Bradford Clark Freeman was born in Lowndes County [Annotator's Note: Lowndes County, Mississippi], and attended school in Artesia [Annotator's Note: Artesia, Mississippi], finishing high school in 1942. His father was a hay and dairy farmer, and the family sold hay to the Army. He began studies at Mississippi State University [Annotator's Note: Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science in Starkville, Mississippi] in 1942 and was sworn into the Army in December of that year. In April 1943, Freeman went to Camp Shelby [Annotator's Note: Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi] for clothing and equipment, and then to Fort McClellan, Alabama [Annotator's Note: originally Camp McClellan in Anniston, Alabama] for basic training. After 13 weeks, he went to Fort Benning, Georgia. In November, he got his wings [Annotator's Note: Parachutist Badge, also commonly referred to as Jump Wings]. The first time Freeman jumped, it was at night, after which the plane crashed, and the rest of his class couldn't jump. He got to go home for 14 days, but had to return to Camp Mackall, North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. There he trained with the 541st [Annotator's Note: 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment] until 5 February 1944. He went to Ireland, then went to Aldbourne [Annotator's Note: Aldbourne, England] and was with E Company [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] from then on. Freeman had four brothers, and he talked about what each of them did during the war. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Freeman why he wanted to become a paratrooper and he answers with accounts of his four brothers and their service enlistments, starting at 00:03:25.000.]

Between 12 and 15 paratroopers arrived in Ireland with Bradford Clark Freeman, and Winters [Annotator's Note: later US Army Major Richard Davis Winters] came and got him to help unload the baggage. The two talked, then went together to Aldbourne [Annotator's Note: Aldbourne, England]; Freeman said he fit right in with Easy Company [Annotator's Note: Company E]. They began training, and Freeman admitted that he didn't know he was classified a mortar gunner until he got out of the armed services. Malarkey [Annotator's Note: Army Technical Sergeant Donald George Malarkey] was their sergeant all the way through, and Freeman says they got along well. Freeman learned how the mortar operated but said they didn't use it all that much because they were always moving. He shot more flares than anything, except at Carentan, France, [Annotator's Note: Battle of Carentan, 10 to 14 June 1944] where he did a good bit of shooting. Thinking back on when they left England, Freeman says it was serious that night. He fastened a little more ammunition on Guarnere [Annotator's Note: Army Staff Sergeant William J. "Wild Bill" Guarnere] at his request. George Luz [Annotator's Note: Army Technician 4th Grade George Luz, Sr.] was carrying on a bit, trying to sell a watch. Everyone was laying there and mostly waiting. There wasn't much talking. They knew what they were going to do. All the officers were at the airfield, including General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States], going around shaking hands. The paratroopers needed help getting on the plane because their equipment was so heavy. After the plane took off, it circled around a good while. No one spoke. The plane was peppered a little bit with ack-ack [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft fire] between the islands of Guernsey [Annotator's Note: Guernsey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom] and Jersey [Annotator's Note: Jersey, Jersey, Channel Islands, United Kingdom], so the pilot took the plane down. The aircraft rattled so much there wasn't a man left sitting on a seat. But they got below the ack-ack and went on.

