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Bill Beard

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Bill Beard recalls how a training injury may have saved his life by keeping him from fighting in the Normandy invasion. (4:37)

Bill Becker

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Bill Becker was one year out of high school when he was drafted and sent to train at Ft. Polk's Tiger Land, training specifically designed to prepare troops for Vietnam. He wasn't great at running, but he was good at taking tests. This led to some stress when he arrived in country and was thrust into the role of squad leader even though he had absolutely no experience. (5:04)

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During his time in a reconnaissance platoon in Vietnam, Bill Becker found an underground hospital, a possible Chinese advisor, and a VC with something very unusual in his backpack. When he triggered a booby trap, he didn't even realize he was wounded. Later in his tour, he was a radar operator and away from the danger, he thought. (6:45)

Bill Boggs

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In the last year of Word War II, Bill Boggs was drafted and began training for the dreaded invasion of Japan. To his great relief, he went instead from the hot and dry training camp in Alabama to the frigid, snowy coast of Newfoundland where he was a member of the Coast Artillery Corps. (4:31)

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Assigned to maintain the six inch gun batteries on the coast of Newfoundland, Bill Boggs was fortunate to only have the constant wind for an enemy. He was also fortunate enough to meet a lady who was a civilian worker at the base. He wanted to marry her but first he had to separate from that other lady, the Army. (4:10)

Bill Braddock

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As a boy learning to hunt in the delta swamps of Louisiana, Bill Braddock developed the animal sense that he credits with his survival in the war to come. When he saw two Marines in dress blues, he knew that was the outfit for him. Serving at Pearl Harbor, he was in heaven with the girls, the music and the surfing. What could mess up such a great thing? (4:42)

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Like many others at Pearl Harbor, Marine Bill Braddock was having some breakfast when the tables and dishes start shaking. He describes in vivid detail the chaos of that day, the unbelievable sight of a sky filled with Japanese planes and the desperation of men shooting at the bombers with their .45's. (5:55)

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After witnessing the Pearl Harbor attack, Bill Braddock volunteered for the Marine paratroopers and spent time untangling himself from the Wait-A-Minute vines of Bougainville. But he soon found himself back in San Diego, training for a new assault force and handling a new machine gun. (4:04)

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The water was rough that day, recalls Bill Braddock. The LST was pitching up and down as the Marines loaded up for the assault on Iwo Jima as planes, bombs and smoke swirled around them. The first enemy troops he saw disappeared into a hole and the last one he saw that day crawled right up to him in the dark. (6:20)

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Marine Bill Braddock made it ashore in the first wave at Iwo Jima, but as he fought to establish a line across the island, he could hear trucks and tanks from the second wave getting bogged down on the beach. As he came up the back side of Mt. Suribachi, he saw the first flag raised. Then on Hill 362, he turned down a Purple Heart because, "I did it myself." (4:13)