Bernard Hillenbrand was born in May 1925 in Syracuse, New York. Growing up in the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] was tough, but everyone was in the same boat. His father was a machinist and his mother supervised women employees at a General Electric plant for the military. His neighborhood was mostly made up of Italians, Germans, and Irish. He would play football, baseball, and roller hockey with his friends in the neighborhood. Hillenbrand graduated from high school in 1939. Soon after, while watching a building on fire at Syracuse University, he chatted with a bystander. The man happened to be a Provost and offered Hillenbrand a full scholarship to Syracuse University [Annotator's Note: in Syracuse, New York]. He studied meteorology and joined the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserves Officer Training Corps] in college. Hillenbrand was working as a pin setter for a bowling alley at a Methodist church when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He expected the attack because he closely kept up with war news. The following morning, the nation unified and decided to fight in this war. Hillenbrand decided to volunteer for the military and was placed in the Army in June 1943. He was inducted at Camp Upton in Long Island, New York.

After a psychological exam and basic training at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama, Bernard Hillenbrand was selected to be an information officer and was sent to study engineering in Officer Candidate School. He qualified and trained in ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Special Training Program] at Alabama Polytechnic Institute [Annotator's Note: now Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama]. The program was cancelled due to the need for more soldiers in Europe and Hillenbrand was sent back into the Army as a rifleman in the 106th Infantry Division at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. He volunteered to be placed as a rifleman replacement and shipped overseas on the RMS Queen Elizabeth ship. Hillenbrand landed on Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note: as part of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] during the Normandy Invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He was almost killed while trying to exit the ship on a landing craft. As he was going down the rope ladder, the landing craft crashed into the ship almost smashing him. [Annotator's Note: There is a dinging sound in the background and then the interviewer pauses the interview to address the sound. The interviewer asks Hillenbrand to tell the story again from 0:21:10.000 to 0:22:40.000.] He made it up to Sainte-Mere-Eglise [Annotator's Note: Sainte-Mère-Église, France] and spent the first night of his war experience there. He was assigned to the 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division as a replacement rifleman. He boarded a truck and moved across France. He had his first combat at the Battle of Aachen [Annotator's Note: 2 to 21 October 1944 in Aachen, Germany] near the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s]. They had a direct assault on the city and conquered it.

Bernard Hillenbrand and his division [Annotator's Note: Hillenbrand was a rifleman in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] headed into the Hurtgen Forest [Annotator's Note: Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945], driving to the Ruhr River. Hillenbrand served as a scout as well as working the rifle mounted anti-tank gun [Annotator's Note: likely M18 recoilless rifle, 57 mm]. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings in the background from 0:28:47.000 to 0:30:30.000.] He was under a murderous barrage while on a hill. The forest was heavily fortified, and the fight was heavy. During another ferocious artillery barrage, he was blown from his foxhole and knocked unconscious. He awoke in a huge pool of blood-drenched snow, his hand mangled. While stumbling toward an aid station, he heard a shell coming. He and another soldier dove for a depression in the snow simultaneously, and the soldier landed on top just as the shell exploded. The soldier was blown up, but his body partially shielded Hillenbrand, saving his life. Seriously wounded in the head, back, shoulder, and hand, Hillenbrand found his way to the aid station. He was there for a couple of days and then sent to Belgium for emergency surgery. He wrote to his parents with the aid of a Red Cross nurse to let them know he was injured. He was put in a body cast for his injuries and sent to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris France].

Bernard Hillenbrand was moved back to England into a hospital [Annotator's Note: after being wounded during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945, Hurtgen, Staatsforst (state forest), Germany] until he was reassigned as a clerk at the 8th Army Air Force [Annotator's Note: 8th Air Force] fighter base in Buc, France [Annotator's Note: Advanced Landing Ground Y-4, Buc, France]. He was there a short time, then sent to Germany, and finally, Cherbourg, France where he was put on a hospital ship to return home. On the return voyage, the ship lost a propeller during a heavy storm and he was ordered to prepare to abandon ship. He was on the deck watching the bow dive forward into the sea. The propeller would come out of the water. The captain was able to get the ship back to Brooklyn [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. He went to Saint Patrick's Cathedral [Annotator's Note: in Manhattan, New York, New York] and thanked God he survived. He was in the hospital for almost a year after he returned. He was discharged at Fort Dix, New Jersey [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Trenton, New Jersey]. He worked as the director at National Association of Counties. After he retired, Hillenbrand became an ordained United Methodist minister. He spent a great deal of time working with veterans. He opposed every war after the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953]. It angers him today the way veterans of other wars are treated in this country. Many of veterans from the current wars are homeless. He thinks poorly of the Veterans Affairs [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs]. He wants this country to elect a president that will fix this problem. He does not think there should be Veteran Hospitals. Soldiers should be treated anywhere. He believes that our country should be responsible for taking care of our veterans.

