Mostrando resultados por autor "Aaron Elson" en Todas las categorías

Aaron Elson has been interviewing World War 2 veterans for 20 years. In this oral history audiobook, he presents, in their own voices, the stories of three survivors of the "Black March" across Germany near the end of the war.

"After the battle, we picked up a German soldier who had been wounded. He had been shot in the leg with a .50-caliber bullet, and had lain out overnight in this freezing, subzero weather. Both of his arms and both of his legs were frozen stiff as a board. He begged us to shoot him. I couldn't do it. I asked for a volunteer. But these battle hardened soldiers would not volunteer. One soldier lit a cigarette and held it to his lips. Another soldier brought him a hot cup of coffee and held it so he could get coffee until we got the litter jeep up there...."

Edward Madden was a combat medic in the 90th Infantry Division. He landed in Normandy on June 8, 1944. After almost succumbing to combat fatigue due to the horrors of the first battle he was in, he pulled himself together, and despite several close calls, survived the next 11 months with the division that suffered the third highest rate of casualties in the European Theater of Operations. A truly modest hero, Ed recounted his story to oral historian Aaron Elson at a reunion of the 90th Infantry Division.

In 1994, Tom McKinney was watching the 50th anniversary of D-Day ceremonies on television with his father, Vincent “Mike” McKinney. Tom noticed his father, who rarely spoke about the war, turning red while President Clinton was introducing a veteran as the first American to land on Omaha Beach. McKinney was in the first wave to hit the beach, his boat took two hits, and he had to step over bodies to get ashore. When he looked around, he saw no one.

World War II. Sept. 27, 1944. 35 B-24 Liberator bombers. 150 German Fokke-Wulf 190 and Messerschmitt 109 fighter planes. 6 minutes. 25 bombers shot down. Over 30 fighters lost. World War II's most spectacular air battles was also one of its most unusual, in that 45 years later the combatants on both sides got together and dedicated a monument with the names of all of those who died in the battle. This podcast is dedicated to presenting the little known history of that battle.

Vern Schmidt was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division in February of 1945, along with two other replacements. Within 10 days, the other two were dead. This interview includes stories from Vern's wife Dona, whose family moved from Texas to California during the heart of the Dust Bowl.

Hal Mapes was a waist gunner on a B-17, and was one of only two men to survive the collision of two bombers in the sky over Chartres, France. As a POW, he took part in the 80-plus day march across Germany near the end of the war. "Best diet I was ever on," he would say more than 50 years later. "We didn't have anything to eat."

Aaron Elson went to a reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion in 1987, seven years after his father passed away. Aaron was so moved by the stories the veterans shared that he returned two reunions later with a tape recorder. The rest is history. Oral history.