Bill Schwartz was born in June 1924 in North Plainfield, New Jersey. His family moved around, but he considers Parsippany, New Jersey as his hometown. His father was a civil engineer and later into development business. He grew up in a rural area community with only a population of 1,100 people. He was aware of Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and the Nazi's designs for world domination before the United States entered the war. As a Jewish man, he realized that Nazism meant enslavement or death for he and his family if they were not defeated. He learned about the about what was going on by reading the newspapers and listening to the radio. His family was the only Jewish family in town and had to travel seven miles to go to their synagogue. Schwartz played track and swam after school. After hearing about the events of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], he was shook up about it. Schwartz knew that Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] wanted to go to war with Japan but the American people did not, so he purposely cut off oil export to Japan to force them to take hostile reaction. At age 17, Schwartz enlisted in the Army with his parents' permission. His parents did not encourage him but were supportive of his decision to enlist. Throughout his life, his parents supported his decisions and trusted him to try to do the right thing. He loved his parents and feels fortunate to have them in his life. He joined the service to defend his country and to save the world. He thought he had no choice because if he did not fight, he would eventually be a slave. As a civilian, Schwartz had flown over 1,600 hours and wanted to become a Naval aviator or join the Air Force. However, because of anti-Semitism on the part of an instructor, Schwartz was rejected from becoming a pilot and there was nothing he could do to reverse the decision. A chaplain, who tried to help him, was livid about his situation. Schwartz had a near perfect record and should have been admitted in the pilot program. At his reassignment, Schwartz, wanting to get into the action as fast as possible, chose to join the infantry. He was sent to OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] in Georgia for training, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Upon graduation and receiving the rank of Second Lieutenant, he was sent to California to train NCOs [Annotator's Note: noncommissioned officer] for two months. He then was sent overseas to Britain to prepare for D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944].

Bill Schwartz was assigned to the 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division as a platoon commander and sent to a temporary camp in England to prepare for the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Some regiments stayed in camps while others stayed in hotels. They did some training on cliffs in Dover [Annotator's Note: Dover, England] using rope and grappling hooks. He was also trained to handle those who are wounded on the battlefield. He was trained not to stop and help the wounded, but to call for a medic and continue on. He was taught hedgerow [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] fighting but had no amphibious training. He knew that he was training for a big invasion but did not know the exact location. Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] gave a big speech right before the invasion. The Allies used tactics to trick the Germans so they would be confused about the upcoming invasion. The weather helped the Allies succeed on D-Day because it kept the Luftwaffe [Annotator's Note: German Air Force] out of the sky. On the morning of D-Day, there was already enemy fire coming in their direction. As he stormed Omaha Beach, there were obstacles and heavy enemy fire to get through. There was a concrete embattlement that was firing relentlessly, so Schwartz went up close enough to throw a few hand grenades. The firing ceased for a few moments. His outfit continued up the beachhead, but soon the fire commenced again. They faced more obstacles for the next 24 hours. He lost 20 percent of his men on D-Day. It had an impact on him. It was his responsibility to keep those men alive and feels that he failed in that respect. Although he was wounded on D-Day, Schwartz never allowed for a medic to take him out of the field. After D-Day was over, he did not have to rationalize it because he already knew why he was there. Schwartz believes that many people do not truly understand the enormous efforts that went into the D-Day campaign. The preparations for food, water, oil, and equipment were all thought out prior to the actual invasion day. There were times when Schwartz and did not have food, but always had water. The Germans were well trained, well equipped, and had more combat experience. At the end of the day, the average soldier's thought was "kill or be killed." Everyone was frightened. He was wounded three times. There is nothing that can give a civilian the real experience of being in combat. Once, he was standing with his First Lieutenant and the next moment the lieutenant's brains were all over his face.

