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Stories: Barbara Dannaher
Barbara Dannaher was one of tens of thousands of women who served as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during the Second World War. In hundreds of naval stations across the USA, WAVES occupied roles that allowed more men to serve at sea and in combat zones. Among this work, signals intelligence would prove some of the most crucial in the war. Before the war, Barbara worked for United Aircraft in Connecticut. Her first date with her future husband, Tom, was on December 7th, 1941. By the summer of 1942, Tom was in the Marines and Barbara heard the first recruitment drive for the WAVES. Because her employer was…
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Stories: George Brown
On August 13th, 1952, George Brown found himself standing on top of Hill 117, somewhere northeast of Seoul, Korea. Part of an offensive that began at 6AM that morning, George and the rest of Company K, 15th Regiment of the 3rd Division had achieved their objective. A peaceful quiet fell over the scene. A Chinese counterattack hit. Mortar and machine gun fire erupted around them, and George’s Sergeant screamed: his leg had been blown away. George grabbed the man from one side, while another soldier supported the Sergeant’s opposite side. The three were running for cover when another machine gun opened up. Three bullets hit the Sergeant. Three more hit…
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Stories: Melvin Horwitz
Melvin Horwitz was in an unusual position at the start of the Korean War. Just 24, Melvin had already graduated from Harvard Medical School and had nearly completed surgical training at Yale. However, a wartime draft had been declared. Horwitze could either volunteer his medical services as an Army surgeon, or run the risk of being drafted as a rifleman, an outcome he hardly relished. Interviewer:Would you have rather stayed in America? Melvin Horwitz:Oh, sure. I’m a devout coward. They were using real bullets in Korea. But in 1952, Melvin volunteered. His basic training in San Antonio was relatively relaxed. Doctors weren’t expected to achieve a high level of martial…
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Stories: Krystyna Stachowitz Farley
Krystyna Stachowitz Farley is one of many veterans in the archive of the Veterans History Project who served during WWII. Her story stands apart because Krystyna served in the “Anders Army” a unit composed entirely of Polish men and women formerly imprisoned by the Soviet Union. From her childhood in Poland, through captivity in Russia, and finally into military service in the Mediterranean theater, Krystyna offers a rare perspective into the Polish experience of WWII. In September, 1939, the European war began when first German, then Russian troops invaded Poland. In August, addendums to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had already partitioned Poland between the two conquering nations, and became moot only…
