Description:
Don Ray talks about his life.
Transcript:
Interviewer: Please tell me your name, your birthdate, our relationship and where we are right now.
Donald: Donald Ray. Birthday is, birthdate is, 6/4/22.
Interviewer: And, what is our relationship?
DR: Such as?
Interviewer: I did ask you to, if you wanted to do this, didn't I?
DR: Oh yes!
Interviewer: Yeah. And that was, that was just it. I'm your, I'm your librarian is basically what it is and where we are. We're here in--
DR: Edmond library.
Interviewer: Right. At the Edmond library and one of our meeting rooms. What was the happiest moment of your life?
DR: In the war, there when I got married—
Interviewer: Any in, either one of them. Well, let's go with, when you got married first.
DR: Well, it was in July 24th, 19. Wait a minute. Forty-eight.
Interviewer: 1948. That almost slipped, okay. What was the happiest moment of your life in the war, since that's one of your--
DR: When they officially called the war over, the next is when I got to come home and was discharged.
Interviewer: That would be a happy moment for me, that's for sure. What was the saddest moment of your life?
DR: When I lost my first friend. Our first man in my squad.
Interviewer: In your squad. What was his name?
DR: Dunham.
Interviewer: Dunham.
DR: Victor Dunham.
Interviewer: And he was a, he was a good friend of yours as well?
DR: Well, he had been in my squad for a while, and he was a good soldier. I had him, he was killed and my assistant squad leader was wounded, James Rolif (sp?).
Interviewer: James Rolif (sp?). Where was that?
DR:In France.
Interviewer: In France. You remember where it was exactly?
DR: Close to Carentan. I can't remember the exact date. Mine explosion.
Interviewer: Were you injured at that time?
DR: No.
Interviewer: No, we're happy about that. OK. Who was the most important person in your life DR: In the war?
Interviewer: Let's just do overall and then we'll do in the war, OK?
DR: Mother!
Interviewer: Your mother was the most important person in your life. And can you tell me about her?
DR: Well, she was a good, hard working little lady. My dad was killed when I was four. So, I mean, I grew up with just nothing but a mother ‘til I was almost 11. She remarried my stepdad, so--
Interviewer: What was, what was your, your father's or your mother's full name?
DR: Before she’s married? Esther Barber.
Interviewer: Okay. Let's see. So, is your last name your dad's name?
DR: Right.
Interviewer: Your dad's name. What was your step-dad's name?
DR: Locke.
Interviewer: Locke was his last name?
DR:Yes.
Interviewer: What was his first name?
DR:Oscar.
Interviewer: Oscar Locke. OK. So, your mother was most important person in your life, who had the biggest influence on your life?
DR: I had an uncle. By name of Ted Ray.
Interviewer: Ted Ray. And what did he do?
DR: He was a farmer.
Interviewer: He was a farmer. And what did he teach you?
DR: How to work.
Interviewer: How to work. So, those work ethics that they taught in those days, it was very, very important and has lasted you. OK. What is, what's the most important lesson you've learned in life?
DR: How to get along with people, I guess.
Interviewer: I think that's one of the most important lessons that I learned as well. So I can understand that. What is your earliest memory? Your very earliest memory as a child, perhaps or as a baby. What can you think of?
DR: Going to my dad's funeral.
Interviewer: Going to your dad's funeral, when you were four. OK. What are you proudest of in your life?
DR: I guess my army history.
Interviewer: Your army history. OK. We're gonna be going over that army history later on. And I want, I want. We have a lot of details in there. When in life have you felt most alone?
DR: I DR't think I've ever been alone.
Interviewer: OK. OK. I think that's-- I think that's wonderful. Has your life been different than what you’d imagined? How has it been different?
DR: I have no idea how it could've been different. Unless my father lived or something, you know.
Interviewer: So you can't think of how that would be?
DR: No.
Interviewer: Do you have any regrets?
DR: Do what?
Interviewer: Do you have any regrets in your life?
DR: No.
Interviewer: None? You've lived life to the fullest and you're grateful for everything?
DR: I've DRe just about everything I'd like to do.
Interviewer: Oh I think that's great. That's just wonderful. What, see, the next question is, what are your parents like?
DR: My parents.
Interviewer: Yeah. What were your parents like?
DR:Oh, they were both great for me, my stepdad, my mother, both.
Interviewer: Professions? What did they do? What did your original dad do? Your birth-dad.
DR: He was a, he worked. He was a fireman in Oklahoma City.
Interviewer: He's a fireman in Oklahoma City.
DR: He was killed on the job.
Interviewer: Do you remember what that, that fire was?
DR:No, actually, he actually fell in the fire station. He was upstairs and he fell. Slipped and fell and hit his back and DRopped down below.
Interviewer: OK.
DR: Fractured his skull.
Interviewer: OK. What was your-- Well, we know what your mother was like. She was a great influence on you. What did she do?
DR:Well, the week before she died, she's working in a school fixing lunch for kids.
Interviewer: So, she she was just a hard worker.
DR: Hard worker. She worked hard all her life.
Interviewer: Your step-dad, we haven't heard much.
DR: He worked for a telephone company into World War Two. And then he volunteered to go back because he had served time in World War One. He went back and is a Seabee and went--, he was in Africa and he got injured in Africa and he came home about the time I got to Africa. So, and then he went to work for Tinker, retired at Tinker Field.
Interviewer: When and where were you born?
DR: Minko, Oklahoma.
Interviewer: Minko, Oklahoma. We know when you were born, you gave that earliest. Where did you grow up? Was it in Minko as well?
DR: No. [laughter] In Oklahoma.
Interviewer: In Oklahoma. Somewhere in Oklahoma. Okay.
DR: Well, I lived about the first 10 years in Oklahoma City and then I lived in Orlando Marshall and then we moved back to Minko. And I went military then and my mother moved to Edmond. And so, it's, I've been in Edmond since forty-five.
Interviewer: OK, I bet you I know the next, the answer to the next question I just have to ask it, though. Did you get into any trouble when you were a kid?
DR: Oh, no. [laughter] Oh, no. You never do that.
Interviewer: You never do that? So, you couldn't tell me the worst thing that you ever did, huh?
DR: Besides steal watermelons or a few things like that.
Interviewer: I remember my dad talking about times like that, too. A few watermelons slipped out of the patch. Did you have any siblings, brothers and sisters?
DR: Nope. Oh, I got a sister. Oh I had a brother. And he's dead. But I have a sister living in Kingfisher.
Interviewer: And what was your brother's name? Or did he get a name?
DR: He was a half-brother.
Interviewer: He was a half brother. Okay. And your sister? You said, oh, okay. What were they like growing up?
DR: I mean, she was a half-sister, of course.
Interviewer: What were they like growing up?
DR: You know, I never was around them too much.
Interviewer: Okay.
DR: I mean. [laughter]
Interviewer: Do you remember what you looked like back then? Were you any different? What do you think about?
DR: Did you see my pictures there?
Interviewer: Pretty much the same? Okay. What is the best memory of your childhood?
