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Freeman Barber

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The first night in France, the rest of the men were lucky to have Freeman Barber along because the Yankee Boy Scout made a lean-to with a tarp that kept them off the snow. The armored unit was shuffled around in support of different outfits, including the British under Montgomery. As they pushed into Germany, they learned to not ignore the haystacks. (7:00)

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The armored unit had to hold up for a while so Freeman Barber's crew dug a pit for protection from artillery and frigid temperatures. After nearly doing themselves in with candles, they crossed the Rhine on a pontoon bridge, which can be an adventure in a thirty ton Sherman tank. (3:47)

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The German 88mm gun was very effective against tanks. Freeman Barber recalls when his unit lost over thirty tanks like a row of ducks on the road. Also deadly were the shoulder fired Panzerfaust rockets fired from concealed spider holes. In one town, as he stood up in the hatch, he stared down a German 88 just as he heard the whoosh of a shell fired straight at him. (7:00)

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Some of the last combatants that Freeman Barber had to deal with were Hitler Youth who had scavenged Panzerfaust rockets and were firing them at American tanks. Young fanatics were far from the worst thing he saw in Germany. He struggles to describe the horror he encountered at Buchenwald. (3:41)

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As the German war effort waned, Freeman Barber's armored unit was sent to Czechoslovakia as a check on the Russians. There, he had a lovely respite from the combat and chaos he had just experienced, complete with girls and picnics and motorcycles. (3:46)

Galen Foster

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Galen Foster's father was a Marine and he gave his son this advice, join the Army. It's safer. He did just that and when he got to basic training, the Drill Instructor made a big impression on him. He went to Fort Polk where they had a training camp called Tigerland, designed to prepare troops for fighting in Vietnam. (4:13)

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The closer the plane got to Vietnam, the more somber was the mood on board. That's what Galen Foster remembers about the flight. What he remembers about arriving is the heat and the smell, both overwhelming. He went where he was most needed, a unit that had just been hit hard, and was issued an M79 grenade launcher. (5:10)

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Galen Foster's first night after joining his unit in was memorable. They were mortared and, since the fire base was new and had no bunkers yet, a half dozen new guys huddled on the floor of their tent with their duffel bags around them. Welcome to Vietnam. After the barrage, they emerged and readied for a fight which did not come. (2:29)

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He was going to war for the first time. It was the first foray outside the fire base for Galen Foster and, right away, he was in combat. As the men crossed a clearing in pairs, the man next to him stepped on a mine and Charlie opened up. The blast knocked him back into the tree line and, finding himself unhurt he returned fire. That answered a question he had been wondering about himself. (5:09)

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Charlie was smart. You seldom saw him. An air strike would drive him into his tunnels but he would be back. Galen Foster describes just such an encounter, with friendly shrapnel flying all around. After that firefight, his unit was given an uncomfortable task, hosting an American news crew. (6:16)