WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.320 --> 00:00:16.000 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is 2 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:20.519 Verne Staley. He's a US Army veteran of World War Two, serving as 3 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:26.199 a combat medic with the seventieth Infantry Division. That division spent nearly ninety days 4 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:30.800 in combat during the final months of the war in the European theater. And 5 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:34.320 mister Staley, thank you so much for being with us. Well, thank 6 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:37.000 you. Well, let's start at the very beginning, sir, where were 7 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:41.159 you born and raised? Well, I was born in Brainville, Oregon, 8 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:47.600 and my birthday is three twenty six, nineteen twenty four, ninety nine. 9 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:51.439 Now, well, that's fantastic. You sound terrific. Happy birthday. Not 10 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:55.240 that long ago. Was there a history of military service in your family. 11 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:00.560 Well, my father served in World War One, has did two of his 12 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.319 brothers, and then my brothers that was younger and I than me served in 13 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:15.200 World War Two at the tail end. Other than that, I had uncles 14 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:19.680 and what have you that had served in out in the Philippines when there was 15 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:27.040 an insurrection out there and step way back. And so we have been a 16 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:30.799 proud supporter of the military. Let's put it that way. It sounds like 17 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:36.079 a great legacy of service to our military and to our nation. Sir, 18 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:41.560 if you were born in nineteen twenty four, that puts you about seventeen years 19 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:45.879 old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. How did you hear the news? 20 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:51.400 What do you remember about that day? It was a Sunday afternoon and that 21 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:57.319 was had gone outside and was walking down the street, and then neighbor boy 22 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:02.640 came out and told me, he said, the Japanese of atap Pearl Harbor. 23 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:09.919 So I went back home and we turned onto radio and listened to the 24 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:15.080 news because it was everywhere on the radio, so you can listen to and 25 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.120 it was really chaos because nobody knew what that was going on. Were you 26 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:23.400 thinking that you'd have to go to Warszoon personally? Oh? Yes, Oh 27 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:29.319 yeah, I knew that. Everybody I went to high school with, if 28 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:31.919 they if they could pass the physical, ended up in the Service. Then 29 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:36.360 the strange thing about it is, or I don't know why it's strange, 30 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:40.000 but the ones that went to the Pacific, I think we lost six people 31 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:46.400 from Primeville or Crook County in the Pacific and lost none in the European theater 32 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:50.599 in a small town. That's a big hit. Yeah, well up there. 33 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:57.439 Our hero is Dexter Fincher and he was on the Arizona in Pearl Harbor 34 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.080 and he's still there, sir. Were you drafted or did you enlist? 35 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:07.479 No? I was drafted. My dad wouldn't let me. He wanted me 36 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:12.879 to finish high school and be the first one to graduate from high school. 37 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:15.400 And he told me, and he was right. He said, there'll be 38 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:19.400 plenty of war left as soon as you get out of school, and there 39 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:23.639 was. So you're drafted into the army. Did you have a preference on 40 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.319 which branch? Were you happy with that? Oh? Yes, I could 41 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:32.520 have went into any branch, but the family been going into the army mainly, 42 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:38.439 and my IQ was good enough. I could have went to officers or 43 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:44.039 been a airplane pilot. Got kicked out eventually and ended up with a rifle 44 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:49.439 in my hand. Anyways, So where did they send you for training? 45 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:54.080 Campadare, Oregon. I went to the seventieth Infantry Division, which is sowhere 46 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:00.759 near Correllis, Oregon. It's north of Corvellis and the seventieth was formed in 47 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:09.080 Campadare, Oregon in June of nineteen forty three, and so we took first 48 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:15.000 eleven months of training. Was there, although I went to Denver Seems General 49 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:20.079 Hospital for to be a medical technician. I was back there for three months 50 00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:26.000 and then came back. And then the next thing we knew this on the 51 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.839 Sevillian workers was telling us that the camp was going to close and we were 52 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:32.800 going to leave. And that's how you'd find out you're doing things because they'd 53 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:38.839 been notified their job was ending. Were you assigned to medic training or did 54 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:42.120 you volunteer for that? Oh? No, no, I didn't volunteer. 55 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.519 People said how did you end up? And see, I've been working part 56 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:49.040 time in a machine shop, So they said how did you end up being 57 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.839 a medic? And I said, well, I have no idea except that 58 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:00.199 they had a board there's like about on a piece of plywood f and they 59 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.519 had all kinds of numbers across it and lines across and he took some number 60 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:11.079 from my tests that take in and went across to it and came down with 61 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:15.399 the other and then said right there it said two seventy fourth Medical Detachment. 