Entering the service in New York at the age of 20, Louis Graziano's World War II experiences include landing with the third wave on D-Day on Omaha Beach, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, and serving on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s staff at Reims, France, when Germany surrendered. 'I was a hair stylist before I went into the service,' Graziano said. 'Then when I came out, I went back to hair styling. I’m still working. I’ve been there since 1956.' His children wanted to know about his war experiences, so he wrote 'A Patriot's Memoirs of World War II: Through My Eyes, Heart, and Soul.' His book shares stories of life, loss and love. He met his wife, a fellow soldier, while in the service. 'As we focus on our country today, we must look back to our history to help us appreciate how we became the greatest power on earth and the men and women who fought to make this happen,' says Graziano. When his unit arrived in Reims, France, Graziano was charged with keeping all of the buildings occupied by Americans in working order. Among those structures was the Little Red Schoolhouse, and that’s how he got into the war room to watch the German commanders surrender. In 2019, 75 years later, Graziano was believed to be the last living eyewitness to the formal surrender of Germany at the schoolhouse in Reims. Of that monumental moment in history on May 7, 1945, Graziano has said, 'I was honored. It was a great pleasure to be there. I felt sorry for all the men we had lost that helped us accomplish that.' In June 2019, he spoke at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library during events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day Invasion of Normandy. Graziano was even honored at the White House in October of 2019, at the age of 96. Role(s) in Service Utilities-NCO Sergeant. Supervised 35 men in plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, masonry, road building and construction work. Built large mess hall, sleeping huts, latrines, roads, sidewalks, power plant and a theater. Col. Boshoff sent Louis to install a telephone line in Ike’s quarters. Louis took his friend, Buck, stringing wire through towns and through fields, watching for mines. They spent two nights at Eisenhower's Headquarters. 'We got everything hooked up for Eisenhower. He was real good to us. I think a lot of him. He was real good; kind to the men. He was always looking out for the soldiers. He said ‘The officers have enough rank to look after themselves, so I take care of the enlisted men.’'

Floyd enlisted in the Army on Jan 13 1942 in Chicago, IL. At enlistment, he was attending St Patrick's High School. He had sufficient credits for graduation and was to graduate with the class of 1942. After four months Basic Training, he was assigned to a National Guard Unit, the 26th Infantry Division on Long Island, New York. Its responsibility was guarding the beaches. Promoted to PFC after beach patrol, he was reassigned as clerk typist for the Regimental Colonel. After fourteen months serving with the 26th Infantry Division, he was qualified as an Aviation Cadet with the Army Air Corps. He attended Syracuse University then Primary, and Basic Flight Training at Clarksville, MS. Then, it was on to Craig Field, AL for Advanced Flight Training. Because of the excess of trained pilots, he was selected for Bombardier Training at Deming, NM. After completing Bombardier Training and commissioned as Flight Officer, he was sent to B-29 Gunnery School prior to overseas assignment to the Asiatic-Pacific Area. Prior to leaving on Aug 6 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped at Hiroshima, Japan and the war was over. Floyd's military records were, along with many others, destroyed in a fire on Jul 12 1973 at the National Records Center in St Louis, MO.

