veteran Who Spent 2 1/2 Years as a POW! Gage, Arthur F. "My Army and POW Experience" 18th Infantry Regiment 1st Infantry Division Story added on 19 April 2004. "...The camp at Capua, Italy was a hovel. Typhus, dysentery, starvation and filth were its trademarks. Many of the prisoners slept on the ground with no means to keep warm and no food. The Italians viewed this human suffering with casual indifference. The Italian doctors would have been more at home in a butcher shop. Wounds were allowed to fester and the ugly sight and smell of gangrene were everywhere. Prisoners were dying of their horrible wounds and lack of medical attention..."
	Clem Lane, Jr., T/Sgt. Co. I.,184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division Story added on 13 April 2004. "...Leaping from his foxhole, he sprinted through the shrapnel to the crest of a ridge where he had perfect view of the charging Japs. From this point he directed the fire of his mortars until the attack was broken..."
	Orey Lee Caldwell, T/Sgt. Co. I., 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division Story added on 15 March 2004. "...I was hit in the right arm by machine gun fire. Lt. Leonard, Sgt Stacy, and PFC Usry and I ran into a vacated Jap pillbox to get out of the line of fire. They put a tourniquet on my arm to try to stop the bleeding, but couldn't stop it. A major artery in my arm had been hit. I was bleeding to death. The blood had filled my boots and I was loosing color fast..."
	Mervan "Jack" Foutz, PFC. Co. B.,516th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st & 9th U. S. Army Story added on 15 March 2004. A photographis essay devoted to Mervan "Jack" Foutz contributed by his daughter.This page is an addition to the page entitled: History of Co. B., 516th Field Artillery Battalion.
	Edward L. Souder, Co. F., 405th Regiment., 102nd Infantry Division: November 1944 Letters Home Stories Added on 24 February 2004. "...There is no athiest in any foxhole. Had hoped to have some wine with it when I ate it but when Jerry is throwing a Panzer division at you, you don't have much to drink for pleasure around. So it goes. I got out without a scratch, had a radio shot off my back & had German 88's fired at my little radio ariel point blank but none hit in two days..."
	A Conversation with Lyle Chester Fillhard Regarding His Military Service Stories Added on 2 February 2004. "...They arrived in Paris right behind General Patten and the 3rd Army. At Aachen, Germany they went briefly into Holland where they built a lot of bridges. Lyle was involved in the "Battle of the Bulge" at Bastogne, Belgium. There were 178 men in his Company and on Christmas Eve they could only account for 37 men..."
	The Letter Home by Ernest T. "Babe" Neil 70th Tank Battalion, European Theater Stories Added on 2 February 2004. "...On my anniversary they made the big attack, sending over around two thousand bombers, we wre just back of the lines and they started dropping them a hell of a lot of them fell short and it was a very unpleasant experience the concussion was really some thing you could feel it all over your body like some one slapping you,..."
	Harold Whiting, Sr., 157th Engineer Combat Btn. World War II As Seen by an 18 Year Old Soldier Stories Added on 12 January 2004. "...We stayed in trenches in a field for several days. Between the American and the German artillery, we had one fellow who made jokes - no matter where. When a German shell went over he would say, "Hear that shell? It says you ain't going home." Then when an American shell went over, he would say, "That one says the hell I ain't!!!..."
	Battlefield Art: the Roer River Crossing Updated on 20 December 2003. Additional information has been added which includes material about the 663rd Topographic Engineers. The material was contributed by a former member of the 663rd, Mr. Paul Bleier. We have just added a couple of "Battlefield Art" renderings done by a Lt. Skookie Allen. The artwork depicts the river crossing as well as a battlefield map of the theater of operations. Check it out!
	Edward L. Souder: Experiences and Diary Stories Added on 18 December 2003. "...A new page that continues the saga of Edward L. Souder's story. This NEW page deals with Ed's experiences during his collect deferrment days prior to his being drafted and his basic training diary entries kept until his being shipped over seas and into combat..."
	Warren Varney: 1st Armored Division: POW Stories Added on 3 November 2003. "...He lived as a POW for 27 months, or as he puts it, "a personal guest of Hitler" in prisons and work camps in Germany, working on building a power plant brick-by-brick, carrying bricks on his back up a ladder to build a smoke stack..."
	Exciting Accounts of the Huertgen Forest Campaign in 1944-1945. Read Accounts of BOTH Sides from Survivors who Lived it. Joseph Salzano: 8th Infantry Division, 13th Regiment Stories Updated on 30 September 2003. "...I always felt a twinge of sadness when a soldier of either side was killed knowing that their families did not know that on this day their relative was no more. And how they passed was also disturbing..." 47th Volks Grenadier Division at the Western Front Stories Updated on 20 October 2003. The following account is unique. Besides Mr. Salzano recalling his experiences while serving the Huertgen Forest Campaign, Mr. Salzano has graciously allowed us to place a number of additional pages of accounts of these horrendous engagements as viewed from the German side including accounts by civilians and soldiers alike. This first section contains TWENTY-SIX accounts by soldiers amd civilians who were a part the actions of the Huertgen Forest Campaign. 47th Volks Grenadier Division      at the Western Front      Updated on 20 October 2003...TWELVE New Stories A Chronicle      Experiences of Johann Trostorf &      Wilhelm Brvenich      Updated on 20 October 2003...FOUR New Stories Memories of Hubert Gees      Selections from the History of 363rd      Infantry Division Miscellaneous German Units      Updated on 20 October 2003...FOUR New Stories German Paratroopers      Updated on 20 October 2003...SIX New Stories Most interesting reading!
	Joseph F. Englert: 3rd Infantry Division, Co. E., 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment "My Memories of World War II" Stories Added on 6 September 2003. "...That is when I saw a German grenade (potato masher) come through the opening. I yelled grenade and ran away from it. I ran right into another that came in through another opening and was hit in the face. I put my hand up to my face and could feel my right eyeball and said to myself "There goes my eye."
	Unofficial History: 516th Field Artillery Battalion, Battery "B" Stories Added on 30 July 2003. This page gives the "unofficial history" of Battery "B" of the 516th Field Artillery and lists many of the men who served in this unit. The unit served in the European Theater of Operations.
We Need Your Help In Locating This Stolen War Trophy!	"Have You Seen This Stolen Nazi Flag?" Added on 10 July 2003. "...The Nazi flag was the usual RED background with a white center and in the center of the white was a black Nazi symbol -- the Z and bar this made a place about 10 inches round that had the signatures and most of these were signed with a pen and India ink so it wouldn't fade or wash off. There were a number of bullet holes and some holes caused by shell fragments. So It was official. It had a rope running through some edge and that was cut and frayed and torn..."
	The ROSTER of Co. F., 405th Regiment Added on 30 June 2003. "...We have just added the Honor Roll and Combat Roster of the men who served in Co. F. of the 405th Regiment. The roster also includes the "Taps" dates for former members of Co. F..."
	The Brophy Tapes: