Episode 7: Inside the 99th Infantry 'Viking Battalion' and Their WWII Legacy | Our WWII Dad

Brothers Chris Cangilla and Ken Cangilla present episode seven of the acclaimed podcast, Our WWII Dad. The podcast outlines what they have learned about their father's time in World War II as a replacement soldier in "C" Company of the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate) also known as The Viking Battalion. In this episode, Chris and Ken discuss Their Trip to Minneapolis/Saint Paul (2:14), The WWII Memorial and The USS Ward Gun - Saint Paul (3:33), Historic Fort Snelling & Memorial Chapel (5:39), The 10th Mountain Division & Vail, Colorado (7:36), The WWII Round Table - The Viking Battalion (13:31), New Factoids We Learned about the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate) (17:52), Operation Greif (19:04), The 474th Infantry Regiment & Patch (20:50), The Merkers Mine in Germany (23:30), The “Forrest Gump” of WWII (24:18), The 99th Monumental Moments (24:50), The First American Unit to Secure a German City (25:38), The First Army Headquarters’ Brass Protection (26:00), The Battle of The Bulge (26:28), The Merkers Mine Treasures Protection (27:04), The Buchenwald Concentration Camp (27:29), Honor Guard for The King of Norway’s Return (28:01), The Best Moments from The Round Table (29:02), Erik Brun & His WWII Dad - Christian Brun (31:18), How Christian Brun Came to Server with The 99th (32:37), Christian Brun at Camp Hale, Colorado (34:41), Christian’s Selection for First Army Headquarters Guard Detachment (36:47), Guard Detachment Service…A Bitter Sweet Assignment? (40:05), How Operation Greif Affected The Viking Battalion (42:16), Christian Brun’s Toughest Moments (46:16), Christian & The Viking Battalion go to Norway for The King’s Return (50:52), Christian Brun’s Post-War Life (53:52), The Viking Battalion Book (55:57), Erik Brun’s Most Cherished Memory of His WWII Dad (57:14), and Our TWO WWII Dads' Qualities (01:00:01).

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Hi, and welcome to this seventh episode of our World War 2 Dad.
I'm Chris Kangela, and of course, I'm joined by Ken
Kangela, my brother, and we created this podcast to share
the stories of our father, Army Private First Class Louis
Kangela, who served in Europe during World War 2 as a
replacement soldier with the 99th Infantry Battalion

(00:30):
Separate, also known as the Viking Battalion.
Ken, I'm so excited about this special episode because we're
going to recap our memorable trip to Minneapolis, Saint Paul
for that terrific roundtable discussion about the 99th.
And we'll talk about the opportunity we had to share
stories with some of the other relatives that had family

(00:53):
members in our World War 2 Dads Battalion, as well as those
fantastic discussions we had with the men who brought us the
Viking Battalion, which is this incredible book and anthology of
what the 99th Infantry Battalionseparate endured during World
War 2, as told by the soldiers themselves.

(01:13):
And recently we had that incredible, fortunate
opportunity to talk with anotherWorld War Two son, if you will,
one of the editors of the VikingBattalion, Eric Brune, an expert
with the 99th, whose dad was with our World War 2 dad in C
company of the 99th. Now Ken, your interactions with

(01:34):
Eric Brune was, you know, a hugehelp to you in your Europe trip
and your undertaking and retracing dad steps, right?
That's exactly right. You know, I've been in contact
with Eric for a number of years now.
I first got to know him through the 99's Facebook page and then
reached out and spoke with him directly as I did my research,
getting ready to go to Europe. And he really pointed me down

(01:57):
the right path, put me in touch with some wonderful people who
had some additional information in Europe.
So he's just been a extremely valuable resource and he's
become a friend. Yeah, absolutely.
Just a a really terrific guy. So we'll have Eric's interview a
little bit later. I want to kick off this whole
episode with our trip to Minnesota, the birth place of

(02:19):
the 99th Infantry Battalion, theViking Battalion.
Starting out early this morning,got my coffee, heading out for a
walk before heading up to Minneapolis.
So excited to meet some of the other World War 2 relatives from
Dad's unit, the 99th Infantry Battalion separate.

(02:47):
All. Right off to Minneapolis to meet
the authors and see my brother. Should be a good time.

(03:13):
Well, there he is. He made it.
You betcha. Quick fight.
That's a good looking hat you got there brother.
You're ready for some historicalfun.
Yeah, this is going to be great.Yeah.
All right. We're ready.
Let's go. Let's.
Do it and we did have fun. It was a jam packed couple of
days. We start out by going up to the

(03:34):
grounds near the state capitol at Saint Paul to the Minnesota
World War 2 Memorial. Yeah, those grounds were a
surprise to us. You know, we were just out
investigating and we kind of stumbled across it and it was
really neat to see what they haddone, to remember what had taken
place during World War 2. There was a lot of things there

(03:55):
to look at, but one of the favorite things we saw was the
gun from the USS Ward. It's an incredible deck gun that
was on display on the grounds there by the Capitol.
The USS Ward was a Wix class destroyer that served in part
during the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor.

(04:16):
According to the US Navy. That massive gun that we saw
fired the first shot against Japan in World War 2, sinking a
Japanese Marine that was making its way into the harbor prior to
the air attack that took place that fateful day.
Yeah. You know, we learned that in
1942. The ward was then, you know,

(04:38):
kind of recommissioned and converted into a high speed
transport, you know, still working in the South Pacific, of
course. But then she was struck by a
kamikaze plane and sunk. And the weirdest thing about
this? Get this, That happened on
December 7th, 1944, exactly 3 years to the day after she fired

(04:59):
that first shot on the Japanese sub in Pearl Harbor.
And can that gun? It was so cool to see up close.
And of course, we took turns sitting in the seats and
imagining what those men saw looking down that long barrel.
Yeah, that was really great to see that gun up close and and in
person. And it's really neat that they

(05:21):
that they have put it there. In fact, the gun was gifted by
the Navy to the state of Minnesota in 1958 to honor the
Minnesota reservist who manned the USS Ward in Pearl Harbor on
that date. That shall live in infamy.
Yeah, that's what that is prettycool.
You know, we also stopped by Fort Snelling, which is that

(05:43):
historical Fort. You know, the construction of
Fort Snelling was completed backin, I guess, 1925 SA long time
ago. And among other uses, it served
as the primary Center for the USgovernment forces during the
Dakota War in 1862. It was a recruiting station for
many wars, including the Civil War, the Spanish American War,

(06:06):
World War One and World War 2. And in October of 1942.
And this is how it looked in that year.
Well, in 1942, Fort Snelling wasthe site of the early stages of
the training of the 99th Infantry Battalion separate.
And after they formed up in CampRipley, they moved down to the

