Name: Paul Eugene Lenhart
Dates of Service: 1945 – 1951
Highest Rank: Private First Class
Branch: U.S. Army
Conflict: World War II and Korean War
Unit: 26th Infantry Company K (Germany)
24th Division (Korea)
Awards: Army Occupation Medal, Korean Service Medal w/ 3 Bronze Stars and World War II Victory Medal
Location of Service: Korea and Nuremburg, Germany
Collection #: VHP/2017/523
See more about this veteran in the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Digital Library: https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll27/id/3444/rec/1
Hello my name is Ray Hughes and I’m an interviewer for the veterans history project out of Washington DC and the National Archives and today’s date is the 12th of June 2017 and we have the honor and privilege today of interviewing World War II veteran and Korean War veteran Mr Paul Eugene
Lenhard and uh is it all right just to call you Paul yep Mr lenhard it’s a pleasure to meet you sir yeah um Paul if you would uh tell us when you were born and and where where you were living when you were born I was born in tiffen Ohio at Mercy
Hospital and I lived at grandmother’s house on 1616 Avenue in tippen Ohio in tippen Ohio yep and what year that was the month and year that you were born uh was it 27 June the 9th 1927 yeah so you just turned 90 years old this month yes and uh uh proba did
You have any uh brothers and sisters I had one sister she passed away when I was little I see and what’ your dad do for living Paul he worked at uh the Glass Factory in tiffan Ohio I remember and he always rode this old rusted bicycle going to
The uh his work and uh of course that glass factory is closed now but they do sell glass at one of the stores somewhere in tiffan what was your father’s name Jerome Jerome Cornelius lard Lenard and your mother’s name Helen Ruth lard what was her maid name uh Phillips
Phillips I see and you say you were living at your grandmother’s house when you were born yes who were your grandparents of Paul my grandparents oh boy your grandmother’s house you were living there when you were born what was her name uh Susan Susan was her name of course her husband asked away
You know I see I can’t remember that yeah back then you know where’ you go to school at then Paul I went to school at St Joseph’s in tiffan thir grade school yeah and 1937 I moved to Lima and I went to school in Lima here
I see and what high school did you graduate from I did not graduate I um went to the 10th grade and I went go out start working different places I see uh where did your dad work at here in Lima he worked at the Lima locomotive works and that’s
Gone uh what what jobs did you have here in Lima my jobs uh I worked at the lime Memorial Hospital in the laundry and then I went to um Davidson and Nal plant to work and I uh work there and the union come in there and we was working long hours mhm
And they cut us off like that 40 hours a week I was loading semis trucks mhm yeah then I worked at the cheese factory in Lima swifting Company back then when we moved to Lima and then I made cheese butter and cottage cheese and then they had casing which you need
Together uh like bread you know in the Vats uhhuh and what they did with that they put it in the barrel and ship it to was some place and made buttons out of it sh buttons is that right yeah yeah I remember that um then I dumped I dumped
Milk and then I worked in the uh butter the churns the churns 1,000 lb churns in Lima here and and that was hard work when you come home there was butter all over your shirt t-shirt he smelt like a butter you remember what they paid you to do that
Kind of work in those days I started at 40 cents an hour 40 cents an hour then I had a boss that he uh promoted me to 10 maybe 10 cents or 5 cents more and then uh I come home at night I’d be so tired working in that Dairy and then I
Went let’s see Um I worked I worked there and then I went to Davidson later on I went to Davidson and Amo I worked there in Memorial Hospital as soon as I got off of out of the laundry over there I come back and worked at Davidson NL and then they closed up I forget what
Year it was they closed but I was out of a job so I went looking and I went to a nursing home here in Lia Pete Crow was uh uh where you come the boss at uh Superior coach and he would he would tell
Me to go out when I was working at the lman convalescent home I went out he says Paul I I want you do open the hood on my car I said why he said it’s something rattling in there and we opened it up and here was a bunch of nuts in
There regular nuts huh yeah walnuts yeah the squirrels put him in there yeah he didn’t have anything wrong with his motor though no oh um one of the questions I usually ask some somebody that’s your ages you remember Pearl Harbor day and and where were you at when it happened
And how did you hear about it I heard it on the TV PE Harbor day yes and on the radio too Pearl Harbor I got to visit Pearl Harbor when I was when we went went to the Hawaiian Islands uh we made all four for the islands there and what they
Do they throw a wreath or flowers in the water at Pearl Harbor there I remember that but Pearl Harbor day you would have been 14 years old old probably yeah um 14 and A2 were you at home when you heard about it yes yes what did you all what did you all
Think about that whenever it happened did you recall what you did or you said I I can’t remember what I say about that cuz your dad was a veteran too and yeah but he was he was like this he he didn’t talk very much you know about
