Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes

From orphanage to paratrooper to POW: Gino D’Ambrosio’s century of grit and grace

• Bill Krieger

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A century of memory folds into a single living room as we sit with Gino D’Ambrosio—paratrooper, POW, Detroiter—to hear how a glider drop before dawn and a quiet morning in Berlin shaped everything that came after. He takes us from St. Vincent’s orphanage to Cooley High to a blacked‑out sky over Normandy, where the plan fell apart and survival began. The Battle of the Bulge crashes in with an artillery roar he still can’t quite translate into words, foxholes carved from frozen ground, and the blunt, mechanical rhythm of doing your job when thinking too much could get you killed.

The story turns on human details that don’t make the history books: a German Red Cross man in a red hat, a marble church floor covered with straw, a train car so packed you pass a tin can down the line to the only window, and the shock of a Mongolian woman behind a machine gun on a Russian tank. In the camps, lice and hunger grind everything down, yet small mercies endure—a doctor’s warning, a shared ward with wounded on both sides, and the strange relief of sirens that usher prisoners and guards into the same bunker. When the gates stand open and the guards are gone, the silence feels louder than the bombs.

We follow Gino back across the channel to New York’s bright headlights, to a bath, a uniform, and a neighbor’s scream that announces he’s alive. He remembers turning down a dangerous spy mission because he wanted a week of leave to see his parents—a simple decision that might have saved his life. He names friends lost and mentors who pulled him forward, then says the true lesson came after the noise: war is a waste, revenge burns everything, and the only way to live long is to be good to the people in front of you. If you’re looking for real WWII oral history—D‑Day paratrooper accounts, Battle of the Bulge memories, POW survival, Russian liberation—you’ll find it here, unvarnished and deeply human.

If this story moved you, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review with the moment that stayed with you most. Your notes help preserve voices like Gino’s for those still searching.

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SPEAKER_04:

Uh this entire interview is with my good friend Reno D'Ambrosio. He's a hundred years old and he will be a hundred and one just a few months after we shot the uh video and audio. Uh you know, we did this at his home with his family there. And then his family also contributed some video that they had shot over the years, and it's just amazing. We were able to kind of piece everything together and put as much of his story together as we could uh with his memory. But uh Gino, just an amazing guy. I really hope that you enjoy this interview. And then stick around because at the end there's a couple of clips from some birthday parties, and I think you'll enjoy that too. So uh really enjoy this. Today is Monday, September 29th, 2025. We're talking with Gino D'Ambrogio, who served in the United States Army. So good afternoon, sir. How are you?

SPEAKER_01:

Hi, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_04:

Good. So we're gonna start out real simple. Um, when and where were you born?

SPEAKER_01:

Um Detroit, Michigan.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. About a hundred years ago, maybe?

SPEAKER_01:

Close.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. So did you grow up in Detroit?

SPEAKER_01:

In Detroit. Okay. I was adopted in the what was the name of that place, you know?

SPEAKER_02:

St. Vincent's the the orphanage? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. I was put in the uh what do you call it? Orphanage. Yeah. All right. And adopted. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

So were you adopted as a baby?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yes, I was. Okay. Did you have a let's see? I was trying to tell them all.

SPEAKER_02:

Tell them the story about when your parents came to get you at the orphanage. Remember that day?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It's the apples in uh Detroit. It's still there today. What's the uh kind of convent? Yeah. It's adopted as a three-year-old. Uh-huh. And uh the people that came were not Dan Rose all. They came and gave me. And uh who did most of that was my uh Calderita, who I thought would be my So do you want me to fill in the Yeah, you can hope. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I I knew he was having a hard time. So his siblings were all born in Italy. They came over on the ship. Um his mom had a a child after him.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02:

She died in childbirth. And then my grandfather died shortly thereafter, and all the kids were placed in the orphanages from different families from Italy that my Aunt Catherine had them all uh put in with families from the city they were in in Italy. Okay. He actually didn't know he had siblings until he was 14. He just thought they were friends.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_02:

Till he had a crush on his sister at the wedding, and then they had to tell him Gio.