(06:26):
Fort Snelling site for just a couple of months before they
made their final move for training in Camp Hill in
Colorado. And just a reminder for
everybody, you know, our dad wasn't with them during that
training because he was a replacement soldier and he
didn't join up with them until 1944 in France.
So it took him a little time to get to them and they did a lot

(06:48):
of training. But boy, he was a big part of it
once he got there. Yeah, he sure was.
And, and walking those grounds with you was really neat.
It kind of reminded me of walking around Europe a little
bit. I mean, stuff's even older
there, but that's, you know, that's a piece of American
history. That's that's quite old.
And on those grounds, of course,is a church.
And it was a beautiful church. I wish we could have gone

(07:08):
inside, but it's a really uniquechurch.
And the church was built in 1928, so not too long after the
original Fort was built. And it was really good to see
that church. And it reminded me of all the
churches that I saw on Europe. And it seems like everywhere I
go, I see these churches and these jeeps, and it just reminds
me of Dad. Yeah, I mean, that was those are

(07:28):
things in his life, you know, ofcourse the churches and he was
the driver of the Jeep. So that was a big part of how we
remember him as well, you know, going back to Camp Hill,
Colorado, where the 99th did their training.
That part of their training is, you know, is an incredible part
of this story because they, you know, they went out to get this
mountain ski, you know, winter feeling about all that kind of

(07:52):
stuff. And you recently went up to the
Rockies near that area and discovered some really cool
historical markers too, right? Yeah.
You know, living in Colorado, it's easy for me to go see these
things. And so I was in Vail in January.
And so I, I took a little time to go out and explore a little
bit and came across the the someof the memorials that are there

(08:16):
for the 10th Mountain Division. Now you got to remember the 10th
Mountain Division trained at Camp Hale, right alongside the
99th Infantry Battalion. They were a much larger group
than the 99th. There was 15,000 men in the 10th
Mountain Division and only about1000 men in the 9th Infantry
Battalion. So the 10th Mountain's really
well known in the Vale Valley. And so some of the things I saw

(08:40):
as I walked around there, Vale has recognized on a plaque their
service that those men had done in in their training in that
area and then overseas it when they fought.
And in addition to the plaque, they have this really cool
statue of a 10th Mountain Division, a trainee in camp in
his winter warfare gear and it'sreally neat to take a look at

(09:04):
it. It's just on one side of the
veil covered bridge that crossesGore Creek.
You know what he showed me when you show me that picture, Ken,
It was really striking because I've never seen that statue
before. But it may be.
Just go back to the Bergen book that had the 99th training up in
Camp Hill and they're marching and it looks exactly the same as
they're marching with the white.You know, I don't know.

(09:28):
I guess it would be an outfit oruniform they'd wear to blend in
with the snow is pretty pretty incredible.
Yeah, it really struck a chord with me because that's what we
see in the Bergen book, obviously.
And yeah, I'm not sure what theywore over their uniform.
It's almost looks like sheets, you know, something very thin.
Maybe it's like a. Coverall or something, you know,
like they have their uniform underneath there and they have

(09:48):
them. Those guys could have needed
that extra protection when they're in the battle of the
bald for sure. But yeah, it was, it was
probably just like a, you know, coverall or something.
Yeah, yeah. So as I worked my way through
the town of Vail, I came across some more things.
Right there on the other side ofthe covered bridge is the 10th
Mountain Whiskey Distillery distribution point.

(10:10):
So there's a shop right there where you can go in and buy 10th
Mountain Whiskey. So the good old 10th Mountain
gets recognized. And I kind of feel like we're
the forgotten stepchild in the 99th, but but we were much
smaller force and the 99th, as we were going to talk about
today, did some really significant things just like the
10th did. So I'm glad we can at least

(10:31):
recognize them. I feel like we are, you know,
honored to carry the torch for the 99th.
We're going to, we're going to let as many people that would
listen to our podcast know aboutthe 99th Infantry Battalion,
separate the Viking Battalion and really share that
information because we should be, you know, thought of in the
same way as a 10th Mountain Division, even though we're a
little bit smaller. Right, right.

(10:53):
I agree with you 100%, Chris. So as I continued my little
stroll through Vail that day, I walked over to to what they call
International Bridge. And on International Bridge,
they fly a certain number of flags of certain countries.
And sure enough, they had, in addition to the US flag, they
had the Norwegian flag flying over the international bridge.

(11:13):
So that was good to see. And then I worked my way up the
hill closer to the ski mountain.And right at the base of the ski
mountain, Chris is a wonderful statue of a, a local rancher
named Earl Eaton. And he's talking to a, a, a 10th
Mountain Division soldier who isnow back from the war, and it's

(11:34):
19, I think 57 or so. And they're talking about
developing the ski area. And the soldier is Pete Seibert.
And so if you look closely at the statue, Pete's wearing a cap
that's got the 10th Mountain Division logo on it.
So it really ties in completely with what we experienced in in

(11:54):
our understanding of Dad's history with the 99th Infantry
Battalion. Here's the 10th Mountain doing
things post war to develop the Vale ski area.
Yeah, it's just, it's so crazy because like we talked about in
episode, I think it was 2 in ourWorld War 2 dad, our World War 2
Dads podcast. If you go back in there as we

(12:15):
talked so much about the, the training of the 99th and being
in camp hell. And then of course, how our dad
had no Colorado connection to the 99th or anything until he,
you know, was in the workforce and moved out there in the
Colorado in the 60s. So it's just one of those weird,
weird things that, you know, Colorado played a big role.

(12:36):
And it was just absolutely so cool to see that 99th and the
10th Mountain Division stuff that's just right in your
backyard, man. It's right there.
Yeah, and you talk about Colorado connections.
It's just an interesting side note is my wife Dawn in 1968
moved to Vale from Wisconsin, which was kind of right in the

(12:57):
backyard. It was right across the
Mississippi. Like near from still Stillwater,
right close to well. It's it's more across from
close, but yeah, yeah. But across from Hudson.
And she she was born in River Falls, WI.
So that ties us back to Minnesota, which is the story of
this trip. So she moves with her family in
1968 to Vale. They end up renting a house from
Earl Eaton, the man that's in the statue as as the local

(13:21):
rancher. They rented his house back in
196869, something like that. So it's just this, there's a lot
of these connections and then wecome full circle on a lot of
these things. That's really cool.
All right, so let's get back to the main reason for our trip,
that Round table discussion about the 99th and that new book
we were talking about earlier, the Viking Battalion, Norwegian

(13:41):
American ski troopers in World War 2.
You know what? What were your thoughts on on
the Round Table, Ken? I'm so glad we went because, you
know, when I suggested the trip,I was kind of teasing with you
like, it's only 6 1/2 hour drivefrom Chicago.
You know, I'll fly up. And I thought you were gonna say
I can't get away. I mean, it's vacation days.
I can't leave work. You jumped all over it, Chris.

