A Bundle of History
Four World War II interviews on eight CDs
While these individual audiobooks are available individually, they are now available in a set, as each interview is special in its own way yet together they give a broader picture of what it was like in World War II.
The interviews run from 90 minutes to more than two hours, and are on two CDs each. While we are still developing the packaging and liner notes, they come in a colorful plastic spindle case and make an excellent gift for any history buff.
These are the interviews in the collection:
Arnold Brown joined the Army in 1936 with an eighth-grade
education. He went to Officers Candidate School, and was sent to Normandy as a
replacement rifle company commander in the 90th Infantry Division.
The first time interviewer Aaron Elson saw Arnold was at a reunion of the 90th Infantry Division, where he was carrying a scrapbook with items about a battle that took place in Oberwampach, Luxembourg, during the Battle of the Bulge. Brown was awarded the British Military Cross for his leadership during that little-known battle, where his company, along with some tanks and tank destroyers, withstood nine counterattacks.
Several years later, Elson visited Brown at his home in a seniors complex in Owensboro, Ky., where he conducted this interview.
During the summer of 2007, Elson got an e-mail from Diann Hamant of Cincinnati asking how she could get someone to do an oral history interview with her father. As Elson was going to be in Cincinnati for a reunion in September, he suggested that she bring her dad by the hotel and Elson would do the interview himself.
Thanks to some copious notes from Diann and her brothers, the interview resulted in some remarkable stories from Robert Hamant, who was a Marine Pfc. on the island of Tinian for more than a year, during which time he witnessed the famed Marianas Turkey Shoot as well as the Enola Gay, which took off from Tinian on its mission to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
Elson met Sam Mastrogiacomo at the 2005 reunion of the 8th Air Force Historical Society, which Sam was attending as a member of the 445th Bomb Group.
The interview begins in 2005 and ends in 2007, as the first part was took place in the 445th's hospitality room while the group was off on a tour. The group returned and the interview ended with Sam's B-24 having just crash-landed in Sweden, where he would spend the next several months as an "internee."
The second CD is from the continuation of the interview at the 2007 reunion, and is as humorous as the first CD -- in which Sam describes the Gotha mission of February 1944, on which American bombers and German fighters were continuously engaged for more than two hours -- is emotional.
Vern Schmidt joined the 90th Infantry Division as a replacement on Feb. 8, 1945,
in the Siegfried Line. The 90th suffered the third-highest percentage of
casualties in the European Theater of Operations.
Vern reported to a pillbox with two other soldiers. Within ten days, both of those soldiers were killed in action.
Many years later, Vern and his wife, Dona, traveled to Germany and visited a house where Vern's squad had spent three days during a battle. They became fast friends with the occupants of the house, who remembered an act of kindness by Vern's sergeant.
Dona Schmidt was born in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and moved with her family to California when she was 12 in a story right out of "The Grapes of Wrath." She tells some of her story in this audiobook as well.
All four of these oral history "mini" audiobooks bring history to life, and are both interesting and entertaining. They make a great gift for the history buff, as well as a reasonably priced present for yourself.
Below are excerpts from each of the four interviews in this collection. To read some of the stories, please visit tankbooks.com, and to hear other excerpts, check out audiomurphy.com, home of the best war stories aloud on the Internet.
Track 1 real audio mp3 Sam Mastrogiacomo of the 445th Bomb Group describes a humorous moment when he was interned in Sweden. From "Tail Gunner Sam."
Track 2 real audio mp3 Arnold Brown tells of a tragic incident in the village of Oberwampach during the Battle of the Bulge. From "Company Commander."
Track 3 real audio mp3 Pfc. Vern Schmidt of the 90th Infantry Division talks about two of his buddies who were killed. From "Closure."
Track 4 real audio mp3 Due to lack of space, this track from our latest CD, is not included on the sampler tape: Pfc. Robert Hamant tells a dog story. From "A Marine on Tinian."