Bill Schwartz [Annotator's Note: assigned to the 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division] calls his combat experiences, "mechanical details." The Germans were good fighters, had great equipment, and excellent training. They fought the Germans in the hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation]. He would say, "scouts out" and then each company commander would send a scout. On one occasion, he overheard a scout say he was not going to go out because he knew that he was just being used as a target for the Germans. Schwartz called the scout a "yellow belly bastard," said, "I'll go fight this fucking war myself," and then stood up and walked out there. His outfit followed behind him. Schwartz got his second Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy] that day. He received a total of three and is lucky that none of his wounds were serious. In the beginning they would shoot into hedgerows and if no one came out, regiments would send in their scouts. The Germans quickly learned the American tactics and waited to fire after they sent scouts in. Then Americans began shooting shells into the hedgerows until there was a shortage. In the beginning they had no communication to connect with air support. It was not until later in the war that they were given the equipment to do so. He enjoyed the small moments when they liberated towns. The locals were so thankful that they arrived, that they would come out, throw flowers and give out wine. His first sergeant came up to him once and told him there was a barn nearby packed with wine. Schwartz told his sergeant to pack up all the wine he could and then pass it out to all the G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] so they could relax in their foxholes. He was happy it was relatively quiet night, so it was a good night. There is always an uncertainty of what is going to happen during wartime. Schwartz stepped over a hedgerow one day and saw a great big German guy coming in his direction with a bayonet. He made a move to cut Schwartz's head off. Schwartz avoided it, but still got sliced on the chin. Schwartz immediately lunged forward with his bayonet fixed on an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] and stabbed him. That was only one of a few times he had to do hand to hand combat. When entering Germany, Schwartz felt great that they were defeating the enemy and that his family and country would be safe. He felt like he was saving the world. There were two occasions where he thought America was on the brink of losing the war. One occasion was the D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. It was the biggest gamble ever in the history of the military [Annotator's Note: Knocking and doorbell ring interrupts interview at 0:45:23.000. Video break at 0:45:25.000.] Although he was Jewish and felt that he needed to fight to save his people, Nazism was against all religions because it interfered with their ideology. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was smart to pick the Jews to blame because there was only a small population of Jewish people. If he picked a large group of people, Hitler would not have been as powerful. Many people are unaware that more than just six million Jews were killed, but people with a physical or mental disability were killed under the Nazi regime. Priests, homosexuals, and others were also killed.

Bill Schwartz's [Annotator's Note: assigned to the 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division] biggest nightmare was losing 20 percent of his men on D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He still has nightmares and regret for losing those men. He has had anti-Semitism directed at him a few times in his life. While in Europe, he was given the task to work in conjunction with the establishment of a constabulary. He had to locate the warehouse that stored boots for this department. He was able to locate them with the help of his driver. They did get lost at one point and had to ask a German for help. Schwartz knew a little German because his grandparents immigrated from Vienna [Annotator's Note: Vienna, Austria], so Schwartz was able to get the German to tell him where to go. Schwartz said that the Germans would string piano wire from a pole and tree to behead anyone driving under it. On VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], Schwartz was in Germany and was so ecstatic. He celebrated and drank a lot of beer. As a member of the occupation force, Schwartz was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Even though they were sending soldiers home, the Army was still bringing in replacements for the occupation in Europe. Schwartz was given an office and a German secretary. He chose his secretary because she was pretty and could speak English. During occupation, he enrolled at a local university and took classes in phycology. The professor told him that the course would not be spoken in English, so Schwartz told his secretary to only speak to him in German so he could understand the language better before the course started. Within 30 days he was fluent. Schwartz was aware of the Holocaust [Annotator's Note: also called the Shoah; the genocide of European News during World War 2] but did not know much in detail about it until later. He arrived at one concentration camp as soon as the Russians did. He did not want to see the sight. He could not believe humans could do that to other humans. Schwartz was in the service for over four years. His commanding general, and friend, took him to other higher officials, including Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States], so he could deliberate his combat experiences. The commanding general wanted Schwartz to sign up for another five years, but Schwartz decided to go home because he wanted to see his family. He would not be given a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] if he agreed to sign up. When he returned home, he agreed to stay in the Reserves.

When Bill Schwartz returned home from his service in Europe, he was amazed to see how old his parents were. He later realized that they were not older, but that he was only a child when he went off to war. The Germans were drafting 14-year-old kids. He was so happy to see his parents, nonetheless. Not long after he returned home, he took all his uniforms and medals and threw them away because he never wanted to see them again. He did this because he had killed fine human beings even though they were Germans, and he was ashamed of killing. He also felt responsible for the men that died under his command. He was responsible for their safety throughout the war, and he failed them. Some years later, his wife woke him up because he was having a nightmare about his war experience. His wife advised him to seek help. She told him to join a veteran's group so he could be affiliated with other men who had the same experiences. He did what his wife suggested, and it helped him confront and heal from his post traumatic stress disorder. Schwartz's father told him nothing was free in life, and he had to pay dues. His father said to give 10 cents to the Red Cross. His father told him that his biggest mission in life is to help people that need help. Schwartz continues that mission today by volunteering for many organizations and asking for contributions from different corporations to fund aid organizations. Schwartz's children do the same thing.

Bill Schwartz's most memorable experience of World War 2 is D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He fought because it was an obligation to help save the world from Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and the Nazi party. He wanted to protect his country, his family, and friends. He knew that if Hitler was not stopped, he would be enslaved or killed, especially because he was a Jew. The war changed his life by making him more sensitive to people's needs and more aware of the dangers in the world. He also learned that people can be very cruel to others. He prays to God three times a day to give thanks to what he has. His service means that when troubled times come, one must step forward and defend their country and family. He believes that America would not exist today if it was not for the efforts of the citizens to fight in World War 2. Germans were more advanced at the beginning of the war and dangers continue to exist with other countries. America learned to always be on guard. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because people need to know to remain free and prevent totalitarianism from taking over the world. Schwartz is very grateful to have visited the museum. He thinks that the museum has great programs and is honored to be a part of it.