DR: My first bicycle, I guess. Or pony, I DR’t know which.
Interviewer: Got it for Christmas or your birthday?
DR: I got a bicycle for Christmas.
Interviewer: And what about the horse?
DR: Well, I bought it myself.
Interviewer: Bought it yourself. Ahh, it's one of those things that was wonderful when you were growing up. And that work ethic meant more to you, didn't it?
DR: Yeah.
Interviewer: Okay. Did you have a nickname?
DR:Yes.
Interviewer: Are you willing to share it?
DR:Oh yeah. You’ve heard of DRald, hadn’t you?
Interviewer: Okay.
DR: What goes with it? DRald Duck.
Interviewer: Okay, so your nickname was DRald Duck. Okay. Who are your best friends?
DR:Well, I had there was five of us in Marshall that was great buddies and-- One of my, I mean, there's four of-- three of ‘em are dead and I DR't know about the other one. He lives in Florida and he had Alzheimer's the last time I seen him, so--
Interviewer: So, what were they like when--, when you were growing up?
DR:We were just. We lived in a small town and we were great, great friends. We did a little bit of swimming and everything. And even stole a watermelon or two.
Interviewer: I wonder how many kids in those days didn't.
DR:I know. They grew extra ones for us.
Interviewer: I bet they did. What did you think your life would be like when you were older? Back then. Did you have any expectations?
DR: No conception whatsoever.
Interviewer: No expectations. Do you have any favorite stories from your childhood?
DR: Not that I can think of right now.
Interviewer: None that you can think of. Okay. Did you enjoy school?
DR: Pat of it and part of it I didn’t. Some parts I liked.
Interviewer: What parts were those?
DR: Well I liked math.
Interviewer: You liked math?
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: What kind of a student were you?
DR: Uh B, I’ll say. I made some C’s and D’s and A’s every once in a while. But you know.
Interviewer: What would your class-- how would you classmates remember you?
DR: Probably as a quiet—
Interviewer: Quiet student? When did you first fall in love?
DR: Oh, heh. Hmm, that's a good question, I can't remember when.
Interviewer: You can’t remember when? Okay. How did you meet your wife?
DR: She was a telephone operator and I was working at the telephone office at that one time.
Interviewer: How did you know she was “the one”?
DR: I DR’t know, it’s just, our first date, we hit.
Interviewer: Ahhh. How did you propose to her?
DR: Mm. I had a ring, I said, will you wear this? And she said yes. [laughter]
Interviewer: Do you have any favorite stories from your marriage or about your wife?
DR: Not necessarily.
Interviewer: Not necessarily. OK. I DR't think we've got this down. What did you do for a living overall?
DR: Worked for Western Electric.
Interviewer: Worked for Western Electric. That's what you retired from.
DR: Right.
Interviewer: Okay. What lessons has your work life taught you?
DR: Respect others, I guess.
Interviewer: I think that's pretty good. If you could do anything now, what would you do? And why?
DR: You mean as far as work?
Interviewer: No, I think just about anything, if you could do anything right now, what would it be and why?
DR: Go to golf course in the morning. That's what I enjoy.
Interviewer: And why, I think that's a pretty good one. OK. Do you have any favorite stories from your work life you'd like to share?
DR: No, not necessarily.
Interviewer: Not necessarily. OK. Do you have any favorite stories? Are you comfortable telling me about your religion, religious beliefs, spiritual beliefs?
DR: Well, I belong Presbyterian Church. I mean, I'm not. I haven't been going for quite a while, but I am a Christian.
Interviewer: OK, let's see. Were you in-- you were in the military. That's one of the reasons we're here. We know that you went to war. Can you tell me what it was like?
DR: You ever been in a car wreck?
Interviewer: Yeah.
DR: You know what it's like?
Interviewer: Yes.
DR: Okay.
Interviewer: It's like a car wreck.
DR: I mean that’s the best I can tell you right off. I mean, it—
Interviewer: How did it change you?
DR: Well, I DR't know. I was lost when I came home that, you know, after being around people for two or three years and so forth and the same bunch of guys almost. And then you come in and you're a stranger. Like, I moved to Edmond. And I didn't know anybody. Oh, I had an aunt and an uncle here. And my mother and step-dad. That was it.
Interviewer: Sounds like you were lost.
DR: I was lost. And if you DR't [unintelligible] somebody that comes home from over there for a bit, they're lost when they get here, if they've been there a very long time.
Interviewer: I do have some family that was over there, so I understand. During your service, can you recall the times when you are afraid?
DR: There’s not many times when you're not afraid.
Interviewer: Boy, yes, I-- what were your strongest memories from your time in the military?
DR: I guess hitting the beach.
Interviewer: Hitting the beach. Can you tell us about that?
DR: This was June sixth, nineteen forty what? Forty-four. You got me thinking dates. And I was so seasick, I think I couldn't hold my head up. I was seasick and I got on land. I mean, I was wanting on land, I didn’t care where it was and come up over the seawall and walked over two people. And if you ever seen anybody blown apart, you know what I've seen. And that thought stuck in my mind, is still there. And seeing men, the inside blown out, there’s two of ‘em right together. That woke you up that this was for real.
Interviewer: Can you tell us some of the other things that happened? You remember the beach and everything like that. Can you tell us what beach that was?
DR: Utah.
Interviewer: Utah. And what boat did you come over on?
DR: It was a landing craft.
Interviewer: It's a landing craft. Which ship did you come in on?
DR: It would. I couldn’t tell you the name of it, it’s just a landing craft.
Interviewer: I mean, the ship that brought you, that took you across the seas. The original ship--
DR: I first went to Africa and then from Africa to England and then across the Channel.
Interviewer: Yeah, but you DR't remember what the ship's name was?
DR: We went to Isaac Sharpless was the name of the ship that we went from United States to Africa. And. Seemed like it was Andies or something like that that we went from Africa to England and then this was a landing craft, more or less. It held nine trucks. There was no sleeping accommodations on it except a little bit for the crew that run it. British crew run it. We had two officers on there and they had a bunk in the back, I think. But we slept on top of the trucks or any place we could find. We started out sleeping on the deck and about the third day out, we got on the first of June and this woke up the second of June we was on this big sandy beach there. Then they brought a truck in and welded up the bottom of the landing craft we’s on. [laughter] Next morning, woke up and we was out there floating around again. And then the fourth which was a Sunday because I remember we had a church service up in the front of this landing craft. And that evening it started getting rough. And lieutenant squealed and said, sergeant, take my place up on that little walk up there and got up there. And that thing was doing this and that I didn't feel good when I come off of there before morning, I was sick and I laid right there on the front fender that truck, we had a big camouflage. And my guys were scattered all over the back. My DRiver had the front seat and he was sicker than I was.
Interviewer: You said “your guys.” What rank were you?
DR: Sergeant.
Interviewer: You were a sergeant. So, can you tell us anything about some of your men that you remember, that stick out in your mind.
