Donald L. Beeghly was born in Sabetha, Kansas in May 1925. His father worked for Union Pacific but was laid off during the depression. The family then moved to a farm in Nebraska where they stayed for a while before returning to Kansas. Eventually, in the mid 1930s, Beeghly ended up back in Sabetha. During the summertime while he was in high school Beeghly stayed at his grandmother's house and worked around the place. His parents did not have the resources to care for him. Times were tough. Beeghly does not recall being concerned about the war before he got into it. Beeghly and his oldest brother were uptown when they heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They could not believe that someone could do what the Japanese did. It was very disturbing to hear it. The next day they heard war being declared on Japan and Germany. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Beeghly's father volunteered for the draft but was classified 4F because he was disabled. The general mood around town was concern. Beeghly does not believe that they were ready for the war when it came. After the war started there were scrap drives and rationing. Young people today have no concept of what it was like to live during that time. Beeghly's father had become disabled in 1938. After that his family lived off of the county. They had no money at all so there were no plans for Beeghly to go to college. Beeghly got his notice to go in front of the draft board before he even got out of high school. He reported for his physical then went to Fort Leavenworth for induction. That was on 7 July 1943.

Donald Beeghly was not excited about being drafted. He wondered what would happen. Beeghly got his uniforms at Fort Leavenworth then a few days later left by train for Fort Bliss, Texas. Nobody knew where they were going. Even the conductor of the train did not know where they were headed. After they arrived at Fort Bliss they were shown to the little square tar paper huts they would be living in. They did a lot of marching at Fort Bliss. Finally, they were assigned to a 90mm antiaircraft gun. Beeghly was very interested in the gun and got pretty good with it. When the inspectors would question the trainees, Beeghly always knew the answer so they would make him go sit down. They would take the 90mm guns out into the desert in New Mexico. In Beeghly's outfit there were four guns. The guns would be set up right next to each other so they could all fire in the same direction. In the desert there was a mountain that they would use to sight in on. They trained continuously. They used fake ammunition in the guns. Beeghly was responsible for the gun's elevation. Another soldier was responsible for traversing the gun. They also had a fuse cutter and a loader. A plane would fly over towing a target sleeve about 1,000 yards behind it which the guns would fire at. Beeghly went home on furlough in May 1944. After that they began preparing for overseas deployment. They went from Fort Bliss to Camp Bowie, from Camp Bowie to Camp Maxey, then from Camp Maxey to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey from where they shipped overseas. They went overseas on a large American passenger ship. There were 11,000 men aboard and it was so crowded that Beeghly's outfit had to sleep on the deck. They went overseas without an escort but when they arrived off the coast of England they suddenly had two destroyers with them. German u-boats had been detected and they were there to screen the ship. They finally went ashore in Liverpool then went by train to Southampton. From there they shipped over to mainland Europe. Beeghly had some apprehension going overseas. They had all heard about ships being torpedoed. They had drills aboard ship. They all had to have a life jacket. They had drills for having to jump off the ship. Fortunately, they did not have trouble.

When Donald Beeghly’s unit [Annotator's Note: the 142nd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion (mobile)] arrived in Southampton they were put in a big stadium type place. From there they were put aboard a ship to go to England [Annotator's Note: France]. When they arrived off the coast, they climbed down rope ladders into landing craft which took them ashore. By the time Beeghly arrived in theater, docks had already been constructed. His landing craft pulled up and dropped him off on the dock. They went ashore on Omaha Beach. They were shown the bunkers that the Germans had built to defend the beaches. After arriving in France they had to wait for their guns to arrive. Once the guns arrived they were put on a train. While waiting for another engine to hook up to pull the train, the cars were strafed by German planes. It was Beeghly's baptism of fire. They moved out and ended up in the Battle of the Bulge. They set their guns up but were soon told to break them down because the Germans were getting close. They got out of the area just before the Germans cut them off. From there they moved to a location on the Rhine River where they protected the Remagen Bridge. One day, they fired so many rounds that it melted a shell in the barrel. They were firing at a ridge. There were some Piper Cub airplanes that the artillery used that gave them coordinates for firing. All four guns in Beeghly's battery fired and hit their target. When they got out of the Battle of the Bulge they could see American troops about a half a mile away. He does not know how close the Germans were. They were that close to them when they got out. After they got out they moved to the Rhine River and were on the Rhine when the war ended. Beeghly talked to German people after the war and none of them had wanted the war. For him, it was entertaining to talk to the Germans about how they felt about the war. After the war, Beeghly was assigned to another outfit. They were on the Autobahn and his brake went out. Several trucks got passed him then finally a maintenance truck pulled up behind him. The mechanics disconnected the truck's brakes and told him to catch up to his unit. He did so using only the truck's hand brake. During the war, if the sergeant told them to do something, they did it. Beeghly was fortunate to get out of the service when he did. He was supposed to get shots the day that the war in the Pacific ended. They were to get the shots preparatory to going to the Pacific. Beeghly is glad they did not have to go. Beeghly realized that he was in a serious situation the day the German planes flew over and strafed them. The Americans used a 90mm gun. The Germans used an 88mm gun. The weather during the Battle of the Bulge was very cold, snowy, and miserable. The only thing they had in their personnel carrier was a little heater but it only worked when the vehicle was running.