62 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:18.600 And I said, I don't want to be in a medics And he said 63 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:24.639 next. Not a lot of dialogue, right, It's just this is what 64 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.240 you're going to do. So what did that training consist of? What were 65 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:32.920 you taught that a medic can and can't do on a battlefield. Well, 66 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.040 sometimes you can't save a life no matter what you want to do. But 67 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:44.120 it was basically bandage wounded, you know, take care of them, and 68 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:48.800 then you had problems with them coming down with diarrhea. Ime, everyone spring 69 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:54.240 hit and we was pulled off the line for two or three days of rest. 70 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:57.879 And we went back and the guys drank the water and the house we 71 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.920 stand in and I had diarrhea. An army they called her business subcarbonent was 72 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:06.399 supposed to take care of it. Didn't do it. So I thought, 73 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:11.800 well, I wonder what selfa diazne will do. I had a lot of 74 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:15.839 Zolfa diazine tablets, so I started giving all of nap and had cured the 75 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:19.279 diarrhea. So you're an innovator too, So that's good to know. And 76 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:26.160 then hopefully that word got around to other units. What tools and medicine did 77 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:28.600 you have with you? You mentioned the tablets, but what else did you 78 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.959 have in your kid? Well, you had a pair of bandage scissors, 79 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:39.079 you had rolls of bandages, you had compressed bandages, you had band aids. 80 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:45.399 And then I was able to because of my training, that our sergeant 81 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:49.519 in the age station let me have taketure belladonna, which our doctor didn't like 82 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.120 a lot it was to have, but he knew I'd been trained how to 83 00:06:53.279 --> 00:07:00.120 use it. Then we also had iodine swabs and you had those for to 84 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:08.920 stop infections. And you just had a lot of compress bandages in your kit 85 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:13.800 to take care of because you needed that kind of stuff to bandage up wounds 86 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:18.199 and stuff. And I never had to put an attorney quet on. I 87 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:25.519 did discover something though, that they gave you a graham up morphine. They 88 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.920 had these in these little uh well, it was like a toothpaste tube and 89 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:31.920 Neil days. Anyway, there was a needle on a cap over they pulled 90 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:36.480 it off, and if you gave him the whole chatta morphine, you turned 91 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:43.439 them in from walking wounded to a litter case. So I discovered it if 92 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.720 they wasn't wounded real bad, give them about a fourth of it, just 93 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:51.720 a numb it so they could walk to the pickup point and get picked up 94 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:57.279 and hauled back to the aide station and had a doctor tell me and learned 95 00:07:57.399 --> 00:08:01.519 later years. He said, you was practicing pain management way before we doctors 96 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:05.360 were. You should have written a paper and I said, yeah, sure. 97 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:09.759 I said it's a PFC Verne Daley. Would you have read it? 98 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:16.040 And he said no, Still still at the cutting edge, we're seeing this 99 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:22.240 all over the place. So you left for Europe in late nineteen forty four. 100 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.920 What was your voyage across the Atlantic like at that time of year? 101 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:31.679 Very smooth, just glass smooth it was, And the Mariposa was a converted 102 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:37.120 lectury lner and you need to due thirty three knots, so we sailed across 103 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:43.000 there by ourselves. So it was really a very smooth, even though with 104 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.360 some guys got sick in Boston and never got out of their bunks all the 105 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.799 way across, and it was smooth as could be. It was an enjoyable 106 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:58.320 trip across. And one thing you laugh about is we had this here fellow 107 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:03.720 Breezy Breeze a check breeze us a nick name. Anyway, he was about 108 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:09.679 six foot four and he wore a fourteen boot, and so they gave him 109 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:16.240 four pairs and his double bag was full of boots and no room for anything 110 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:20.080 else, hardly so out in the middle of Atlantic somewhere, he went out 111 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:24.919 at night and dropped two pairs of boots overboard, so he had more room 112 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:30.039 and he's double bag. Well, you guys are resourceful. When we come 113 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:33.679 back from the break in a moment, we'll talk about where you were sent 114 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:35.960 as soon as you landed. But from what I read, it sounds like 115 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:39.759 your plans changed once you got there due to the start of the Battle of 116 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:46.240 the Bulge. What was your original expectation once you arrived in France. We 117 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:48.799 knew we would end up on the front line. We didn't know it. 118 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:52.159 It would be that sudden, let's put it that way. But you didn't 119 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:56.559 You didn't know where yet at that point. No, no, we didn't 120 00:09:56.600 --> 00:10:00.240 know until we got there. Well, we got to Marseilles on the tenth 121 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.679 of December. Of course, the Battle of the Boat started on the sixteenth, 122 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:09.799 So about on the seventeenth I think we were ordered to back our devil 123 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:15.200 bags and wait for the trucks, and then went down to the railroad and 124 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:22.960 get on forty and eight box cars and spent five days going north and ended 125 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.480 up getting off the train of a town called Barmouth, and then we walked 126 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:33.799 about six miles to Bischweiler, where we spent the night and a couple of 127 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:37.200 days until they got organized what they were going to do with us. Well, 128 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.840 that's a perfect spot to take a break, because when we come back, 129 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:46.480 we're going to talk about how mister Staley and seventieth Division first saw combat 130 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.360 and how they would see a lot of combat over the ensuing few months. 131 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:54.840 I'm Greg Corumbus. This is Veterans Chronicles. Our guest today is Vern Staley, 132 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:00.440 US Army veteran and combat medic in World War Two with the seventieth Infantry 133 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:05.039 Division. Please stay with us. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. 134 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.159 Our guest in this edition is Vern Staley. He's a US Army veteran 135 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:13.799 of World War Two serving as a combat medic with the seventieth Infantry Division. 