A star athlete first at Aspinwall High School then at Waynesburg College in Pennsylvania, Richard V. Morgan felt the call to duty when his country was attacked at Pearl Harbor and joined the Marines. Morgan fought in some of the Pacific’s bloodiest battles at Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian Islands. AT Tarawa he fought alongside Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Alexander Bonnyman Jr. supplying him with demolition charges as they took a large Japanese bunker filled with 200-300 Imperial soldiers. At Saipan Morgan narrowly survived a 15 hour last ditch Banzai charge of 3,000 Japanese soldiers. At Tinian Island Morgan spent weeks trying to clear out Japanese resistance from the island’s high caves. Selected for officer school, Morgan’s days were brightened by his morning encounters with one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century. This is Richard V. Morgan’s WW 2 story.

Richard V. Morgan at the train station

Young Richard V. Morgan

Richard V. Morgan in his later years

Tarawa

Saipan

Tinian Island

Hattie Brantley never stopped tending to wounded GIs whether in the jungles of the Bataan peninsula, in the tunnels of Corregidor, or during her long imprisonment at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. As a POW for nearly three years, she didn’t let starvation, disease, lack of medical supplies, or the brutal treatment she received from Japanese guards stop her in caring for the young GI casualties under her care. Today’s podcast tells the story of Hattie Brantley, better known as the Angel of Bataan. Special thanks to my wife, Christina Diane Ulferts, who will give voice to Hattie’s quotes in this episode.

Young Hattie Brantley

Hattie Brantley speaking to veterans

Hattie Brantley's grave

Hattie had a great sense of humor

Sick with malaria, on a 150-200 mile, three week forced march from one German POW camp to another, Edgar Kuhlow heard one German guard talking about him to another guard - Daah blibt heea in Deutschland leigen (He is going to stay laying here in Germany). Having already survived brutal combat at Anzio and in southern France, as well as seven months of incarceration as a POW, Edgar Kuhlow was determined to survive and prove the German guard wrong. This podcast tells Edgar Kuhlow’s harrowing story.

Edgar Kuhlow and John Ulferts

Battle of Anzio - Trench warfare

Battle of Anzio - Wounded GI

The Battle of Anzio claimed 43,000 Allied and 40,000 German casualties

Stalag II-D Stargard

Memorial to 65,000 prisoners of war who died at Stalag II B at Hammerstein

Sick American prisoner of war at Stalag XIIA Limburg

GIs sharing a blanket

Jim Dorris displayed an equal measure of courage and compassion in WW 2. His deep Catholic faith provided him with a moral compass that guided him through combat at the Battle of the Bulge, Ingolsheim, Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, and Furth. He was a true light in the darkness of WW 2 resisting senseless cruelty whenever he saw it regardless of which side – be it the Nazis or the US GIs – who committed it. Nearly six months of combat wasn’t enough to prepare Dorris for the hell he witnessed when he walked through the gates of Dachau concentration camp to liberate it. Still, his deep faith guided him even there, and enabled him to find a sign of God’s love in the darkest of places. I am thrilled that Jim’s son and my good friend, Stephen Dorris, is joining us for these two episodes. Stephen will give voice to all of Jim Dorris’s quotes in both episodes.

Jim Dorris autobiography My View of WW 2

Jim in basic training - a photograph sent to his mother

Jim Dorris in the service

Jim and Charlotte Dorris

Jim and Charlotte Dorris outside their home

Jim and Charlotte with all of their grandchildren

Jim Dorris, John Ulferts, and John's daughter, Ashley, during their visit in 2019

Jim Dorris displayed an equal measure of courage and compassion in WW 2. His deep Catholic faith provided him with a moral compass that guided him through combat at the Battle of the Bulge, Ingolsheim, Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, and Furth. He was a true light in the darkness of WW 2 resisting senseless cruelty whenever he saw it regardless of which side – be it the Nazis or the US GIs – who committed it. Nearly six months of combat wasn’t enough to prepare Dorris for the hell he witnessed when he walked through the gates of Dachau concentration camp to liberate it. Still, his deep faith guided him even there, and enabled him to find a sign of God’s love in the darkest of places. I am thrilled that Jim’s son and my good friend, Stephen Dorris, is joining us for these two episodes. Stephen will give voice to all of Jim Dorris’s quotes in both episodes.