[Annotator's Note: Bradford Clark Freeman served in the Army as a paratrooper in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division and jumped into Normandy, France in the early morning hours of 6 June 1944.] When the lights came on in the plane, Freeman says they jumped without knowing where they were. He landed in a pasture with some cows. At first, he didn't see anybody else, but he did see another plane go down in some trees behind him. In time he found Lewis Lampos [Annotator's Note: Army Private Lewis Lampos], who had a broken leg. Freeman hid Lampos in the bushes, carried his parachute into the woods and then took off. Soon he met Sergeant Grant [Annotator's Note: Army Sergeant Charles E. Grant], and together they made it to Sainte-Mere-Eglise [Annotator's Note: Sainte-Mère-Église, France] where they met others from Easy Company [Annotator's Note: Company E], caught up with Lieutenant Welsh [Annotator's Note: Army First Lieutenant Harry F. Welsh] and eventually Winters [Annotator's Note: later US Army Major Richard Davis Winters]. They "got to hunting' then" and went down the road like they owned the thing. Freeman jumped with the mortar plate and sights. He also had three rounds of mortar ammunition and his rifle. Freeman saw cows, but they didn't pay him any attention. He had a little food, including K-rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] and a chocolate bar. It was dark, and they went by a church on the outskirts of the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. After daylight they stopped, where some of the company argued that the road signs had been changed. Some of them went down one road where they encountered a little, old tank that had wooden spokes in the wheels. During the previous night, Freeman and Bain [Annotator's Note: Army Sergeant Roderick Bain] were resting in an open field when a tank came by between them, waking them up. They moved quickly to catch up with the rest of their unit and there was a pretty good little battle. Freeman was manning the mortar and was never under direct fire. Once in a while, he went out on patrol.

The company [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] moved up to Carentan, France, and there was a fierce battle [Annotator's Note: Battle of Carentan, 10 to 14 June 1944]. Bradford Freeman was firing the mortar, the bullets were flying, and he saw a piece of the railroad turned up. He recalls Colonel Sink [Annotator's Note: later US Army Lieutenant General Robert Frederick Sink] carrying ammunition in his jeep. The riflemen had it pretty rough and Freeman noticed bullets jumping off the concrete bridge. He thinks Winters [Annotator's Note: later US Army Major Richard Davis Winters] got hit in the leg there. The position Freeman was firing from was not that far from the combat forces, but he was too busy to notice everything that was going on at the bridge. He noted that the 327th [Annotator's Note: 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] came in from the other side of town and most of the division met in the town square. General Taylor [Annotator's Note: US Army General Maxwell Davenport Taylor, commander of 101st Airborne Division during the Normandy Campaign] made a little speech. Freeman does not recall what the speech was about, because with Germans loose, artillery going off, and bullets flying overhead, he and most of the men scattered. Taylor directed them to find who was directing the fire, and when the source was discovered, it was women. The thing that sticks out in Freeman's mind about Carentan was that he could see the river, but he could not see the bridge, and Malarkey [Annotator's Note: Army Technical Sergeant Donald Malarkey] told him to walk his fire, so he did.

From Carentan [Annotator's Note: Battle of Carentan, 10 to 14 June 1944, Carentan, France], Bradford Clark Freeman wound up on the beach, boarded a small boat and returned to England. He recalls an incident before they left that had to do with Malarkey [Annotator's Note: Army Technical Sergeant Donald George Malarkey] and a motorcycle that he had hidden among the dunes. Freeman helped maneuver the bike onto the ramp of the amphibious landing craft. When they got it back to England, they rode it around the countryside until it was taken away. Freeman had a bad knee and didn't train with the company [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] for a while. He rejoined the exercises when they got ready to go to Holland [Annotator's Note: Operation Market Garden, Netherlands, 17 to 25 September 1944]. While he recuperated, he worked in the officers' mess. By the time they left for Holland, the personnel in the squad had changed somewhat. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, when Freeman took off for Holland. When the plane crossed the front line, it was under attack from the ground, but that didn't last long. He watched as a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] swooped down and hit the source of the barrage and it was over. It was amazing to see. The jump differed from the Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] drop in that it was daylight, they landed in the DZ [Annotator's Note: drop zone], and the unit assembled right away outside of Son [Annotator's Note: Son, Netherlands]. It was a good landing. As they were walking off, two gliders collided, killing General Pratt [Annotator's Note: US Army Brigadier General Don Forrester Pratt]. He also passed a jumper who hadn't hooked up, and although he still had his shoes on, somebody said he was like jelly. Freeman would not touch him to confirm that fact. He says that was the bad part about that. The company wasn't fired upon until they got to Eindhoven [Annotator's Note: Eindhoven, Netherlands].