[Annotator's Note: Donald Beeghly served in the Army as a pointer on a 90mm antiaircraft gun in the 142nd and 143rd Antiaircraft Artillery Battalions (mobile) and took part in the Ardennes and Central European Campaigns.] By D-Day the Luftwaffe was about done. Waves of American bombers flew overhead with no escort. Looking back, Beeghly thought about the holidays he spent with his family. During the war he was away from that. His family was very close. He had four brothers. He was the second from oldest. His oldest brother was also in the service in the combat engineers. At one point when they were in Europe they were only about a quarter of a mile apart but did not know it. Beeghly's brother had gone into the service in March 1943 and he went into the service in July 1943. Beeghly stayed in touch with his mother back home. She saved three fourths of the letters he sent home. He has a little suitcase that his mother had in which she kept all of the little mementos and items Beeghly sent home. He sent home a German rifle that was a .22 caliber. It was the same as their army rifle only it was a .22 caliber. Where Beeghly's unit was located he saw one German soldier who had not been picked up yet. Only one man in Beeghly's unit was shot but it was by accident. He shot himself in the leg. They were told as a unit that the Germans had surrendered. They were told that they could relax and that they no longer had to fear that every German would try to shoot them. After the surrender they occupied Germany to make sure that there would not be any type of an uprising.

Donald Beeghly did not see any massive movements of German prisoners. Beeghly has a document he received from the commander of the 142nd Antiaircraft [Annotator's Note: 142nd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion (mobile)] that the unit fired over 7,000 rounds during its combat tour. They also captured 127 German troops. One day they were firing and it was raining. The shells were so sensitive that the rain was setting them off and they were exploding over American troops. They could set the shells to detonate at four feet if they were firing them at troops. They could also set them to detonate on impact with the ground. It all depended on what they wanted the shells to do. When they were shooting at the bridge, they wanted the shells to explode when they hit the bridge. Beeghly returned to the United States aboard a small Victory ship, the Webster [Annotator's Note: SS Webster Victory]. They shipped out of Antwerp and entered the English Channel. Some of the roughest water in the world is in the English Channel. The ship bounced all over. Half the men below decks were sick. Beeghly stayed up on deck. He was fine the whole trip back. They pulled into Philadelphia then got on a train and went to Fort Leavenworth. It was great seeing his family again. After being discharged at Fort Leavenworth he took a bus home. He got off the bus and the town marshal picked him up and brought him home. The marshal dropped him off on the corner and Beeghly walked across a field to his house. By the time he got to the porch his mother was already in the doorway waiting for him. That was the happiest day of his life. He was home and in one piece. As happy as he was to be home, he would do it all over again if he had to. Beeghly does not think much of those who later went to Canada to avoid service. He thinks they are chicken. If a person does not have enough nerve to protect his country they do not belong here anyway.

When Donald Beeghly got home from the war he did not know what he was going to do. There was a farmer down the road from his house who had some health problems so Beeghly worked the farm with him. Beeghly worked the farm from the time he got home until August when he went to Omaha to go to school on the GI Bill. He first went to a county school [Annotator's Note: he may be saying an accounting school] then went to Fairmont Foods where he met his wife. Beeghly's wife passed away in August 2011 after more than 62 years of marriage. Beeghly feels that it is very important for students to study the Second World War. They need to understand the destruction and loss of manpower that occurred. Beeghly does not feel that the war changed him. When he came home he was the same guy who had gone overseas. The only difference was that he was a little bigger when he got home. He grew up a little. It is very important for there to be museums like The National WWII Museum. People have different feelings when they can actually see something. Some kids today think the war was fake but it was not. Beeghly's grandchildren know he was in the war. Before his wife passed away Beeghly spoke to her and his daughters about visiting The National WWII Museum but did not know how they were going to get there. After his wife passed away his daughters told him that they were definitely going to get him to the museum. His daughters are the reason he visited the museum. He is very happy seeing a place that honors his generation. He plans to spread the word about how well done and educational The National WWII Museum is. If Beeghly could leave a message to future generations it would be to watch the world for other countries that are building up for war. There has never been a war that was as deadly as World War 2.