His experience in World War I he was in the Rainbow division Yes have he never talked about his experiences with you no no but uh but I have pictures of him uh out there in the refrigerator if you want to see him you want me to get him not right now but we will yes um well I see here that
Um that you joined were you drafted or did you join the United States Army in World War II uh got drafted and you were drafted on of all days on the 6th of August 1945 yes well that’s the day they dropped the first atomic bomb yes I remember that
You how did you hear about that through the newspaper that they used to print in the Army what did you feel at that time when they dropped those atomic bomb and 3 days later they dropped another one will we call your feelings of yes it was a terrible experience in the atomic bomb
And what got me when I was in Korea I experienced uh people going up the mountain and the colonel we had one colonel he de demanded that you salute him on the Battlefield and US G didn’t like that mhm sloting in the battlefield and then in Korea my uh sleeping sack I got up and there was uh voices I got up and had my coffee that morning and all of a sudden Zoom right there and if I was have been in there I
Would have been wounded it would cut me in two right in my left leg in my sleeping bag artillery show yeah yeah W yeah um if we could let’s go back to August when you were first went into the army were you in some way glad that we
Dropped the atomic bombs and and yes yes because stop the war you would have been right in the Pacific Jo in fighting the Japanese yeah if they hadn’t dropped those bombs yeah I would have they was going to transfer us our division to the uh the islands you
Know but when the war was over they didn’t do it where did you go to boot camp at Camp fan in Texas 17 weeks training before we you know before we left um campan and campan in Texas and what the government I mean and what what happened I remember they took the
Butter and put it down the sewer got rid of it and then in Korea you want me to stay in Korea um now stay in World War II until um from Camp fan and after yourself 17 weeks uh what camp where did you go from
There I got I went to uh New York City and I got on um a ship and it was foggy now this was dur during the during um not the Korean War that’s would have been after um after World War Two has been declared over were they sending you
To did they assign you to the first division yes they sign me to the first Division and the 26 regiment yes company K company K and what are they doing sending you to Europe yes on board ship yes and I got seasick they put me on
KP peeling potatoes and 3 days out I got seasick and so I went down laid in my bunk that’s one way to get out of KP yeah oh did you go directly to land in France or England whenever uh Lahar France laar France yeah and I could
Smell burnout buildings you know when we landed there then we went into Germany then and I was stationed at uh Augsburg Germany for a while they shipped us around you know and then they took uh where was it see now it’s all right you just take your time
Um now you’re with the first division while you’re in Germany where where as in Germany I say you’re with with the 26 regiment first division while you’re in Germany yes yeah and uh you remember what cities you were stationed at or near uh I don’t remember that but uh I
Remember uh at the war crime trials first so you got assigned to uh Norberg war war crime trials uh for about a month and a half uhhuh tell us about that if you will in some detail if you can well we pull guard Duty and there’s four tears in this
Prison and down in the basement they had a torture chamber down there and during the medieval time they would stretch people out you know and kill them yeah and then uh I didn’t like that don’t tell you so uh do you remember some of the people that you guarded Herman Garing Rudolph
H and uh her they all they all took uh pills and killed themselves Hitler done the same thing I didn’t get to see Hitler did you uh did you ever have any words or conversation with any of the prisoners no no I just proved guard Duty
There now when you say guard Duty were you standing right outside their cell I’d walk down you know the tear that I was on MH and check to see if everything was okay did you ever did you look in on Garing or H yes I I saw him at the
Trials and then uh Rudolph has he was one of the last ones to die I believe yes did what were your feelings while you were guarding these people I mean did did you have contempt for him and yeah hate in a way yes because they was treating
Our uh people over there in those concentration camps you know burning their bodies and stuff like that I never got there I several years ago me and my wife went back to Newberg and uh I had a picture of somebody that uh was with me when we guard the
Prison but I don’t have that picture but anyway I told my wife wife at to it was Cologne Germany where that cathedral was mhm and when we went over there my wife and I they was just starting to clean that church on the outside from the pollution you know right the diesel
Engines they had over there yeah and then uh did you ever hear did you ever hear these guys have any conversation as Garing and hes and no I never heard anything about any of the other guys say anything now were you dressed like an MP at that
Time yeah or military police I should say no it’s it wasn’t military police it’s in the division I was in the first division yeah yeah I think you said you had white gloves and white gloves standard attention and a helmet and then the Press over there first uh was where they