DR: Well, the first guy I can think of is Willie McGraw. He was uneducated, and I said, “Willie, how come you didn’t go to school?” He said, well, I went about a third of fourth grade and I didn't like it. Then he said, Grandma takes my lunch. He was raised by his grandmother. Fix my lunch and he’s like-- I'd go down under the bridge trestle, train trestle, and he said I'd sit there until the kids started home and then I'd go home. And pretty soon she told him he didn't have to go to school anymore. We had guys that, had to teach to read and write their names. I mean, now they DR't do that, but they say’s taking any and everybody. But he was one of the best workers I had, really. Willie always comes in mind. He liked to DRink. He'd say, “Sergeant, can I DRink tonight?” I said, you better not tonight, Willie. I said, I'll tell you when.
Interviewer: He asked permission, that was interesting.
DR: Oh, yeah. I mean that’s just the kind of people that-- I had another one, it worked for a plumbing outfit. And, big guy. He'd do anything in the world for you. And like I say, Rollie (sp?) was wounded right off and then, had a guy name of Dominsky (sp?). He was transferred in and he was from up New York. He knew more’n I did. [laughter] But I was still the boss.
Interviewer: That happened quite a bit.
DR: And then I had a kid from Florida where he was Greek, now I always called him the Greek cause I couldn’t say his first name. [laughter] I still can’t say it. K.K. [unintelligible] whatever the K.K. are I couldn’t tell ‘ya.
Interviewer: What were some of the things that happened during the times that you were there, that you remember the most, the particular events and what happened with the--? What did you all do? You were part of the engineer combat battalion?
DR: Yep.
Interviewer: The 238th, that's what I'm seeing on here.
DR: Yep.
Interviewer: Tell us some of the things that your your crew did, specifically.
DR: Well, we cleared-- we laid minefields. We cleared minefields. We built bridges. And we fought as infantry in the town of Aachen. We spent 20, almost 30 days. I mean, we was there for 30 days, but they only count it because we moved in with the infantry and then we was there for them for about a week. And then they moved out and infantry had more people then we did. It got kinda lonesome up there, but we was on the line of Aachen, and that was one of the first major city in Germany. It was captured.
Interviewer: And what did you do when you were there? I mean, were you working as an engineer?
DR: No, we was. Infantry, we were infantry people. We made patrols down into town. And we get in and we got shot at one day. [laughter] And I had an outpost exposed to it for a while, but lucky nothing happened.
Interviewer: Can you remember-- so, you are the engineer combat battalion most of the time you're just infantry on that?
DR: No. This, about 20 some days now, but most of our time building roads and bridges.
Interviewer: What, I mean, okay, which roads and bridges do you remember building? Can you specify or do you remember?
DR: Well, we build one bridge. I mean, we build a lot of bridges, different places like back in Belgium. I mean, ever river that was there when the Germans left, they blew the bridges
and we replaced them all. And like I’s showing you some pictures, there are some of the Bailey bridges. This were steel bridges and, the 45th Museum has a steel bridge like we built. And they took about two or three weeks or two weeks, anyhow. They need to build in that. And we built one of them in about four or five hours. Now, some of the bridges that we built are—[rustling papers, I believe DR is showing the interviewer a photograph] I can show you one of ‘em, now that’s the first bridge that’s built in France, and that ain’t much.
Interviewer: OK. So, this was the first bridge constructed by Company B, 238 ECB in Normandy following the D-Day landing. Afternoon, 6th of June, 1944. And it was a 36 foot treadway over a small watercourse, replaces a brown culvert on Road U.S., the primary exit from Utah Beach.
DR: That was the only opening off the [unintelligible] Now here’s a little--.
Interviewer: DRald W. Ray measured the crater. And what was that crater about that was the explosion?
DR: Germans had blew it.
Interviewer: That blew the original bridge?
DR: Yes, uh huh. That's where I spent my first day.
Interviewer: It's your first day in Europe.
DR: Right there on that bridge.
Interviewer: What lessons did you learn from this time in your life?
DR: You've got to trust your fellow man.
Interviewer: Is-- let's see. When you came home, you mentioned earlier that you felt you were lost. What things made you feel welcome?
DR: Went to work.
Interviewer: You went to work.
DR: The biggest, almost all of them was just like me. They just come out of service and I mean, some of them had worked for the company before they went into service. And they just come right back. I mean, they was discharged about the same time I was. And there's kind of a wild bunch for a while. I'll tell you the truth. [laughter]
Interviewer: And which company was that?
DR: Western Electric.
Interviewer: That was Western Electric. What kind of things did you do when you were in Western Electric? Can you tell us any special times about that?
DR: Well, first off, if I DR't know if you can remember back this far. But Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Britton [sp?], and Bethany had dial [sp?] systems. And Tulsa did. There's one little town out of Tulsa that had, and all the rest of them had operators. That's what my wife was an operator, see? Yeah, I mean, when I started work in downtown Oklahoma City at the electronic part of it, and now I got involved in this and so forth, and that's more or less my capabilities would put an end, an older type of office, which was Edmond and Edmond, had a different type. But like Ponca City, I worked everyplace in this state, almost in Tulsa, Ponca City, Sallisaw, anyplace. Woodward, that's where I met my wife. And I was working on the switchboard there. Adding more positions on the switchboard, as right after the tornado.
Interviewer: Which tornado was that?
DR: One at Woodward. There's one hunDRed and some people killed in that one.
Interviewer: In what year was that?
DR: In ’47.
Interviewer: What about some of the people you worked with? Can you tell me anything about those people?
DR: The people I worked with, I'm playing golf with four-- three of them right now. Every day, every three days a week.
Interviewer: What are their names?
DR: Huh?
Interviewer: What are their names?
DR: B.R. Phillips.
Interviewer: B.R. Phillips.
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And?
DR: They call him “Vance.” [laughter] Richard Vandergriff.
Interviewer: OK, and?
DR: Wiley Mann.
Interviewer: Wiley Mann. And well, what did you do? I mean, what kind of things do you remember that you three were doing back then.
DR: You know, actually those three—now, B.R [unintelligible] when we were on a regional job in Ponca City, and then Van and I worked in a little office over here at Britton. Actually, you never worked with the same bunch all the time. We all worked for the same company. But my specialty-- well, I didn't have any chilDRen. And the boss had chilDRen. And he wanted everybody with chilDRen have their vacation in the summertime. These guys got all their vacation, I could take mine any time. We worked at different things. They got involved downtown and stayed down here in Oklahoma City a lot, which was in the [unintelligible] portion of it, which they went electronic before a lot of these little offices did. Now, I DR't know anything about [unintelligible] anymore because it's all changed.
Interviewer: When did you retire?
DR: In ‘81.
Interviewer: In ‘81.
DR: I've enjoyed it every minute of it.
Interviewer: What kind of things have you DRe besides play golf since nineteen eighty--?
DR: Traveled.
Interviewer: You've traveled.
DR: I've had a motor home. I mean, I guess I've been all the way from Key West to Point Barrow, Alaska.