136 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:20.039 That division spent nearly ninety days in combat during the final months of the war 137 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:24.240 in the European theater, and just before our break, mister Staley told us 138 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.919 about his story all the way up to the point of his unit landing in 139 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:33.679 Marseille in December of nineteen forty four, and then finding out just a few 140 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.519 days later that they were needed near the location of where the Battle of the 141 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:43.159 Bulge had broken out in more northern France and into Belgium. And so we're 142 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.399 now going to talk about what exactly he ended up doing there. And from 143 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:52.840 what I understand, Verne, you and some others were attached to the seventh 144 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:56.720 Division as part of something called Task Force Heron, Is that correct? It 145 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:03.000 was called Test Force and it was just a three infantry regiments we had. 146 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:09.320 We had no artillery, we had nothing. We was attached to the forty 147 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.039 fifth Division a lot. And worst of it is, they got credit for 148 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:18.000 all the good work we did. Well, tell me about that good work. 149 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:24.480 Well, we after we got the Bishweiler, it was it was close 150 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.960 to the Rhine River, and they scattered us up and down the Rhine River. 151 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:37.279 Standard guard and our mortars for each company was nine miles apart. Give 152 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:41.159 the idea how thin it was, and the Germans could walk through. They 153 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:46.039 went through there anytime they wanted to. We had the Rhine River separating us 154 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.799 from them. And well, the colonel got a bright idea there was a 155 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:52.879 bunker on the other side. So he decided that we had to take a 156 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:58.919 fifty seven nine to tain't gunned down there and shoot it. So we get 157 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:03.399 down there and we're laying on and then there's a nice dike there to lay 158 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:07.639 on at the Rhine River, and so we was laying on that waiting for 159 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.200 him, and they hit the dirt on a bunk or over across the river, 160 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:16.360 and then they started firing out of it, and there was limbs falling 161 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:20.720 all around us, and that was their exposure to a German machine gun. 162 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:26.720 And we found out how fast they were, and so we got down immediately 163 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:31.159 got below where we could get hurt, and so then the colonel ordered us 164 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:35.840 to go and get out of there. So we went ahead and made a 165 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.440 mad scramble and got out of there and went back to our billets where we 166 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:41.639 were at because we were lucky. We were staying in a house, so 167 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:48.720 we were at that time no foxholes. Some people was at foxholes, but 168 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:54.759 I didn't happen to be one. Anyway. After we was there about a 169 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:58.000 week on the Rhine River, we got orders going to pack up, and 170 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.240 so we went out. It took us to this little town called Pooberg and 171 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:09.000 we got off the trucks there. They said we didn't have to walk the 172 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:15.080 rest of the way. So we went down a treacherous because it was slow 173 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.120 at the ground it was icy, and we went down a couple of three 174 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.360 miles, walked down to the edge of this town called Wingins or Motor, 175 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:28.519 and the Germans captured it. It was the sixth Mountain Division of the Airs, 176 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:33.559 and they were an SS division, which was like an Army ranger division, 177 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:37.799 really top notch, and they had been training for two years in Finland, 178 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:46.559 and so they were dead shots. And like the first day we got 179 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:52.799 there, they had captured the town and captured a lot of the regiment of 180 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.679 the two seventy sixth Regiment, and their colonel has seen us, and so 181 00:14:56.840 --> 00:15:05.720 he ordered our lieutenant for the rifle, but tune to win and rescue these 182 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:09.720 men, and like a darned food officer ordered across an open field and we 183 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:16.080 at one man killed because they opened up with machine guns. And so eventually 184 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.840 we were able to pull back into the woods. And then then next day 185 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:26.360 we attacked again, and that I was assigned to F Company, and F 186 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:33.240 Company suffered nineteen men killed the day. At sixth day of January that year's 187 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:37.279 a lot of people in one day, nineteen plus a lot of wounded, 188 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:43.759 and it was one of the worst days they were put in. I got 189 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:46.360 pinned down on an open field and spent the day laying in snow, and 190 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:52.600 if you moved somehow I didn't get hit. I had dead people on both 191 00:15:52.679 --> 00:16:00.440 sides of me and others that were wounded. And finally it was dusk and 192 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:04.399 one of her modis come down and yelled at me and he said, hey, 193 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:07.840 it's safe, you come off. And I said, well, I 194 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:12.799 need help, come on out, and he said no, and he showed 195 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:15.600 me it's safe, but he wouldn't come out to where I was. So 196 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.840 it was out an open field, so I couldn't walk. So I got 197 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.919 my hands in the east and I crawled in about one hundred and fifty feet 198 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:27.600 to the bank where it was safer, and then he helped me up and 199 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:33.320 we went up and got the litter bearers to get down and evacuate all the 200 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:40.240 people that was still live down there, and got them headed back to that. 201 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:44.039 I never didn't know how they come out. I never could track them 202 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:48.080 down. Today with a computer, I could have done it, but back 203 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:53.360 years ago it was next to impossible, So I have no idea how they 204 00:16:53.440 --> 00:17:00.440 made out. I wish I knew. After spending the ordeal, they decided 205 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:03.919 I needed to stay in the age station and recouper it in the next day. 206 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:11.160 Then the next day Captain Clifford said, Sergeant Clausner and you and me 207 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:17.480 are going to Wing Andsromoter and tag the dead. And I said, why 208 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:21.680 do we have to do it? And he said orders. So we went 209 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:30.319 to wing Insermot and went through every house