Loyd Warnick
“We were grateful we were flying airplanes and not down in the jungle, because we were hauling a lot of those folks into battle and out sometimes two or three months later. It made us awfully grateful we were in the Air Force where we could fly back to a base, get a warm meal, and sleep in a bed every night. We were very fortunate. “
Vietnam
Sean Quinn
“A lot of times it was scary, a lot of times you feel like you’re going to die. Somebody has got to do the job.”
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Norma Parkinson
“I saw these gals with their uniforms and I thought, oh, that is so real. It was something I wanted to do to try and help with the war.”
World War II
Darrell Neville
“I served with an all Norwegian unit in the 99th Special battalion of the U.S. Army. These men had something to fight for, more than I did. I had my freedoms to fight for, yes, but their country had been invaded. They didn’t back down. “
World War II
Cliff Johnson
“My grandfather was a Colonel in the army years ago. I idolized him, so I joined.“
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Jim Hancock
“As a soldier, a marine, you have a split second to decide whether to shoot or not to shoot. That split second is the difference between you dying and someone else. “
World War II
Holley Groneman
“There were bodies stacked from floor to ceiling. Their flesh was rotting and we had to move them. The smell was awful and as we tried to move the bodies their skin started to come off (retold from a story shared by Holley Groneman to Nicole Nielson)."
World War II
Ivan Freeman
“We freed a concentration camp. There were two ovens there. The people that had died in the camp during the night were taken out of the barracks and picked up in the morning. These guys had a wagon and they would stack the bodies then throw them in the oven. When we got there the embers were still smoking. “
World War II
Ben Clark
“It was a lot different times then than it is now. We fought a lot different war than we’re fighting now. Now if they need action or combat they have to write Congress to ratify an act. We didn’t. We shot first and asked questions later. That was our motto.”
World War II
Brian Chapman
“I felt a pain in my chest and I grabbed it with my hand. Then I felt my hand burning and I realized shrapnel had hit me. It was still hot and it burnt my hand. It was actually good that the shrapnel was so hot because it helped stop the bleeding.”
Vietnam
Sean Cannon
“One of my soldier’s gave his life to protect his fellow soldiers in a convoy going down the road. He was a gunner and rather than ducking when a grenade was thrown at the vehicle he cushioned the blast of the grenade with his own body and protected everyone else in the vehicle. It’s acts of service like that that really have inspired me and make me want to continue to work with the young people we have in this country who are soldiers.”
The Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom
Gary Brock
“People occasionally ask me about my experiences in Korea. I just don’t like to talk about them. It was a nightmare. Especially at night after the sun went down. It gives me shivers. I am lucky that I survived. Why I did and so many didn’t I will never know.”
The Korean War