SPEAKER_04:

They had to fix it. Got it. So do you do you have any uh do you have uh memories of of growing up or what you did in school or anything like that? You went to Cooley High?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

All right. Did you play any sports in in in school?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh football and baseball. Cooley high school. Uh-huh. And uh college, I went to Wayne. Play football there. Okay.

SPEAKER_04:

So And then when did you join the Army?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Army? Try to stay alive.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Do you remember how old you were?

SPEAKER_01:

I went in the be in the USA and uh the uh what do you call it?

SPEAKER_04:

Gunner? Paratrooper.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh that yeah. That's that was my story. Uh huh. So I was in there over in the army down south, and of course I got stuck in the war. I went over to Europe. It was a World War II.

SPEAKER_02:

So where were you on D-Day?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh in behind. In behind the lines? Yeah, we took the glibers and they hunted first, pulled us in. Right. And I was like there's six or seven miles in. We were what we call a disruptive force. Right. Our job was to cut lines, float, you know, create havocs to screw everything up. That's what we did.

SPEAKER_02:

So that was before the invasion, like a couple hours before. A couple hours before. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And we went on those gliders. Cut us loose and down we went with off the gliders. Yeah. The Camera got killed on our first day. Yeah. Well, a lot of guys got killed all the way down there on the ground, me. Some of the guys didn't last them in it in combat. We're lucky. You know, I landed toward it, got woods. We were all panicking. We don't know the hell's going on. You know, we didn't land where we were supposed to. Oh. You know, it's crazy. Pedlum. Panic, you know. So hard enough.

unknown:

Uh we've got this week.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I know, can't forget someone who used the word defecate and excrete. That's what it was porn. And he was an old man at 30. Right. Yeah, the old man. He's three years old, man. That amazing. And he was all all worse porn. And he played it by the rules. Yeah. Defecate, excrete. That's what you want us to say. I'll always remember that. That one out of six, huh? Yeah. Why would you remember that about that poor guy? I don't know. Yeah. But you could tell he was military training. You can tell the difference. He was oh, what's point?

SPEAKER_00:

Probably hundreds of number. But when it hung regular visit, you know, my ten year old is doing through the whole.

SPEAKER_02:

It is. And then what happened after D-Day? Where did you go? Or how long were you? Were you at Omaha or behind?

SPEAKER_01:

I was in that area, behind Omaha. We were like our right anywhere from four to seven miles behind the lines. We had three battles going. You know, 501st, uh 422nd, 4. Those were our regiments, I should say. 422nd. 422nd, 43rd, and 23rd. I was a 422nd regiment, yeah. Something, yeah. Amazing. Skylights, you know, you know what the hell's going on. Panic.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my God. I can't imagine. I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_01:

It's scary, yeah. Or you can't think about it. You know, you gotta do your job and try to do what you can, and for you know. Well, the one I can't get over is D. I mean, uh the bulge. You know, we thought we're buried. We dug us stu uh uh fox holes because it was so damn cold. Right. Like two people, like you and our partners, buddies. Yeah, and we're down skipping over the freezing land survived. And that morning it started the 16th. I mean, I thought it was the end of the earth that day. They opened up a like uh bing spectacular war. All these shot booms, what the hell was going on? Honey, it was so much artillery and noise and bombs going on. Next thing I know, boom, bum, boom. It was scary. What the hell? It was scary. What the you can't I can't, I wish I could interpret that noise and that noise. I mean, they just they didn't everything go to it's for the last chance to try and get back at us. Right. That morning, when nobody expected it. We thought we're gonna be here till springtime, weather break, we'll get our outfit gone, we'll go all the way to Berlin. It never happened, man. And then wake up and see that guy with that hat on his red hat, guy with his big black horns. I still remember Red Cross, German Red Cross.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. And then he took you where? That time I crum. That's the one I want to look up. The little church, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I always remember a little church sleeping on a marble with straw, churning to the Americans together, like bunnies. And the doctor is real nice. He said, You'd be okay here, but he says, When you get over there, you're big death. He said, especially the SS. He called it. And that first night they were don't even stand up. They told you, stand up, we got machine guns sit. And it was so damn cold. Yeah, boy, we got up, we got they put us in that damn train. I still to that day, may for eternity. They opened us up and let us on those guys. They straffed us on New Year's Eve. Well, they didn't know where they break. I told you the Americans bombed during the day. Yeah, and the British at night. And our British we were there all standing like I toy, you couldn't take a poop. Right. And the sirens were off and roaring and roar. Next thing we know, they pull the doors on the Germans. They're out. We jumped, and maybe from here to the the wires over there. Where the wires are they had some they had the what do you call it? Uh uh to go in the uh bunkers. Oh yeah. And they let us run in there with the uh German. I'll always remember that lady, think of that German broken English. This is so sad, huh? German lady, I can barely remember what you said, but then it was uh derated or sirens went off, shut the sirens down, and they can brought us all them, put us back in that fucking tree like that. I saw it be so cruel. I mean, we couldn't sit down. That's how they jammed us in there. That toy passed my hand now. You gotta take a pass it down to the window.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my god, I can't even imagine that.

