"One of the saddest things we can do to our WWII veterans is to fetishize them as 'heroic bad-asses,'" says Kevin Farkas, award winning veterans oral historian and founder of The Social Voice Project.

"Our interviews with hundreds of veterans reveal a much more nuanced and ordinary depiction of WWII veterans. Not everyone who served in WWII lives up to Hollywood's image of John Wayne. Some who served were cowards and convicted criminals. Most were not battlefield heroes. After the war, many found solace in work, alcohol, drugs, and forgetting the inhumanity they were forced to endure on the battlefield."

The true story of Private Eddie Slovak disrupts our tendency to hero-worship anyone who served during WWII, especially the officers who sometimes made wrong decisions. These were human beings unavoidably caught up in the circumstances of the time. Sometimes they got it wrong.

"In our experience as oral historians, elderly veterans are not apt to recall their mistakes," Farkas says. "The general public may not want them to. We're comfortable with softening history. We're all too comfortable perpetuating the myth that all WWII veterans are heroes. In reality, they are not."

This media short produced by Kevin Farkas reminds us that history is not always unilateral. It is always under interpretation, as it should be.

Was the execution of Private Eddie Slovik "justice or legal murder?" asks Nick Gozik, eyewitness to the firing squad. Was Slovik a hero? Some believe so. You decide. ... See more

WHEN FRANCE COMES CALLING

True story: Not long ago the French Consulate to the United States contacted us at The Social Voice Project, asking if we could help verify that Mr. Prestia had served in France with the 45th Infantry Division.

The French government wanted to present Guy with the distinguished Legion d’Honneur, the highest French order of military merit, established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

But the Consulate had a problem. The award required detailed, official documentation in Guy's Army record that placed him in France during the war.

"I was in France with my unit," Guy told the Consulate. "We came up through the south, not Normandy, and headed straight for Germany. We didn't stay long."

As the ambassador scribbled notes to himself to aid his research, Guy humbly added, "After all these years, I don't know if that counts for anything."

Of course, we think it does. In total, the men of the 45th Division endured more than 500 days of combat throughout Europe, much of it under that hard-edged leadership of General Patton. Being in France is part of that story.

And we know that after leaving France and crossing into Germany, the men of the 45th were among the first to liberate Dachau. Despite their battle hardness, they were unprepared for such inhumanity. It was terrible, almost beyond belief. Many soldiers, through the tears and vomit, now understood the importance of their service, Guy recalls.

"It never leaves you,” he laments, thinking of those who perished and the stench of death that still lingers in his memory.

By any measure, Guy Prestia's meritorious service during WWII deserves our recognition. His story deserves to be heard, which is why we are sharing this oral history interview with the public.

As for the Legion d’Honneur, the French are still working on the paperwork.

FOR MORE VETERANS ORAL HISTORIES
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During WWII, Guy Prestia of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania was among the first Army troops to reach Europe through North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio. From...

Anthony “Dino” Marcione of Monaca, Pennsylvania was drafted into the Korean War at age 20. Sent to the front lines, he manned a machine gun against invading Chinese nationals pushing south into the Korean peninsula. “Our firepower is what kept the Chinese from running us over,” Anthony admits, “but it was brutal up there on the line. Just brutal.”

On this episode of Veteran Voices: The Oral History Podcast, Anthony Marcione shares a story originally told on June 17, 2014 to the Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative in Rochester, Pennsylvania. This audio short story is a production of The Social Voice Project.

LOCAL HISTORY MATTERS
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"What the horrors of war are," wrote Civil War nurse Florence Nightingale, "no one can imagine."

In mainstream veterans oral history work, there is an unwritten precept that the topic of killing is off limits. "Did you kill anyone?" is rarely asked except by either the most unskilled or highly skilled veterans oral historian.

At the Social Voice Project and the Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative, we've never turned away from the question, but it does not casually or often rise up from the depths of veterans' memories. Nonetheless, it is there for many combat veterans who for moral or perhaps legal reasons will not, can not, or feel as if they should not tell that part of their story.

But these veterans' stories, in particular, deserve to be heard in all their raw, authentic, truthfulness--either on or off the record, we owe it to those who served and to history. ... See more

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsfbO9oz0GI This video is NOT monetized. The purpose for uploading is to get the stories without the cuts.