(14:03):
I'm like, OK, let's do this. Yeah.
And I'm so glad we did. So we so we went to the the
Minnesota Historical Museum, I think it's called.
Society, I think, yeah. Society, yes, yes.
And they had a great auditorium there and we, we were able step
into the auditorium and found some great seats.
And I couldn't believe how packed it was.

(14:24):
They had a great turnout and allthree editors were there on
stage to talk about the Viking Battalion book.
And it was just a great presentation and a great evening
all the way around. Yeah, that.
So we mentioned Eric, Eric Broome already brew and excuse
me, was one of the editors. And then Olaf, is it Mingay?
How do you pronounce his? That's right.
Yeah. Olaf, Mingay.

(14:45):
And then of course, Kyle Ward. So the three editors of the book
were sitting there and we were able to to interact with them
and and learn some more things about the 99th and and can you
kind of participate in that discussion?
We should take a look. My question for you.
All is the book is a really great collection of these

(15:05):
memoirs. How did you come about
collecting all these memoirs from these different
individuals? Because it really pieced really
well together. A lot of them came Sioux Falls,
so we were able to get out thereand brought the material back.
And so when you find in the book, there's a couple of
official histories, you find some memoirs, there's some

(15:29):
letters, but a lot of things that we just really found were
just kind of scraps, notes the people had written back and
forth to each other, things thatthey had said along the way.
So that's why we just kind of compiled all of that.
So there's not a consistency throughout.
And then the the Night Night, atone point in time, they tried to
write their own book. So we've got that there and got
through book 5-6 chapters beforeit kind of fell apart.

(15:53):
We're still collecting. As a consequence of this and the
other, you know, folks that havecome out.
Other family members are findingthings that are.
That are setting in so we've gotmore to share.
Well, we're in the process of of, you know, creating a new
public face of the the foundation on its website,
posting that. But that that kind of, and it

(16:15):
points to, you know, this is, you know, each scrap tells a
story and it's it's in peril. So Eric stated how important it
is to, you know, really capture and retain this information
about the world's greatest Generation, but especially about
the 99th Infantry Battalion, their stories and the artifacts.

(16:38):
And, you know, I think you and Ihave kind of done our part in
trying to do that and capture that for history.
And I hope other people continueto do the same thing.
Yeah, I mean it. It is, I think, a main reason
that you and I kind of started this and it was your suggestion
that you want to save this for your family to start.
And then it just keep on. It's kept on growing and growing

(17:00):
that we can share this with generations to come when we're
long gone. That may be in this medium of
having, you know, video and audio and it's digital now that
it could be preserved a little bit longer.
And we'll have a reason to to keep to keep this stuff alive
for a very important reasons. But can I got to tell you your

(17:21):
knowledge base on all the thingsthat dad's unit that he went
through and the 99th went through?
I know it's expanded so much over the past year, but I guess
I was so impressed. Many of the things that you and
I talked about that you brought to this podcast, Eric and Olaf
and Kyle talked about. And like, this is what I would

(17:42):
never known any of that kind of stuff.
You knew it, you learned it, youretained it.
And so, you know, you're doing the work too to to maintain this
stuff. So I appreciate that.
And there's many things that we,we did, you know, already know,
like you said, and you shared with us before, but we learned
some new things. At least I know I did.
And I'll tell you some of those things.

(18:03):
I thought it was extremely interesting that, and I think
Eric mentioned this, that if a soldier got injured or was ill
and was taken off the lines, right, that's when a replacement
soldier would come in. That same soldier may not rejoin
his group. I mean, I know the Army will do

(18:23):
as best they can to get him backto his unit, but he then becomes
a replacement soldier too. So he just gets cycled through.
So I can imagine being with these guys getting injured and
then not being able to return, especially this unit that is
made-up of Norwegian Americans primarily.
And this is your, your brotherhood.
It's just, it's crazy. Yeah, it, you know, it really

(18:46):
is. And you can understand how they
would feel that way because you're fighting for the man in
the foxhole next to you, right, in addition to your country.
And if you get pulled off the line for some reason, you may
not be able to go back to those guys.
You're thrown in with a whole bunch of new guys.
Yeah, it was nuts. What else was kind of striking
for you? What's some things you learned?
So I, I loved at the round tablediscussion with the editors that

(19:08):
they talked about Operation Grief because it's so
interesting when you relate it to the Viking battalion, because
Operation Grief was during the Battle of the Bulge.
And it was a plan by the Nazis to use English speaking Nazi
soldiers to infiltrate our lines, turn signs around,
confuse the communication. You know, they'd walk right up

(19:30):
to our lines in American jeeps and talk to them and, and say
things that would throw them off.
And so over the, you know, the first few hours of the Battle of
the Bulge campaign, our soldiersstarted to figure this out.
So now they're on high alert. Well, then you got, you got the
like 30th Infantry Division comes in Tamamani with the 99th

(19:51):
Infantry Battalion that's already there.
They start talking to, to the, to the Viking battalion.
Well, guess what? The Viking battalion guys have
thick accents and the Americans can't understand a, you know, a
Norwegian accent from a German accent.
To them, it's just an accent that sounds foreign.
So it right away the. Viking Battalion.

(20:12):
They're the well, they're suspects.
Yeah, the Americans are leery ofthis thing because they know
what the Germans are trying to do.
Are these guys Germans trying toconfuse us?
And I think Eric mentioned to usthat that, you know, it's a,
it's a Germanic language, Norwegian is.
So it has the same kind of inflections and whatnot.
And and of course, there's another point of that story too,

(20:32):
is that since the 99th wasn't attached to a regiment, they're
like, who are these guys? You know who are these 99th,
right? Right.
Very, very few of the other divisions had even heard in the
99th Infantry Battalion because they were separate and they were
kind of a stop gap in a number of areas.
Yeah, I mean, you make a very good point.
Another thing that was kind of cool that we learned about was

(20:54):
because they were separate, the 99th, eventually they partnered
up with and was a new unit, was not unit, but a new kind of
regiment was created, right? The 474th Infantry, Bata
Infantry Regiment, Excuse me. And they were folded into that.
And we learned during the, the round table of what some of the

(21:15):
new insignias and what the patchwas made-up and where they came
from. So I thought that was very cool.
Like for example, the red spearhead that makes up the, the
big portion of the new patch wasthe same as the Special Forces
or Delta Force or Special Operations and the Devil's
Brigade, which was the 1st special service for.