Interviewer: Point Barrow, Alaska.
DR: Now, I actually, I didn't DRive the motor home up there. [laughter]
Interviewer: You could, but it is a bit-
DR: We had a motor home in Fairbanks, and then we flew from Fairbanks to Point Barrow, or Barrow, not barrel, it’s Barrow, where Wiley Post and Will Rogers were killed, you can't get there where they were killed. Quite an experience.
Interviewer: What were some of the adventures you've had on some of your travels since then? What's memorable?
DR: Huh?
Interviewer: What's memorable about some of those travels?
DR: Well, the trip in Alaska was the most memorable. I mean, that I can come up with right now.
Interviewer: What kinds of things did you do up there?
DR: Oh, we just mostly sightseeing.
Interviewer: Sightseeing. What was, some of the glaciers?
DR: Yes.
Interviewer: I've been to Alaska, so yeah. Those glaciers are something special, aren’t they?
DR: We put our motor home on the ferry, Prince Rupert. And then we went to two or three different islands. You got me thinking, I can't remember everything. [laughter] But we did go to Juneau, and we went, seen the big one there in Juneau. And then we went on and we got off at Haines.
Interviewer: In Haines?
DR: And then we DRove the rest of the way.
Interviewer: Meet any special people during that time?
DR: Well, actually, they was. They was four couples left. They was, two of them I can’t hardly remember, my cousin and her husband had a motor home and that's where we got [unintelligible]. They live in a camp in Texas in the wintertime. And so they, two other couples went in other words, they was four of us started out together. But that's too many motor homes trying to gas up and what have ‘ya and trying to get eight people that all want to do the same thing at the same time. So we split up, two and two.
Interviewer: And so, you both. Everyone went to Alaska. But different?
DR: Well, we all went all the way up on the ships and what have you until we got up to Fairbanks. Not Fairbanks, but. Hmm. What’s the other big one up there?
Interviewer: Fairbanks? Juneau? Anchorage?
DR: Anchorage.
Interviewer: Where else have you been besides Alaska since then? I mean, you said Alaska was most memorable. Can you think of any places?
DR: Well I been back to Europe once.
Interviewer: Back to Europe? And about what time was that?
DR: It was in June. Hmm. I can’t remember the year.
Interviewer: You can’t remember. How is it different?
DR: Cars.
Interviewer: You were in-- the cars that were there?
DR: Yes. See, there’s no traffic. All we had was trucks, more or less. It yeah, the traffic was different. We got it. We was in Rome on a Sunday. And you couldn't go across the street, them little cars, [vocalizing] BBBBBB. [laughter] We was trying to go down to the big church there and they everybody would go and you. We said, hey, we're not gonna try to cross that street.
Interviewer: You say you didn't make it to the church that day?
DR: No, we got close, but we went through the church later.
Interviewer: What kind of places, what kind of things did you do besides the church? Or tried to visit?
DR: Oh, I mean, that was just one of ‘em. We went on from-- well, we landed in England. And while we’s in England, I took my wife and I took a excursion trip on a-- we took a train down to where I stayed for a few days. ‘Bout three or four weeks in the hotel down there. We’s right on the channel, English Channel.
Interviewer: Can you remember the town?
DR: Bournemouth.
Interviewer: Bournemouth? And so you spent some time in Bournemouth where you had been originally in the war in England?
DR: Before that and before we went over to cross the little—[laughter]
Interviewer: Cross the channel? Where did you go when you went across the channel?
DR: We left from Torquay right straight into the beach.
Interviewer: Any particular places when you visited it? [unintelligible]
DR: We got to Paris. I was gonna take a train back to the beach. But they was on strike and I didn't get to go to the beach now. So, I mean, we had, we went to England first.
We took this tour. And like I say, it made that trip. And then we crossed with the boat at Dover, over into France and in, into Paris.
Interviewer: Did you follow basically the same path that you went?
DR: No. Then we went on down to Switzerland and Italy and then come back through Austria and Switzerland, back into Germany. Now, I was. I got to go to Cologne.
Interviewer: Cologne? But that's, was that a place you'd been before?
DR: I had been to Cologne before; I left Cologne in a hurry. [laughter]
Interviewer: Okay. Go on in a hurry. What was it like going back into Cologne after you been, in leaving it in such a rush?
DR: The difference was when we was there the first time, there was nobody there and they was tourists and people everywhere.
Interviewer: Different faces and different attitude. Had they rebuilt very much by that time?
DR: Yes, and you can tell that anything went on in Cologne.
Interviewer: How did, how were you greeted when you went back? I mean, could you tell any difference?
DR: Well, I mean, actually, they more--, most of them ignored us. We were on a bus, several I mean, you know a tour.
Interviewer: What was the purpose of the trip? Going back to Europe? Was it just to see Europe again and--?
DR: There was a group going and—
Interviewer: You went too. Did it heal anything to see the differences? I DR't mean to be prying, but I was just wondering, did it heal to see that Europe was different?
DR: Well, hey, it’s just like if you'd been in this this town and there was nobody here. And then you go back and it's full of people like it is right now and the traffic and so forth, you say, hey, have I been here before?
Interviewer: You know, life, life had picked up and it was a life again.
DR: See because normally when we went up across there, we are run into many people at all.
Interviewer: When you were in the war.
DR: After we crossed the Rhine, we started to run into German people, but--.
Interviewer: What do you remember about some of the people that you met during the war, the civilians? We didn't mention, talk about that before. Did you meet any?
DR: French, really we never seen too many Frenchmen around, really. I mean, now in Belgium, them people was out to greet us. They treat us like we were somebody.
Interviewer: What did you remember? What was it like? I mean, what were the events that occurred, that you remember in Belgium?
DR: In Belgium? They bring you a bottle of wine and so forth. [laughter]
Interviewer: They were really, they were saying welcome—
DR: Uh huh. And they be young girls jump up on the side of the truck and give you a kiss.
Interviewer: Kiss on either side.
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: But they were happy to see you, definitely.
DR: For a young man, that was a, quite a thrill.
Interviewer: That was what you remember mostly about the civilians?
DR: Well, I mean, yeah, they was. They were, they were celebrating. I can’t think of the town right now, but it—Charleroi.
Interviewer: You said that you left Cologne in a hurry. Was it be too much for me to ask what that was about?
DR: They started DRopping mortar shells around us. We’s up there in our trucks. We probably shouldn't have been! [laughter] Somebody said the town was free. I guess it was. But they were shooting from someplace else.
Interviewer: Yeah, I think I'd be out in a hurry too, in that particular case. [laughter] Are there any other special things that you would like to mention that we haven’t covered, in this interview? Besides the war?
DR: [laughs]
Interviewer: As well, I mean, in the war or otherwise? Did you get a Purple Heart?
DR: Yes.
Interviewer: Can you tell us about that time?
DR: It was during the Battle of the Bulge, at Trois-Ponts Belgium.
Interviewer: Yes.
