Joe Olexa enlisted in the US Army in December 1940, figuring that if he was going to be in a war, he might as well start training. Assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, nicknamed “The Big Red One,” he served in Company L of its 26th Infantry Regiment for the next four years. Along the way he trained with the division in maneuvers in the United States; shipped to England in 1942; landed at Oran, Algeria, in the Operation Torch landings of November 1942; and fought in Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Belgium, and Germany. Olexa was one of the first group of enlistees that brought the division up to full strength in the buildup prior to Pearl Harbor, and was a sergeant by the time he went overseas. He served as a squad leader, platoon sergeant, and acting platoon leader, outlasting nearly all the men in his company. His memoir features accounts of unusual adventures in Tunisia when his battalion was detached from the rest of the division, and presents a detailed and intense account of his platoon’s experiences at El Guettar. Later, Olexa became a “Sea Scout,” going ashore on Sicily the night before the invasion to provide signals to …

Scan of the flight diary kept by Donald Fleming, a B-24 navigator in WWII from Kansas, documenting the missions he flew in the European Theater from February to August, 1944.

Interview with Aletha Barsanti regarding her experiences as the wife of U. S. Army General Olinto Barsanti. They married in 1942. She remembers their courtship in San Antonio; their assignments in Europe, Japan, and Washington, D.C.; raising their children; his activities in the Korean War; his promotion to general; military protocol for the wives of general officers; and his one-year tour in the Vietnam War as the commander of the 101st Airborne Division. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in May 1973.

Interview with Alfred Czerner, a Army WWII veteran and German-Jewish expatriate from Frankfurt-am-Main. Czerner discusses growing up in the crises of the Weimar Republic, politics at the time, his parents' background, the Jewish community in Frankfurt and Jewish identity, his father's unemployment after the rise of the Nazis, fleeing Germany and moving to Brooklyn in 1938, news of concentration camps, work in New York, attending school and perfecting his English, becoming an Army intelligence officer, service at Camp Ritchie with Henry Kissinger and meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, transfer to Europe and service with the 78th Infantry Division, witnessing Buchwenwald, service in Berlin postwar and operations carried out there, meeting and marrying his wife, and reflections on the Holocaust.

Interview with Anna Robinson, a Women's Army Corps veteran from Fort Worth, Texas. Robinson discusses her family and childhood, joining the WAC, transfer to Germany as a supply clerk in 1946, life and work in that assignment, being in a car wreck, her sexuality and gays in the service, the Iraq War and George W. Bush, leaving the Army and work for the city of Forth Worth as an artist, her church involvement, and returning to Germany,

Interview with Arthur Hofstein, a Army WWII veteran from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hofstein discusses the lead up to war, being drafted, training to be a radio operator, departure for the European Theater, landing in France and first action at Mars-la-Tour, the Battle of the Bulge, German prisoners and civilians, advancing into Germany, the liberation of Dachau, letters, and life after the war. In appendix are various materials and photographs related to Hofstein and his service.

Interview with Ed Rowan, a Army Air Corps WWII veteran from Gadsden, Alabama. Rowan discusses his family background, education, work, purchasing an airplane, flying over the the wreck of the Hindenburg, joining the National Guard and flying coastal patrols, becoming a bomber pilot, his B-17 crew, the various missions they flew in the European Theater, fighters, flak, equipment, tactics, leaving the service, and working as an airline pilot. In appendix is a photo of Rowan's civilian plane, his Distinguished Flying Cross citation, his appointment to the Reserves, a list of missions, flight logs, and a fact sheet about the 381st Bomb Group,

Interview with Eleonore Greenfield, Germany-born immigrant to Weatherford, Texas, as part of the DFW Metroplex Immigrants Oral History Project. The interview includes Greenfield's personal experiences of childhood and education in Germany, escaping to Berlin from the Soviet army, and again to Bavaria, and marriage to an America GI. Greenfield also discusses her family's experiences with occupying U.S. Army forces, the decision to settle in Weatherford, the struggle to pass on German language and culture to her children and grandchildren, and her family history. The interview includes an appendix with photographs.

Interview with Dritz Schwalm, a professor at the University of North Texas from Arolsen, Hesse. Schwalm discusses his family background, the county of Waldeck, his education, moving to the United States and working in academia, his parents' laundry business, the University of Marburg, working at Texas Women's University and the University of North Texas, German culture in the United States, shopping, the Goethe Institute, American politics, thoughts on citizenship, and radical leftists in Germany. In appendix are two pictures of Marburg discussed in the interview.

Interview with Col. Gail Halvorsen, a Air Force veteran from Salt Lake City, Utah, who took part in the Berlin Airlift. Halvorsen discusses his family background, growing up, learning to fly, joining the Air Corps and flying various missions around the Atlantic during WWII, experiences in the Berlin Airlift, and relationships with Germans he affected. In appendix are various photos of and by Halvorsen from throughout his career, and letters he received from German children.

Interview with General Alexander R. Bolling, Jr., concerning his experiences as an infantry platoon leader (3rd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 302nd Regiment, 94th Infantry Division) in the European Theater during World War II.