(21:36):
So they, it looked exactly like that shape, that kind of red
spear thing. It was very cool.
Right. And you know, in our podcast
when we I had shown Dad's Eisenhower jacket, that patch is
on there and we weren't sure about everything in it.
Well, one of the things that we saw in it was that black ribbon
above the Viking ship. And that black ribbon refers to

(21:59):
the Darby's Rangers, which was the first Rangers major
battalion. They were the ones that invaded
North Africa. And Darby was their leader.
And he had trained these guys. They were very successful in
Africa. And he has so much success in
Africa that the military wanted to use him further in Italy.

(22:20):
And they said, you know, we're going to fit you out with, with
more troops. Well, the troops that they
fitted him out with weren't as well trained as his men that he
had trained himself personally. And they, they did a good job in
in Italy, but because of these newer recruits, they struggled a
little bit. And in fact, it it on Zio and

(22:42):
Cisterna, they really had a tough go of things and they they
were decimated. So the remaining Rangers come
January of 1945 are sent to to Barneville, France, where Dad
sent and joined with the 99th and these Rangers to form this
new regiment, the 474th. That that's an incredible story.

(23:04):
Yeah. We didn't know what that black
ribbon above there was, but it is.
It's shaped the same way as a Ranger's patches.
And, and of course, the other element, the 3rd element that
made-up the 474th Infantry Regiment, was the Viking ship.
Of course, the Viking ship is from the original 99th patch.

(23:26):
Yeah, that's right. And I kind of like it because
it's the biggest part of the patch.
Of course. Yeah.
And shortly after they were formed, Chris, the 474th was
called into duty to assist with with what was found at the
Merckers mine. So this was a salt mine that the
Americans discovered and it was filled with stolen art

(23:47):
treasures, gold, gold coins, things like that, that the Nazis
had stolen out of the countries that they invaded and secured it
away there. Well, the Americans found that
and knew that it had to be returned to the rightful owners.
So the 474th was asked to provide the security for the

(24:07):
escort and and the convoy into Frankfurt to get this stuff
moved into a vault in Frankfurt in a bank.
So they played an important roleright away.
Yeah, it's just, it's just incredible.
They did so many amazing things.You know, they talked about it
and it something that stuck withme during that round table is
how the 99th was the Forrest Gump of World War 2.

(24:31):
You know, a unit that was lookedupon maybe with not the, you
know, on the surface of somewhatbeing a throw off to others.
You know, like we already talkedabout how they were kind of
thought maybe not in the same way, the 10th Mountain Division,
you know, so here's this unit that wasn't supposed to be
special, that ended up being extremely special.

(24:52):
And they experienced some monumental World War 2 moments.
It was incredible. So let me share some of those
that we thought about, you know,being separate and not attached
to a regiment, they were able tomove so fast, right?
We even talked about how that tank commander said, I've never
seen these guys move so fast. No one has ever beat us to

(25:12):
locations kind of situation. And they were called upon very
often because they were nimble. They weren't attached to
anything else. They could move and do some
things fast. Forrest Gump was pretty fast,
right? That's right.
Yeah. It's an interesting analogy
because I think it's accurate. I mean, the 99th, you know, if
you think about the Forrest Gumpmovie, he, he ends up in all

(25:33):
these like, historical events. And the 99th was, was right
there alongside a lot of these historical events.
In fact, they were part of the group of troops that were the
first Americans to defeat and secure a German city and that
was at Aachen, Germany. And, and so our guys get credit

(25:55):
for that as part of the, the theForrest Gump Battalion.
It's incredible. And they were also, you know,
honored and got some really prestigious assignments because
out of the 9950 men and two officers were selected to the
1st Army Headquarters to guard General Bradley.

(26:16):
I mean, name General Bradley andthen General Hodges after that.
So, you know, just like Forrest,they got to do some incredible
things and met and and guarded some high level officials.
It was cool. Right.
And then, Chris, they were very active at the Battle of the
Bulge. They were quickly called in on
December 16th and 17th into Malemandy to put a stop to the

(26:39):
advance from the Germans at thatpoint.
And so they played a critical role there.
They're not really recognized for it as much as say, you know,
Band of Brothers in Bastone, butthey're only like 45 miles from
Bastone. They're doing the same thing.
They weren't surrounded, but they were doing a good job of
keeping the Germans at Bay. Yeah, and they're the 1st to get
to Malendy and they needed help from the what it was like the

(27:00):
engineers were just. The engineers were there.
Yeah, that's right. It's.
Incredible. So also we already talked about
it, but the Merckers mine event in that transportation of the
those treasures and protecting them.
You know, that was a movie, you know the monument men that it
was a story about that that findand and protecting those
treasures. And here we are, you know, the

(27:21):
99th being famous for something that a lot of people know about
because of the film. Right.
They've certainly played a role in that.
They absolutely did. And then you got a, this is the
more somber point. A lot of the few of the 99th
guys were called into Buchenwald, a concentration
camp. In fact, one of the editors,

(27:41):
Olaf Minge, his grandfather was the battalion, a surgeon or
doctor. Yeah.
And he was called to Buchenwald and he witnessed the atrocities
there. So the 99th once again plays a
role in in witnessing the Holocaust as well.
Yeah, I mean, they were there inevery part of it.

(28:02):
And then they got to be in the celebration.
But like we talked about, it's kind of a bittersweet
celebration, but they were back to Norway, their home country.
You know, they're it. It's, it's incredible because
they were able to welcome the King of Norway back from his
exile and be the, the unit that kind of received him and, and

(28:22):
protected him and, and what an honor.
And it was just an amazing thing.
And it's like, you know, when Forrest gets the what's the
incredible honor that those soldiers get that not a lot of
them get? Congressional Medal of Honor.
Yeah, when he gets that. So it was that kind of thing for
these guys in Norway. So, you know, I just love
thinking about the 99th as Forrest Gump.

(28:45):
But I'm going to continue to do so probably for the rest of time
because that embodies to me whatthese guys were.
They were in these incredible sights, doing what is asked of
them without wanting the recognition, just doing their
job. And that was so cool.
But I guess, you know, when we're talking about this
incredible round table event, itwas just so cool.

(29:05):
And I think my favorite part wasafter the event, we went out to
the lobbying and we had an opportunity to talk with other
sons and, and daughters and grandsons and just relatives of
these guys that served in the 99th.
And it was cool. We could share stories like us.
We want to know, did your dad know my dad?
Did your grandfather know your uncle, this uncle?