DR: And uh, we were, had started a bridge. Fact is, we’d been up there about noon, looking at the bridge site, and we couldn’t get too it because the Germans were still too close.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: And, about 9 o’clock at night they called us out and said we’re going back and, we had started the bridge, and we had just part of it, we had it laid out, it was one of these steel bridges.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: And we just started. And I always had the bracing section on one side, and I left my helmet and rifle over on the other side, because you can’t work with one of them tin things on your head! [DR laughs] And rifle, and boy the mortars started, shells started falling all around us.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: Well I went, it let up, and I went, got, to get my helmet and rifle, because [DR laughs] if I was gonna leave, I wanted them! [DR laughs]
Interviewer: Oh yeah.
DR: I had no more’n got across there, somebody picked up a sledgehammer and hit that steel bridge that we had started, and you could hear it ring. There was snow on the ground and you could hear it ring in that valley for miles!
Interviewer: Ooo.
DR: Boom, boom, boom. [laughter] I got a scratch, it’s not bad, wasn’t bad.
Interviewer: A scratch from?
DR: It was a mortar shell.
Interviewer: A mortar shell that split, okay.
DR: It, well a concussion, kind of knocked me up against the building but—funny thing, the next morning we’s looking around and lieutenant’s chief was sitting there, and he had one of these big ‘ol mortar shells, back end of it that didn’t explode, it hit the building and glanced off and hit the back, it was about that big around, ‘bout that long. [DR laughs]
Interviewer: That was about what, about a foot by foot long?
DR: I’m probably exaggerating, but you know, mortar shell.
Interviewer: Okay. You said that you were wounded, you said it was just a scratch. Can you say where it was?
DR: Do what?
Interviewer: Can you say where you were wounded?
DR: Leg at Trois-Ponts, Belgium.
Interviewer: Okay. In the, in your leg?
DR: Uh huh. Yeah. I’ve got a small scar, it’s not, it’s about gone.
Interviewer: So it was in your thigh, am I right?
DR: Right here.
Interviewer: In your thigh?
DR: [shows the interviewer his wound]
Interviewer: About gone. [laughter] Several inches long, it looks like.
DR: Yeah.
Interviewer: I can’t think…is there anything else at this point in time, you can think of? Any other medals you received during the war?
DR: Well, I got a good conduct medal. [DR laughs]
Interviewer: That’s sweet. You told us about a lot of things. You mentioned something about that tornado, back there. Did you see anything about that tornado? I’m, I just, I was just thinking about that, was just curious with all that we’ve had, with the May 3rd.
DR: I’ve got pictures of my wife standing there, she was in the house when it blew away.
Interviewer: Mmm. Do you remember what house?
DR: She…huh?
Interviewer: Do you remember the house?
DR: Uh, no. Now, there’s nothing left of it. [DR chuckles] She was in it!
Interviewer: She was in the house?!
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Whoooa!
DR: She couldn’t remember nothin’ about it, so in other words…she was either out or something, you know.
Interviewer: Uh huh. That’s…was there anything else you’d like to add? You’ve got this. See, the books that you’ve brought, “Bridges—
DR: Well, I tell you what. Would the Y like to have that book?
Interviewer: Huh?
DR: Would the Y like to have that book?
Interviewer: The Y?
DR: Uh huh. I mean, not the Y. [DR laughs]
Interviewer: The library?
DR: The library, excuse me.
Interviewer: I can’t guarantee that we would add it, we have the, we have policies but, I can check on it for you.
DR: Well, I mean if you’d like to have it, I’ve got another one.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: This gentleman that wrote the book is dead.
Interviewer: His name is Martin F. Massoglia.
DR: He was a major in our outfit.
Interviewer: In your outfit.
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And he wrote, “Battalion Attention: Bridges to Freedom: World War II, the True Story of a Soldier.” And…
DR: I DR’t know, I was kinda look through there, I’ve read it once and I was looking at that again, whether there’s any foul language in there or not.
Interviewer: I was looking to see if, it was published, it’s copyright 1996 and it doesn’t have an index. I was looking to see if it would direct me to anything in particular, but it doesn’t have it so I can’t find your name. Anything else…that you’d like to…show us?
DR: There’s one of the steel bridges we built.
Interviewer: And that particular steel bridge is?
DR: That’s probably in Namur, Belgium.
Interviewer: Okay, this is [reading from book] the Meuse River bridge, the triple-double Bailey bridge across the Meuse River at Namur, Belgium. And it said “note the pier in the center.”
DR: Well, let’s see, is there a pier in that one?
Interviewer: That’s what it says, a pier in the center.
DR: Oh yes, right here.
Interviewer: Uh huh. The one that’s holding up the bridge, or bracing the bridge.
DR: Well it, they, we added that one for tanks, because that one’s extra long, and here’s a rubber one, I think that across the, oh yeah that’s, Rhine River.
Interviewer: The Rhine River?
DR: Mm uh.
Interviewer: You did that one as well?
DR: Uh, actually, the 237th built a bridge, or was in charge of it, but what, C Company was floating out here, A Company was far shore security, and we built the ramp over here, for the road off of the bridge.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: When we put in rubber ones like that, they build ‘em away from the original bridge sites.
Interviewer: Build rubber?
DR: Oh I mean this is sittin’ on rubber pontoons. Pontoons.
Interviewer: Pontoons?
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Did that work the best for those really long bridges?
DR: Yep, well, it’s the only way we could do it.
Interviewer: And that would hold…hold the tanks as well?
DR: Oh yeah.
Interviewer: Everything else?
DR: I mean, it probably wouldn’t hold a tank that they’ve got now, but back then they would carry anything we had.
Interviewer: Okay. Do you know if any of these bridges are still in existence?
DR: There’s still some in France that’s still in existence.
Interviewer: Still some. Do you know any of them?
DR: No.
Interviewer: You just know that there are some.
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: Okay.
DR: I seen some pictures that somebody had been back over there and took ‘em, took bridges they’s still. Now this, this was Memorial Day, Martin Luther’s church there, in [inaudible].
Interviewer: The dead of the battalion…some of those were your friends, of course.
DR: See I had 2 men in my squad who was killed.
Interviewer: So you were remembering those 2 men?
DR: Mm uh.
Interviewer: And their names again?
DR: Huh?
Interviewer: What were their names again?
DR: One of ‘em was Victor Dunham, and the other one was Alberta Riegel [spelling?].
Interviewer: Riegel? [spelling?]
DR: Oh yes. [unintelligible] in your mind.
Interviewer: This is sounding a little bit morbid but I want, I think it’s important to ask: do you remember how they died?
DR: Uh, well, Dunham died in a min—I mean, in an explosion.
Interviewer: In the explosion.
DR: Um uh. And Rayo [spelling?] was shot.
Interviewer: Rayo [spelling?] was shot. You remember where?
DR: Well I could say Dunham was close, someplace close to Carentan, France.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: And Rayo [spelling?] was in…during the Bulge, someplace in Belgium.
Interviewer: Someplace in Belgium.
