Transcript of an interview with Merle Timblin, Civilian Conservation Corps worker and U.S. Army WWII Veteran. Timblin discusses his childhood in western Pennsylvania; father’s work as a farmer, coal miner, and WPA blacksmith; life on farms and in mining towns during the Great Depression; decision to enroll in CCC before eighteenth birthday; experiences at CCC camps in Arizona and Pennsylvania; lessons learned from the CCC experience; experiences in the European Theater of World War II as radio operator in the U.S. Army Fourth Armored Division, including fighting in the Battle of the Bulge; lessons learned from experience in the Army; decision to relocate to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and thence to North Texas; career as a machinist and mechanic.

Interview with Maria Landowska, a Holocaust survivor from Metz, France. Landowska discusses family, her upbringing, her Jewish father being taken away by strangers, Kristallnacht (Chrystal Night/Night of Broken Glass), deportation by train to Dachau concentration camp, her shock and trauma, work at the camps, Auschwitz, being experimented on along with her twin, eventual recuperation, and her career as an advisor and author.

Interview with Lee E. Johnson, a retired educator, concerning his recollections about military life during World War I. Johnson discusses his education; his enlistment in the Texas National Guard; his training at Pecan Gap; Camp Bowie; the formation of the 36th Division; officers training school at Camp Pike, Arkansas; embarkation for France; Saint-Amand and Saint-Nazairre.

Interview with Thomas A. Chipman, who is a World War II veteran and restaurant business owner from Hill City, Kansas. In the interview, Chipman discusses his experiences as a medic and driver in the European Theatre during the war. He describes what basic training and his induction into the Army was like, and also talks a little bit about when he was sent to the Pennsylvania Military College to earn a degree in engineering. Chipman recollects when his battalion was transported to England and France in order to fight in several battles that included the Battle of the Bulge. He describes what it was like to stay in Europe, and includes details such as the attitudes toward battlefield carnage, the evacuation and transport of the dead and wounded, the capture of German prisoners-of-war, and civilian refugees. Chipman reminisces of the German surrender and his return to the United States, where he started a restaurant business career.