(29:27):
It just, it was so cool to have these conversations and try to
pinpoint, you know, what exactlyhappened because we're still
searching for all these kind of,you know, links to find out that
the stories from their incredible experience.
It was great doing that. I wish we would have had more
time, but it was a great opportunity to visit with Eric
Brune directly and talk to him about some specific questions I

(29:51):
had regarding Mao Mandy and where C company was on the maps.
And he was so kind. Open up the maps and show me
what he has seen there. And then we got a chance to
visit with Olaf and Kyle as where as well and learn about
their backgrounds a bit and and talk to Olaf about his
grandfather. So we got to visit with all
three editors. They all signed our book, which

(30:12):
was fantastic. And I just really enjoyed that
time that we could spend with them after the round table.
You know, Eric is such a a wealth of knowledge for us and
one of the editors of the book. So it was a a good time to
really visit with him and learn that he's a retired Lieutenant
Colonel from the US Army. He runs the 99 Facebook group,

(30:37):
as we knew, and he's really a well read and well written
historian of military history. And so you know.
That very next morning, we got atext from him just saying how
much he, you know, enjoyed, you know, talking with us and wish
we had more time. And he said, you know, I'm still

(30:57):
here at the hotel. I got a couple hours.
You guys want to come over and continue our conversation.
We're like, yes, please. Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you. So we made the trip over.
We spent some time with him. You really got to, you know, get
your questions answered and, andyou guys sat and talked and I
just absorbed it all. It was terrific.
And we got a nice picture to capoff our great trip.
But, you know, even though he was very generous with his time

(31:20):
and we definitely appreciate it,there's something that we're
missing. You know, he's a great supporter
of ours and our efforts in putting together our World War 2
dad. But what we don't know, and what
we need to learn more about, is his World War 2 dad.
So, Eric, thank. You for making even more time
for Ken and me. And welcome to our World War 2,

(31:41):
Dad. Well, I.
Thank you so much. It it it's terrific to be able
to to see you guys again. I I was a a a get getting
together there in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Thank you. Yeah, we're really.
Glad to have you here, Eric. And you know, your knowledge of

(32:01):
the 99th is quite extensive as I've learned over the years
dealing with you and, and reallyyour knowledge overall of how
the Army works with, with your experience as well.
But you probably wouldn't know any of this history about the
99th or studied the 99th if it wasn't for your dad, Christian
Brune, one of the original members who served in C company

(32:22):
like our dad did and was part ofthe 1st U.S.
Army Guard Detachment. So can you tell us about him and
how he came to serve in the 99thInfantry Battalion separate
well? He, he, he, he was a, a, a real
good student. He worked really, really hard.
He worked all during school. He graduated early in 1939,

(32:45):
December of 39. He went to University of
Washington and he was in his third year at University of
Washington. And what he'd experienced to
that point was, you know, his, his homeland, that he, he had no
real memories of, you know, large memories and impressions.
But he knew that that was his home country and his he was

(33:07):
still an alien with first paperssince the 1920s.
There really was no movement on on citizenship.
How? How did he finally?
Get accepted to to actually fight for his new country,
protecting his old country well in this ties.
Into the research I've been doing.
But there was an officer in the in the military Intelligence

(33:33):
Division who proposes to GeneralMarshall that there's a way that
we've got to reach out to these aliens because we can use them.
And he very specifically came upwith a plan to do that.
And that involved changing laws.So aliens fell under selective
Service, but since they hadn't been registered for the draft,
they had to do an alien registration for that.

(33:55):
And that's what my father experienced when he had to go
get fingerprinted. So that that's all going along
well. He had really wanted to serve,
you know, able bodied young man.And as a matter of fact, on
December 7th, 1942, on Saturday,he received his American.

(34:17):
You know, the president extends his wishes.
They give you like 10 days to get your affairs in order.
He reports back to Fort Lewis. They say something about, oh,
you're a Norwegian, that OK, we got this.
And next thing you know, he's ona train to Pando, Colorado,
which was the train station siding for Camp Hale and the

(34:39):
10th. The, the 99th had just arrived
at Camp Hale, and he had Christmas dinner in the
barracks, you know, in, in, in the mass halls there, surrounded
by Norwegians, surrounded by, you know, people that looked
like him. Now it's kind of kind of a joke.
Yeah. I went to Norway in 1977 and I

(35:00):
realized that everybody looked like my dad until our father.
Joined up with him, he didn't necessarily look like him.
But let me ask you this, being aNorwegian American, your dad,
you know, many of the soldiers were also that, of course, in
the 99th, in the Viking Battalion, of course.
Did your dad know any of those guys?
Was he friends with anybody before he started serving any

(35:20):
families? No, he, he, you know.
He grew up, you know, the, the odds are maybe some somebody in
the battalion he may have known before.
I never remember him mentioning it, but you know, he grew up in
the Pacific Northwest and Norwegian was actually an
elective in school. He was able to, to, to keep
engaged on that, but he, he, hisbunkmate is a great example.

(35:48):
PWDW had been torpedoed off an oil tanker and arrived in the
99th, you know, less than a month later, because as soon as
he arrived in the United States from the rescue vessel, they
registered to think the, the, the, the draft was a
geographical thing. It wasn't necessarily a

(36:09):
citizenship thing at that point.And that's how much it had
changed from December, January 1st of 1942 to to mid 42.
So TW arrived, didn't speak a word of English and my dad
worked with him. Actually, they they translated
one of the the field manuals page by page and you didn't.

(36:33):
Dad did such a good job that TW ended up a staff Sergeant but
they ended the deal and dad was a private first class so he
finishes up his. Training at Camp Hale and he
ships off to England with the rest of the guys.
But then you told us in Minneapolis something
interesting happens to him wherehe's selected for some special
service, right? Can you tell us about that?

(36:54):
So. So what happened in April of
1944? So now we've, they, they did,
they arrive in October. There there's some special train
up that that they're going through getting ready for the,
the invasion. The battalion is directly
attached to 1st Army Headquarters.