DR: Not, I can’t tell you where—
Interviewer: You can’t exactly where, but you can remember—
DR: Oh yes.
Interviewer: Generally, that’s, okay. Were there any other events in the war that you can think of that were important?
DR: [chuckles]
Interviewer: That you think are important.
DR: Well, to me, Christmas Eve, 1944.
Interviewer: Christmas Eve, 1944. And what was important about that one?
DR: [chuckles] it wasn’t important, lieutenant says, “Sergeant, I’m leaving you here and when the last American comes down that road, you blow that bridge and get out.”
Interviewer: Mmm.
DR: About 9 o’clock that evening, I’d already sent my truck DRiver and they was, I kept, we had a little 30-caliber machine gun, I had 2 men on it, and another man and me, and there’s 4 of us and I said, you guys go on back because we gon’ blow that, and if we ain’t in the truck in a few minutes, you get out. Because we’re gonna scatter and move.
Interviewer: Mmm.
DR: Because things was happenin’ bad back then.
Interviewer: And where was that located again?
DR: Trois-Ponts, Belgium.
Interviewer: Trois-Ponts, Belgium.
DR: Not too far from…oh [chuckles] let me think of the names and I can’t right now. Bastogne. We wasn’t too far from Bastogne.
Interviewer: Bastogne. That was an interesting Christmas. [laughter]
DR: About 9, 9:30, lieutenant come and said, sergeant, we’ve been relieved. [laughter] I’ve been relieved more—[laughter]
Interviewer: So you didn’t have to blow the bridge, huh?
DR: Nope!
Interviewer: Oooo, that’s a relief!
DR: I tell you what, went back about 3 days later and just happened to find somebody and what had happened, the Germans had captured an American tank, it came in first. And so therefore, the bridge wasn’t blown.
Interviewer: The bridge wasn’t blown. Aaahh. That was kinda sweet, wasn’t it?
DR: They sent that American tank through first, see, and the guys was waiting and it was too late.
Interviewer: Well it made it easy, I mean, it was kind of a relief, all that hard work that you’d done hadn’t been torn apart.
DR: Well…See at that time the Germans was dressed as Americans running around, in American Jeeps and in American clothes and speaking English.
Interviewer: And kinda deceptive, wasn’t it?
DR: Mm huh, it was a scary time. It was cold, nasty. Bbbhh.
Interviewer: So, what was New Year’s Eve like if that was Christmas? Or do you remember?
DR: I can’t even remember.
Interviewer: Can’t remember, it was just—
DR: See Christmas stuck in my mind!
Interviewer: --in your mind. Blow the bridge! What, can you think of any other major events besides a Christmas?
DR: Not offhand.
Interviewer: Not offhand? Let’s look at, let’s go back to your family a little bit. How far back can you trace your family tree, do you know?
DR: On my mother’s side, it goes back a long ways. As far as my dad’s side, I don’t know.
Interviewer: What do you call a long ways?
DR: Back 17-somethin’.
Interviewer: 17-something?
DR: Uh huh. Her first—some of her ancestors, immigrated from Germany to here back in 17-something.
Interviewer: Do you know any of the names?
DR: I’ve got a book with them.
Interviewer: A book with them in it?
DR: Yeah. I couldn’t tell ‘ya.
Interviewer: Do you know who’ll get that book? Who you gonna pass that book on to, do you know?
DR: I have no idea.
Interviewer: You have no idea?
DR: My sister, I’m sure, has got one, so—
Interviewer: Okay. I was asking mostly, I mean, if someone wanted to go back and look at that book, we’ve mentioned where they might possibly be able to locate it.
DR: I’ll probably give it to one of her boys, that they don’t have one, I don’t think they do.
Interviewer: Okay. What are you gonna be doing with the rest of your life? Besides play golf.
DR: [laughter] That’s, I have no aspirations to do much of anything right now. I’ve traveled about every place I want to go, I think. I’ve got rid of my motorhome ‘cause I got to the age I thought you better quit driving that thing.
Interviewer: What about family, that you have left that you’re close to? I think you mentioned a nephew.
DR: Well, they both live, I got 2 nephews in Kingfisher.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: But I don’t see ‘em very often.
Interview: What are their names?
DR: Huh?
Interview: Their names.
DR: Sam Trent and Oscar D. Trent.
Interviewer: Those are on your, is that your sister’s--?
DR: Uh huh, my sister’s boys.
Interviewer: And they have family?
DR: Oscar D. doesn’t. He’s married but he didn’t have any children. Now Sammy’s got 2.
Interviewer: What’s Oscar D.’s wife’s name?
DR: Well you don’t need to know now.
Interviewer: Okay, and the other’s? Your other nephew’s wife? And the only reason we’re asking is genealogy. It’s not to be nosy.
DR: Uh huh. I can’t think right now, not saying either one of ‘em. [laughter]
Interviewer: Can’t even think of the nephew either?
DR: Huh?
Interviewer: Your great-nephews’ names?
DR: There’s 2 girls, one of ‘em is Courtney.
Interviewer: Great-nieces. Okay, Courtney.
DR: And [chuckles] the little one’s got a funny name, you don’t need to know. [laughs] I couldn’t tell ‘ya.
Interviewer: Okay. Can you tell me what some of the best times of your life was and the most difficult times?
DR: Day I got married I guess would be one of the better ones. And I got out of the military would be another great one.
Interviewer: And are you comfortable sharing the most difficult times?
DR: You just heard several of ‘em.
Interviewer: In the war?
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: What would your dreams be for any of your family, that you would like to see happen? I know you don’t have children, but…you have your nieces and your nephews and your great-nieces. Possibly some others.
DR: I’d like to see our country back like it was a few years ago, before we’s overpopulated and everything else, with aliens and what-have-‘ya. Now, the Mexicans are good people, but we can’t afford to have all of Mexico move to the United States. I mean, they’re good people. But we had, we had 2 in our outfit from ‘ol Mexico, 1 of ‘em was killed.
Interviewer: In the battalion?
DR: Huh?
Interviewer: In the battalion? Can you remember their names?
DR: Huh, uh, one of ‘em was Dozell (spelling?), uh last names, see? And the other one was Saiez (spelling?).
Interviewer: And how did, which one died?
DR: Saiez.
Interviewer: Saiez. Was that a gunshot or mortar or do you remember? Juarez? Juarez?
DR: Ezekiel Saiez, oh he was the meanest lookin’ Mexican you ever seen. [chuckles] But good-natured.
Interviewer: Good-natured? Just by looks, you can’t tell a book by its cover.
DR: A mine explosion.
Interviewer: A mine explosion?
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: What do you remember about the other gentleman?
DR: I don’t know how many kids Dozell had, he had several, but he wouldn’t speak English.
Interviewer: He could, but he wouldn’t? Or he just couldn’t?
DR: He was tryin’ to get out from going overseas, I know what he was doin’. Or I mean, that’s my opinion. Now, I didn’t care for him. [laughs] I mean, be truthful. But, how many children he had. But he got overseas, he spoke pretty good English. He found out he wasn’t gonna get to get out of it. Done making a big allotment.
