War Stories

War Stories: personal accounts of war experiences told by wartime veterans of World War II, Korea, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the first war with Iraq (Desert Storm) originally intended for publication in a small weekly newspaper. The interview list included officers and enlisted men and women from all branches of the armed forces. Veterans interviewed included Soldiers, Marines, Airman, Navy and Coast Guard Sailors. They had served as infantrymen, tank drivers, aviators, submariners, combat photographers, cooks, supply technicians, gunners and engineers. Included in the group were several former prisoners of war—one of which spent the entire war as a POW in Japan. Another participant was a member of the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force who later migrated to the United States as a war bride. A World War II widow tells of the cruel circumstances of her husband’s death at the hands of the enemy while being held as prisoner of war. The men and women interviewed for the Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm sequences, like their War World II counterparts, served in every field. They ranged in rank from private to generals and admirals—regular military, Reservists and National Guardsmen. These were and are America’s finest—the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, who gladly go in harm’s way to ensure that freedom prevails.