SPEAKER_01:

You human race, do that. In spite, ah shit. I love you. You gotta have a young and be tough survivor. Oh my god. Horrible. Yeah. Yeah, like you take one next week, you hand in hand, we pass around down, there's one side. I'm glad you can laugh about it. It's awful. You laugh now, but you accepting it. You know, you're 18, 19 years old. You you you dealt with it. It's terrible. All the people I watched them throwing on trenches, the jury. How could he be so cruel? And ladies whipping them. I could see them ladies putting uh uh traps out there for the tanks. They had women, women, German ladies with a black outfit, and whipping them. They went they're another culture, they were brainwashed, you know. And these eyes seen them, and I saw them until he turned. I don't care. Can't make that up, man. No, it's there. It's hard to believe. But I tell you, I felt that one moment uh when I spent that time with Berlin and the Russians overcame, we were waiting for the Americans to catch up. And they they're marching those Germans, so I actually had a tinge of compassion for it. Yeah because I knew we were free and we were going home. Look at what they're going through now. The Russians are moving them back, what they did to them. And now them Germans are gonna get treated well. I mean, they ended up marching them, they're taking them onto their trains and taking them back to Russia. Yeah, God forget what they were. They were starting your agony. Poor sons of bitches. Yeah. Shit happens, you can't believe, you know. You're screaming, yelling, raping going on. It's just terrible. Russians were mean, man. They wanted clear you were American. They saw that America, they treated us different. Right. Thank God. And that German, that Russian prince, uh, he said it. He said, Sergeant, he said, Well, you'll see, and they're just retaliating. You can't believe. We welcomed them, and they burned them and looted and raked their legs. Yeah, a lot of these guys got lost people. We're gonna get revenge. It's amazing what the human being can turn into and Allen. And he can. But they treated us so good, man. That pants with that eagle and that American flag. Ah, Bedakotsky! Go, go! Americans, they treat all the other guys like shit, man. Yeah, they don't use for it. Yeah, boy, they have something. But that little stick about the quiet morning, the April 16th. You know, and on the on the on the floor like this with straw. And hey, Vince, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's quiet. Yeah, look at that.

SPEAKER_01:

Open up. Hey, they're gone. The trunk's gone. Pretty soon about that. You trump Russian tank's coming up with soldiers. And that damn truck, there's another one. The trunk opened up in the tank. She was in the front turret on the front. Oh, and I was a little um golden lady manning the damn machine gun in that tank. I'd like to remember that one. Never forget. Melakotsky, oh, Runski! Oh my god. That's like my movie. Where you want to go? Free, guys. And uh hell, I think uh the the uh batan headquarters were like from here to cruise. And we broke right in. The pots are still wet. Uh your breakfast rooms are still hot. You know, they ran. And the guy was like, I never heard that story. Why? We pulled it out like a moon full of the drawer and full of our pictures. We pulled it out. And I found my picture in there, I pulled it out. Uh had that damn tag and everything. I lost it along with my other ones. Oh, yeah. I had the German tag that they put on you, on your on your chain. But it was just like they disappeared. It was the strangest feeling though. Yeah, like, God, it's a quiet.

SPEAKER_02:

I know because I think you told me before you would hear like the bombings, like you would hear the war. Nothing.