Interviewer: Probably helped his kid, him with his kids, what they had very many. Let’s go back to another one. How many teachers had a strong influence on your life?
DR: I guess football coach or basketball coaches. Same man.
Interviewer: Uh huh. And how did he have an influ—what was that influence? Tell me about it.
DR: [laughs] Get your grades up or you won’t make the team! [laughs]
Interviewer: So it was, he had some definite motivations there to improve your grades. So, what about the teams you were on? What did you do in those teams? Sounds like it helped you with your teamwork in World War II. Definitely. So, what are some of the stories? Can you tell us any?
DR: No it uh, we just, mediocre small high school teams, what-have-‘ya.
Interviewer: But you enjoyed it?
DR: We won some and lost some.
Interviewer: How did you get into the electrical work when you started working with the electrical company?
DR: I was home and I’d met another fella up here [laughs]. He was just like I was, only he was married. He was lookin’ for a job too, we go to Oklahoma City, and really we looked, went different places. In ’45 it wasn’t real easy to find work, and you’d go to warehouse or somethin’ and unload trains or what-have-‘ya. We’d end up having a beer or 2 [laughs] and come home, and his step-dad come by and said “Western Electric’s hirin’, it used to be a pretty good outfit to work for.” So I went down there and they hired me right off! [laughs] And that ‘ol boy says, “You want to go to work, uh Monday?” Or wait a minute, next day I said no, I said, “How ‘bout the next day?” This friend of mine had been and he just got home, and he was captured in the Philippines by the Japanese and he was home, barely got home. I hadn’t seen him since ’40, about ’42, ’41, ‘cause he went in the Navy right out of high school and he got captured at Corregidor. I couldn’t believe it, he’s about 6’2” and weighed, still weighed about 140 pounds when he got home.
Interviewer: Mmm.
DR: And so I said I wanted to get together with him and we hashed over times.
Interviewer: Can you tell us some of the stories that you shared?
DR: Well, he didn’t talk too much. He worked in, he said, they took him Japan.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: He said well, in the ship that they shipped him to Japan on, they stacked ‘em in there, there wasn’t room enough to lay down.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: And guys were seasick, and said it was horrible in there. And bowel movements and so forth and what they, what little they get in that, most of them had diarrhea and this kinda stuff and he said, he talked about, and several of ‘em died, of course. Then he got in Japan and he, they put him in a coal mine.
Interviewer: Put him to work.
DR: He said they’d steal radishes, they’d slap ‘em on the wrist, they caught ‘em. Just to have somethin’ to eat.
Interviewer: For stealing radishes?
DR: Yeah.
Interviewer: What kind of stories did you two share from times before the war?
DR: Like I say, there was 5 of us, and we went every place together, we went to movies, swimmin’, and what-have-‘ya, hunt and fish, everything a bunch of teenage boys does.
Interviewer: So you just shared those memories as well?
DR: Yep.
Interviewer: Okay. What were you doing before the war? I mean, what was your profession before the war?
DR: Well, most of it was just right out of high school. Now I did work out in Colorado for about 3 months. They were building a camp to move the Japanese off the west coast and they was moving to Colorado and I was out there workin’. Buildin’ this camp for the Japanese, they’s movin’ in. We built floors for tents and.
Interviewer: Some of the camps that they were, okay. So, you were out of high school and they were doing that?
DR: Uh huh. And then, I made a harvest at one time, I mean right out of high school I made a harvest. Somebody said they had this, they was hirin’ out there in Colorado, so that’s where I went. When I finished harvest, I went down in Texas and I was gonna make all the way up to [laughs], make the harvest and I went to work for an ‘ol boy who had a thousand acres of wheat.
Interviewer: Mmm.
DR: And I stayed there about, well from June ‘til July I guess.
Interviewer: How did you get into the military?
DR: Uncle Sam said hey, I need you. [laughter]
Interviewer: Where were you inducted?
DR: In Oklahoma City.
Interviewer: In Oklahoma City?
DR: That’s where I took my physical and everything else.
Interviewer: And where did they ship you from there, where did they send you from there?
DR: Well actually I went from [unintelligible] to Minco to Chickasha and they brought us to Oklahoma City on a bus and went through a physical and they swore us in and then we had about, 10 or 12 days in between to get our stuff, to get ready. And then we had to report back to Chickasha. We got on the train and went to Ft. Sill.
Interviewer: And so Ft. Sill, they trained you?
DR: No.
Interviewer: No?
DR: I get on a train there at…well I went to Ft. Sill and then I went to hospital down there for about 3 weeks, 2 weeks. I had a carbuncle on the back of my neck and they cut it off.
Interviewer: Ahhh, okay.
DR: I get [unintelligible] and ‘ol boy said, “No we have to ship you out of here.” And I went back to the reception center down there and they put us on a train and got off the train at Plattsburgh, New York. Christmas morning again. Christmas, it seem—[laughs] pop into my life when I’s in the military. Snow about knee-deep, and that’s where I took basic training.
Interviewer: From basic training, where did they ship you?
DR: We went down to West Virginia on maneuvers for about 2 months, and then to Ft. Dix, and then from Dix, I can’t remember now how long we’s in Dix, but went to New York City a time or two and then we went to Camp Patrick Henry, and they just stripped us down and everything and put us on a ship and sent us to Africa.
Interviewer: What do you remember about Africa?
DR: I hated it. North Afri—we was in north Africa, just out of Oran a ways.
Interviewer: Oh, so it was the heat and the pests?
DR: November, we got there in November. At night, it gets cold. Bitter cold over there. And it would rain quite a bit, and we was living in tents. And we was on a rocky hill and they couldn’t hardly plant the stakes in the ground, pretty soon we filed rocks on the end of the guy rope to keep those tents from falling down because they get wet and the wind would blow and they’d blow ‘em over. We had 2 blankets and we laid on the ground over there, that’s where you slept.
Interviewer: Oh, we’ve heard about some of those pests that they had and some of the sand, sand fleas and was. How were you, did you have a lot of trouble with that as well or was it just the cold?
DR: Well, we had several people get pneumonia and what-have-‘ya.
Interviewer: Because of the cold?
DR: Uh huh. And dampness.
Interviewer: And dampness.
DR: And like I say, we was on a rocky hill [laughs].
Interviewer: What do you remember of the country besides how bad that was? I mean, did you see any of the natives?
DR: Oh yes. Them bedsheet-people. I had no use for ‘em.
Interviewer: From Africa you went to?
DR: We took a, we rode a boxcar across Africa, from over to Casablanca. Then we got on a ship and went to England. We got out there on that ship, just a ship out there all by its lonesome. And we was wondering, because we went over on a convoy and as far as you could see either way, it was ships. But that one, we’s out there by ourself. And we kept timing, time would change and somebody said, “We’re going home!” [laughs] And pretty soon we went back the other way. And then of course, we had hit a storm in the north Atlantic up there. They lost a man overboard. And they locked the doors so we couldn’t get on deck.