Stayed the Press did but in Newberg the paper was almost knee high all the papers I seen over there in prison Newberg were you ever in the courtroom when they were holding the trial yes where were you positioned at do you remember behind him against the wall or I standing at attention near the wall that’s all I know about that did you uh you listen to the charges and
Yes yes did you find those guys to be arrogant yes do you remember anybody you served with there as a guard well there was a regular army guy uh when it was time for somebody to come home they miss him they miss him four times before he got to go
Home that’s how I know and I lost and there was a guy in Lia here shouting he didn’t want to go on the battlefield over in Korea though and he shot himself in the hand he didn’t want to get on the front lines M I never will forget that we’ll get to
Him after we get finished with the the trials do you remember any of the guys you served with were guards their names or anything uh yes there’s one over in Indiana I forget his name but uh do you ever talk to him have you talked to him since the war
No I had no contact with any of them you know that served over there as the guards did the Press ever talk to you newspaper reporters or anybody no now they might have they might have some of them but I never got to talk to any of
Them so you were there as a guard about a month and a half was the trial over when you left or was the trial still going on you were assigned somewhere else I have a signed somewhere else at the trials um they uh oh when you get 90 you can’t think
That’s all right take your time there’s one guy uh in Finley his name was was lichi or something like that I think the father owned a a dealers ship where at in what town during the Korean War I mean what city well I mean not the Korean War but Newberg yeah what city
Was he from Finland fin and you think his name was L Richi and he had a dealership yes did you ever talk to him after the war no or after World War II no never saw any others where else did you pull Duty than in Germany and Europe after the after
Your um bar duty at the Norberg trials oh I for how many places we went they Shi us around different places where I remember one time we was on a 2 and 1/2 truck and we got stuck in the mud over there yeah did you go to all see all the cities that were bombed out all the German cities that were
Bombed out you know from the air raage and War no I I never got to see all the cities but when we got home from Germany rahav it’s on a nor sea mhm and uh we uh they served 10,000 troops an hour wow it was cold off of that sea you Know it was February when I came back did you ever go to uh Regensburg or moosberg Regensburg yes that sounds familiar I probably did yeah and when did they send you home through bramer holin uh February I forget what year it was and what and what Duty did you do back in
The United States then I was out the Army I got out of the army my stepmother she didn’t want me to serve anymore is that right yeah yeah and uh so you got out in January of 1947 yeah where were you at when you got out where were you discharged that I
Think it was Fort Dicks New Jersey yes so you so what’ you do come right on back here to Lima yes oh we got to tell you when uh oh this is later when we go to the Korean War okay um um I was going to ask Pat Pat do you
Have any questions about World War II and the Norberg trials before we move on well I just wondered Paul if uh did you see any prisoners uh in the jail who had committed suicide did you find any of them uh when I was there I think it after I left there
Uh and we found out that they committed suicide all right how about uh when you were in Germany other than being at nerenberg did you have any interaction with any of the German citizens uh no could you tell from where you were in Germany that the citizens in Germany
Really had a tough life because of all the devastation yes I can still see the buildings half cutting to you know from bombing and stuff like that like you see on news now right did any of the Personnel on the on the army bases ever help the citizens with food or
Anything pardon did any of you guys at the Army bases would you ever help the citizens with food no that’s about it okay well when you got discharged from the Army what’ you do you had to you get a job or did you come back to Lima I come back to Lima
Got a job looking for a job or rather and I worked in the laundry uh uh Memorial laundry and that was a job that was 108° in that when they wore some clothes and I never will forget one gal told me see they wor baby diapers there in Ivory soap and
She says you probably worh my son’s diapers and forget that oh now are you single at this time are you when you came home after being discharged in World War I were you a single man have you been married yet no I oh yes I was married my first
Wife for 33 years when did you get married and what was her name 1955 I believe oh and uh her name was Evelyn Mooney her name was Evelyn Mooney and how long were you married to Evelyn for 33 years I see and she passed away and
Then when I went to work over here at the convalescent home it’s just one box down the street here for 29 years and I uh met my second wife and what’s her name Janet yeah when did you marry her do you recall June 17th 1989 1989
Well when you first got out of the service though in 194 7 what was your first job 47 oh I went back to the cheese factory until they closed in 1956 oh and Swift and Company is on East Wayne Street and metal gold was on the west and that’s no more those
Buildings I got to go in those build building here a few months ago my brother-in-law he had an old stove and stuff in refrigerator he want to get rid of and they stored it in there I see for people but they I wanted to go up every floor but they wouldn’t let me