SPEAKER_01:

This is so quiet. It's a quiet this morning. Those troops took off through the night. It was so strange. It said there was no guards. So gone. Hey, you opened up the gates, no guards. That damn tank put stop, shut the motor out. That damn thing was that circle in front, and that thing popped up, and then there, better katske, ah, rusky. A lady, Mongolian manning that machine gun up front, that little spot. Wow. A lady, a Mongolian on the machine gun. That nuts. But that guy told me, man, that was 16 days I spent there in Berlin. Oh my god. Oh, it's a transition.

SPEAKER_02:

And you were sleeping on the airfield all that time?

SPEAKER_01:

No, after we got liberated? Yeah, we got a little, but yeah, we they took us on the airfield and we slept right on the airport, out on the outside. And the weather was nice. Yeah. The weather broke. We had nice weather. Day we took on was like this. We're flying right back to France. It was like a movie, you couldn't find it any better. Right. Yeah. But that the Russian doctor was so nice. He sergeant, he said, You can't believe this. You know, because I said after a couple days we got to know each other. I couldn't be so cruel. He said, Sergeant, we're annoyed you. He said, we welcomed these guys. We had open hands. And they they retaliated, they didn't accept us. They strafed us, they baronated us. Revenge. They're taking revenge. What are you gonna do? Spent all that time. But boys like the whole episode of my life changed them. The war stopped, the bombing was all gone. But the best thing is every day the war morning. The morning all day long, we had commanded ear. We had bombers flying all day long, bombing the ground shit, boom, boom, boom. And at night, the English. They bombed a night the mosquito bombers.

SPEAKER_02:

They had none, no poor jerk.

SPEAKER_01:

They got bombed day and night, man.

SPEAKER_02:

You mean that's when you were in prison you could hear ear talking? Yeah. I told you every day when they brought in prisoners and got shot down or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. If you wait within three or four hours, you could bet your house on it. The gates won't get some guys that's get bailed out, never got shot, and got caught on the ground. And they made through. You look at a guy nice and clean like you. He's three hours before he was in England in a plane. We get all our news from them. They tell him, it's gonna be over sooner boys, don't worry about it. British and America got shot down. Lucky guys. Here they come. Oh yeah. How many guys shot down today? Crazy. Why do people do that?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know. It makes no sense to me. I do not understand war at all. Fighting that level of hate for what? For power, for money? I don't know. In the name of God? Who know? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

It's just and they're why that's for a hundred years. The English and French killed each other. Right. They're in more letters. That's why I stay, that's why if I talk to Pet, my kids will never go to war and rest on it. It's a waste of time. You're gonna rebuild up, but you're gonna be friends in that and friends in this way. Just 20 years ago, you're killing each other like animals. Yeah, now this one year we're gonna be buddies. Try to explain that one. Right. Yeah. Yeah. France and Spain, Spain and England were big war, they were enemies for years. You know, the old history times. That's when you gotta put two together. The war's a waste of time. I guess the only good thing it stimulates the uh what's the word? Economy. Yeah, God. You look at Berlin today in those cities. Number one, we'd help rebuild American money. Right. You'd never know it was war there. That's not a good thing. Then later on, our our Americans got so bad in the French key started hating us because you know our guys act like pigs after a while. You know, they welcome all our guys, and after that it changes all the time, yeah. You know, they're kissing up, hugging it, giving by and everything. And after all, they started hating us because a damn American, you know, acting like pigs. We waited at that airport for a week, but it happened. But the weather turned like God was on our side. Oh, so we had food, guys are getting sick, they're eating too fast, you know. Oh, yeah. So yeah, they yeah, one they warned it the easy, easy. Take it easy, because they get you know, the doctor don't eat like that. Yeah. Blah blah blah, but I wish I could remember that doctor. But he told all to you. We got to be pretty good friends from that time. We talked every day, and he was a fluent Russian. What I'm believing, these poor bastards are going, and imagine what they're gonna see if they get to see it about Russians. I actually had a tinge of uh sympathy. Sad. Why? Why are we doing this?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh well and then I'm just glad you got made it home. I'm just glad you made it home.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Okay, we have some exciting things. And then that first day we pulled up the all the lights on, you know, no like the year, yeah, it was all blacked out. Right. We pulled off to New York, that park that night. There's no stopped room there, and we unload you in the morning. And we were like from here to maybe the other side of the field, watching American car lights all on America. Stand out of there, Jesus Christ, look at that. Nice to see. We made it home.

