Edwin McGhee was born in Brownwood, Texas. His father was employed during the Depression and kept his family fed. The family included eight children. Times were tough but McGhee's family did not realize it because everyone was suffering equally. McGhee was working on Saturdays when the war broke out. His older brother entered the Army and McGhee also did so after turning 18 years of age. His basic training was at Camp Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas. After completing basic, he was sent to Camp Howze in Gainesville, Texas. Both the camps were close to his home. He was not achieving his desire to see the world. From Camp Howze, the division [Annotator's Note: McGhee was an infantryman in Company B, 1st Battalion, 409th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division] was sent to Camp Shanks, New York in October [Annotator's Note: October 1944]. He had joined the Division in September. McGhee was an infantry rifleman. The trip to Europe on the ship was a bad experience. The excessive tobacco smoke and motion sickness proved very difficult for him. He was sick constantly and unable to eat or even get out of his bunk. He was relieved to get to Marseilles, France and fresh air. His convoy was escorted by United States Navy vessels, but McGhee was unaware of any threat of German u-boats. He found out later that the enemy submarines were in fact there.

Edwin McGhee landed in Marseilles, France was his infantry division [Annotator's Note: McGhee was an infantryman in Company B, 1st Battalion, 409th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division]. It took a couple of weeks before the Division was fully offloaded and prepared to move inland. He was separated from his rifle prior to the voyage. He was issued a new rifle upon arrival in France. He had no chance to fire the rifle until he was in combat. His accuracy with the untested weapon was limited since he had no chance to target it in. It was a gross mistake to not allow the men to shoot their weapons ahead of going into action. His M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 rifle, also referred to as the M1 Garand] was a good rifle. He just needed the opportunity to target in the weapon prior to fighting. Orders never came to sight the rifles. The first action was through German occupied French towns. None were heavily fortified. Opposition was not significant until reaching a large detachment of Germans in one town. Driving the Germans out, the enemy returned that night but the two hour counterattack was repelled. It was the first night fight for McGhee's Company B. The Americans outnumbered the Germans so they withdrew. Dead Germans were everywhere. The town was in the Vosges Mountains. McGhee was an experienced prewar hunter but doubted his accuracy because he had no chance to properly sight his rifle. Next, McGhee and his outfit advanced on to Sélestat, France. There was not clarity with the orders provided. The unit had experienced enemy fire prior to advancing across a river into the town. There was no opposition at that point. German tanks and infantry faced the Americans after they had been posted to the houses in the town. McGhee's squad was placed in a house. His squad leader was on the first floor while McGhee was on the second floor. A German 88mm shell entered the house in the room adjacent to where McGhee was standing. No one was in the room so there were no casualties. American artillery opened up and a faulty shell hit just outside the window where McGhee was located. It did not explode. The squad leader immediately ordered his men out of the house. Germans stood outside with their automatic weapons trained on the Americans. McGhee's squad was outnumbered and their weapons only consisted of M1 rifles. The Germans were better armed. The town was uninhabited excepted for the fighting forces. The German armor took the company command by surprise. McGhee was only in the house for an hour or two before the German tanks showed up and started firing.

Edwin McGhee had experienced German and American shelling before his squad evacuated the building that was under fire. He was immediately captured by German troops. Some American troops in the town [Annotator's Note: Sélestat, France] did manage to escape to the rear in lieu of being caught. The squad surrendered within a half hour of the discovery of Germans in the proximity. His unit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 409th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division] had been on a scouting mission. The rest of the company surrendered shortly after McGhee's squad did. McGhee had previously participated in the capture of St. Die. The St. Die engagement had not been severe for him. There was house to house fighting and German prisoners were taken. The Germans were vastly outnumbered by the Americans. The Germans facing McGhee seemed to be mostly veteran troops. After their capture at Sélestat, the American POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] were transferred across the Rhine River in boats. The men were disarmed but kept their uniforms until later. McGhee was a POW for five months. He took only two baths during that time. The uniforms were taken from them during one of those two occasions. The American clothing was used by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. The enemy posed as American troops during the Bulge. The Americans were issued uniforms from foreign armed forces that had opposed Germany. The uniform exchange occurred after the POWs had been transported by train to a location that suited them getting a bath. While at that location for a few weeks, McGhee had an attack of diarrhea. When he was released from the dispensary there, all of his comrades he had arrived with had been shipped out to other locations. He was sent to a camp in Northern Germany. He was not yet 19 years old. His morale was very low. He was shipped to various camps during his captivity.

Edwin McGhee saw British and Russian POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] in the first camp he was held in. The British had mainly been captured in North Africa. They seemed to be treated well by the Germans. Conversely, the Russians were harshly treated and deaths were frequent. Food was sparse for the POWs. The weather was cold. McGhee received no mail. Red Cross parcels would sometimes be distributed to the prisoners, but McGhee thought the Germans kept them for their personal use. McGhee met a fellow POW named Nixon [Annotator's Note: no given name provided] after the war when reunions began to be held. He could tell at the reunions that the casualty rate was low. There was no work assignment for the POWs. They mainly had to lay low and survive. To stay warm, a buddy shared his blanket with another POW so there would be two for their warmth. McGhee moved from the first camp after about 30 days. No useful work was ever required because the Germans did not have enough personnel to oversee the workers. McGhee was shipped via boxcar to another camp. Conditions in the second camp were comparable to the death camps where the Jews were exterminated. There were no ovens but similar in other ways. McGhee had no access to news about the war so his morale was quite low. He was interrogated a couple times. The Germans maintained records about him. McGhee lied when he answered some of the questions.

After Edwin McGhee was a prisoner in a second POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camp, the advancing Russians forced the Germans to move westward. The Germans preferred capture by the Americans as opposed to being apprehended by the Russians. The march toward the Elbe River was difficult. After reaching the river, the POWs crossed over and received food from the friendly troops there. The former prisoners were doused with DDT and given new uniforms. McGhee was greatly relieved to be liberated. He was not well until he had enough food to feel normal again. The German guards and officers became POWs when they crossed the Elbe. It was an uneventful occurrence. It happened a couple weeks prior to the former surrender. The American POWs had no intention of escaping during the march westward. Medical attention was non-existent. The weather was bitter cold. As the men marched, they obtained food from laborers who worked as slaves on the farms. It was the first form of sympathy the POWs experienced since their capture. It took a month for McGhee to regain his weight. McGhee assumes that, after his liberation, his family was notified of his release. His family had learned of his capture through a network of shortwave radios on the East Coast that listened in on German broadcasts listings soldiers who had been captured. The War Department notified his parents only that he was missing in action. McGhee returned to the United States in June [Annotator's Note: June 1945]. He received his private's pay and spent his money on candy bars. He ate so much that he did not want candy for several years afterward.

Edwin McGhee was changed by the war. He was only 19 years of age and was able to manage the aftermath in his mind. He spent three years after the war with veterans at Texas A&M College. All of them were trying to forget their experiences rather than reliving them. That time leveled things out for McGhee. After graduating, he moved forward with a normal life. The G.I. Bill was a great thing to come out of the war. It enabled him and other veterans to go to college. McGhee became a mechanical engineer. World War 2 brought the country out of the Depression. Economic improvements were forced on the country. The war made the country temporarily safer until the Russians, and later others, gained the atomic weapons. The National WWII Museum is significant as a reminder to later generations of what happened during the conflict. There was enormous unity and effort in the country. There is a great deal of ignorance concerning what the war was all about. McGhee will be pleased to visit the Museum during his visit to New Orleans.