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 …

Transcript of an interview with Keith Shelton, journalist, concerning his childhood in Oklahoma; family history; journalism training and career; Cold War military service in Germany; work for Dallas Times Herald; coverage of John F. Kennedy's 1963 Texas visit and assassination; coverage of Jack Ruby's trial; UNT journalism department; teaching journalism. Appendix includes various photos of Shelton, a letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson, a copy of a press release from The White House, and copies of Shelton's press passes.

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.

Book describing military philosophy before and after WWII, with full chapters analyzing how the U.S. Army and Marine Corps engaged in urban warfare during four specific battles: Aachen (October 1944), Manila (February 1945), Seoul (September 1959), and Hue (February 1968). Index starts on page 363.

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 Robert Bane, a Army WWII veteran from Garland, Texas. Bane discusses his family background, basic training, deployment to the Battle of the Bulge, General George S. Patton, experiences in combat with the 63rd Infantry Division during the drive into Germany, his comrades, crossing the Rhine, liberating Dachau, returning to the states, and his work with the Freemasons. In appendix is a photograph of Bane with his medals.

Interview with Marjorie Rae Lutkins Babcock, Women's Army Corps Enlisted, Keypunch Operator, and Korean War-ere Veteran, for the Women Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Babcock's personal experiences of childhood in Michigan, basic training at Fort Lee, Virginia, duty assignments at Governor's Island, New York and Hanau, Germany, her temporary duty assignment at the Pentagon, her placement in the Veterans of Foreign War's Women's Auxiliary despite veteran status, and her brother's experience in the Merchant Marines during World War II. Additionally, the interview includes her reason for enlisting, her family's reaction to her enlistment, impressions of post-war Germany, advice for future women service members, her views on service and women in combat, and her daughter's views of the military and the military service of her mom and other family members. The interview includes an appendix with photographs and a list detailing Babcock's military career.

Interview with Lisa Jane Lachance-Skier, a Air Force veteran from Phoenix, Arizona. Lachance-Skier discusses growing up, participating in Junior ROTC, enlisting in the Air Force in 1976, experiences as a woman in a newly integrated Air Force, sexual harassment and assault in the military, service in England, attending ROTC and becoming an officer, her marriage, service in Germany, her work during the Gulf War, being forced out as part of a personnel drawdown, transitioning to the civilian world and her post-Air Force career, her involvement in the Grace After Fire program for assisting female veterans, problems facing female veterans and lack of support, the 2014 lifting of the combat ban on women in the US armed forces, the WASPs, and advice for servicewomen. In appendix is a summary of Lachance-Skier's USAF career, three photos of her Meritorious Service Medal certificates, and a Grace After Fire booklet.

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 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.

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.

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.

Interview with Seth Bailey, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Bailey's personal experiences of childhood and education in Athens, Texas, enlisting in the U.S. Army, basic training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, including experiences in Ranger Indoctrination Program and injuries sustained in "jump school," as well as his combat experiences in Karbala, Ramadi, and Al Asad. Bailey also talks about his family's tradition of military service, his assignment to a unit in Darmstadt, Germany, his deployment to Iraq and performance of long-range surveillance missions, continuing struggles with injury from basic training, with the Army health care system, and with substance abuse. Additionally, Bailey discusses his treatment at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, being discharged from the Army, returning to Arlington, Texas, and gives his opinions regarding the benefits of military service and regarding women in the military.

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 accountant and Army veteran William Barsanti. The interview includes Barsanti's personal experiences about the European Theater during World War II, his youth in an Italian immigrant family, graduating from high school and enrolling in college, then in the Enlisted Reserve Corps, being inducted into the U.S. Army, basic training, being selected for the Army Specialized Training Program, transferring to the 106th Infantry Division, and his assignment to Cannon Company as a supply sergeant. Barsanti also talks about the living conditions at Stalag XII-A and Stalag II-D, Stargard, Germany, evacuating to Bremervorde, Germany, liberation, and his postwar business career in Europe.

Army WWII veteran John L. Hancock's autobiographical accounts of his service with the 259th Field Artillery Battalion in the final months of the European Theater. The book features five separate accounts on the Battle of the Bulge, Remagen, liberating Buchenwald, occupation duty in Germany, and returning to the US.

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.

Transcript of an interview with James Hudson, Army veteran (3rd Platoon, 36th/83rd Quartermaster Trucking Company, 470th Quartermaster Regiment), concerning his experiences in the European Theater during World War II. Hudson discusses his youth in segregated Yalobusha County, Mississippi; his reaction to being drafted, December, 1942; basic training, Camp McCain, Grenada, Mississippi, 1942-43; segregated training facilities; maneuvers at Camp Polk, Louisiana, 1943; training in truck maintenance and operation; relations between white officers and black enlisted men; entertainment on and off base for black soldiers; illiteracy among black troops; voyage to Europe, February, 1944; pre-invasion training around Cardigan, Wales; transfer of the unit to Swansea for further pre-invasion training; his observations of the Normandy landings, June 6, 1944; the landing of his unit on June 7 at Omaha Beach; establishment of beach supply depots; his participation in the activities of the "Red Ball Express," August-September, 1944; his description of war damage in German towns and cities; postwar adjustments to segregated society in Mississippi. Appendix consists of photocopy of "Honorable Discharge" (1 page).

Transcript of an interview with Raymond Schneider, attorney and Army Air Forces veteran (710th Bomb Squadron, 447th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II.

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.

Interview with Army Air Forces veteran Wilbur H. Ford. The interview includes Ford's personal experiences about being a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II, training, transferring to the Army Air Force from the Army, flight training, B-17 transition training, and crew training. Ford also talks about his assignment to the 401st Bomb Group, enemy flak, the highlights of his nine missions over Germany, battle damage to his plane, the Dresden raid, returning to the States, and transition training in B-29s for transfer to the Pacific Theater.

Interview with James N. Hall, a Army Air Force WWII veteran from Burkburnett, Texas. Hall discusses joining the Air Force from college, basic training, classification, flight training, the P-47, fighter tactics, deplyoment to Le Culot Airfield in Belgium, his first mission, briefings and intelligence, Air Support Parties, close air support, flak, bomber escort, air-to-air encounters, casualties, logistics, German civilians, crash landings, V-E Day, and return to civilian life.