Basil C. Hoehn was born October 1924 in St. Joseph, Missouri. He came from a low economic background. His father worked as a beer and alcohol salesmen to local distributors. His father’s job was not very lucrative at the time. Hoehn’s mother worked as a Comptometer [Annotator’s Note: the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator] operator. When he was young his parents divorced, and his mother went to work for Swift. Hoehn started working at a young age, delivering papers, cutting grass, and scooping ice cream. He attended Christian Brothers High School. His school was very strict and rigid. He played football and ran track. To assist in paying his tuition, Hoehn cleaned the gym floors and took tickets at basketball games. Hoehn formed an organization to collect metal for war production. It was a large topic of conversation to talk about joining the service amongst his peers. Hoehn turned 18 during his senior year and was drafted before his senior year ended. However, he did not have to report for duty until June 1943. Hoehn was at his girlfriend’s house cleaning up a cherry tree when he first learned the news about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He met his future wife on a blind date set up by their mothers. Before being drafted, Hoehn had no initiative to join the military as part of his life plans. He had a scholarship to play football in college and anticipated going there. Being drafted threw those plans out. Hoehn’s two uncles servied in World War 1 so his mother was very supportive of him joining the service. After receiving his draft notice in January 1943, he reported to an induction center in Camp Leavenworth, Kansas to complete tests that following March. He returned home until he received orders to report to Camp Hood, Texas for training. He described the training as a “real chore.” He did not like digging foxholes because the type a dirt that was in that region was difficult. He was given water from Lyster bags [Annotator’s Note: a canvas water bag used to supply military troops with chemically purified drinking water]. His sergeant was from New York and had a bad attitude. Hoehn got poison ivy all over his legs and had to stay in the hospital for a few days, missing a long hike. On the weekends, he received a pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go to Waco [Annotator’s Note: Waco, Texas]. After he completed basic training, he was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers] and was sent to the University of Illinois in September 1943. He took classes in chemical warfare. Every morning he was marched to breakfast and then proceeded to classes all day. He stayed in a fraternity house and had a curfew at night. In the meantime, Hoehn applied for the Army Air Corps because he did not want to be in the infantry. However, he injured his foot and when the Army Air Corps contacted him and learned of it, he was bypassed because he could not walk. After healing, Hoehn was sent to Camp Swift [Annotator’s Note: Camp Swift, Texas]. During Christmas 1943, he went home to spend time with his mother and wife, even though he was not permitted to do so. While at Camp Swift, he joined the 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion. They trained on 4.2 mortars [Annotator's Note: a short smoothbore gun which fires explosive shells at high angles] and he was not impressed with the outfit overall. Nevertheless, he trained and was promoted to corporal before being sent overseas.

Basil C. Hoehn had never seen the ocean before he went overseas. His unit [Annotator's Note: 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion] boarded a luxury liner for passage to Europe, which was unescorted because the ship was very fast. He was assigned to E deck where the bunks were six beds high. Many of the men got seasick during the passage. He disembarked in Liverpool [Annotator’s Note: Liverpool, England] and then headed for Southampton [Annotator’s Note: Southampton, England]. He did not get to seem very much of the land on the train because the shades on the windows were pulled down. He was given donuts on the ride over. When he arrived in Southampton, he then boarded a ship to cross the English Channel. He landed at the Normandy [Annotator’s Note: Normandy, France] beachhead in November 1944. The shore looked like a parking lot with trucks and stockpiles of equipment. He was loaded into a truck to take him inland. He passed through Sainte-Mère-Église [Annotator’s Note: Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, France] and then bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] in hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] and waited for their equipment to arrive from Cherbourg [Annotator’s Note: Cherbourg, France]. They lived off K-rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] and marmalade for two weeks while they waited for their equipment. His unit was put on pipeline guard. His unit’s supplies, vehicles and equipment arrived around 26 December 1944. They picked up and moved to Luxembourg City [Annotator’s Note: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg] and then into Bastogne [Annotator’s Note: Bastogne, Belgium] to set up for their first fire mission on Christmas Eve. One of his friends got pig lice so the medics shaved his head and covered him head to toe with Gentian Violet [Annotator’s Note: a dye used as a topical antiseptic].

Basil C. Hoehn and his unit [Annotator’s Note: with the 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion] set up in the woods outside of Bastogne [Annotator’s Note: Bastogne, Belgium] on Christmas Eve 1944 [Annotator's Note: 24 December 1944] for their first fire mission. Hoehn oversaw the number two 4.2 mortar gun [Annotator's Note: M2 4.2-inch mortar, a short smoothbore gun which fires explosive shells at high angles] and became sergeant of the squad after his sergeant was injured. After a firing accident with the first gun, all the guys were killed in that pit. Hoehn and his squad did not fire anymore because the fuses had deteriorated and they had to wait for a new batch to come in. Before reaching Bastogne, Hoehn’s unit traveled through several towns, but did not communicate with any of the locals. His unit went through one fire barrage before reaching their set up area outside of Bastogne. His sergeant and his assistant were injured during the barrage. Hoehn described how a mortar shell is fired and what to do when a shell misfires. His unit did not have to wait very long to receive their new fuses, but they waited in Nancy, France and were issued pack shoes [Annotator’s Note: Shoepacs were the first cold and wet weather footwear equipment produced by the military during World War 2] to replace their leather boots. Hoehn was glad to be off the front line for a couple of days. He was able to shower and shave his face with warm water. The civilians in Nancy were very friendly to Americans. The locals liked to trade their wine, cigarettes, and chocolate bars. [Annotator’s Note: There is a break in the video at 0:55:04.000.] After their short stay in Nancy, his unit moved through France and into Bedburg, Germany. They moved quickly through Germany, crossing rivers with smokescreens mostly using white phosphorous. Sometimes it would take six to eight hours to cross the river and complete the mission.

