Dominic Della Vedova was born in a coal mining camp called Bear Creek west of Ottumwa, Iowa in June 1919. His father was a coal miner and then purchased a farm where Della Vedova grew up. He worked on the farm after graduating from high school and had a job at John Deere before he was drafted into the Army. During the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], they got along all right. They did not have money, but they always had food because of the farm. He was drafted in May 1941 and went to Jefferson Barracks [Annotator’s Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post in Lemay, Missouri] to pick up his uniform before being sent to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana where he was assigned to Company D, 168th Infantry, 34th National Guard Division [Annotator’s Note: Company D, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division]. They lived in five-man tents with gas stoves in the middle. They did basic training, road marches, and learned about camouflage. They took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers [Annotator’s Note: a series of major US Army exercises from August to September 1941 in northern and west-central Louisiana]. Della Vedova thought they were a farce and does not know what anyone got out of them. He was assigned as a machine gunner on a .30 caliber water-cooled machine gun [Annotator’s Note: Browning M1917 .30 caliber water cooled heavy machine gun] which required a squad of three, the gunner, assistant gunner and an ammunition bearer. After 7 December [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], the unit went to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] in January [Annotator’s Note: of 1942]. They were supposed to leave April of 1942. They went from New York to Belfast, Ireland to a small town called Enniskillen.

From Enniskillen [Annotator’s Note: Enniskillen, Ireland], Dominic Della Vedova’s unit [Annotator’s Note: Company D, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division] went to Scotland for amphibious and commando training. They soon sailed to North Africa making an amphibious landing at Algiers [Annotator's Note: Algiers, Algeria during the Allied invasion of North Africa, codenamed Operation Torch; 8 to 16 November 1942]. They did not face any opposition during the landing. The French decided they were not going to fight. They moved to a place called El Biar [Annotator’s Note: El Biar, Algeria] where there was a French fort with Vietnamese troops. Next, they went to Constantine [Annotator’s Note: Constantine, Algeria] where they guarded a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] airfield. After that, they loaded up and went into their first real battle at Sened Station in Tunisia. They were acting in support of the 1st Armored Division. There was artillery, tank, small arms, and sniper fire. Their battalion commander and intelligence officer were killed by snipers on the way in. They were also bombed by Stukas [Annotator’s Note: German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft] on their way to Sened Station.

Dominic Della Vedova [Annotator’s Note: serving in Company D, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division] went from Faid [Annotator’s Note: Faid, Tunisia] to Fondouk [Annotator’s Note: Fondouk, Tunisia]. The first time they went there, it was only 1st Battalion and they attacked across the flats, the Germans were in a horseshoe formation. Della Vedova’s unit pulled out into a cactus patch and stayed there a few days and were joined by the other two regiments [Annotator’s Note: unspecified]. Operations were supposed to be carried out with the British, who were upset with the 34th for getting impatient and moving the tanks [Annotator’s Note: they were acting in support of the 1st Armored Division at this time] on without them. The Germans were really dug in. They eventually pulled out and the Americans pulled back. They took Hill 609 around this time [Annotator’s Note: April 1943] then headed for Chouigui Pass and ended up in Bizerte [Annotator’s Note: Chouigui Pass and Bizerte, Tunisia]. Della Vedova got a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant after Chouigui Pass and was transferred to M Company [Annotator’s Note: serving in Company M, 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division]. He was responsible for a machine gun platoon.

Dominic Della Vedova’s unit [Annotator’s Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division] moved back to Oran [Annotator’s Note: Oran, Algeria]. He went to school to learn about mines and took some training courses. They then boarded a ship and headed for Salerno [Annotator’s Note: the Allied invasion of mainland Italy, codenamed Operation Avalanche, 3 to 17 September 1943; Salerno, Italy]. There was an epidemic of jaundice among the troops. They did battle and then crossed the Volturno River three times. The last time was the worst time because there were a lot of mines. They moved on to Pantano [Annotator’s Note: Pantano, Italy] where they lost three battalion commanders. They did not die, but were wounded. Della Vedova was promoted to first lieutenant and remained with M Company. Then they moved over to the 36th Infantry Division. They crossed the Rapido River [Annotator’s Note: actually the Gari River, Italy] and went into Caira [Annotator’s Note: Caira, Italy] around the same time of the landings at Anzio [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Anzio, 22 January to 5 June 1944; Anzio and Nettuno, Italy]. They took the high ground west of the monastery [Annotator’s Note: abbey atop Monte Cassino, Italy]. It was a fiasco to try and take that monastery. After a few days, a British division came in to relieve them. When Companies I and K [Annotator’s Note: Company I and Company L, 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division] crossed the river, there was a mine field.