and it's really hard to take somebody 210 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:37.880 anew you know after that where it was just kind of routine battle, but 211 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.440 that was one of our worst ones. And now that the second Battalion to 212 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:48.720 seven four got a unit citation for that, we were the only organization or 213 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:55.759 unit in the seventieth to get a unit citation, so we're very proud of 214 00:17:55.920 --> 00:18:00.960 that. So and that operation was called it was the southern part of the 215 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:07.160 Battle of the Bulls. It wasn't recognized for years till an English author really 216 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:14.839 got to diggon into the records and discovered that it was Operation Nordband and Hitler's 217 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:18.920 plan was was to go through there because there was a rail through there, 218 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:26.079 and then there was the Alsatian planes where he'd run tanks on and so his 219 00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:30.039 plan was was to go through there on the southern part, skirt around and 220 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:34.480 the northern part and bottle up on af A lot of the US army there. 221 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:41.279 We stopped the Operation Nordband. We captured over nine hundred Germans in there. 222 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:47.359 We were successful and that's part of why we got this citations with an 223 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:52.640 outstanding job. And most of those enemy fighters were SS guys, right, 224 00:18:52.599 --> 00:19:02.000 yeah, they were deadly shots. Their sharpshooters were just deadly. And when 225 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:07.680 we was tagging, I found out that they would lay up and in the 226 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:11.440 houses there, you know, they all have tiles, so they could move 227 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:17.200 a tile to one side and put the rifle up through that little triangular hole 228 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:21.279 and shoot and you couldn't tell where it was coming from. That was the 229 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:27.680 worst part. The only thing that demoralized the Germans to a degree was we 230 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:33.880 had no artillery, no support of anything outside of the fifty seven millimeter tank 231 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:41.119 guns. Ed a tank and so they rigged up away and they they pulled 232 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:44.759 it by hand, a lot of it. They let it down icy slopes 233 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.000 with a rope and they finally got it down and they were able to shoot 234 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:53.200 it to Germans with it then, and we found after the war talking the 235 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.440 which we shot that with it, that are scared of them to death. 236 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:04.640 They said that thing really was We could and now fifty seven was it very 237 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.519 hard? What was a nanitate gun? What you expect? You know? 238 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:15.759 So it helped us win the battle. So anyway, after that then we 239 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:21.160 packed up and oh gosh, it was soon one skirmish after another, you 240 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:26.559 know, and it would just foxhold after foxhole, and people were getting hurt 241 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:33.039 and wounded and killed, and but we kept plugging away in eventually we won. 242 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:37.240 Verne, let's pause there one more time. When we come back, 243 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:41.799 we'll discuss the rest of your story of service during World War two and beyond. 244 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:45.440 Our guest is Vern Staley. He's a US Army veteran of World War 245 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:48.359 Two. Served as a combat medic with the seventieth Infantry Division, which spent 246 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:52.359 nearly ninety days in combat during the final months of the war in the European 247 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:59.640 Theater. I'm Greg Corumbus Veterans Chronicles. We'll be right back. This is 248 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:03.440 Vetter Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest in this edition is Vern Staley. 249 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:07.119 He is a US Army veteran of World War Two, serving as a 250 00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:12.079 combat medic with the seventieth Infantry Division, and that division spent nearly ninety days 251 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:17.160 in combat during the final months of the war in the European theater. And 252 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.640 mister Staley, you set us up well for the next part of your service. 253 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:25.400 But I do want to go back to a couple of things from earlier, 254 00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:29.839 towards the end of nineteen forty four, very early part of nineteen forty 255 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.599 five, and in that part of Operation Nordfind or North Wind in the English 256 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:38.400 translation, I read in the history of the division that there was considerable hand 257 00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:42.960 to hand fighting at times during that combat. What do you remember about that, 258 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:47.759 Well, I was pinned down on Nopod field. I could only tell 259 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.839 you what the fellows told me. Yes it was, And one of our 260 00:21:52.920 --> 00:22:00.680 medics was there somewhere, and the Germans to a white phosphorus grenade down said 261 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:03.240 he was wearing an overcoat, and he shed his overcoat to gave it. 262 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:07.200 Of course it was will it wouldn't burn, but I'd sure melt, you 263 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.759 know, and stuff so, and there was it was just hand to hand. 264 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:18.160 They would throw hand garnades in the house into the basement and they'd go 265 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:23.359 charging in shooting and and that's how part of them got killed around there was 266 00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:30.599 they didn't u and grenade didn't get all the Germans at times and stuff. 267 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:33.160 It was. It was the toughest fight we had the Old War. Was 268 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:38.960 William's Sermot was absolutely the worst. We were green troops. We'd never been 269 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:44.799 in combat before. There was some officers of the other ones that seemed what 270 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.279 we did and they said to him and said, where did you find those 271 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.240 guys? You know what we said after the war we was too dumb to 272 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:56.359 know that we could. You couldn't do what we did. If we'd been 273 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.559 experienced, we wouldn't have done it as much as he did. They told 274 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:03.359 us take the town. So we're green, we go take the down, 275 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:11.680 simple, right, exactly exactly what's going through your mind as you're pinned down 276 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.079 there? You can't get up and help people that you know have probably been 277 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.480 hit, but you know if you get up, you're