Go yeah so how did you come to go back get back in the Army in the Korea you were working at Swift did they send you a draft notice or something yeah yeah they sent me draft notes another dog tag I still got them and uh what was the date you were drafted
Back into the service there for uh Korea in 1950 and 51 you don’t remember the month and day you were drafted to yeah no could have been September September 1950 you’re called back in yeah and um did you go through any boot camp no we went directly
Overseas where did you uh where’ you leave from uh now we’re going to after Germany yeah uh in Korea you when you went back there into the service in September 1950 you went into the um it says the 101st Airborne Division January the 4th 1950 did you go back in as a staff
Sergeant uh yeah I got and then you were assigned to what the the 24th division yes where did you leave the United States from what city did you leave to go and did you go directly to Korea or did you stop in Japan we went from Tokyo on a train C down to
Sasso sea port right got on the boat it wasn’t the ship it was a boat and boy I’ll tell you it was something it was really something it’s uh these I think they I don’t know whether they were Japanese or what but they would shine their teeth you know
And they say here here show us some coal in the boiler so that’s what we did you put Co in the boiler in the furnace yeah furnace I never forget that how many men were on that boat with you oh I I don’t know I really don’t know
Might have been a division or something and where did they take you to uh we went to we flew out of California and we went to Hula the airport and then we went the next time we went to wake up Island and it was so hot there they had butter on
The table for us and it was all melted and then from there I thought it was going to be real hot and here we went to Tokyo and it was you know it’s mountainous and it was coold and from Tokyo you went to saabo yeah and then from saabo did they
Take you to Korea yes do you know where you landed in Korea pan pan in the Southeast yeah and um how soon did they after you got there did they send you on combat when we first got there we got organized and then uh we went into
Combat scared the Dickens out of me going at night especially and these car or trucks they dim their lights coming down through the hills you know and it was pretty pretty scary and one of my buddies over there he got killed over there and one guy next to me he got a
Shrap in his leg he didn’t even feel it he until he looked down there at his leg there blood running out and then that’s about all I know where was the area that you went into combat the first time you remember that what area there was well pan up
To if I had a map of Korea almost near to Soul CA mhm and I met a guy over here at the Lima Mo and he told me he said you wouldn’t recognize it now all tall buildings over there he said you ought to go over there I said I
Don’t want to never go over there never you say uh uh here on the uh application that you were in three major battles over there yes U and that was with the 24th division yes what regiment do you remember the regiment you were in I think it was the 26th Infantry
Regiment 20 uh 16th the Spade you know when you wear these right over here mhm would that be the 16th um cuz I think the 20 I think the 26th was the uh first division I’m not sure 20 six regiment was the first division um but can you tell us about
The the different uh battles that you were in in Korea well we went one place we went we caught a one guy caught a hog shot this a hog and this Captain says you bring that down tomorrow we’ll have a feast so we took that hog down there and uh he
Uh we had hog one day and this one guy from New Jersey he ate so much of that hog he got sick you know do you remember who your commanding officers were in Korea no no I don’t what about buddies that you serve with they do you remember any of their names
No I was I was looking through here to see if there was any record of the um of the regiment you were in let’s see if it’s back here in the back um when we went on this honor flight to Washington DC I think it was April the
6 and it took us 24 hours and the the picture in here the guy that wheeled me around in a wheelchair because there’s a lot of walking to do and over there you remember that when they shot that one guy they shot over there near the capital mhm and he
Uh were you wounded while you were in Korea yeah huh yeah how oh this is this is the metal that came from Korea and the ribbon yes um how how were you wounded there U Paul if you could tell us about that the occasion that you were wounded no I wasn’t wounded oh
No do you remember any the name did they name those battles when you were in them over there I think they did but I don’t remember him that’s been so long ago uhhuh yeah did you ever go into North Korea no well when we first got there we went
Up there MacArthur he he wanted to go clear up there well they pushed him back through down the so and that’s what happened were you over into North Korea at any time yourself nope never Were You There When um when MacArthur was fired yes what did you fellas take from that
How did you guys feel when that happened I thought he was a good General but uh Truman thought otherwise right now you were a Rifleman while you were over there right 20 I had a carbine and a M1 rifle and a 45 pistol and I carried the 60 mm mortar
When I was in Korea were you there before he invaded at n Enon or afterwards in on was for that’s the north right yeah I was there but I wasn’t near inan but MacArthur he went to go clear up there and then the Chinese come in there and