They [Annotator's Note: Bradford Clark Freeman and his fellow paratroopers in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] were met by the people when his company reached Eindhoven [Annotator's Note: Eindhoven, Netherlands]. The civilians were glad to see the Americans and were willing to give them anything they had. A funny thing happened that he only found out about after it was over. Liebgott [Annotator's Note: Army Technician 5th Grade Joseph D. Liebgott, Jr.] was walking along with a bazooka [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless anti-tank weapon] and it was ready to go. A small, curious boy ran up behind him and touched it. It fired into the ground, making a hole in the middle of the street and causing quite a commotion. But in all, the civilians were trying to be helpful, telling the Americans where to find the Germans. Freeman got to the bridge [Annotator's Note: Son Bridge, Son, Netherlands] after it was secure and was amazed when a British soldier got out of his tank to have tea. Freeman did not tarry and went on. The Americans heard there was a column of tanks on the way, so they left town thinking they had turned it over to the British. They moved on, keeping about a fencepost of distance apart, and when Bed Check Charlie [Annotator's Note: enemy aircraft that harassed ground troops at nightfall] came around, they stood in place just like fence posts. When it became apparent that the tanks weren't coming to reinforce Eindhoven, the company went back to the town. While they were gone, the Germans had blown the bridge, and the Americans had to help construct a pontoon replacement. Once the bridge was complete, they started up the highway, meeting serious resistance along the way. The worst thing Freeman saw was the residue of a tank battle. [Annotator's Note: Freeman does not remember exactly where the battlefield was located.] Tanks were still on fire, and there were explosions erupting everywhere. There were bodies burning, and the stench made Freeman sick. Finally, they got up to Arnhem [Annotator's Note: Arnhem, Netherlands], and patrolled there. They left in November [Annotator's Note: November 1944]. While in the area, Freeman helped capture a squad of Germans patrolling with their dogs. The Germans gave up without a shot being fired, but the dogs escaped. [Annotator's Note: Freeman mentions that he was among the soldiers who helped bring 140 people to safety.]

Backing up to his experiences in Eindhoven [Annotator's Note: Eindhoven, Netherlands], Bradford Clark Freeman took no kisses from the girls, explaining that he was always shy. He was raised in the country, and never courted before joining the armed forces. He describes being stationed in an area between the railroad tracks and the dyke near Arnhem [Annotator's Note: Arnhem, Netherlands], where there was not much fighting. In November 1944, the company [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] went back to France, and Freeman had a five-day pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France]. He did not like Paris, and he returned to camp. They were called to action in December when they were needed in Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Bastogne, Belgium]. The company was packed into open trucks and traveled standing. It was so cold, Freeman's feet nearly froze. When they arrived, they could hear firing at the front line. Nobody said much, but Freeman told a bunch of them, "here we go again." Winters [Annotator's Note: later US Army Major Richard Davis Winters] replied that it was right down his alley. The company walked down the road in the direction of the line, with nobody checking up, and picked up ammunition from trucks as they passed. Freeman and the rest of the mortar squad set up on the edge of the woods, and the infantrymen went straight into a firefight. Freeman stayed there the whole time and shot mostly flares. He was in the snow, but had a good hole, that they covered with brush. They made a small fire in a cup of gas that kept them from freezing. He jokes that when he would come out for guard duty, he could blow soot out of his nose. They were eventually relieved, but after a short rest, were moved on to clean out other villages. As they moved, they passed German prisoners who had surrendered or been captured. John Sheehy [Annotator's Note: Army PFC John L. Sheehy] tried to put a debilitated horse out of its misery with a shot from his Thompson sub gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun]. Although it knocked the horse down, the bullet didn't go through its hide, and another soldier killed it with an M-1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. They crossed an open field, uncontested until they got to the edge of a wood, when a screaming Mimi [Annotator's Note: nebelwerfer; German multiple rocket launcher] opened up. Freeman was hit in the leg and was taken off the field.