going to be hit 278 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:22.079 and then you can't help them anyway. So what's that moment like in your 279 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:26.759 mind knowing what your role is during a battle. Well, you know a 280 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:33.759 lot of praying and crawl up in your helmet and hide. At times people 281 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:37.039 say call your helmet. You said, oh, yeah, you can do 282 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:44.160 that when you're scared. You know you've been shelled shot at. Normally we 283 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.359 tried to get to them. Some Germans observed the red cross, other shot 284 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:56.200 at. It was always a risky took I guess, and but that's what 285 00:23:56.359 --> 00:23:59.839 we were trained to do. I know that the Germans did not have a 286 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:03.640 men that went out in the fighting and helped their people. They waited until 287 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:08.720 after the battle was over. So we went about it a totally different way. 288 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:15.319 And what we did, no doubt help save lives. You valued your 289 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.920 own people a lot more than they did too. So did you have a 290 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:22.759 red cross on your helmet to designate your role as a medic? Yes, 291 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:29.400 we discovered we needed to do that, so they got white and red paint 292 00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:34.519 and we painted took a coffee can and drew a circle around a coffee can 293 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.559 and then painted it white and then put a red cross in the middle of 294 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:42.039 that. That'll work. Now. Were you also armed? Oh no, 295 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:48.759 there was a part of the Geneva Convention stated that medics would not be armed. 296 00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:56.519 So no, you you did not carry anything, but you were surrounded 297 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:04.000 with guys that had m ones and forty fives and and grenades and all that 298 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:08.000 good stuff to fight wars with, you know, so you ne were worried 299 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:12.960 about it. Like when they were just laying down real heavy fire with a 300 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:22.319 bar. I helped load clips to make sure we had enough full to keep 301 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:27.160 the guy that was firing him bar to do what we wanted him to do. 302 00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:30.759 When that was silence of Germans, which worked. A bar was a 303 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:37.359 wicked rifle that we had. The Yeah, I didn't know this until the 304 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:41.640 last couple of years that all the baars we had were made during World War 305 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:47.400 One or right after, and then they were you furbished for World War Two. 306 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:55.079 This Browning that designed that designed all kinds of different guns. He worked 307 00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:00.960 for Winchester and Springfield. And if if you go to og Utah, there's 308 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:11.359 a museum there of Browning museum. So you said, where was the factory, 309 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.680 There was no factory. He was smart. He designed them, patted 310 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:22.480 them, and then got a royalty from every gun that the different manufacturers made 311 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:26.359 that he designed. One more thing I want to touch on before we get 312 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:30.359 back to your progression during the war where we left off a moment ago, 313 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:34.240 and that's the cold. You mentioned that when you got there you did not 314 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:40.000 have to stay in foxholes. Was that the case throughout most of the winter, 315 00:26:40.119 --> 00:26:42.079 And how did you deal with the cold during the day as well? 316 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:48.759 You shivered a lot. The army did not supply us with good foot gear. 317 00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:52.759 They gave us what they called shoe packs, and that's it has a 318 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.480 right or bottom and a leather sold on sewed onto it. Then you had 319 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:04.880 half felt insoles and you had four of them. You kept two under your 320 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.680 shirt next to your body to dry them out, and you wore them there 321 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:12.920 one day, and then you every morning you took in chains to put a 322 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:21.160 dry pair of felt liners in your boots. And that's that was how you 323 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:25.400 did it. But I have frostbite, as most everybody that I was with 324 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:30.839 as frostbite. That my feet do not have the sensation in them they could 325 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:37.000 have because they were frozen. It was hard because of the fact living in 326 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.440 a foxhold. And then we had dugouts. Mber one place we were and 327 00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:45.880 woke up in the morning and we had a dug out there, and then 328 00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:49.839 you had a blanket over the emptry hole and one of the guys Eddie go 329 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:55.599 out. And every time we're living a dump, it snowed about a foot 330 00:27:55.640 --> 00:28:00.400 of snow overnight, and so that was what you was living then, was 331 00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:06.440 snow and cold and miserable. And then the Germans wasn't helping you. And 332 00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:10.519 because they'd shoot at year show, you know, so of course we did 333 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:18.279 the same thing in return for them. And you know, and then Eisenhower 334 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:22.920 had all these pamphlets, leaflets dropped on them telling them they'd surrender, they 335 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:30.240 would have a dry bed to sleep in every day and three meals a day 336 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:34.319 and if they'd surrender, they could live a good life and so they would 337 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:41.559 never be cold. You'd hear Germans soli or yelling, have his hands over 338 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:47.640 his head and yelling comrade, comrade, and holding it orange slip of paper. 339 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:51.279 And we always said, yeah, you're lucky. So and so you 340 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:57.799 get to go back and get three three meals and caught. But it worked. 