(37:15):
Now First Army Headquarters has come over from the United States
where it had been learning how to be at Army Headquarters.
It, it arrives. General Bradley takes takes the
command and this 99th battalion,this thousand guys doesn't fit
in anywhere else. None of the of the 900

(37:36):
battalions in the American Army in World War 2, almost all of
them served as part of a regiment, as part of a division.
That's like 98% of them. But the 99th was a separate, so
they just gave it directly to Army headquarters.
But that kind of like special teams, they, you know, you have

(37:57):
offensive and defensive and football, but then you got
special teams, right? And they belong directly to the
coach and they don't belong to either of those groups.
So as as the separate battalionsare there.
Well, at some point the, the Army headquarters decides that
they want a little more securityfor, for their head, their

(38:17):
headquarters in the field. So they they write a letter to
or in order to the battalion andsay, hey, we want 50 guys and
two officers and they need to behere by the 1st of May.
So my dad was one of the ones selected for that.
And those fifty guys were at 1stArmy Headquarters until January

(38:38):
45 now, which is located where, Eric?
Where's 1st Army Headquarters atthis time?
So for instance. You know, you, you guys make you
know, you guys talk about Tilf. Well, the first Army
headquarters was in Spa and thatwas nearby.
But that fifty man team would beresponsible for 2024 hours

(38:59):
security at a handful of positions like in the parking
lot. As you come in, you would you
would pass one of their guards and you'd be ID checked and as
you left the parking lot and youcame into the actual compound
itself, you'd get checked again and Eric, who was the.
Highest. Who was the highest brass that
your dad was actually guarding at those headquarters?

(39:21):
Bradley and Hodges. Wow, OK.
And and. That was a four-star command.
You know the, well, the joke where where I was going there it
was they all like got a kick outof it because a guy would
someone would come in through the 1st 1st guard and then the
second guard and the third guardand they would be saying didn't

(39:43):
I just see anything because theydon't read all the Norwegians.
Well, and Dad. Dad's memory of it was everybody
was 6 foot blonde haired, blue eyes and and it was and I don't
see Bradley asking for that, butI certainly see a staff officer
or senior NCO adding that to theto the to the recipe.

(40:04):
Yeah. So that's a compliment to your.
Dad, Eric, that he was really a shining star to get that
assignment. Yeah, yeah.
But. You know, something that I, I
really come to, to understand isthe, the, you know, sometimes
the compliments backfire in a way.
I I think for him it was the rest of his friends in C Company

(40:24):
did go to the Canal Dr. and did go to first one and did go to
the Bulge. And you know, his, his combat
story was, you know, they got rousted and they were standing
on top of 1st Army headquarters looking for German paratroopers
because that was the target. You know, Bradley would have

(40:44):
been one of the targets, the VIPs that they would be not, not
Bradley in this case, this wouldbe Hodges.
Brad Bradley was there. He had first Army for the
invasion. And as soon as the lodgement
took place, he moved up to first, you know, 12 Army Group,
which was the next headquarters higher.
Yeah, Hodges came in as the first Army commander to keep

(41:06):
pushing at that level. So he was in that position.
During the whole war or did he go and and join up?
You know, was he with the other guys at any other point?
My dad one. Of his statements was that he
kept asking to go and the the NCOS didn't want to release him.
He had kind of a survivor's built from that.
He didn't feel he was, you know,he'd been held back for a high

(41:29):
prestige, you know, because nobody wants the drunk guy
showing up in front of the general.
The general. OK, right.
So that's a it's. A high.
Stakes game there So what I think you're.
Saying is is is that your dad may have had a little bit, like
you said, some guilt that you know, his countrymen are off
fighting and I'm here and and more of a most definitely.

(41:49):
Yeah, and and you know, you, you, you, you had the the memory
of your father, his reaction when you know, his ritual was to
take a warm shower before bed, you know, kind of put put this
put, you know, his for a form ofmeditation, really.
But the time that, you know, if you turn the lights off, you

(42:10):
know, you're there, you're back.You're you're living out of this
part of your brain, Right. Let me ask you this.
Eric, because you I think you'vetalked about this when we were
in person in in Minneapolis thatthe the Norwegians or sometimes
mistaken for German soldiers because of the accent.
Can you tell us a little bit about that and what your that?

(42:32):
That is a a very important thingto keep in mind.
And that's kind of a the downside of an organization like
that is you don't have the the usual movie, you know, Sunday
that may movie with a guy from, you know, a cowboy and a, a, an
Italian from New York or Chicagoor it's hard or.

(42:55):
Pittsburgh. Yeah, Pittsburgh.
Yeah, everybody who's Norwegian,but in in Norwegian is a
Germanic language. You may not, you know, to a
practice year, you can tell, youknow, really tell the
difference. But if if you're talking to
someone from one of those other parts of the country, it's it's
not it, it's suspicious. And that time, you know, that's

(43:17):
exactly why Rosini and the thoseOperation Beef, but specifically
during the Battle of the Bulge, because the Germans were really
trying to exploit it. They actually had gone back
through the German military and identified people who had
directed in the United States. But it, but honestly, it wasn't

(43:38):
a very sophisticated project that they had.
They, and you know, these guys weren't necessarily volunteers.
They, they, they had been segregated politically because
they were kind of getting north of the customs.
So they were already on the list, but yeah, they they were
using deep penetration. You know, they they had they had

(44:01):
dropped paratroopers in with specific tasks of of, you know,
confusing by by changing Rd. signs or and actually that's
reported by the 99th that there were a couple of of, you know,

(44:24):
the Germans arrived in American uniforms in American vehicles to
try to get us the first point ofresistance.
Yeah, Ken and I spoke about. That yeah, right, Ken, and we
spoke about that in a in a previous episode, right, we did
and that had. To put your dad, Eric, your
World War 2 dad on high alert because part of that strategy

(44:44):
was that Eisenhower was going tobe attacked and he was back in
Paris at that time. So your father, who's
protecting, who is it? Is it Bradley at that time or
who's he protecting? It was Hodges.
Hodges. Hodges had to put him on high
alert. Yeah, well, the.
Yes, the and, and, and everybodytalks about Eisenhower because

(45:06):
he was the big fish. No, they would have gone after
the Army commanders as well and specifically the 1st Army
Commander because that, that northern flank, you know, they
were trying to coordinate the movement of units to that
northern flank. There were close to 45,000

(45:26):
troops moving by that first evening.
It's just the 99th was in the, you know, the first responders.
They that was the go to unit, you know, and they could, you
know, by the time they could pass the first message, they had
already talked to Colonel Hansonand giving him the the new board

(45:47):
and move those guys to. Malmondi right away, yeah.
And they were. They were scattered all over
Huntingdon. They they had one of their
companies that was actually due West of Bastogne at the Saint
Hubert at German munitions storage area that they were
burning and they had to move N to to get to Malmondi.

(46:08):
So you know. And Ken and I were speaking, you
know, and I think it's true for you as well.
You know, these men didn't speakmuch about this war.
It's hard to get this information.
Did your dad ever talk to you about, you know, his toughest
moment overseas, what he experienced like that?
This one was the worst one I ever experienced.

