# warexperience.org

> Preserving the stories of Veterans in their own words


## Posts

- [Website Redesign](https://warexperience.org/?p=1261): This website has undergone a long-needed redesign and re-purposing of its interview content to ensure a greater compatibility with modern web standards and browsers. The initial launch of this redesign is focusing on the core interview excerpts. Over time, new and additional clips will be added both from archival sources and new interviews. Some previous content from the old site has been removed due to it being outdated. Some of it may be re-added later with updated information. We hope this new format enhances the viewing experience for this site’s visitors and encourages more engagement with the valuable stories of […]

## Pages

- [World War II In Europe](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=141): World War II In Europe Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland started the European phase of war in 1939.  The fall of most of Western Europe except for Great Britain followed over the next two years.  The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 brought unimaginable carnage to Eastern Europe. America entered the war in 1941.  American naval forces combatted German U-Boat attacks on supply convoys.  Ground units entered the fight in late 1942 in North Africa.  Sicily and Italy would be invaded in 1943, followed by a long and bloody campaign up the Italian boot. The D-Day landings of […]
- [Blog](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=1065): Website Redesign After many years, this site has gone through a much needed update in its design to make it more compatible with modern web browsers, especially for those who view on mobile devices. The intent is not just to make things more current, but to enhance the quality of the video viewing experience for the interview excerpts and upcoming features. Most of the interview excerpts that were on the previous version of this site have been re-encoded and re-added to this site. Some of the other content from the old site will be re-added if the information is still […]
- [Vietnam War](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=156): The Vietnam War Courtesy: Wikimedia, Creative Commons license The Vietnam War remains America’s most controversial and divisive military conflict.  From initial involvement as advisors to South Vietnam  to the fall of Saigon in 1975, Vietnam divided America like no other event since the Civil War. Vietnam veterans often suffered wounds and the tragic loss of their friends in field of battle, then came home to a nation that frequently ignored or outright scorned and vilified their service. Many refused to discuss their service with others for years, and some still do. Those who served in Vietnam on land, air and […]
- [Korean War](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=154): The Korean War The first major flashpoint in the Cold War was the Korean War.  Though sanctioned by the United Nations, Americans did the brunt of the fighting alongside South Korean forces and smaller contingents from other countries to stop North Korea and China from overrunning the Korean Peninsula. The Korean War saw emerging weaponry and technologies like jet fighters and helicopters, though infantrymen suffered as the war ground to a stalemate in some of the most inhospitable terrain and weather conditions imaginable. Photo: The National Archives Lou Barrientos fought in some of the Korean War’s bloodiest battles, but for […]
- [Afghanistan-Iraq](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=171): America’s military involvement in the Middle East ranged from the quick victory over Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1991, to the decades long struggle to combat terrorism following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Though part of an overall strategy called the Global War on Terror. The initial hunt for Al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks led to an occupation of Afghanistan for more than two decades. The quick initial campaign into Iraq deposed Saddam Hussein, but led to new and brutal new terror entities like ISIS terrorizing civilians and soldiers alike. The men and women […]
- [WWII Pacific - POWs](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=436): Few men are as resilient as Glenn Berry. He spent nearly all of World War II in brutal Japanese captivity, Berry survived being bombed off of two “Hell Ships” transporting him to Japan, but not before enduring the Bataan Death March. https://youtu.be/2BMAb8V78rM Glen Berry Only at teenager at the start of the war, Yvonne Charles was among the civilians caught up when the Japanese overran the Phillipines. She tells of what internment was like for the women and children she was with, and of how her father was lost in a tragic accident. https://youtu.be/Sov6D95ZhEc Yvonne Charles Clay Decker was one of only nine men to […]
- [WWII Pacific - Navy](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=435): One of only 9 men to survive the sinking of the submarine USS Tang, Decker describes how his sub’s own torpedo sunk the vessel, and the primitive, experimental device called the Momsen Lung which allowed him to reach the surface from nearly 200 feet down.  https://youtu.be/Ns3AJhNlEzs Clay Decker When World War II ended, American Naval vessels docked in Shanghai, China. Though the Japanese occupiers were gone, Shanghai was still under threat by Mao’s Communist forces and Americans wouldn’t be welcome there for long. https://youtu.be/NOdYpxNS_bY Bill Greenewald The importance of training was driven home for Julius Jordahl when the USS Tennessee was attacked […]
- [WWII Pacific - Marines](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=434): Marines fighting on Okinawa not only fought the enemy on the ground, but also underground, as the Japanese hid in caves and tunnels. Howard Beasley describes how difficult it was to root out an enemy that lived and fought in tunnels. https://youtu.be/0fOl272lsM0 Howard Beasley After the landings on Iwo Jima, Jim Blane had the unenviable task of collecting bodies and body parts from the surf and bringing them to the beach for identification, and to clear the way for subsequent waves of Marines to land and join the fight. https://youtu.be/Mos0SgEECDM Jim blane In the early days of World War II, the Marines […]
- [WWII Pacific - Army](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=433): The fighting on Okinawa was among the most savage close quarters combat of the Pacific War.   Spencer Bullard was faced with this reality, with combatants often just yards apart. https://youtu.be/P9vcuqbdYbg Spencer Bullard Hal Leith led a small team that parachuted into Japanese-occupied Manchuria right after the Emperor’s announcement of the surrender. Their goal was to make contact with Allied POWs held at a camp near Mukden, but first, they had to convince the Japanese that the war was over, and Leith had to keep his own team from provoking a firefight. https://youtu.be/JwNPUTnAIUA Hal Leith Though Japan had surrendered, occupation forces expected […]