Basil C. Hoehn and his unit [Annotator’s Note: with the 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion] moved into Germany after crossing rivers. He went through so many towns he could not keep up with all the names. His unit reached Frankfurt [Annotator’s Note: Frankfurt, Germany] and had a tough time crossing the Main River because the Germans had guns set up in a building. Hoehn and his mortar unit were put on a fire mission to hit the building. After his squad moved in, another group came behind them and were fired upon. The group behind him suffered major casualties. During this time, Hoehn had contracted dysentery. His diet consisted of powdered bullion and cheese. His unit stopped on the other side of Frankfurt for a couple of days and waited for orders. [Annotator’s Note: There is a break in the video at 1:06:45.000.] Many of the farmers in these nearby towns had hams hanging in the chimneys of their farmhouses. Hoehn recalled scavenging the farmhouses for food and drink instead of taking souvenirs. One time he found pickled eggs in beet juice. His unit went through Cologne [Annotator’s Note: Cologne, Germany or Koln, Germany] but did not stay there. He saw the damage to a large church. When Hoehn crossed the Rhine River in a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] they got caught in a counterattack. General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] was [Annotator’s Note: there is a break in the video at 1:11:08.000] down at the bank of the river directing traffic. Hoehn crossed the river and ended up in Gross-Gerau [Annotator’s Note: Gross-Gerau, Germany] where his unit bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] in an orchard and water building. During the night, his unit was attacked by Germans from a military school. Hoehn got his .30 caliber machine gun [Annotator’s Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun] and set it up on the roof on the building. His unit was totally cut off from headquarters. Hoehn volunteered to race down the street to headquarters. On his return, he saw Corporal Lansing [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] injured. He brought him to an aid station and told headquarters what going on. An infantry squad was deployed to the area and things calmed down. The next morning, Hoehn saw that the Germans had ransacked their jeeps, but the guns were okay. Hoehn ran into a bunch of young German soldiers that had fallen asleep nearby. He drew two .45s [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] and woke the soldiers up and made them walk up to the road. Hoehn met up with some infantry and handed the German prisoners over. Hoehn found two more Germans without weapons and brought them to the stockade.

After Gross-Gerau [Annotator’s Note: Gross-Gerau, Germany], Basil C. Hoehn and his unit [Annotator’s Note: the 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion] were pulled off the line and given military government duty over Ludwigsstadt and Kronach in Germany. He spent time collecting all weapons and setting up curfews for control purposes. His squad took over an upstairs apartment of a building where two German women lived. The young girl could speak English, so Hoehn used her as a translator. Hoehn was on patrol one evening driving on a road. He saw a couple riding their bikes after curfew. He told them they had to report to the office in the morning. When they arrived the next morning, Hoehn punished them for breaking curfew by making them sit on a concrete slab all day. On another occasion, Hoehn picked up a German officer that was hiding out and brought him to Nuremburg [Annotator’s Note: Nuremburg, Germany]. All of a sudden he saw a woman who claimed that she was the officer’s aide, so he frisked her and brought her to Nuremberg too. On VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], Hoehn was heading to headquarters and heard the news that the war was over. When he got back to his squad, they fired every round they had for their .30 caliber machine gun [Annotator’s Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun]. He stopped in a small pub and got a keg of beer and gathered all the wine and liquor he could find and celebrated the end of war in Europe. Hoehn was sent to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France] not long after the war ended to be shipped home. One time, Hoehn had to chase a couple of American soldiers out of a woman’s house because they were trying to take advantage of her. Later when Hoehn was at Camp Lucky Strike, he saw one of the soldiers again giving out towels and underwear to men coming out of the shower. The soldier offered Hoehn an extra pair of underwear. Hoehn was shipped out and landed in New York. He was so glad to see the Statue of Liberty. Hoehn was approached to join OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] but wanted to pursue physical education and become a P.E. teacher.

Basil C. Hoehn is glad he served and learned a lot from being in the service, but is glad it’s over. His most memorable experience of World War 2 was coming down a hill towards the river and seeing General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] directing traffic across the river. His other memorable experience was his train ride home to Texas after he was discharged on 11 November 1945 with the rank of sergeant. When the train started on its way, he headed to the dining cart to eat a meal of steak, bread, salad, and coffee. When he got off the train in Kansas City [Annotator’s Note: Kansas City, Missouri], he took a bus to his hometown of Saint Joseph [Annotator’s Note: Saint Joseph, Missouri] to meet his mother and wife. The war changed his life because he became more worldly and knew what it felt like to have a salary. He also had to learn to defend himself and matured. Hoehn believes there should be institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because the present-day educational systems ignore teaching students about World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918], World War 2, and the Civil War [Annotator's Note: American Civil War, 1861 to 1865]. All these wars affected the citizenship of the American people. [Annotator’s Note: Video goes black from 1:50:05.000 to the end of the segment.]