Active in ROTC at Harrison Tech. HS, I enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve in Chicago, IL on 27 Nov 1939 while a junior. That June, I trained at the Army CMTC, Fort Sheridan, IL. The USMCR placed me on active duty for training in July 1940 at Camp Perry, OH, and promoted me to PFC. On 7 Nov 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a National Emergency and the 9th Battalion of the Marine Corps Reserve was called to active duty. We departed from Chicago for San Diego, arriving on Armistice Day, 11 Nov 1940, where the 9th was integrated into the 2nd Defense Battalion and we were assigned to the 50 Caliber Anti-Aircraft Sect. In Jan, most of us were transferred to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines, French 75mm Artillery. Now a Corporal, I relocated to Camp Elliott, CA, and in May to E Battery and 75mm Pack Howitzers. On May 31st we boarded navy Transport and sailed through the Panama Canal to Charleston, SC. I left there in late Jun, arriving at Argentia Bay, Newfoundland before sailing to Reykjavik, Iceland, arriving on 7 Jul 1941 with the 1st Marine Brigade. During our nine months in Iceland, we paraded on 16 Aug 1941 for Winston Churchill after his meeting with President Roosevelt at Argentia. On 7 Dec 1941, we were in a ton open truck in a snow storm going on liberty in Reykjavik when all British soldiers we passed kept giving us the 'V' sign and saying 'we are glad you are with us.' When we got to town we heard the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Mar 20th we again boarded the USS Heywood and returned to New York where I transferred to Camp Elliott, CA as a Sergeant. I was then transferred to the 4th Battalion, 12th Marines, 105mm Howitzers for a short time before being sent to New River, NC on 9 Jul 1942 to F Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines, 75mm Pack Howitzers. From there, it was live firing of the Pack Howitzers in the Desert at Camp Dunlap, Niland, CA. In Feb we were trucked to San Diego and boarded the SS Lurline, a Matson Liner as part of the 3rd Marine Division. We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand for training until July when we sailed to Guadalcanal, BSI for jungle training. It was here we first experienced Japanese air raids and I was promoted to Platoon Sergeant. Under air attack as we approached the landing beach, a bomber flew over our bow and sank the USS McLean on our port side. Our Survey section was aboard and all but one were saved. We were bombed two nights in a row with no casualties, although we lost one gun and our Galley. The Japanese fired their artillery nightly, but most of it went past us. Promoted to Gunnery Sgt., we sailed back to Guadalcanal in Jan, while the Army took over protecting the airfields. With the Japanese fleet attacking in the battle for Saipan, our D Day was re-scheduled with our landing to be in the 5th wave by transferring our Howitzers to Amphibian Tractors. When none were available, we landed from the LCVPs at the edge of the reef. We had to pile all the parts of the Howitzers and ammunition in the water on the reef and then carry it all to our selected positions; all while under mortar fire. After the Island was secured, we swept it and captured a few stragglers. They were all starving and did not but up any resistance. After my promotion to Warrant Officer, we sailed from Guam with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Marines and my artillery Forward Observer Team was assigned to them for the landing. I spent my 23rd birthday with K Co. onboard the LCVPs. The next day we landed on Red Beach under artillery and mortar fire. By the 5th day, we had captured Airport 2. Two grenades exploded right in front of me and I was slightly wounded in the face, while Capt. R. Heinze had fragments inside his left thigh from the same grenades. After capturing the high ground at the junction of the runways, our team spent the night there under ponchos, directing our artillery under mortar and artillery fire.

Henry "Hank" Greenberg was the first Major League Baseball player to enlist. In 1940, outfielder, "Hank" Greenberg had won his second MVP award, leading the Detroit Tigers to the American League pennant. He registered with the Selective Service after the season and said, "I have no intention of trying to get out of military training." At age 29, on Oct. 6,1940 Greenberg enlisted in the country's peace time draft. In the spring of 1941 the Detroit draft board tried to give him an out. They classified him as having "flat feet" after his first physical, which would have relegated him to light duty at home. Greenberg demanded to be reexamined. on April 18 1941, he was found fit and was reclassified. The 1941 Tigers season had begun by this point, and on May 7 after playing 19 games, Greenberg reported for the US Army. Hank trained as a tank gunner that Spring/summer. On December 5, Hank was discharged at the age of 30, two days later Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. On Feb 1, 1942, Greenberg reenlisted, was inducted at Fort Dix, NJ and volunteered for service in the US Army Air Corps. "We are in trouble" he told the Sporting News," and there is only one thing for me to do ' return to the service. This doubtless means I am finished with baseball and it would be silly for me to say I do not leave it without a pang. But all of us are confronted with a terrible task - the defense of our country and the fight of our lives".