Jim Dorris - My View of WW 2

Young Jim Dorris in uniform

Jim in basic training - picture taken to be sent to his mother

Jim and Charlotte Dorris church photo

Jim and Charlotte Dorris

Jim, his wife Charlotte, and all of his grandkids

Jim, John Ulferts, and John's daughter, Ashley, during our last visit

As a Jewish American, Murray Shapiro couldn’t wait to volunteer in WW 2. He was well aware of the Nuremberg Laws and the racist treatment Jewish people received in Germany. He lost his spot in officer school though because he objected to the racist views his Major Carvell held towards black people. During the Battle of the Bulge, Shapiro would receive the Bronze Star for his actions organizing a rear guard and defending it until his outfit was able to withdraw. In doing so, Shapiro was left completely surrounded behind enemy lines and had to make a harrowing journey back to his platoon. From the Battle of the Bulge to the Colmar Pocket to the crossing of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, this episode focuses on Murray Shapiro’s harrowing WW 2 experiences.

Young Murray Shapiro

Photo young Murray Shapiro sent home to family

Murray Shapiro

Murray and his wife Shirley Shapiro

Murray Shapiro - twilight years

Colonel Lloyd G. Huggins landed on Omaha Beach three weeks after D-Day as the replacement officer for Easy Company’s Infantry Regiment. They were in continuous combat for nearly one year fighting through France, the Siegfried Line, the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, across the Remagen Bridge, until VE Day. No one had more respect for his infantry men than Huggins did. Through it all, he put his men first and foremost in his mind. This is his story, as told in his letters to the podcast host and his unpublished 1988 autobiography that he sent to me.

Colonel Lloyd Huggins

Newspaper article - Ft. Wolter

Hurtgen Forest

Hurtgen Forest

Hurtgen Forest

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge

Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen

Following the unconditional surrender of Germany on VE Day and the unconditional surrender of Japan three months later on VJ Day, spontaneous celebrations swept across the US with tinker tape parades, dancing and singing. In Times Square, an estimated two million people gathered to celebrate. But not every veteran participated or received the warm welcome they expected upon returning home. By the time Henry Heller was finally sent home from Germany, there were no hugs or parades. Suffering from a number of maladies, Heller struggled for years to get the help he needed from the VA. Bud Olson and Tom Carr both found the transition to civilian life difficult. The skills they had learned as fighting men in WW 2 didn’t open any doors in the domestic civilian job market. Having lost so many of their buddies in the war, many veterans were in no mood to celebrate. Arnold “Dutch Nagel, Richard Mandich, Lewis J. Gould, Michael Luciano, and Edward Heinle seemed haunted by the friends they left behind. WW II forever changed veterans. Some wore their scars on the outside and accepted them as challenges to overcome, such as Paul Leimkueler, who didn’t let losing a leg stop him from becoming a downhill US Ski Hall of Famer. It was the scars on the inside, the post traumatic stress, that were harder to overcome. Veterans like Robert Erhardt, Richard Morgan, Robert Bowen and Donald Chase dealt with the nightmares the rest of their lives. If they lived long enough, WW 2 veterans saw wars come again, though thankfully not on the scale of WW II. Some reenlisted to serve, while others saw their children serve such as Duane Stevens. Though proud of their service, many WW II veterans came out of WW 2 hating all war and regarded it as an abomination to be avoided whenever possible. Dennis Olson, Lloyd Huggins, Arthur Jackson, David Saltman, Charles Wysocki and Donald Chase wanted to make sure no one glorified war and saw it for what it was: HELL. Those stories and more in Episode 20 When Johnny Came Marching Home: Transitions and Remembrance.

Henry Heller

Bud Olson

Tom Carr

Arnold "Dutch" Nagel

Lewis J. Gould

Robert Erhardt

Richard V. Morgan

Robert Bowen

Stan Davis

Donald Chase

Paul Leimkuehler

Dennis Olson

Lloyd Huggins

Arthur Jackson

David Saltman

Charles Wysocki