Transcript of an interview withGeorge B. Andrews, Army Air Forces veteran (526th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a fighter pilot in the European Theater during World War II. Appendix includes thirty-six pages of recollections from the interviewee.

Interview with Giancarlo Quijano, West German-born Colombian immigrant to Denton, Texas, for the DFW Metroplex Immigration Oral History Project. The interview includes Quijano's personal experiences from his childhood in West Germany, life in Colombia during the 1990s violence, his family's immigration to Texas, his expectations of the U.S., and the subsequent culture shock. Quijano talks about the transition to American life, attending college as an international student, his experiences with the citizenship process, and his thoughts on the immigration debate.

Transcript of an interview with Gudrun Raschen, a German-born immigrant to Denton, Texas, and adjunct professor of Music at Texas Woman's University. Raschen shares concerning her childhood, and education in Kiel and Hamburg, Germany; family history; parents' move to South Africa; own move to South Africa; discovery of the cello and decision to study it seriously; involvement in anti-apartheid movement; decision to move to the U.S. for graduate school; attraction of UNT Doctorate of Musical Arts program; first impressions of the U.S. and of Denton; comparison and contrast of life in Germany, South Africa, and the U.S.; plans for the future.

Transcript of an interview with Paul Hudgins, U.S. Army World War II Veteran, illustrator, and author. Hudgins discusses his childhood in Texas; family history; enlistment in U.S. Army as a medic; staged in France on V-E Day; stationed on hospital train running between Germany and France; post-war college; artistic career; writing career; Honor Flight trip. Appendix includes illustrations and short stories by Hudgins as well as photographs.

Interview with Harold Salfen, a Army Air Force WWII veteran from O'Fallon, Missouri. Salfen discusses his hometown and family background, his childhood and education, working in St. Louis, attending the University of Missouri, joining the Army Air Force and training, operating a ground radar in the European Theater, liberating Buchenwald Concentration Camp, the end of the war, and returning home. In appendix is a biography/resumé of Salfen's.

Transcript of an interview with Harry Bradford Urey, Jr., a mechanical engineer and Army Air Forces veteran (454th Bomb Squadron, 323rd Bomb Group, 9th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-26 pilot in the European Theater during World War II.

Transcript of an interview with Harry C. Strawn, Army Air Forces veteran (31st Fighter Group, 12th Air Force; and 413th Fighter Group, 14th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a fighter pilot in the European, Mediterranean, and Pacific Theaters during World War II. Appendix includes the introduction to "In a now forgotten sky: the 31st fighter group in WW2" by Dennis C. Kucera.

Interview with Hilda Rubinstein-Green, a Holocaust survivor from Memel, East Prussia (now Klaipėda, Lithuania). Green discusses growing up in Memel, the Jewish community, her family background, Hitler, fleeing to Krottingen, returning to Memel to destroy valuables so the Germans couldn't take them, moving to Kovno, having a sympathetic German officer as a tenant, moving to the ghetto, life there, executions, labor, suicides, internment at Stutthof, her mother's declining health, a forced march to Posen, liberation and hospital treatment, living with her uncle in Germany, moving to the United States, her faith, and other reflections. In appendix is a letter by Green, and a letter from the International Tracing Service.

Interview with Homer L. Haile, an Army Air Corps veteran (489th Squadron, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a crew member of a B-24 in the European Theater during World War II. Stateside training, raid to Kiel, Germany; raid to Oschersleben, Germany; other raids.

Interview with Homer L. Haile, an Army Air Corps veteran (489th Squadron, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a crew member of a B-24 in the European Theater during World War II. Stateside training, raid to Kiel, Germany; raid to Oschersleben, Germany; other raids.

Interview with Inga Czerner (née Israelski), a German-Jewish expatriate from Frankfurt-am-Main. Czerner discusses Hitler's rise to power and the initial effect of Nazi power on Jews, her father's departure for Russia, growing up in Frankfurt, growing antisemitism, the Gestapo, her schooling, the Kristallnacht, hiding, fleeing Germany to England without her mother, loss of her family members to the Holocaust, learning her father survived the war, moving to the US and marrying her husband Albert, and reflections on the Holocaust and Jewishness.

Interview with Inga Pennock, a Holocaust survivor from Berlin. Pennock discusses her family background, experiencing antisemitism and the start of Nazi rule, trying to leave Germany and hiding, increasing violence, Kristallnacht, losing family, fleeing to Shanghai, Japanese occupation and the ghetto, working as a nurse for the Japanese, living conditions, liberation, and life afterwards.

Interview with Jack Browder, a Army WWII veteran from Duncan, Oklahoma. Browder was a staff officer with the 741st Tank Battalion in Europe; he recounts his education and entry to active duty in 1941, transfer to the new 741st, armor training and exercises, duties as a supply officer, preparations for the Normandy invasion, DD tanks, D-Day, attachment to the 2nd Infantry Division and advances through northern France, the M4 Sherman, his thoughts on General George S. Patton, the Battle of Saint Lô, souvenirs and trading, the Battle of the Bulge, crossing Germany into Czechoslovakia, returning to the States, and postwar service.