341 00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:07.200 So it was it was that now sometimes we were in bunkers. There 342 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:15.240 was bunkers along there that the between the French and German line, and our 343 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:18.200 engineers wanted to blow one up, and so they put eight hundred pounds of 344 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:22.759 T and T in this one we was living in, but it was in 345 00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:26.200 sight, so it could never get hit the walls. Was thinking those bunkers, 346 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:30.400 and so I talked to one of the engineers afterwards, and I said, 347 00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:37.720 what happened when you blew up that bunker with all that intent? He 348 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.640 said, we put too much in it and turned it upside down. Bunkers 349 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:49.480 was a safe place to eat, but also they were dangerous if you were 350 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:52.440 very careful when you come in and out of one. You had to always 351 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:56.640 listen or make sure there was no income in our tillery or anything, so 352 00:29:57.319 --> 00:30:03.279 you were always on there alert. Well, Vern in our discussion earlier, 353 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:07.119 you kind of led us up to the point past some of that vicious fighting 354 00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:11.039 that happened early on during your deployment into eastern France. And I believe you 355 00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:17.000 set us up as you moved on from there and got near the town of 356 00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:22.839 Sarbrooken, Is that right? Yes? So what happened then they shelled Sarbrooken. 357 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:27.720 There was the heaviest artillery put down the heaviest shilling they ever did during 358 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:33.680 the war, shilling Sarbrooken. So we were scheduled to Gwin like eight o'clock 359 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:40.359 in the morning and they had built Pontou Bridge across. They had generally had 360 00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:48.519 taken the forty mineralmeter and aircraft guns that normally protected the division headquarters and put 361 00:30:48.599 --> 00:30:52.039 them up on the front line and had them so they chew flat trajectory if 362 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:56.079 they needed And what was those guys complaining because they'd never been on the front 363 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:00.759 line before. We went across and was nothing. The Germans had left during 364 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:06.759 the night, and we went about twenty miles that day and they could never 365 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:10.839 catch up with the Germans. And then for us the war was over. 366 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:15.920 They decided that somebody had to be in the Army of Occupations. So we 367 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:23.640 was living it up and I have fun stories of that. We was in 368 00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:33.720 this town of bat Sawback and there was a big green for door Mercedes in 369 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:38.000 the garage, so gays don't take long to hot wire one, and so 370 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:41.880 we we would take it out and drive it. And one day we was 371 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:48.599 out two lun around and we come to a checkpoint and here's these guys, 372 00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:56.039 these mp standing there not a spot on our uniforms, neckties, tommy guns, 373 00:31:56.039 --> 00:32:00.599 and they said out we got out of that and they take our Mercedes 374 00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:06.039 and do it across the street to a lot or road, and so now 375 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:08.319 we're going to get back, and he said, that's your problem. We 376 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:14.759 hammed to end up in the patents third Army and you weren't allowed to be 377 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:21.359 driving any German vehicles GIS. So they took our big Mercedes away from us, 378 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:25.640 left us a foot and showed us no mercy. Fortunately, a jeep 379 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:30.079 from each company came along and we flagged them down and got back to her 380 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:35.599 where we were blowned about twenty miles away. We got lucky that day. 381 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:40.279 I also read from the history of the seventieth Division Verne that you liberated a 382 00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:45.400 town called four Bak, and yes, shortly after that you also helped deliberate 383 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.960 more than a thousand Allied prisoners. So tell me a little bit about those 384 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.200 things. Third Battallion actually did four back. We was about a few miles 385 00:32:54.279 --> 00:33:00.680 from there. We was up at Staring Window, which is Towne. They're 386 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:07.000 just a few miles apart. We went up on Kreisenburg Ridge for a period 387 00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:12.400 of time and then they they drew the detail of doing four blocks. So 388 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:16.799 all I know is what they told us, But I know that we had 389 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:25.400 some really tough fighting there on Kreisenburg Colonel Connelly got the bright idea that the 390 00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:30.480 having machine guns out of straits the Mets highways. So so lo and behold 391 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:36.440 just where we were supposed to start firing on there. He showed up with 392 00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:44.359 his group of tenants and they started straighten the Mets Highway, and then the 393 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:47.680 Germans started shelling us up there. And it was so I went to jump 394 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:53.279 on my foxhole and I look, and there's a guy with eagles on his 395 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:58.640 shoulder in my foxhole. And it was only big for one big enough for 396 00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:04.079 one person, so I didn't try to kick Colonel Connolly out. So another 397 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:06.960 GI yelled at me and said, I got room over here, and I 398 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:09.719 jumped in his. Yeah, Colonel Connley could always break. He was under 399 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:14.280 direct fire up there. The General didn't know. He went up and did 400 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:19.960 Daddy. He was always doing something like that. He had. He had 401 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:25.360 six shooters and he carried like Patton, and he had a nickname Senior Raf 402 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:30.960 Churcher looking for ways to do it, and so he had the name of 403 00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:35.480 Shooting Sam. And he had two ships, six shooters on each hip, 404 00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:39.480 one on each side. He was a neat guy, though he was all 405 00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:43.719 right. Verne. Let's pause right there. When we come back, we'll 406 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:46.800 conclude your story here on Veterans Chronicles. Our guest is Vern Staley. He 407 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:51.719 is a US Army veteran of World War Two, served as a combat medic 408 00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:55.320 with the seventieth Infantry Division. I'm Greg Corumbus. Please stay with us, 409 00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:01.119 says Veterans Chronicles. I'm right, Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is 410 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:06.000 Vern Staley. He is a US Army veteran of World War Two, serving 411 00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:12.440 as a combat medic with the seventieth Infantry Division and Verne. We've talked about 412 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:15.159 your role as a combat medic in a couple of different ways. Are there 413 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:22.000 any particular moments as a combat medic that stand out? A particular wound that 414 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:25.360 you treated, or a person that you treated, or a story that comes 415 00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:30.880 to mind almost right away when when you think about your service as a medic. 