(46:30):
Any of those kind of stories? The.
The the the the terror experiences he had were the V
ones that you were talking aboutFirst Army headquarters was in
was near tilt. So you know, they lost about 900
V ones, 1000 lbs a piece in intothe Edge and we have that was

(46:52):
going overhead. The other things he would
mention was, yeah, you know, we,we knew track 1 was went, went
over that tree and passed overhead and went past the
church people behind us because that was going to the edge.
And if it came in track two, it was, you know, the, it was that
tree and it was over that like, you know, but the, you know,
these were not perfect machines.And as you said, you know, when

(47:16):
that, that ramjet motor stopped,Yeah, look out.
And they, they'd had several close calls, both, you know, he,
he had mentioned the close call he had had.
There was a movie theater in Liege that was hit in like 400
casualties. Wow.
You know, I didn't know that. Oh no, it.

(47:36):
It it was actually the one of the big the on land, the biggest
single loss of life to the allies.
You know perfect storm yet you know that you know be being
called to to stand guard over the the Army headquarters when
they knew full well that the leasing the Germans were

(47:58):
infiltrating besides pandemonium, but they were going
for for high value targets. You know, some of the other
impressions was to see the ambulance trains.
Yes, tell us about that. Well, you know that that
happened within the first the first hours there.

(48:20):
But here were, you know, after since June, everything's been
moving forward that you know, after the break up and all of a
sudden to see this disorder and his the casualties.
Yeah. That that was them.
They had to emerge under emergency conditions.

(48:44):
Reality moved their headquartersfrom SPA, which they knew was a
known target to show Fontaine and move into the British sector
to to make sure that they had, you know, a safe manic control
position. You know, and these things kind

(49:04):
of flow though, you know, the, the thing that in, in his, in
his, in his last days, the, and I found this kind of amusing at
the moment, but it kind of telling in a way.
He, he woke up and he was incredibly, he was all like

(49:25):
terror. But the terror came from Camp
Hale And the terror was the the first Sergeant had sent him back
to the to the rear to go to the hospital, but he didn't want to
go to the hospital and he hid inthe barracks because he was
afraid he would get pulled from you.
Oh. Wow and.

(49:45):
This disobeying thing that he did, you know, that kept him
with the unit. You know, they, they could have,
you know, if the orthopedic would have looked at him, maybe
he would have said no, no, we need to send him off to, you
know, to to a General Hospital for something.
Isn't that a common? Thread, Eric, where these, these
men, you know, they were fighting for their country, but

(50:08):
really they were fighting for the man beside them.
And that was the most important thing to them.
And that's that's why your dad did not want to leave Camp Hale.
We in this case. Yes, yeah.
He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave.
He was afraid to go to the hospital because that may have
caused that to happen. He may have lost.
Is that the. I'm sure they saw that in their
friends. You know, the ski training was

(50:31):
dangerous, OK. And so when he hits a tree, next
thing you know, they're they're down for orthopedic injury and
the unit's only going to be training for another three
months. You know, the guy who owns with
two broken legs, he's not going to come back.
He's not going to join the same.He may come back to the Army,
but he's not going to show it tothe lion.
So let's let's. Let's get back to, to the, to
what we're talking about, You know, after Mama D and all that

(50:52):
kind of stuff. As we're approaching VE Day,
there's maybe an opportunity that this Viking battalion is
going back to the homeland, right?
Is that the next possibility? Yeah.
So in October of 40. Four, they decided OK.
The agreement in 43 was that theAmericans would provide a

(51:13):
regimental combat team plus the 99th to go to Norway.
Is that why they were port? Partnered up with the 474th
then? Exactly.
As a matter of fact, the 474th was created for that mission.
So they went. They went.
They did. They made it to Norway.
What in in June or July? Is that when they got there?
Did you did did your dad have any relatives that he saw there

(51:35):
when he got there? Did tell us about that?
So the yeah, so so they were time to arrive before the king
and the the 99th was disembarkedin Oslo itself.
The the rest of the 474th moved to Dronum.
They were used as the the honor guard to receive the King when

(51:58):
the King came on the 5th anniversary of his exile.
Pretty proud moment for your. Dad, I would imagine right?
Yes. And for all of them and whether
they were there on dockside, youknow, 100 some odd, you know, 6

(52:19):
foot blonde haired, blue eyed, you know that thing.
Most of them were, remember? That most of them were.
Some of them were short 5-6 Italians.
But then there were guards scattered the whole way because
the king was received at the theharbor, but then went up and
processed all the way to the to the palace.

(52:40):
And so they were security through that whole thing.
And, you know, there could have been a true believer that
decided to throw a grenade or something.
Yeah. And you know.
It even though my dad wasn't Norwegian American, it made a
huge impression on him because alot of things he saved had to do
with with welcoming the king back.

(53:01):
So he felt very proud. And I imagine your dad, it was
10 times that being in a Norwegian American, yes.
You know, and whether they were,you know, in Norwegian, fresh
off the boat like TW or like my father, who had grown up with
Norway on the mind, though he was born in Norway, but he was

(53:25):
two, Yeah, he grew up in the United States, but he had a foot
in both worlds. Or, you know, the many, many
second and third generation Americans who grew up in with
the Norwegian culture around them.
And they went to Norwegian school on Saturdays, you know,
things to keep the, the tradition alive.
And of course, when once everybody's together, everybody

(53:46):
starts, you know, starts tellingthe old stories.
And all that, right, Let me ask you this.
I'm going to, I'm just going to Fast forward our story a little
bit because I want to hear a lotabout this that I don't think
you've talked much about, at least to us.
So after the war, we're going togo ahead and speed up that.
Your dad's back home. Tell us about his life after the
war. You know, what did you learn

(54:08):
about that before you came aboutand and your family?
Well, he he went back to school GI Bill and honestly this there
a memory comes here. That was a thing that really
drove me and still thanks. I'm trying to close the loop on
this one. Dad went back to University of

(54:28):
Washington. One of those professors taught a
class on today you'd call it like marketing or persuasion.
Then it was called propaganda. Small P.
That's the way I do it. And at the end of the first
class, the, the guy asked for all the veterans to come down

(54:50):
and he wanted to talk to him andhe, he, he talked to everybody
and you know, all of the vets and there were a lot of them.
You know, it was used since 194046.
And when Dad said he was in the 99th, he said, oh, yeah, I, I
worked with, you know, we workedwith them.
We used them. So I have to figure out who this