SPEAKER_02:

And you stayed on the ship that night? Were you still on the ship?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Next day he put us on the jersey. Yeah, they washed us down, they give us the fresh outfits, he gives us army uniforms, he got out of the fatigues. They give us army stuff. And we got on a train and went to Chicago. Then we spent a night in Chicago. Yeah. People coming out putting in on you. And when we told our prison of war, there was joke coming around us. Yeah, this group here wrought. Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah, I was thinking.

SPEAKER_01:

They did down the evening when I got in that bus and there, I took camp home. They were just so far guy. Walking the house and cranking it. Got an American flag toy. He plays every Star Brankle player. I love that story. Yeah. Yeah. They were so good. They didn't know I was coming, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Oh, yeah, because they thought you were dead, or they didn't know, or well, I think they knew I was alive with it, but they knew I was coming home that day.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. Yeah, see, I took her can from Michigan that took her can from there. Okay, correct that. They they put the head the flag. That's before metal shit started, went on.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. But that's for a time though, didn't your family think you were they didn't know if you were dead or alive for a while?

SPEAKER_01:

She said prisoner assumed, missing in action. Yeah. Then they thought that assumed killed in action. Yeah. Then they changed back. Prison of war. Yeah. So they knew I was going, but they didn't know when.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, the war and I showed didn't expect me. They all walked out and got announced. You know, I had to train from Chicago to here, Texas to Chicago. I mean, from Chicago, Detroit. They took a cab right in front of my house, opened the door, one of them sent me. He saw me. Scream. He went cranking that generally. Can you believe that's true? I can't believe he did that to me. I guess bad as it was, you know, having her own son.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You know. To me, I was her son. Oh, well. They showed me the things they had to pay for business and acts and all that.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh God, I wish we had that stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, what about uh you know what story I love? The one about they wanted to recruit you because you could speak Italian or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Talk about a major choice. I was an acting sergeant then. That's why I tried, not to brag, but it's so damn good that it that they made me and it was overcreated. Sergeant Damrozville report the battalion headquarters. I take over, go to the guy, Damn. He came from uh Washington. You know, he saw what the SSS or whatever you call it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So give me a sense of speaker, write a tank, and I could you take this from me. And I did feel that back. Sorry, could I ask you right now? Sense of uh doing something beyond your duty. Special. Well, based on what I see here, you think you could uh pass through the tan? You know, we dropped in behind the lines, you know. What do you mean? He said, Well, based on that, she really like put you in drop you needly behind the lines, you're dropping as a civilian. Yeah, of course you know if the deal is there, you get caught. Yeah, you get executed. Right. But you know what stopped it, Gina? I says, Well, I ain't had my furrow yet. I said, Can't get my week. Can I go home and see my mom and dad? No, if you accept, you gotta come with me now, right to Washington. Two months training, and then after that, you'll be in your source. You mean I can't leave? No, you leave here with me, it's you gotta come with me. You come in retraining and who knows what happens in there. You'll be a spy X one. Oh no, I can't go for that. So Catholic, I gotta put that down. I wanna I gotta go home. That's how it happened.

SPEAKER_02:

I can't believe they let you say no. Thank God they did.

SPEAKER_01:

That's an option. You know, you know the consequence you get caught, you're gonna get executed. Yeah, you know, being a spy. Yeah. You know, you're done. Right. He pointed it out too. You know, the I I forgot how he phrased it, but he said the concept was not going to use it. But you're caught in the city. But I said, Well, go see a week. I'll I'll try it, you know. But no, best thing you ever happen. Yeah, oh my God. Isn't that funny? Yeah. But they hear it like it's still in speakers. You know that we're right in the early part of the morning, a little after 10 o'clock in the morning. I'm doing jump and jack. Got up a tad, you know, doing all that shit. It's hard for them, bro. Report to them, time headquarters. The last time I came by home driving by Beaver, I went right by the front of it. I didn't have the guts to go. I was gonna go back into my last training camp. Yeah, one of my stops was Fort Jackson. Oh. And I looked at it, I was right in front of it. Look at that, uh forget what happened in the past. So this was the early part of my career. Uh as well, I was just a rookie. I can't. But by accident, I didn't get there by point. I was a highway when it came up, and there's fortune. What the hell? That's why I started as a recruit. Isn't that funny how that worked out? Yeah. Life is strange. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, well. Yeah, but she does what she can to do.