- [WWII Pacific - Air Corps](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=431): Two of the Doolittle Raiders, Bill Bower and Dick Cole.  Bower piloted the 12th B-25 bomber off the deck of the USS Hornet.  Cole was Col. Jimmy Doolittle’s Co-Pilot, and was the last surviving raider.  Together, they discuss the famous mission that lifted America’s morale a few months after Pearl Harbor. https://youtu.be/83Aphy2R6v8 Jimmy Doolittle’s son John Doolittle and Granddaughter Jonna Doolittle Hoppes talk about how the flawed depiction of Doolittle in the movie “Pearl Harbor” led to her writing a biography of the famed aviator, focusing on the man as they knew him. https://youtu.be/lvodFAp5wTc Doolittle Raiders Lou Eckland was a bombardier […]
- [WWII Home Front](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=430): Many of those who served the war effort did so on the home front. New draftees trained at hundreds of newly built domestic bases before shipping to distant overseas fronts.  Servicemen guarded Prisoners of War, and sadly, interned Japanese-Americans. Air and naval forces protected the coasts against submarine attacks.  Military and civilian personnel were instrumental in developing new weapons stateside, particularly the atomic bombs that would ultimately end the war. Civilians were mobilized in the war effort like never before.  America was the only major industrial power untouched by destruction, and its factories and farms supplied not just U.S. forces, […]
- [WWII Europe - Civilian](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=420): Romana Antonelli was only a child during the war, but war intruded on her family when her American-born mother decided to rescue a downed British flier in Nazi occupied northern Italy. https://youtu.be/uxtkFitrAKE Romana Antonelli At the end of World War II, a corner of northeastern Italy was awarded to Yugoslavia, uprooting thousands of Italian civilians who’d lived in the area for generations. Laura Busnardo recounts how the evictions dispersed families and friends all over the world. https://youtu.be/EA1sx0SbRRE Laura Busnardo As a young boy growing up in the countryside of England, Robert Goldie frequently saw German bombers fly directly over his house on […]
- [WWII Europe - Navy](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=418): During and immediately after the D-Day invasion, the Navy was on constant lookout for German submarines. Bill Kenyon describes the tactics used to prevent the U-Boats from disrupting the flow of supplies and reinforcements to the beachhead. https://youtu.be/VXOJL_L1f-k Bill Kenyon One of the foremost challenges of invading across the English Channel was supplying the troops that landed in Normandy for the breakout into France. Ed Reilly served in the Navy and tells of how engineers built and repaired port facilities to keep the invasion going, https://youtu.be/J_QuytQlGiU Ed Reilly The most forgotten of all the service branches is the Merchant Marines. Their contributions during the […]
- [WWII Europe - Air Corps](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=417): After his bomber was shot down over Germany, Bob Ball learned what it took to survive as a Prisoner Of War. He describes what men did to cope with their captivity. https://youtu.be/_RoYn6Dw3aw Bob Ball B-24 navigator Vern Bingham flew in the lead plane in some of the largest bombing raids in Southern Europe. He discusses the experience of high altitude daylight bombing and the importance of bombardiers and their equipment. https://youtu.be/Qm7UN5GcwVg Vern Bingham After glider pilots delivered their troops and cargo behind the German lines in Normandy on D-Day, they became ground troops whose goal was to get back to the American side of […]
- [World War II In The Pacific](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=412): Japan had been engaged in military conquest in East Asia since the invasion of Manchuria 1931, later moving its way through China and Indochina. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 brought America into the Pacific War, followed soon after by the loss of the Guam and the Philippines. Thousands of Americans based there became POWs for the duration, enduring horrific prison camps, “Hell Ships” and forced labor. The Allies lost Southeast Asia and Indonesia.  Australia and India were threatened with invasion.  The Doolittle Raid on Japan brought a morale boost amidst the early defeats. America and […]
- [WWII Europe - Army](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=268): Phil Antonelli recounts how soldiers fighting their way across France in 1944 dealt with the fear inherent in combat and how the bonds between each other helped them deal with the fear. https://youtu.be/1a8-tETmg7U Phil Antonelli Few things went smoothly on Dewey Augenstein’s Channel crossing to Utah Beach on D-Day. His artillery crew had difficulty getting to the beach and though they didn’t land under fire, he soon made a rookie mistake. https://youtu.be/__JDsxjsmMQ dewey augenstein Foward artillery observer Ron Fenolia could come within yards of the Germans while on scouting and observation missions. He tells how his observer teams operated, where they looked to observe […]
- [Home Page](https://warexperience.org/): Preserving the memories of war veterans and civilians affected by war warexperience.org is a project of Omni Media Services‘ efforts to record and preserve the history of America’s veterans and civilians affected by war.  Omni has been conducting interviews since the year 2000 in partnership the Broomfield Veterans Museum, Regis University’s Stories From Wartime Series, and Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. Around 200 individuals have been recorded.   The primary purpose of this project is to preserve and archive the stories of these interviewees in their own words. Many of the people interviewed, primarily of the World […]
- [Cold War](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=155): The Cold War The Cold War lasted from the end of World War II to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990.   Though there were periods of hot warfare between East and West, like the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and indirect military conflicts fought through proxies, the period was largely defined by the nuclear standoff between the superpowers and their allies. The world came close to the brink of annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which led to greater communication between both sides to reduce the risk of an accident escalating into nuclear warfare. American veterans […]
- [Privacy Policy](https://warexperience.org/?page_id=3): Who we are Our website address is: https://warexperience.org Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. Media If you upload or transfer […]


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