Greenberg graduated from Officer Candidate School at Miami Beach, FL. and was commissioned a First Lieutenant and assigned to the Army Air Force. Hank served for the next three and a half years. His last position was in the China/India/Burma theater of operations where he scouted bombing targets for B-29s and served as the Physical Training Officer for the 58th Bomber Wing. All in all Greenberg served 47 months in the service, the lonest tenure of any ball player. He missed 4 full seasons of his professional career. His first full year back, he paced the league with 44 home runs and 128 RBIs. Hank Greenberg was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1856. "Courtesy of Baseball Wartime and the Detroit News Archive"

1st Platoon - H Co. - 501st Parachute Infantry Regt. - 101st A/B Division
Our Drop Zone was 'DZ C'. Our objective was to provide security for Division HQ's (101st Abn Div), and to be held in ready reserve for any situation that might arise. Our flight path was probably parallel in straight line from Le Port to Hiesville, and very likely we were dropped too soon. And far enough south of that line so as to arrive at the south bank of the Douve River and we arrived near daybreak in the area of Le Port, which is located on the Ste. Mere Eglise map.
The Douve appears to be flowing southeast in that area and then veers off to a more southern direction at the bottom of the map. This accounts for the 16th man in our jump-stick ending up on the other side of the river!
The Germans in that area seemed to have been on the alert, because our scout, 'Lavern French', was captured. Then we received machine-gun fire while we were crossing a road upshot of which our squad was divided.
As the sun was just beginning to bring light that morning we saw a German patrol walking beyond a short hedgerow. In retrospect, the patrol was walking along the dike of the river and had a hedgerow running parallel to it. We walked along that hedgerow until we found a gap/break. I, McMullen, and Paraseau had just emerged on the other side when another German patrol came walking along the dike. We froze and hoped we wouldn't be seen in the faint light of dawn, but that wasn't to be! Now we had been instructed to protect ourselves, but you must remember, we were trained to fight as a unit, so don't start any 'little wars', get to your assembly area at all costs!
Well, the moment we were spotted, McMullen opened up with his sub-machine gun. I looked up and saw the patrol hitting the ground and threw a grenade. I guess Mac felt we had them neutralized, because he said, 'lets get out of here'. Since Mac and Paraseau were closest to the gap, we had came thru, I waited a couple seconds and threw another grenade. I waited for it to go off, then I headed for the gap, only to find Mac struggling to get thru the hedge with his sub-machine gun. Well, I gave him one mighty shove and that's when everything happened, all at once. Mac fell forward and his feet were above my face and the German behind us on the dike opened up with his burp gun. I felt my carbine being wrenched from my hands, and a burning, stinging on the right-side of my face (cheek). At that point, I fell all over Mac and panicked! I got up on the run, feeling my bloodied cheek with my right hand. I ran faster then my feet, stumbling all over myself. I knew I must have a hole in my head, so I tore off my helmet and kept feeling for the hole I just knew must be in my head.
A couple hundred yards down that same hedgerow, I slowed down enough for Paraseau to catch up with me. He said, 'you'd better bandage that wound'. And I could see him looking at my right hand in the dim morning light. It was at this time I saw a gash running along the inside of my right wrist, with blood still spurting out. I then realized the bullet that stung me in the right cheek must have also gashed the blood vessel in my right wrist.
Relieved that it wasn't my head, but just my right wrist that was damaged, I said, 'yes, I guess your right'. So I reached around with my left hand to retrieve my First Aid Kit off my Cartridge Belt. But I knew something was wrong? I was not having any luck getting hold of it? So I brought my left hand around to look at it and was startled to staring at the rounded bone of the first joint of my thumb! The fore-finger was dangling down on one side of my hand and the middle finger down the other side! I guess it was dumb of me, but I remember trying to put them back to where they belonged, only to find the bones in my hand that they had been connected to had partially been blown away!
Well, I took my shot of morphine out of my First Aid Kit and we went to work bandaging my hands, only to be interrupted by 12 or so Germans. They stripped us of everything we had except for our dog tags and uniforms. They made us put our hands on our heads and marched us off to a CP, or Medical Station a mile or so away. They had a couple of their own guys there with shrapnel wounds so we had quite a party wrapping wounds. I must have passed out on them, and when I came to, they had one of our medics try giving me blood plasma, but they couldn't get it in my veins, and they finally gave up on me.