Bob Rupert’s experienced combat pilot turned to him as they flew low over the jungle and shouted, “I want you to listen for beeps on the headset.” “What’s it mean if I hear them?” Bob asked with concern. “It means the Vietcong’s locked onto us with their missiles.” “What do we do then?” Bob exclaimed, looking out the window as the plane slowly sputtered above the treetops. “Not much,” the pilot calmly said.

BOB’S STORY
https://youtu.be/9PP1kE23lpI

Bob Rupert of Clinton, Pennsylvania was working as an aircraft mechanic for a major airline when he was called up during the Vietnam War. It was a good job. He was a well trained technician. But the army needed infantrymen in 1968.

Not long after landing in Vietnam and being assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry’s 11th Aviation Group, Warrant Officer Herman C. Bliss noticed Bob’s aircraft experience and recruited him as his crew chief—and sometimes co-pilot.

For the next year, the two-man team would fly assorted missions in a de Havilland Beaver, an all-purpose, slow-flying, prop-driven, single-engined utility aircraft, otherwise known by its Canadian manufacturer as a “bush plane.”

Bob Rupert’s oral history interview is a production of The Social Voice Project’s Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative.

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For more veterans oral histories:
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Bob Rupert of Clinton, Pennsylvania was working as an aircraft mechanic for a major airline when he was called up during the Vietnam War. It was a good job. ...

From one of our favorite conversations with veterans . . . Mr. Rose was remarkably thoughtful and humble about his experiences during the war.

On this 74th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, we remember the stories of those who were there.

LISTEN: https://wp.me/p8nTyT-8b

On this episode of Argot: Audio Short Stories from the Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative, WWII veteran Robert Rose of Rochester, Pennsylvania shares a story about the cold during the Battle of the Bulge.

In Memoriam
Robert J Rose
1925 - 2017

During WWII, Robert J. Rose of New Brighton, Pa served as a cannoneer with Battery “A” of the 574th AAA Auto Weapons Battalion, 13th Armored Division. Patton’s Army. After landing in France, he and his unit moved across Europe towards a particularly stubborn German entrenchment known as The Bulge. Mr. Rose’s job was to take out enemy aircraft by engaging the swooping threats from his M16 Halftrack–those peculiar looking war vehicles, much like the front of a commercial cargo truck welded to a tank. Atop the halftrack are swiveling machine guns–exposed and without much armor–but capable of striking the enemy at 7,000 yards.

And there sat Robert Rose on April 12, 1945, feeding four, red-hot .50 caliber machine guns during an ambush at Urbach in the Ruhr Valley of Southern Germany.

ACK ACK ACK ACK! ACK ACK ACK! ACK ACK ACK!

The guns roared, sweeping the surroundings, striking at everything and anything flashing around them. And then a hot piece of well-aimed German steel knocked Robert to the ground. “I’m shot,” he cried out before settling in and losing consciousness in the freezing snow and cold.

https://thesocialvoiceproject.org/2017/01/20/argot-audio-short-story-collection-episode-20/ ... See more

"They knew the Chinese would work them to death and then eat them.” ~Al Armandariz

On episode 25 of the Argot Podcast--Audio Short Stories from the Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative Collection--Pittsburgh WWII veteran Al Armandariz recalls the humane treatment given to army mules used in the China-Burma-India Theater.

https://thesocialvoiceproject.org/2018/12/15/argot-audio-short-story-collection-episode-25/

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#WWII #veterans #oralhistory ... See more

“The Congress has designated December 7 of each year as ‘National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day’ . . . . Today, we honor those who perished 77 years ago at Pearl Harbor, and we salute every veteran who served in World War II over the 4 years that followed that horrific attack.” ~Presidential Proclamation

Alex Dyga of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania joined the Army just months prior to the Japanese attack on the islands. When the attack came, Alex was stationed on Hawaii as a “mule skinner.” He would serve the entire war on Hawaii.

Until his death in October 2018, he was one of two living Pittsburgh survivors of Pear Harbor.

https://youtu.be/A0Yi0dXcOyo ... See more

Alex Dyga of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a Pearl Harbor survivor. He joined the Army just months prior to the Japanese attack on the islands. When the attack...

ORAL HISTORY MATTERS

Please don't take this living history for granted. Time is not on our side.

Since 2010, The Social Voice Project's Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Initiative has been capturing, preserving, and sharing the voices of veterans throughout Western Pennsylvania. ... See more