SPEAKER_01:

My two best friends, Lacone and uh and uh Frankie Dorano. Frankie took me home on a three-day leave, took me to his little apartment he lived in New York City, right now in the city. Yeah, come on, you stay at my house on your break. Frankie Dorano, D-O-R-T-O. He was a guy who's hooted next to me. Never saw again after the Germans picked me up, yeah. Frankie Dorotho, D-O-R-T. And he took me to New York City. That's how I got to see it. Spawn meant spaghetti. Yeah, a little small apartment, little table like this, she made spaghetti for us. It was a three-day break, that's all it was. Frankie Dorado, you know. And Jimmy Lacole, those are my two running guys. But the funniest part is those three sergeants taking me, embracing me. You're going with us, man. Badass. That was in the States or that's training stats. We're training me. Oh. And right away I was still, we'll still take a basic. Not the brain, I'm so damn good at it and all that. The backlog. He said, You're gonna need this uh battalion here. And that's something. Then he goes, You're going with us, kid, in town. They're 242, they're like my dad, you know. Right. They wanted me to help back them off, giving me any props. Sergeant Brown, Sergeant Light, Sergeant Fitley, three, three, why three sergeants, that's something. 18 and 25, you know, they're like older guys. Right. But then I thought that was really pretty damn good. Yeah. I heard my stripes, man. I tell your dad was a badass, man. I'd punched those guys out and served. It was amazing. I don't know. I missed my calling, man.

SPEAKER_04:

Did you end up in a church somewhere?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the church was uh we were both wounded and we're taken down the well the nice thing was the German doctor, and uh when he's taking us to the doctor, he says you'll be with German and together. Uh in Belgium. And that's we're taking in the uh German wounded cave. Taken in a hospital, and we were laid in there with uh Germans and Americans. And the German marriages were pretty good with them. Damn nice guys. Yeah, and the captain I had was a very nice guy. And I got taken there, and they told me he says, you'll be in that hospital from Belgium. And he said, You'll be in with German and yourselves. Okay. And with the church at the came in that city on the ground with the name. And we stuck with him until the five. At the last camp was a 3A, and it was like three months. One place, all over the field. What do you call? The lice. Lice. Oh, yeah. Terrible. All over the damn place. And stayed in there, hardly no food.

SPEAKER_04:

So how did do you do you recall how the how the how the Russians got you back to the Americans?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they put us and we took the uh we there we got flown outside of Berlin. Uh-huh. All them back to where the actually come in. Flew right back over from the war was.

SPEAKER_04:

Right back into French.

SPEAKER_01:

I can remember where the war was all the way back. Uh-huh. Yeah. Taken back from camp like a strike.

SPEAKER_04:

Was that named after the cigarette?

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe they want to see. There's so many guys. All you know ontacked. We looked pretty bad. Yeah. But uh that's where we were then basically. Got us back to the hospital.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, get all the license.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, took off. All over us. Crawling over thousands of them.

SPEAKER_04:

That's awful.

SPEAKER_01:

That was a mess.

SPEAKER_04:

Did you used to sneak out though and get food?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that was the last, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

I was the king. Tell me about that. Oh, that was it. I wasn't there with the Italian. And uh I'd go meet the dick, I could swing and flew it away. And they let me go over to the Italians. Uh-huh. And uh well, they could break like this. I don't mind bring them over to Tan. I became great friends with the uh Russians and and the Italians.

