Fort Collins Public Library Local History Archive

    city > library > catalog > local history archive > topics > wwii excerpts
Bob Pike, Althea Williams, Harold Kennedy, Veteran's Day, Edora Park, Nov. 14, 1999 Bob Pike, Althea Williams, Harold Kennedy, Veteran's Day, Edora Park, Nov. 14, 1999

World War II Oral History Excerpts
In 1995 the City of Fort Collins held a year long celebration recognizing the contributions of our World War II veterans. June 6, 1995 was the fiftieth anniversary of the D-Day Invasion of Europe. The Local History Archive conducted an oral history project of Fort Collins veterans and citizens that focused on this time period.

Many volunteers made this project possible. Jane Blandford, Arlene Ahlbrandt, Jonathan Held, Linda Bell, Joan Day, and Sharon Lance assisted Rheba Massey, Local History Librarian with the interviews. Linda Bell, Cindy Lechner, Hilde Hobbs, Jan Bishop, Clair Sawicki, Shirley Ruiz, Nancy Wagner, Tracy Palmier, Gwinyi Lu, Jenn Martinez, Laura Demko, Susan Hoyt, and Charlotte Myers transcribed the interviews. Nancy Kovats Lea volunteered to read the interviews and excerpt some of the highlights of each life story. Peggy Shaughnessy designed the web pages. A special thank you to each of the volunteers and narrators for sharing their lives, time, and expertise with the citizens of Fort Collins.

Voices of the 20th Century offers historical audio clips from WWII, and The Melvin C. Shaffer Photographic Collection provides photographs of World War II in Europe and North Africa.
Anti-Semitism in a German Church Leo Cefkin
As a Young Marine in Combat . . . Howard Schnauber
Bailing Out Over Enemy Territory... Courtlyn Hotchkiss
Discovering Concentration Camps at the End of the War... Harold Kennedy
Everything Was Directed Toward the War Effort Robert H. Pike
Farming in Wellington in WWII Andrew Mair
Hitler Wanted to Give the German People a Christmas Present Harold Kennedy
I Heard the Sound of Voices Shouting! Richard Stevens
I'd Never Seen a Mountain Before Harold Kennedy
It Wasn't All War Mike Conte
Junior Commandos Walter Winter
Mr. & Mrs. Nabors: Newlyweds at Pearl Harbor Dorothy and Bonnie Nabors
My brother said "Be prepared... JoAnn Christman Chisholm
My mother said ..."Join the Service" Virginia Moore
Not-So-Happy Trips Home for Displaced Persons Leo Cefkin
Nursing in Three Wars Althea Williams
Prisoners of War in Colorado Janet Worrall
Running a Beet Puller Before the POWs Robert Stieben
Serving in a Military Hospital Laboratory Francis E. Clark
Then Out of the Haze There Emerged Three Pursuit Planes Harold Kennedy
Time and Days Didn't Mean that Much to Us Harold Johnson
Training for Night Fighting and Impressing the Sergeant... Harold Kennedy
What WWII Did to Fort Collins Courtlyn Hotchkiss
With Those Words My Life Was Forever Changed Ralph Giddings
Women Don't Belong on Ships! Natalie O'Brien Jones
Work, Work Work and Train, Train, Train Bill Rudolph
Being a GI with an Independent Spirit Harold Warren
I Kind of Liked to Think of Myself as a Singer, an Actress or
Anything but a School Teacher 		Fran Thompson
A Positive Experience Serving in the Waves," Reminiscence Joan Deines
It Was An Adventure; I was Young Eleanor Kruchten
Happy Memories; Sad Memories Margaret Gravdahl
Our Greatest Threat Was Kamikaze Planes Ross Bradley
Being a Switchboard Operator . . . Douglas George
I've Never Seen Such a Beautiful Sight in my Life Bill Aiken
We Were All Equal Bill Aiken
We Had Not Heard Anything about these Concentration Camps Bill Aiken
War is Terrible Gene and Margaret "Mo" Williams
Hell, They're ALL Scary! Milton Mc Curry
Arrested on the Church Steps! Rev. Hiram Kano
That Was an Exciting Time in My Life F. Winfield ("Bill") Michael
I Have Always Had a Little Sense of Shame Isabelle Knopf