416 00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:36.199 The worst ones they got was a shell and hit a full in the 417 00:35:36.440 --> 00:35:40.360 back and he was breathing through this hole in his back rather you know. 418 00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:46.400 And I put a compress bandage on it, but you didn't have a way 419 00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:52.639 to really hold it in place like you'd like to add. But he managed 420 00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:58.400 to get to the age station. I know because I asked him about him 421 00:35:58.599 --> 00:36:02.280 and they said, well, the bandage come off the terror where you put 422 00:36:02.360 --> 00:36:06.639 it, And I said, well, there was no way you could really 423 00:36:06.679 --> 00:36:09.960 hold it because we didn't have any good tape or anything that you could use 424 00:36:10.039 --> 00:36:14.639 on something like that. So that was one of the worst ones. And 425 00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:20.039 then the others that were just it's so mortally wounded that there wasn't anything you 426 00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:23.079 could do for him. When that was ones that always hated, you know. 427 00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:28.400 And I've had people come up to me and said, you remember when 428 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:32.679 you bandaged me up, and I kind of said, well, yeah, 429 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:38.079 and I didn't really because you was doing a lot of it at times, 430 00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:46.199 and you just it was hard to remember everything there was. Ones were just 431 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:51.320 look at the torn flesh and the rest that would just shudder, and I 432 00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:54.960 still do. I don't like to think of it too much now. At 433 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:02.480 Staring Windel, there there was a camp there were there was political prisoners in 434 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:07.719 there, and so when we got closer, they broke out and the Germans 435 00:37:07.800 --> 00:37:12.559 shot them in the back as they was leaving. And I never seen anybody 436 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:20.079 skin and bone, and they had wounds. I'm sure they would gang green 437 00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:24.239 in him. It was just the most pitiful sight that I had I had 438 00:37:24.280 --> 00:37:30.360 ever seen, and nothing like it since then. And it was cotton picking. 439 00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:34.519 Germans was shooting at those poor people and it had hit him in the 440 00:37:34.599 --> 00:37:37.880 back and go through and there was a little hole in the back and a 441 00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:40.719 little hole in the front where it came out. And I ran out of 442 00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:45.480 band aids, so I had to give up on that, and they were 443 00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:51.679 sent back and eventually was taking care of the army, got a deal set 444 00:37:51.840 --> 00:38:00.519 up and Doc Ellis was in charge of getting things straighten out there. He 445 00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:06.119 was first battalion surgeon. It's one of those things that there was a lot 446 00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:09.119 of wounded, a lot of bandages just done, and I'd just like to 447 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:14.280 think about the fun we had. Understandable, understandable sir. How did you 448 00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:16.679 learn that the Germans had surrendered? Where were you and how did you hear 449 00:38:16.760 --> 00:38:22.079 the news? Oh? We were in Darmstadt, Germany, and we were 450 00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:29.880 in the Saga Battalion Age station was in this big manchion there. The guy 451 00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:37.360 was the director of all the utilities in Darmstadt. So you had electric refrigerator, 452 00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:40.880 electric cookstove, washing machine. Oh, there was all kinds of stuff 453 00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:45.840 in there. It was a fancy place, and so we partied it up 454 00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:52.079 for three days, and there were several false surrenders, and then we got 455 00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:55.480 to word this was the real one, and everybody was shooting her rifles and 456 00:38:57.159 --> 00:39:02.000 just and then we drank a lot of champagne celebrating it, because she was 457 00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:07.280 always a dark cloud. The war wasn't over and with a Japanese yet, 458 00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:10.360 but we lived it up for three days. I got a picture of us 459 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:16.559 when we're all looking pretty good. Now, your division had seen nearly ninety 460 00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:22.599 days of combat in a little more than four months. That's a lot of 461 00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:25.280 combat. So what kind of a toll had that taken on you and your 462 00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:30.239 division? And I'm sure that played into the relief that went into that celebration 463 00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:34.119 too. It was always very hard. It's like, you know, I 464 00:39:35.400 --> 00:39:38.880 heard it was two sergeants I knew, and they were both in the same 465 00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:43.559 foxhole in a shell, landed the inn and killed both of them at the 466 00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:46.920 same time, you know. And yeah, those kind of things now in 467 00:39:47.079 --> 00:39:53.840 Darmstead, I'll tell you one funny thing that happened though our medical would we 468 00:39:53.920 --> 00:39:59.679 call him anyway? He was a first lieutenant, he was an assistant. 469 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:01.480 He was supposed to do the bookwork. Anyway, he went had to go 470 00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:07.519 over to secondment day and headquarters, and he was over there and this German 471 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:12.000 lead comes in waving a piece of paper and saying, docs goot, dosss 472 00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:16.159 goot. So somebody read the paper on it that she had there, and 473 00:40:16.480 --> 00:40:22.079 on it it read this lady has a damn good bitch coming. I took 474 00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:25.400 her bed and it was signed Jack the Ripper. Now you explained to some 475 00:40:25.639 --> 00:40:30.559 poor as a German lady, who Jack the Ripper is? You're doing well 476 00:40:30.639 --> 00:40:32.840 if you can. Yeah, that's gonna that's gonna be a challenge to be 477 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:37.559 sure. To be sure. Now, after the surrender, you stayed in 478 00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:40.360 Europe for a few months as part of occupation duty. Correct. I stayed 479 00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:49.480 there until March of forty six. Had enough points and six of us that 480 00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:54.719 from the seventieth. We were in the third Infantry Division then and we got 481 00:40:54.840 --> 00:40:59.320 enough points to go home. So we came home and thought of all of 482 00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:01.199 us that came home in that group, I'm the only one still alive. 483 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:06.039 All the rest are gone. Now what were you assigned to do during the 484 00:41:06.119 --> 00:41:13.440 occupation duty. Well, you was with the companies and your big duty was 485 00:41:13.599 --> 00:41:21.199 is to run operate a pro station. That's a prophylactic. Ah, it's 486 00:41:21.280 --> 00:41:25.519 quite an assignment. Hey, you know you're sound to sleep at two o'clock 487 00:41:25.559 --> 00:41:29.639 in the morning and they shake it. Hey, doc, Doc, I 488 00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:32.960 need a pro Wow. So after you came home, Sarah, what did 489 00:41:34.039 --> 00:41:36.599 you do? I did a whole lot of things. I'd worked in a 490 00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:40.000 machine shop, but I wasn't really settled down to because I've never went back 491 00:41:40.039 --> 00:41:44.119 to work. I had work steady there. So my brother in law and 492 00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:46.840 I worked at a lot of different jobs, just short times a week or 493 00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:50.719 two, and then we get tired, quit and go party for a while. 