Later, they brought in Mike Kinzer, who had been separated from our group when they had fired on us crossing the road earlier in the morning. That afternoon they loaded Kinzer, Paraseau and the medic and me on an open truck and took us back to the rear, (or at least I thought it was the rear)? They dropped the medic and me off at a Field Hospital and took Kinzer and Paraseau on to Germany as POW's where they spent the rest of the war. Although I was pretty well out of it, I got the impression the field hospital had been established in a school house or seminary. (If I remember right, it was at least two stories high and was adjacent to a church). They took the medic and me to a room on the second floor which had a wounded British Soldier in it (RAF if I recall). The next morning (7 June) they sent the medic on to the rear.
The next day, Thursday, the 8th, with an additional 2 or 3 POW's in the room, an artillery shell exploded just outside our room. It blew a hole in the wall and sent a piece of shrapnel into the room. Later that day they tried to take me down-stairs to examine my wounds. But I passed out on them. As I remember, from the wound's I received on D-Day. I kept drifting in and out of consciousness.
On Friday, 9 June, they took me down-stairs. My hand was swollen about the size of my head and the bandages that had been on since D-Day were all crusted to where they had to use scissors to cut them off. They pointed to the streaks running up my arm and suggested the hand be amputated. I vigorously shook my head 'no'. So they shrugged their shoulders and wrapped my hand back up.
Saturday the 10th they brought us all down-stairs to a courtyard where we now totaled 21 POW's all-together. The Germans were evacuating the facility, loading their own wounded on trucks.
Of our 21 wounded POW's, a few were 101st and 82nd troopers, but most were off Omaha Beach and some Brits or maybe Canadians off their beaches? They provided us with a horse drawn carriage or wagon with straw mattresses on it. But no horse, so some of us were pushing and pulling it with those who couldn't walk were riding. They also provided us with 6 guards. Three were teenagers and three were older, maybe 40 or 50 years of age. The guards were not Germans. I believe they were eastern Europeans. 5 of them were riding bicycles.
We didn't get started until afternoon. So we didn't get far before we stopped for the night and stayed in a barn for the rest of the night.
On Sunday 11 June, we came to a fork in the road. The guards didn't know which way to go, so 1/2 of them went one way, and the other 1/2 the other way. They abandoned us! Some French people took us to a slate mine, in the neighborhood we spent Sunday night.
The next day, Monday 12 June, elements of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red 1) came into the area and took us back to Omaha Beach where we were loaded on an LST. We landed back in England the morning of 13 June.
In England they put a cast on my left arm and hand. I never got back to the 101st Airborne area. I ended up in a hospital at an airfield in Scotland where I ran into McMullen on crutches. He had received a wound in his knee from the blast of the burp gun that got me. Remember I saw his feet above my head when I shoved him thru the gap in the hedgerow? He, Houston, and the medic evidently took off in a different direction from Paraseau and me. They hid in a low-lying area until mid morning on D-Day then waded the river where they joined up with Col. Johnson and the others in their D-Day mission, at the bridges on that day. Sgt. Houston suffered a shrapnel wound to his foot before the Normandy campaign was over. But he went on through all the operations the 101st was involved in and as a matter of fact, was awarded a battlefield commission before the end of the war.
From the Scotland Hospital and Airfield, I was put aboard a C-54 Hospital Ship as an ambulatory patient and landed in New York on July 3, 1944 at about 3 AM in the morning. My D-Day jump was my 13th and final jump. Outside a couple flights, I've hardly been in an airplane since. I married an Army Nurse before being discharged. We have 3 sons, 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. I spent 38 years at Beech Aircraft as a Production Planner and retired in 1989.
I'm afraid my time in the service didn't amount to much, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything!

Rachel (Schroeder) Gregory was a Registered Nurse in the U.S. Army during WWII. She married D-Day veteran Dale Q. Gregory after taking care of him while he recovered from his wounds from the war. They had three sons - James, David and John -- numerous grandchildren and a number of great grandchildren. The couple lived in Wichita, Kansas following the war.

Cleo did basic Training at Camp Ruston, LA; six months at Ft. Riley, KS; and 18 months in the Adjutant General's Division of SHAEF.

Clyde Grisham was born 1/23/1923 in Basehor, KS. He walked to school and went until the 8th grade. Grisham enlisted into the Army in 1941 and ended up serving in Maui working at an administration office. Grisham knew when an invasion had happened when an influx of people were coming through. He had 3 other brothers that also served in WW II.