Interviewer: Didn’t want to lose anyone else, of course. Do you remember who that was?
DR: Nuh uh. He wasn’t in our outfit.
Interviewer: Not in your outfit.
DR: It was just, I don’t know about they’s about, I don’t know how many, it was several, probably a thousand or more people on that ship.
Interviewer: What was it like being on that ship with so many people?
DR: Well, I got lucky. [laughs]
Interviewer: You got lucky.
DR: They was 7 of us as a stateroom, 6 bunks, I mean it’s a stateroom. But one ‘ol boy had this mattress, we called it an Arab mattress, he traded for it, he carried that thing everywhere he went. But it’s like sleeping on that rock over there in Oran, he said I’m gonna have me a bed, so he just threw his bed down on the floor underneath one of the bunks and so everybody had a bunk. And we had it pretty nice. I thought the food was pretty good the first 2 days but then it, everything tasted the same [laughs]. British.
Interviewer: British?
DR: Mm huh. And so, we had a lieutenant we’d met from another outfit had been in ours and he got us a case of sardines and we’d get bread and we had sardines and bread [laughs].
Interviewer: Tasted good, huh?
DR: Oh yes.
Interviewer: What other treats did you have like that, was it just the sardines? Off and on you got little bits and pieces that were special like the sardines?
DR: [laughs] Well I mean we bought the sardines.
Interviewer: Yeah.
DR: We’d go down to the mess hall and get a couple loafs of bread and sardines, and pretty good. The only thing each one of us had to, all the sergeants had to, our guys was all right up in the very front of that ship [bang] and they’d bounce like that. Especially in—
Interviewer: In rough weather?
DR: Uh huh. Each sergeant had to go down there at least 1 day, I mean, be with the men. And I done pretty good, wasn’t too bad. But it was really bouncy, they had it lot, we was up about the middle of the ship and up fairly reasonably. Pretty smooth where we’s at. Where they’s at it was rough. And guys was trying to sleep in hammocks [laughter].
Interviewer: I guess a few got bounced out.
DR: [laughs]
Interviewer: That’s a guess, I’m not sure. So, you went—so you were on the boat and then you hit the beach and that was what you remember, we went over that before. Where did you go from the beach?
DR: Not very far.
Interviewer: Not very far?
DR: Down, where that, where you see that bridge.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
DR: That’s as far as I got.
Interviewer: That’s as far as you got?
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: On Utah.
DR: And I stayed there until, big rubber pontoons was rolled up and they was about yay big around and about that high.
Interviewer: Yay big around is about how big?
DR: Oh they was probably, when they’s rolled up, they I mean [unintelligible] they’s big. We rolled them down, we set a 50-caliber machine gun, we made a fort out of them because they’s water on both sides everyplace. We come ashore, infantry was walking in water about this deep.
Interviewer: About chest high?
DR: Well, from waist to chest high at different places. They was goin’ up across there and, actually when we hit the beach, the Germans was about 3 or 4 hundred yards in front of them, they were going that way, I said they’re not shootin’ at each other, I said they don’t wanna be shootin’ at each other out there in that water.
Interviewer: They didn’t want to be shooting at each other out in the water?
DR: Nuh uh. They didn’t. But no I spent my first day, when we put that little bridge in that I showed you, directing traffic because ambulance hauling people back to the beach had priority. By nightfall, they was a steady, steady rain of traffic on down this road for a while, they didn’t go too far. I stayed about midnight and I was relieved and about the next morning we started back, and there was a German plane come over and strafed and this big ‘ol boy from North Carolina had on just a partial pack on and this plane was coming right down the road it looked like and the only reason I didn’t get in the water is I hit a tree [laughs]. This big ‘ol boy he had that pack on, and he got under a half-track which was not too high, and he got under there and he couldn’t get out. [laughs]
Interviewer: He couldn’t get out?
DR: He couldn’t get out!
Interviewer: The pack kept him from coming out.
DR: We cut his pack off so he could get out. But then, right after that, we went on down and relieved a crew that had been there all night, and well they got to fire at the plane that come down the road with the 50 we had set up, and wasn’t long after that these guys come in, their ship had been sunk out there, they’d hit a mine or something on the ship they was on. And they come ashore and they was looking for anything and everything to steal, because they’d lost, they didn’t have nothin’ but what they had on, no helmets, no rifles, nothin’. And they, you better not lay a rifle down, they’d have it and gone. [laughs]
Interviewer: You went from, you went from there to. I mean, you went from the beach, you were waiting there and where did you go from there?
DR: After we fini—after the MPs come in, took over, directin’ traffic on the bridge and we moved, my squad moved down the road about, oh maybe a half-mile or so forth and the water was over the road about that deep. And, I mean trucks was going through it but we started building it up and they tore up a building over there and they’s hauling rock and dumping it, we had dump trucks. And my squad, we’s tryin’ to lay them rocks so it wouldn’t be this and that. That’s where we spent most of the 2nd day.
Interviewer: On the 2nd day?
DR: Uh huh.
Interviewer: And then where did you go on the 3rd, was the next day?
DR: Whether I was back there finishing that or not, I can’t remember. We got, we went on down and we built a bridge over a river, and I can’t remember just when it was. Date and time’s right there, they pass and go, you know?
Interviewer: After the first couple of days, it kind of blurred, huh? Do you remember where the, can you remember any other destinations that strikes, at this point in time?
DR: We didn’t go in very far, too fast, but we started hittin’ them hedgerows.
Interviewer: Hedgerows?
DR: Uh huh. They was, in other words we built fences around small areas. They built piles of dirt, some of them was as wide as this table.
Interviewer: So about 5 feet?
DR: Germans was hiding behind them and what-have-‘ya.
Interviewer: So it was about 4 or 5 feet? Okay, so the hedgerows were about 4 or 5 feet?
DR: Some places, I mean, they was different all sizes, I guess.
Interviewer: Do you know about where that was?
DR: Well, I mean they was all over.
Interviewer: All over?
DR: Uh huh. That’s the way they, in other words, we build fences, they used them hedgerows. In other words, they planted trees in ‘em and so forth and they built a mound of dirt and that was where their cattle, they’d have cattle and their orchards and so forth was all in these.
Interviewer: What else do you remember about the area? That strikes your memory? I mean, the land and how it was appearing?
DR: We didn’t go in too far the first—well, we started up the peninsula toward Cherbourg, because that was the main objective I think, gettin’ the port of Cherbourg. And we got to the outskirts of Cherbourg and they was still battlin’ there. We’d read later where they had blown up the harbor so bad they couldn’t use it as a port of entry for, I mean ships comin’ in, supplies and so forth. We built several bridges going up through there.
Interviewer: I want to thank you, Mr. Ray, and I’ll check on this book.
DR: Alright. I mean, if the library’d like to have it, it—if not I’ll find somebody that would, you know?
Interviewer: Thank you so, so much.
DR: Hey, I hope I—
Interviewer: You gave us a lot.