9 Lives: An Oral History [Paperback]

Aaron Elson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 1999

The stories of nine people who lived through the World War II era. These include a Red Cross girl, a rifle company captain, an infantry private, a quartermaster who survived the torpedoing of a ship during Exercise Tiger, a veteran's widow, A D-Day veteran of Omaha Beach, and two survivors of the disastrous Kassel mission bombing raid of Sept. 27, 1944, on which 25 B-24 Liberators were shot down within six minutes in one of World War II's most spectacular air battles.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aaron Elson is the creator of the World War II Oral History Web Site, which has been described by many visitors as the best World War II site on the Internet because of all the firsthand accounts it offers. He is also the author of three other books, including "Tanks for the Memories: An Oral History of the 712th Tank Battalion," which which his father served in World War II; "They were all young kids," and "A Mile in Their Shoes."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

(Chuck Hurlbut of Ithaca, N.Y., who was in the 299th Combat Engineer Battalion, is a D-Day veteran of Omaha Beach)

You learned an awful lot in those hours. You changed a lot of your opinions, attitudes, and you realized that hey, this is not a game. A lot of the craziness, the gung-ho attitude disappeared. It hit you that so many of your buddies were no longer with you.

The next morning we were assembled and the colonel told us how many men we'd lost, and we realized how much we had paid. Then we were given cleaning details. We were sent down to the beach to help clear up the debris; certain groups were sent to clear up mines. The place was full of mines, so certain sections were sent to clear roadways through these minefields. Thankfully I didn't get that. That's the worst detail in the world, mines.

None of our men were killed clearing mines, but three or four were wounded. One guy lost his fingers. That's what mines do. They might not kill you, but they maim you. Horrible. They're trying to outlaw them now. And the Germans were experts at mines. They came up with a plastic mine. We had mine detectors to detect metal. Now they're plastic; the mine detector's no good. And they had trick wires. This'll be a dead mine. If you detonate this, you set off that. And boobytraps. Because GIs seem to want to get souvenirs loot that's an American instinct, and they forget to be cautious. We lost a lot of guys because of that. They'll boobytrap their own dead. You want his helmet? It could be boobytrapped. And they were so good at it. They had a mine called the bouncing Betty, you would step on it and it would jump up and get you right in the groin.

One day I'm going along, and there's a shoe. I kicked it out of the way. There's a foot in it. I can't tell you what war is. You wouldn't believe how men; we're supposed to be human beings, civilized. On the beach, it was unbelievable. You'd see bodies crushed by tanks. The tanker can't see, and he's literally running right over guys. I hope they were dead when he did it. You walk along, there's two big tank tracks, and the guy's embedded right in the sand. Maybe the guy was wounded, he couldn't move. I don't blame the tank. They're up there, they can't see, they've got to maneuver, but that happened so many times. That's a pretty gruesome sight the next day.

I've seen guys with arms full of arms, arms filled with legs, carrying them off to a collection point. And I understand they made one great big trench and just dumped everything in there. Then a year or so later, after the war, they reclaimed and went through it, and they're all up in the cemetery.

And it always remains in your mind; any veteran who has seen combat wonders, wonders, why me? Why was he killed, why did I survive? It's a question you can't answer. But it bothers you. Why did they shoot him and I was spared? I've tried to appreciate it that I made it okay, and I've tried to say, well, I'll do my best to memorialize those guys.

Maybe that's why I was spared.

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Chi Chi Pr; 1 edition (January 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964061155
• ISBN-13: 978-0964061156
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,996,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch out Steven Ambrose!, April 9, 2001

By 

Chad R. Reihm (Miami Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 9 Lives: An Oral History (Paperback)

You have chanced upon an absolutely wonderful collection of WW2 Vets' stories! Aaron Elson has collected some of the most exciting and informative stories I have yet to read on the European Theater. This book is basically a group of mini-memoirs that range in scope from paratroops to tank personnel to frontline infantry. Each one tells his or her(yes women did serve!) own story in his or her own way but all of them are fascinating and will give you a different glimpse of how average americans saw the war. You will enjoy this one! And while you're at it check out 'a mile in their shoes' by Elson.