Bernard Hillenbrand does not recall too much of when he landed on Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. The first night was wet and cold. His baptism by fire was near Aachen, Germany [Annotator's Note: Battle of Aachen, 2 to 21 October 1944]. He was shot at by artillery fire. [Annotator's Note: After being wounded in the Hurtgen Forest, Hillenbrand was reassigned as a clerk at the 8th Air Force fighter base in Buc, France.] While he answered a call one day, he heard a fighter plane and ducked down. The person on the other end of the line, was a colonel and when he found out what Hillenbrand did, he ordered him to go fly in a plane. Hillenbrand flew in a Piper Cub [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft] over Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] and enjoyed the whole experience. Two of his close friends, Bill Erwin and Dwight Holmes, were killed during World War 2. He attended Bill Erwin's funeral and gave the flag to Erwin's mother. Hillenbrand believes that he was ill trained for tank warfare and did not have the necessary equipment at times.

Bernard Hillenbrand did not have difficulty adjusting to civilian life and never had bad dreams, battlefield fatigue, or post traumatic stress disorder [Annotator's Note: PTSD]. The most memorable experience for Hillenbrand was seeing Winston Churchill [Annotator's Note: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill; Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 1940 to 1945] at Buckingham Palace [Annotator's Note: in London, England] holding out the "V" sign [Annotator's Note: "V" for Victory sign] with his fingers on VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. It was also a memorable moment when the first African-American president was elected [Annotator's Note: Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of the United States]. He believes it was an American disgrace that he did not serve with any African-Americans during World War 2. He thought it was also disgraceful that Americans were imprisoned in internment camps [Annotator's Note: forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese-Americans in camps in the United States from 19 February 1942 to 20 March 1946]. He does not understand why people are elected in the Senate [Annotator's Note: United States Senate] and the House [Annotator's Note: United States House of Representatives] to stop the president from doing anything constructive. He does not agree with House and Senate votes to not accept the President's nomination of Supreme Court Judges. He also believes that the United States does not treat their veterans well.

Bernard Hillenbrand fought in World War 2 because he is proud to be an American. When his grandfather immigrated to America, he did not want his children to learn German, and none of them did. The greatest compliment he was ever given was when his mother told a lady on a bus that her son was a man before he entered the military, rather than the military making a man out of him. Hillenbrand was always a religious man and grew up as a devout Catholic. He became an ordained Methodist minister after he retired from his career. He integrated an all Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] clergy group called Wednesday Clergy Fellowship Hall African American. Hillenbrand had an incredibly happy life and will continue to live through his children and grandchildren. He believes that his fellow Americans are willing to help others and are good. He is very concerned about the Senate [Annotator's Note: United States Senate] and the House [Annotator's Note: United States House of Representatives] and the whole federal government. They are not being responsive. He has an enormous respect for German soldiers. He believes the American public is only interested in something for a brief time because of the advanced technology today. He is only one of 26 ministers in his clergy that agreed to marry homosexuals at the risk of being thrown out. He says that times change, and we have to change it. He defines himself as a male feminist and strongly supports Hillary Clinton [Annotator's Note: Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, American politician, diplomat, and lawyer, 67th United States Secretary of State]. He believes the human race has treated women shabbily, and we continue to do it. He is worried about the world population and that food will run out. He is not sure if it is vital to have The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] because institutions like these are usually created for political reasons, or one person with funds has an interest in it. However, he does believe it is important to teach World War 2 to future generations. World society did not learn anything from World War 1. He hopes we can evade World War 3 by eliminating communism and by the superpowers working together militarily. He has written a memoir that he hopes to be a thank you to many people.