I posted these audio files earlier this year, but I wanted to re-post this for Veteran’s Day. My Grandfather fought in World War II, and last year, I sat down and talked to him about it for a few hours, and recorded the conversation. Some of the more interesting quotes from our talk are below.

In context, he made it to France in October of 1944, went to Fort Driant, then spent time fighting along the Moselle. These are some random snippets from a conversation I had with him. Although I didn’t get into it during our last talk, I interviewed him for a high school project, and at that time asked him if he hated the Germans. His (paraphrased) response? “I was there to shoot them, they were there to shoot me, but we weren’t any different. If there wasn’t a war, we’d both be at home working.”

In the trenches near the Moselle

Germans firing on Fort Driant

In the tunnels of Fort Driant

P-47s Bombing

First Day at Driant

On the Eastern Side of the Moselle

For more information:

• History of the 81st Chemical Mortar Battalion
• World Battlefronts: Durable Driant. Time Magazine, October 16th, 1944
• Attack on Fort Driant (PDF)