Help you know now were you fighting against the Chinese also yes can you tell us about some of their tactics they came down and we shot a lot of people there and they Bob they was hanging over the babre dead on the doornail I never forget that then I saw one guy come
Down his guts was all open up M when he got wounded they brought him down and that I do not know if he ever lived through that you Know kept praying you know that he would get through it um who who was this Colonel that wanted you um to salute him on the battlefield I don’t know I don’t know what his name was he he he looked like a foreigner to me but when you’re fighting a battle you
Don’t want to slute somebody we coming up this hill you know and we took a rest and sat there and another thing some GI threw a cigarette down the hill and it caught fire on the enemy side there and we were up here on the mountain and we had to
Take our shirts off our jackets and fight it out you know keep going like that to fight this fire I never forget that when you um did you get the fire out or was it burning towards your position we got it we got it out yep we got her
Out um did you serve with any uh any soldiers from other countries like um like uh the uni United Nation troops there in Australia did you yeah how’d you get along with them okay what about Korean troops I got along with them and then I never forget uh when you p Guard Duty when I was there and uh they were people coming towards that gate and all of a sudden we pushed the gate open and they come in we thought they were the enemy but they weren’t that’s all I know about that now you were fighting against the
North Koreans and the Chinese is that right yes yep and what rank were you at this time in the Army I was a PFC and then I got promoted to a staff sergeant mhm and they had the uh on the ship coming back I had the details to get the ship
Cleaned up and then we’d have our T-bone steak when when we come back in San Francisco you know you show here that you got three bronze stars that you were awarded while Korea yeah that means that you were in three different battles over there yeah do you remember where they were the
Locations of those battles or the names of them by any chance no I don’t know and that’s all with the 24th division yes what is U lcac Lu AK I don’t know sir cir 125 1951 it must be some type of a campaign probably Riven that’s I don’t recognize that so
But that doesn’t mean anything I don’t recognize a lot of stuff um so you were in Korea actually for uh all the way through uh September of 1951 yeah so you were there for almost 18 months yeah you’re very fortunate to get out of there without being wounded you
Had a the 24th division had a lot of casualties didn’t they oh yeah yeah they did the did you ever stay in touch with anybody from the 24th after you got home no never so when you got discharged they send you back to Hawaii on the way home
Or when I got discharged uh from um September 51 Tokyo um Japan clear to San Francisco and every day we sailed that ocean is a beautiful day every day except the last day they got high winds started blowing around you know you didn’t get seasick again did you no no never got
Seas but uh so what did you do come back to San Francisco yes were you discharged there yes uhhuh at the no wait a minute I was discharged at Camp uh adbury adbury yeah in Indiana Indiana yeah that’s where most guys went to’d be discharged at that
Time and uh Pat do you have any questions I have a couple Pat Allen are cameraman today when you were over over there in Korea and doing your fighting in South Korea did you get any nighttime battles with the North Koreans and Chinese yes how how was the night fighting how
Did that go that’s pretty tough I mean they sent an observation man down the hill sat there in a foxhole and then we were up here on the mountain and and start fighting you know that’s it well did the Chinese and the Koreans just come in droves were
They just wave after wave of Chinese that came at you yeah and you said you carried a mortar did you fire the mortar or was somebody else firing the mortar no I fired the mortar and I fired the first time I fired the mortar over there it was straight up and
I thought we was going to get hit well where did it land it land below very close to Charles how would you know where to direct the mortar did you have the forward Observer would tell you where to where to aim the mortar yeah and when the fighting got hot and heavy
How many rounds would you fire out of your mortar at one time every minute or every two minutes or more often than that uh quite a bit go a bit who carried the ammunition for you for the mortar uh somebody brought the ammunition up from the hill and I got a picture
Of Jackie his name he would go down uh down where the river was and he’d get us our canteens full of water and uh he’s nice I got his picture out there on the refrigerator remember his last name at all just Jackie we called him Jackie he he deserted from North
Korea oh he was a North Korean yeah and he deserted he come down figh in South Korea yep did you ever talk to him why he did that no we were very good friends you know could he speak any English or could you speak could he yeah and how long did you know
Jackie all the time I was over there tell me a little bit about the winter time over there uh how did you do in the winter 40 below zero up on in the mountains and some of the gis would throw their overcoats you know them long coats throw
Them over board and when they get up on the hill they don’t have nothing to keep them warm did a lot of fellas get frostbite oh yeah did you ever come close to getting frostbitten yeah what did you do to to avoid that what did I do yeah to keep from getting