Dominic Della Vedova’s unit [Annotator’s Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division] went to a rest area in Piedmont [Annotator’s Note: Piedmont, Italy]. The division commander put Della Vedova in charge of Company I [Annotator’s Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division], a rifle company, and sent them to Anzio [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Anzio, 22 January to 5 June 1944; Anzio and Nettuno, Italy]. They could not move during the day time because they were constantly under observation. They ran patrols at night. They finally broke out in May [Annotator’s Note: of 1944] with the 1st Armored Division. They were ordered to head towards Rome [Rome, Italy] and ran into an in-tact German line and lost a lot of men. They made it to Rome and went right through it before arriving in Tarquinia [Annotator’s Note: Tarquinia, Italy] and picked up replacements. After that it was defend and pull out, defend and pull out until they reached the Arno River. Della Vedova was promoted again to captain on 6 July 1944. The Germans were not giving up, but moving back to better defensive positions. Somewhere north of Florence, Della Vedova got orders to go home for rest and recuperation. He always felt guilty about it. It was mostly people who had fought in North Africa who got to go home. He missed a few sustained battles in October and November, returning in December [Annotator’s Note: of 1944]. When he got back, he was put back in charge of M Company. They broke out of the Winter Line [Annotator’s Note: a series of German and Italian military fortifications running east to west of Italy] in April [Annotator’s Note: of 1945] and captured Bologna. They moved on to Milan and Novara [Annotator’s Note: Milan and Novara, Italy], where they accepted the surrender of a German unit. They then moved to Cuneo [Annotator’s Note: Cuneo, Italy]. Della Vedova was transferred to the 85th Infantry Division and sent home.

Dominic Della Vedova completed landings in North Africa [Annotator's Note: the Allied invasion of North Africa, codenamed Operation Torch; 8 to 16 November 1942] and faced some opposition, but by the time they [Annotator’s Note: Company D, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division] arrived in Salerno [Annotator’s Note: the Allied invasion of mainland Italy, codenamed Operation Avalanche, 3 to 17 September 1943; Salerno, Italy], most of the resistance had died down. [Annotator’s Note: There is a break in the video for a tape change at 00:55:15.] Della Vedova felt that the 34th was very poorly trained for combat in North Africa. They had not trained with tanks or artillery, they were amateurs. They were mostly draftees or national guardsmen. They received a bunch of bazookas [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless 2.36 inch anti-tank rocket launcher weapon] at Faid [Annotator’s Note: Faid, Tunisia], but they did not know how to use them. Della Vedova received a battlefield commission, so he had had no training regarding writing reports or reading maps. At Sened Station [Annotator’s Note: Sened Station, Tunisia], the 34th was in support of armored division [Annotator’s Note: the 1st Armored Division]. At Cassino [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Monte Cassino, 17 January to 18 May 1944; Cassino, Italy], they had some tank support and it worked well. Fredendall [Annotator’s Note: US Army Lieutenant General Lloyd Ralston Fredendall] had the division all spread out. There was no cohesion and no planning. In everything Della Vedova had read about the 34th, they get no credit for crossing the Rapido River [Annotator’s Note: actually the Gari River, Italy] or for taking the high ground at the monastery [Annotator’s Note: abbey atop Monte Cassino, Italy].

Dominic Della Vedova does not feel that Army changed him in any way. He remained in the reserves until he turned 60. He once ran into Ernie Pyle [Annotator's Note: Ernest Taylor Pyle; American journalist and war correspondent] in North Africa. Della Vedova took a Polish prisoner at Sened Station [Annotator’s Note: in Tunisia].