Aloysius "Al" Arend was born in Chicago, Illinois in November 1925. He grew up and spent much of his life in nearby Downers Grove [Annotator's Note: Downers Grove, Illinois]. His father worked in the coal industry and his mother was a housewife, looking after Arend and his two brothers. Arend's older brother served in the Army during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] and his younger brother was a Marine in the Vietnam War. Arend feels that his family was just an average family during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. [Annotator's Note: Voices can be heard in the background of the interview 0:03:00.000.] Arend attended St. Joseph High School [Annotator's Note: in Downers Grove, Illinois] for two years before attending school to train as a printer. Before joining the Army, Arend worked for the American Can Company where he would work for 50 years after the war. He was mostly unaware of anything going on in the world until the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He remembers playing a game of Monopoly when news of the attack was broadcast over the radio. He did not know how to react to the news. Arend went to work making tin cans in support of the war effort. He tried to join the Marines, but he was too young, so he joined the Army. On 20 February 1943, at age 17, he joined the Army's Enlisted Reserve Corps or ERC. He returned home until he was called up following his eighteenth birthday. He reported to Camp Grant, Illinois for induction and was then sent to Fort Custer, Michigan for basic training for 16 weeks. While there, he became a military police [Annotator's Note: generally referred to as an MP] officer tasked with guarding prisoners of war held there. He was then transferred to Camp Beale [Annotator's Note: Marysville, California] where he realized he was bound for duty in the Pacific. He boarded the Queen of the Pacific to Australia from where he boarded a second ship to Oro Bay, New Guinea. While in New Guinea, Arend remained on guard duty as an MP and had the opportunity to see Bob Hope [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope KBE; British-American entertainer who was famous for entertaining American troops serving overseas during World War 2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War], though from a distance. [Annotator's Note: There is a loss of audio and video freezes at 0:10:25.000.] Six LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] took Arend and the many replacements to Los Negros where he was assigned to the 12th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division [Annotator's Note: 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division] as a rifleman.

Without any time to become acquainted with anyone, Aloysius "Al" Arend was put on a ship bound for combat in the Philippines. He arrived in Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] and quickly came under enemy fire. [Annotator's Note: The video and audio both freeze up at 0:12:30.000.] He spent the first night lying awake, afraid that every sound and sight he saw in the darkness was the enemy. On one patrol, he and eight other men went up into the mountains, crossing many streams in the process. When they returned to the area where the rest of the regiment was waiting, the streams had turned into raging torrents from a day of torrential rains. The regiment [Annotator's Note: 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division] struggled across the stream, losing much of the heavy equipment in the process. It always rained while in the Philippines, Arend says, and he often slept in the mud. While there, he listened to many naval battles taking place in nearby San Bernardino Strait. In late December 1944, the cavalryman were pulled out of Leyte and on to Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines] without any rest in order to be the "first to Manila" [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines]. Arend says the 12th Regiment played backup to General Chase's [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General William Curtis Chase] 7th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division] as they formed a flying column which was to rush through combat zones without engaging the enemy to reach Santo Tomas University [Annotator's Note: Santo Tomas Internment Camp; also known as the Manila Internment Camp] and free the Allied prisoners there. [Annotator's Note: Voices can be heard in the background at 0:17:13.000.] Arend continued to Manila where he spent three days in tense combat. While patrolling the grounds of de la Salle College, he entered a chapel and found it filled knee high with dead Filipinos who had been slaughtered by the Japanese. Arend experienced fighting at Rizal stadium in Manila. He says the Japanese were pouring hand grenades onto the lower level to keep the Americans out. He and a friend entered the lower area where his friend was shot in the buttocks, they quickly got out. Arend then advanced to the racetrack area of the stadium complex and entered a room underneath the track. Inside the room, he and his unit saw many Japanese soldiers lying on mats on the floor, thinking them dead, they were surprised when they jumped up and began shooting. A tank was called in to clear out the enemy. After leaving Manila, Arend proceeded to Fort McKinley [Annotator's Note: Fort William McKinley; now Fort Andres Bonifacio] and into the jungle outside of Manila. While in sporadic combat here, he contracted schistosomiasis and was flown from Luzon to a hospital on Leyte. The entire hospital ward where Arend was placed were suffering from the same disease. Arend describes the disease as coming from a parasite carried by snails that attacks to red blood cells. He lost over 20 pounds while recuperating. He was then sent to a rehabilitation hospital where he encountered many airmen suffering from combat fatigue following bombing missions over Japan.

Aloysius "Al" Arend was flown back to his outfit [Annotator's Note: 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division] on Luzon [Annotator’s Note: Luzon, Philippines] where they spent time hunting for Yamamoto, "a real son of a bitch," after getting many reports from local Filipinos. They began practicing for the invasion of Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] by complete two separate landings a day, each with different objectives. He was happy when the war ended, got drunk with his outfit, and prepared to go to Japan for occupation duty. Arend was aboard an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] next to the USS Missouri (BB-63) during the signing of the surrender. Ten minutes after the signing, the landing craft deposited Arend at Yokohama [Annotator's Note: Yokohama, Japan]. The men were greeted by a Naval band before boarding trucks to a nearby school where he spent the first night. The next day, the cavalrymen took over a Japanese Army camp where they remained for their stay in Japan. Arend went to Tokyo on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] with four other soldiers. Seeing that everything was destroyed, they boarded a subway out to the suburbs where they spent a lot of time. While stationed at an aid station Arend watched as Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan, was taken out of an ambulance following his failed suicide attempt. Arend spent the fall of 1945 guarding an arms warehouse in Yokohama. In January 1946, he returned to the United States aboard the Azalea City [Annotator's Note: SS Azalea City]. He then boarded a train to Camp Grant [Annotator's Note: Camp Grant, Illinois] where he was discharged with the rank of Private First Class [Annotator's Note: PFC]. He did not take advantage of the G.I. Bill and instead went back to work at the can company [Annotator's Note: American Can Company]. He took a week off and began working. He did not struggle to readjust to civilian life but he did drink a lot at the time.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewee has trouble understanding the interviewer's questions during this clip.] Aloysius "Al" Arend joined the Army to defend his country. After watching six of his friends join, Arend knew it was the right thing to do. He remembered being shot at by three machine guns during his time in the Philippines. His service means a lot to him today and it is something he likes to talk about to anyone who will listen. He did not talk about his experiences for 50 years but he is glad that it is being brought up more now. Arend thinks that many Americans do not know anything about World War 2. He believes that we should never forget what happened during World War 2 and remember what happened in the Holocaust.