Frostbites I had on three pair of socks on and I kept them on where I was over there when I be sleeping you know I kept them on because I was thinking about the enemy going to overrun us you know so when the enemy did attack did they
Ever blow Bugles and make a lot of noise or were they usually attacking you in a sneaky manner they would scream you know they would scream and they come across and then the machine gun guy took care of him you know he tried to kill him you know
But when they would shoot down the first row of of Koreans or Japanese would more just keep climbing over the ones that were dead yeah they climb over the fence and then they get killed there but they would keep on coming the other ones behind them would keep coming yeah was
That pretty scary for you yes did you yourself ever run out of ammunition because of all the firing yes what did you do then I didn’t do nothing till they get the ammunition up there and what did you do were you in a fox hole or what were
You in yeah I was in a fox hole and then it rained one night and the water got about that deep pretty did you have to do any fighting in the water in the fox hole oh yeah yeah Ray had asked you about fighting with the Australians were they pretty good Fighters
Yeah you you mentioned that one of the fellas shot a hog did the owner of the hog know that that the US had killed the hog I don’t know where they found out or not but we had a good feast I think I think that’s about all I have
Right yeah well you were there um for Thanksgiving in 1950 did they serve you a Thanksgiving dinner yeah but it came up a day later up the hill you said that Jackie would go down to the river and get you water did you drink that River river water how how did
You sterilize it we put a pill the Army gave us a pill to put in their canteen you know purify it or whatever yeah and you drank the water then out of the river yeah and they I I never will forget this one place where we were at they
Were uh washing their car uh vehicles in the river and then there was dead ones laying in the river the same river oh boy I never forget that did you get into the town of Soul Korea or what did you go into town at Soul Korea no no I never
Got I was that close but I never got there now that River you’re talking about is that the Han River probably hn yeah yeah in the summertime we’d uh bathe in there you know and then in the winter time we didn’t you were there also for a Christmas yes the same
Happened we didn’t get our meals the next we got them the next day were uh did you ever visit any of these little Hospital units like on Mash that you see on TV no I never visit any of them do you see many helicopters and while you were there
Yeah so they were using helicopters to a great extent in those days yeah yep they take the wounded out you know they I think that it would only take about one or two right now they got these great big helicopters you know you know um is there anything else that you comes
To mind you want to tell us about the different campaigns that you were in during Korea uh that I know of Paul let me ask you a couple more questions what’s the closest the enemy ever got to you personally oh I’d say about 100 yards about a football field
Yeah and did you ever have occasion to save any of your buddies or to uh assist any of the Wounded fellas in your division or regimen I I didn’t but uh that one I was telling you about had his guts open you know right uh They Carried him down on a
Stretcher like down those Hills and I I could see he was he was on the machine gun and uh I could see something blowing up you know when he got wounded well you you were in your sleeping bag at one time and you got out
Of it and then it got hit by a shell yeah did anybody else get injured by that shell blast I don’t think so uh it was I remember it was the left leg if I would have laid in there another minute or two I would have got
Wounded now did you know what kind of a sh it was was it a mortar shell was a hang grenade or do you know what it was I think it was a atill shell okay uh well when you when you got sent back to the States you got sent
Back to Tokyo was the war pretty well on our side by that time yeah had the experience up at the chosen Reservoir had that already happened pardon the the the battle up at the chosen Reservoir up in North Korea had that already happened when you came home yeah I remember
That when I came home okay thank you yeah um Paul when you came home um and you got got married um how many children did you have none no children no children my first wife couldn’t have any and we got married the second my second wife we uh don’t have any children either
Uhhuh who you leaving all your money to [Laughter] well my wife’s uh Grand we call them grandkids there’s 10 of them wow and when you and we don’t have enough room to here for them to come to eat and then they always want to go down in the basement you know yeah playball
Down there and stuff like that and then uh at land de Ohio you remember where that’s at yes that’s where my brother-in-law lives and his wife is Geraldine Mueller uh that’s my wife’s sister okay well now you’re retired where did you retire from and when I retired over here at the LI
Convalescent home 29 years when was that maintenance man 92 so you’ve been retired since ‘ 92 yeah yeah yeah I enjoy it yeah well I think um I think we’ve about reached the end U one second uh if you will please uh Paul I want to thank you
For this interview and I want to thank you for your service to our country thank you we appreciate it very much good