After being wounded in Belgium, Bradford Clark Freeman was sent back to England and didn't return to his company [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] until April [Annotator's Note: April 1945]. He was not with them when they took the Eagle's Nest [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi stronghold at Berchtesgaden, Germany]. Still, Freeman received four stars [Annotator's Note: service star; device worn to denote subsequent awards on medals and ribbons; also called campaign stars or battle stars], one for every battle, because he was there in Germany with the division. He rejoined E Company soon afterwards. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Freeman to name the men with whom he shared his foxhole outside of Bastogne, Belgium.] Freeman says it was two boys from Florida that he barely knew. Once when it was snowing, one of them went out to relieve himself and a P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] strafed the area. The man came running back holding up his britches, and dove into the foxhole. Thankfully, no one was hurt. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Freeman about the scariest part of the Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. It didn't bother him, except for the cold. Where he was sitting, on the edge of the woods, he could see Foy [Annotator's Note: Foy, Belgium] and Noville [Annotator's Note: Noville, Belgium], and he could watch the Germans. The only time he was under fire was when he was wounded. When he went back to England for treatment, he stayed at the 33rd General Hospital, then went back to the division on 12 April [Annotator's Note: 12 April 1945] as part of a pool. He finally made it back to Easy Company [Annotator's Note: Company E] and was with them on the 8th [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. The company had come down from the Eagle's Nest [Annotator's Note: Kehlsteinhaus, Berchtesgaden, Germany], and they just laid around there a couple of days. The war in Europe was over, but they began training to go to Japan. But the great, good bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] stopped the conflict, and saved so many lives. Freeman heard a story that happened on 7 May [Annotator's Note: 7 May 1945], when two soldiers, a German and an American, argued about who captured who. The American said the war was over, and the German didn't believe it.

Bradford Clark Freeman had the points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to return home and went to Marseilles, France to catch a boat. Before he got there, the Merchant Marines began a strike, and he was stranded for about two weeks. He was ready to get home. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Freeman what the scariest part of the war was.] He says it was when they loaded up the plane for the drop in France [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He guesses that he was scared all the time but could handle it. They [Annotator's Note: the men of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] laughed a lot, and Freeman says "Babe" [Annotator's Note: Army Private Edward James "Babe" Heffron] always had some kind of crack. Him [Annotator's Note: Heffron] and George Luz [Annotator's Note: Army Technician 4th Grade George Luz, Sr.] were the characters. After Freeman returned home, he didn't mention the war for a long time. Not until the company got together at reunions, and even then, not much. Later, he would discuss it with the men in his family every once in a while. Everybody was just glad to see him home. Freeman began going to the reunions in 1987, when Dr. Ambrose [Annotator's Note: Stephen E. Ambrose Ph.D.; American historian and biographer, author of "Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest"] attended, in Arizona. He remembers that Babe was issuing drinks. Getting back with the guys was nice. Freeman says he thought about them all the time and kept up with several of them over the years. Ambrose published his book, and then the television series came out. Freeman saw a draft of the book, and had a chance to comment, but he had little to say. Freeman said that his appearance in the account was minimal, and what he knew about in the story was true in the book. Freeman concedes that there was a lot in the book that he knew nothing about.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Bradford Clark Freeman if he feels it important for future generations to study and remember World War 2.] Freeman says it is good that they know it. He was personally interested in history and has talked with older members of his community who had experience with earlier conflicts. Freeman admits that he had nightmares when he first returned from the war and jokes that his wife would not let him keep a pistol in the same room. He still dreams about it [Annotator's Note: World War 2] every once in a while, but most of it is fun. He also says that when he sits on his front porch, and sees lightning in the distance, it brings back a lot of memories. He mentions that at the military camp near Reims, France, the artillery was constant. After the war, he became a mail carrier, and felt it was a good job.