SPEAKER_04:

Well let me ask you, you um I you know, I see that you've heard you've you've been awarded the Purple Heart twice. Yeah. Do you do you recall how that happened?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I was off the uh bounce off the from Launter. Yeah, you got the uh some of the the uh planes and the uh mature stuff, got rooted by some of it. And a lot of us got on a way down, uh got shot, killed a lot of way down. Like first American to go back, got freed, cleaned up and all, and was a French guy and American. And he said, See you at that boat with the guy says, tomorrow you're lucky, man. Face it that way, that boat does go back. I was the first guy to go back with the Americans uh all the way back, and to leave, uh come back to where we were started, and to go back to uh America.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And to see the uh America all lit it up and it just it was just crazy. It was just not so nice. You know, clean with water, America all lighted up. And they took us right back. I went back to the nice as could be, as worse as was going in. Going there was so damn rough going over there. Yeah, it was nuts bad. The war part was ridiculous, but the inner part was I was very lucky. One day in Paris, it was like about an hour drive where I was at. So they had a couple of black guys too that they used a truck. They take them in in Paris and let them walk and drive around. So I spent a date in Paris. That was pretty nice. They were part of the army, uh, washing what do you call that? Clothing gone, washing in Quim. They all dressed up nice, uh huh. But they're in front. Civilians? Yeah. They're telling where we were taking you. And where you go. First one of the I always tell her this day, because I was in I was in Paris that day. I know what the hell I looked, I was just there was one of those girl at a corner. Sat, she's talking to look at us. I can't wonder I wonder if she's a hooker or a real girl. I lost it with that girl in France. She looked at us, she's bottom. But uh it's not the same real world you're there. But uh being free and see the real the France, it's it's not pretty. A lot of good things, but a lot of bad things. Yeah, just it is what it is.

SPEAKER_04:

So I just want to ask you one more question um before we uh wrap up the interview, and that is, you know, for people who listen to this story and watch this um, you know, years from now, is there some sort of message you'd like to leave for people or some sort of advice that you'd like them to take from you?

SPEAKER_01:

I thought it was nice for you to take some back with, I'm telling you, some of the good stuff from uh what what it was really like.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, with the real army and being off and be so skinny and wait when I got to come off that door. My mother and dad. They screamed when he saw me. I was so skinny. So what's you what should be. I'd only been out of a cat that came about three months. Why did you know? Oh tell you, they couldn't speak. Pop it all the time, all the time. My dad and sister were not very good speak uh English. All right, you heard you're not big shooters, my mother and dad. Well you're you strick your dad motors for it and my dad.

SPEAKER_04:

So you're a hundred years old. What do you think the secret is to to such a long life? What do you think your secret is?

SPEAKER_01:

Be nice to the people. I mean be nice to the people, yeah. I thought, yeah. And uh get along with your neighbor, your your your companion. Yeah, be good to those people. If you were good, they were good to you. I can't believe that guy put me on that plane. I mean you're going home.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Frenchman. First truck uh from where like a train ramp. Bone the light was winning, going back. First one, I got it today. I had the first guy on. Silent Ambroso? Yes what? You're the first guy to go to that place facing that bag. That was four.

SPEAKER_04:

I'd like I'd like to thank you for taking this afternoon and talking with me. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know some words away. You know that. Nope. Yeah. 96? That's pretty good, man. You're 98. 98? Yeah. You see how good you are. Is it 98? You're 98, Sheme. Oh my God. Well, good for you though. Really? Yeah. I had myself 96, so boy. You're always shaving a couple years off all your life.

SPEAKER_00:

That's what I want. Gina's still 32. I'm 35. I'm gonna five only for 90 years.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I still remember when I was 96.

SPEAKER_02:

We did the math yesterday. What year were you born?

SPEAKER_01:

The bind is flipping.

SPEAKER_02:

What year were you born?

SPEAKER_01:

1924. Oh yeah. You want to tell me your I announced swine swanson. What? I don't know who's my mama beats. Oh, good school. Thanks for calling. I appreciate it. I got just my my kids here. And with their uh husbands or wives, and that's it. That's it. At least we're having a little party. Oh well, thanks for calling. We're gonna enjoy and make a hunter. If I make a hunter, we're gonna have a party. Okay? If I hunter, we're gonna have to have a party. I mean next year. Going to Vegas. He's 99. I'm 99 right now, guys. You said go first? And in German if I don't hook. That's in German. Put it in. Okay. Thanks to guys, we look afore the two. Yeah, who's it? Nobody else could have moved off.

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Bill Krieger

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