494 00:41:50.840 --> 00:41:57.400 And then finally, by the end of nineteen forty six, I went 495 00:41:57.480 --> 00:42:01.960 back to the machine shop i'd worked in and got serious about learning the trade 496 00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:07.920 of being a machinist. Well, of course, the guys I went to 497 00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:10.960 school high school with someone in a marine course, somewhere in the Navy and 498 00:42:13.079 --> 00:42:17.840 somewhere in the army, and so we had a standard of guys representing everything 499 00:42:17.960 --> 00:42:23.119 you know, so and we would turned out to be my brother in law, 500 00:42:23.239 --> 00:42:30.119 he was a marine, so we was always picking on him. Now 501 00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:36.440 he did five invasions in the Pacific and never got a scratch out that real 502 00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:37.760 quick, Verne, just a couple more questions before we let you go. 503 00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:43.159 I know that you are very active and have been for some time sharing your 504 00:42:43.199 --> 00:42:49.719 story with students and other members of younger generations, so they're aware of what 505 00:42:50.199 --> 00:42:53.000 your service looked like. In the importance of winning World War Two. Talk 506 00:42:53.039 --> 00:43:01.000 about why that is so important to you well to people know that there was 507 00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:04.960 a price to pay for the freedom that we have today, you know, 508 00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:12.280 and it cost a lot of lives. And now I'll tell you one thing. 509 00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:20.480 I have spoken over in France to schools over there, and also met 510 00:43:20.719 --> 00:43:24.760 German high school students that were very curious about a lot of stuff because they 511 00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:30.920 don't do it. So I've had a lot of chances to explain to foreign 512 00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:37.360 students and then American students. It's amazing. When we were over there, 513 00:43:37.400 --> 00:43:43.480 we'd meet a group of high school students on tour over there, and they 514 00:43:43.800 --> 00:43:46.079 had all kinds of questions. And then one question I always told him was 515 00:43:47.119 --> 00:43:52.880 never ask an XDI if he shot somebody, because nobody wants to talk about 516 00:43:52.920 --> 00:44:00.400 it. But other than that, I was they asked so many gig question 517 00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:06.039 sees. I've met, you know, play I met more of the big 518 00:44:06.199 --> 00:44:09.400 tour groups in Europe than I have here in a way, you know, 519 00:44:09.639 --> 00:44:15.639 So it's amazing. I've been back to France about eight times since the war, 520 00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:20.840 so we know people, or we got acquainted with people and stuff, 521 00:44:20.880 --> 00:44:23.360 and that's always a joy to go over there and see all of them. 522 00:44:24.519 --> 00:44:28.960 At my age now and my problems, I'm not going to go anymore. 523 00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:31.239 I can't do it. What does it mean to you to have organizations like 524 00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:37.119 the American Veterans Center and other groups like ours gather the stories from veterans like 525 00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:42.679 yourselves. They all do a great job of helping, you know, I 526 00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:49.679 get I see all this stuff, and the VFW has helped me a lot 527 00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:55.880 on violently claims to get on injuries I had in the world during the war 528 00:44:57.039 --> 00:45:02.840 and stuff. So there's all these units all serve a purpose and do a 529 00:45:02.920 --> 00:45:12.960 good job. As far as I'm concerned. They're very necessary to help people, 530 00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:19.840 and I guess keep people exposed. It. It wasn't just something that 531 00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.320 just accidentally happened. It was a tough fight to get to where we're at 532 00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:28.760 today. Finally, sir, what are you most proud of from your service? 533 00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:37.880 That I served and all the people I met and the things we've done 534 00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:46.880 together, there's nothing like us guys getting together. And like for my birthday 535 00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:53.320 party, none of the originals get maked, but twenty two of the second 536 00:45:53.400 --> 00:45:59.039 third generation was present for my party. That one came far as a way 537 00:45:59.079 --> 00:46:06.719 as Massachusetts and all over the US scattered around my birthday party for my ninety 538 00:46:06.840 --> 00:46:12.719 ninth, and so now we're planning for one hundred. So got that going. 539 00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:15.000 I was going to say, if the ninety ninth got that kind of 540 00:46:15.039 --> 00:46:17.920 a turnout, the hundredth should be a real bash. Well, I got 541 00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:24.679 to find a bigger place to have. We had roughly about one hundred and 542 00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:31.320 twenty five people there and twenty or so got sick. It couldn't make it 543 00:46:31.559 --> 00:46:36.840 for right, you know, Gosh come down with it, and I appreciated 544 00:46:36.920 --> 00:46:43.280 him staying home and not bringing their bugs to me. But my friends and 545 00:46:43.480 --> 00:46:49.280 my family and my big family, the seventieth Division Association, we had a 546 00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:54.000 great time. Well that's outstanding, sir. The celebration, the respect that 547 00:46:54.119 --> 00:47:00.280 you were given at that event is thoroughly understandable given your service and I know 548 00:47:00.679 --> 00:47:07.159 your very active dedication and participation to the seventieth Division Association, and so we 549 00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:09.400 thank you very much for your service, and we obviously thank you very much 550 00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:13.079 for your time with us today. Sir. We're very grateful. I am 551 00:47:13.199 --> 00:47:16.400 so thankful. Let I got a chance to talk to you, because that 552 00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:22.760 everybody has heard my stories, I guess, and so they some will now 553 00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:29.599 anyway. So I really am most appreciative you contacted me and allowing me to 554 00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:35.599 unwind rat along, you know. Thank you, sir very much. Burne. 555 00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:37.519 Staley is a US Army veteran of World War Two. He served as 556 00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:42.559 a combat medic with the seventieth Infantry Division, which saw nearly ninety days of 557 00:47:42.639 --> 00:47:45.920 combat over the final months of the war in Europe. I'm Greg Corumbus and 558 00:47:46.119 --> 00:48:00.559 this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbus, and thanks for 559 00:48:00.679 --> 00:48:06.000 listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more 560 00:48:06.039 --> 00:48:10.519 information, please visit American Veterans Center dot org. You can also follow the 561 00:48:10.639 --> 00:48:17.039 American Veterans Center on Facebook and on Twitter. We're at AVC update. Subscribe 562 00:48:17.079 --> 00:48:22.079 to the American Veterans Center YouTube channel for full oral histories and special features, 563 00:48:22.559 --> 00:48:28.880 and of course please subscribe to the Veterans Chronicles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. 564 00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:32.719 Thanks again for listening, and please join us next time for Veterans Chronicles