(55:13):
guy is. Yeah, I haven't closed the loop
on it. So what you're telling?
Us Eric is that your quest is never going to stop and it seems
like canonized quest is never going to stop we're going to try
to gain as much information as possible right well it and.
I've been on a power drive to, to gather information and I'm
really excited when we were sitting there talking to you

(55:35):
guys that I am not alone as you,you know, as Ken, you, you,
you've seen me for a few years now answering all those same
basic 5 or 6 questions that everybody has.
Yes. But.
You know I've got 10 times more raw material than I can process

(55:55):
myself. You've done so much.
Research in in in figuring all this out.
I mean, Ken, this, this is your book that you recently put out
Eric, along with Olaf and and Kyle.
It's just a great resource. Can you, you know so much about
this. This is kind of helpful to you
as well, right? That book.
Eric I loved every minute of it and it it was such a good value

(56:19):
to me because I was able to immerse myself in it when it was
right off the press or just about to go to press even.
And we used it in our podcast talking about our dad and really
hearing first hand accounts of these soldiers that were on the
front lines with him. It's a wonderful book and, you
know, I recommend it to anybody who's interested in World War 2

(56:41):
history to read it because it ittells such a great story of
really a specialized unit that was just one piece in the cog of
this World War 2 machine that that, you know, helped bring
freedom back to everybody. Where can people find?
The book it's. Available on well casement is

(57:04):
the publisher, but it's available through all the normal
mass market sources before we let you go because.
We're running out of time. Before we let you go, could you
tell me if you can, your most cherished, you know, memory of
your dad? What?
What is the thing that you will,you know, take with you for

(57:24):
years to come? Well, you know, much later in
his life, I started reaching outto the people around him and the
things that they would say aboutan honorable, trustworthy,
thoughtful man. You know, I was growing up, I

(57:49):
was a teenager. I was trying to get out, you
know, start my own life. And I, I miss being able to go
back in the way back, machine itand truly enjoy those things
with my dad. So, Eric?
It sounds, it sounds like your feelings are a lot like mine and
Chris's where, you know, we, we our fathers didn't talk a lot

(58:12):
about the war. And as we got older and you
know, we're we're getting into our fifties, 60s, we're
reflecting back on their lives. And your cherished moments are
the time that you were able to talk to your dad because your
dad lived a long life. So you were fortunate enough to
have those times to speak to himabout your historical research.

(58:33):
And so I think we share that common bond that trying to speak
to our fathers about their history and, and getting that
information, we we wish they were still alive to get even
more out of them at this point. And and you've taken on the.
Job and I think Ken and I have alittle bit too of trying to
preserve it. You know, that's why we do this
podcast. We want to share the information

(58:54):
that we know so our generations and future generations know more
and more about these things so we can keep these guys not only
in our memory, but you know, learn from their sacrifice and
what they did. Eric, I can't thank you enough
for your time and of course, your knowledge.
I mean, this has been fantastic.I, it's wonderful.

(59:14):
I appreciate you being here and and joining us, you know, for
this episode of our World War 2.Dad, you were such a valuable
resource. To me in this quest that I've
been on for years trying to understand my dad's service
because he didn't talk about it that much.
And you filled in so many of theblanks for me.
You were a real godsend to me and, and your book's fantastic

(59:36):
that filled in the rest of the blanks.
So I can't thank you enough for being such a good resource to us
and, and, and helping us understand this 99th Infantry
Battalion and our World War 2 dads during that very important
era in America. Thank you.
Thanks for this honor. You know, this is an honor and
opportunity and thank you. That was so great of Eric.

(01:00:02):
To join us on our podcast and talk about his World War 2 dad.
And you know, when we talked about his most cherished
moments, Chris, he's mentioned the things that really resonated
with me, that his dad was honorable and trustworthy and,
you know, just a good man post war and lived a good life.
And it, it really stuck with me that that's the things that you

(01:00:24):
and I talked about in our podcast about our dad.
And not only that, it was the things that our 92 year old
mother had stated to us when we interviewed her about Dad's post
war experience. What would you want?
People to know most about your husband.
Our World War 2 dad Louis can jello.

(01:00:46):
What would you want them to knowmost?
He was a very. Generous man, he always helped
out the little guy, you know, whatever was needed.
Mom, I remember. At Dad's funeral, there was a a
part of the eulogy that talked about things that he did even
while he was on dialysis. And what struck me was he did

(01:01:10):
all of these charitable acts andhe never bragged about it.
He never spoke about it. He did it quietly behind the
scenes and he didn't want peopleto know what he was doing, but
he took care of the people around him.
There was. When he was on dialysis, there
was a young boy there and he wasmentally challenged and but he

(01:01:31):
was probably in his late teens and some group would bring him
in. He was in some kind of a home
and they would put him on dialysis.
Now dialysis patients used to get very cold and I always had a
pillow for dad and a blanket to keep him warm.
This young boy didn't have anything, and he used to play
with the little Matchbox car. And Dad said to me, Pat, I want

(01:01:56):
you to go to the store and buy him a pillow and a blanket.
So I did, and I gave it to one of the nurses.
I said, would you be responsibleto keep it clean for him?
And she did. But he did things like that all
the time. Yeah.
She's. Absolutely right and it's
remarkable because you know, notonly does Eric think of that of

(01:02:17):
his father, we do. And of course, our World War 2
dads wife, our 92 year old mother says that about him.
And he's a good judge of character, Ken, as you know.
So yeah, it seems like that whole generation of soldiers
came home with a sense of, you know, duty and honor and
loyalty. And you said it, You know, they

(01:02:39):
they not only fought for their country, but more so they fought
for the guy in the foxhole next to them or in the cockpit or in
the sub or the tank. They fought for the guy that was
right there with them, and it was an incredible feat, you
know, and those guys need to be remembered.
All right, brother, we're at theend of this episode.

(01:03:01):
It's my least favorite time. They go by so fast, man.
They really do. But you know, Kent, I'm just so
pleased, and I know you are too,that, you know, so many people
are enjoying this podcast. We're a little selfish.
We do it for ourselves, but we also want to, you know, help
people remember their dads and help people remember these great

(01:03:22):
men that that served their country and fought for the guy
in the pothole pothole the foxhole next to them.
So you know, please, if you're enjoying this podcast, stay in
touch with us. You can comment below on the
YouTube comments that you see right below the video here, or
you can go to the audio podcastsand and comment there, or you

(01:03:43):
can drop us a line at our World War 2 dad.
So that's OURWW, the number 2 [e-mail] for my brother Ken
Canjella. I'm Chris Canjella and we both
want to thank you for joining usfor our World War 2 Dad.

(01:04:06):
Thanks for watching and listening to our World War 2
Dad. Please remember to like and
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