Alfred Anthony Alvarez was born in Boston, Massachusetts to parents with Irish ancestry in April 1924. He joined the service when he was 18 years old. He grew up with a friend named Stanley and they decided to enlist together. Alvarez did not think his mother would let him, but he did it anyway. He was not able to complete part of his entrance examination. His friend tried to do it for him, but they were caught. Alvarez spent the whole day at the recruiting station until he could finish the exam. He wanted to be a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] radioman/gunner. Instead, he was given a machine gun and a radio in the signal corps. Being in the signal corps ended up saving his life. He did his training at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey [Annotator's Note: in Monmouth County, New Jersey]. He did well on his exams. Alvarez was trained how to use radar. He trained for six months and was promoted to Private First Class. His classes were shortened, and Alvarez was sent to Europe to prepare for the invasion of France. Before he went to Europe, Alvarez was sent to California by train. All of his nice clothes were taken, and he was given various uniforms designed for different climates. Eventually, he was sent back to Boston, where he was told he could not tell anyone where he was. Alvarez took a ship to Chester, England, where he was put into a replacement depot. He decided he wanted to be in the 1st Division [Annotator's Note: 1st Infantry Division], so he got himself signed into the unit. They made him into a pole charge man. The job entailed carrying a pole with explosives in one end and was used to blow open a pillbox [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns]. They were followed by satchel charge man and a flamethrower man. Alvarez was then put into a field artillery unit [Annotator's Note: 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division]. He thought he would be in the rear, but he was made into a forward observer. He impressed his new comrades with his radio knowledge. Alvarez would go out with teams, but they would get confused in the field. He was made a radio operator in his team. Alvarez was a part of Operation Tiger [Annotator's Note: Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger, rehearsal for invasion of Normandy, Slapton Sands, Devon, England, April 1944]. The Germans sank a few ships in the channel [Annotator's Note: the English Channel] that were carrying the 4th Division [Annotator's Note: 4th Infantry Division]. That was the first time Alvarez experienced an order requiring silence about the event. They practiced a number of times until the chaplain came out to give the last rites.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez's unit [Annotator's Note: 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division] was given a new lieutenant, but he died quickly. Alvarez always thought that if he became a lieutenant, he would not make the same mistakes other officers made that got them killed. When crossing minefields, they used a rope to keep direction. One lieutenant was wounded by a mortar blast. Alvarez managed to get into the field to rescue the officer. About a year later, the officer returned to the unit, but he died later. By that time, Alvarez was a T-5 [Annotator's Note: US Army Technician Fifth Grade or T5; equivalent to a corporal; E-4]. A couple of the other guys thought Alvarez was doing something to get rid of the lieutenants. He was the food gatherer for his team. By the time the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] started, he had gathered all sorts of rations for his team. From France, he went to Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. It took almost a year to make it there. The Hurtgen Forest [Annotator's Note: Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945, Hürtgen (Hurtgen), Staatsforst (state forest), Germany] and the Bulge were the worst places for Alvarez. Many men died in those battles, and Alvarez would strip bodies for their clothes. He would wear the jackets of dead men because they were bigger and had more pockets. The first sergeant was a cook and was with a warrant officer. At one point, the sergeant was with a one star general and Alvarez later found out they served together in World War 1. Alvarez later served in Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. Alvarez was a part of the SPIC [Annotator's Note: ASTP Army Specialized Training Program]. The United States decided the war would run for about five years, so the country started preparing for 1945. They placed the smart servicemen in a different group from regular servicemen and sent the smart ones to college. The colleges were able to keep their campuses full. When the war was starting to wind down, the men in college were taken out. However, Adolf Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] sent as many Germans to the Battle of the Bulge as he could, so Washington sent the college kids to Europe. Alvarez was wearing snow gear and moved his gear on a sled. When the new guys made it to the line, they did not have the proper clothing, so they were all lost. The men that gave up during the battle were well dressed. Alvarez's men noticed men walking through the area one day, but before they started firing, they realized they were captured Americans, so they could not fire. His unit fired 105mm [Annotator's Note: M2A1 105mm howitzer; standard light field howitzer] and 155mm guns [Annotator's Note: M114 155mm howitzer or 155mm Howitzer M1, towed howitzer, nicknamed Long Tom]. The most difficult place Alvarez fought at was the Hurtgen Forest. The forest had trees lined up in a way that kept the soldiers from digging holes. The trees would then fall on the men when they were blown up. When one man of a four-man team was wounded or disappeared, it would be a bad situation. Alvarez was a radio operator and had an assistant. The assistant then became the senior of the two and they would switch duties. During the Battle of the Bulge, several officers were killed. Alvarez's radio operator was killed in an artillery blast. That's when the danger of the situation hit home for Alvarez. He later saw an article about his friend in a paper and decided to write an article about him as well.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez was in Czechoslovakia [Annotator's Note: with the 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] when the war ended. When he heard the news, he tried to get sent to Spain, however, because he accidentally burned down an officer's tent he was denied. He was sent home. He decided to stay in the military because he enjoyed it. Alvarez was sent to the Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] army base and was given food and living allowance. He was given extra money for living at home. One day, an officer he knew walked into the area and Alvarez told him he wanted to be an officer. When the officer found out he was in the 1st Division [Annotator's Note: 1st Infantry Division], it helped him get into OCS [Annotator's Note: officer's candidate school]. Alvarez got married and was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas to become an artillery officer. Alvarez did not get the Combat Infantry Badge [Annotator's Note: the Combat Infantryman Badge or CIB is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers in the rank of Colonel and below, who personally fought in active ground combat while assigned as members of either an infantry, Ranger or Special Forces unit, of brigade size or smaller, any time after 6 December 1941] because he was in the artillery. He became parachute qualified and was sent to the 82nd Division [Annotator's Note: 82nd Airborne Division] because he had his jump qualifications. Alvarez was not given the Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is an award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy] because he did not report being hit. While in Czechoslovakia, the Germans had set up traps and engineers were needed to get through the obstacles. As the troops moved through, a German fired something that blew out Alvarez's ears. He did not report his injury because the war was ending, and he did not want to leave his unit. Alvarez was sent to the 187th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 187th Glider Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division], which was in need of artillery officers. He was a smart lieutenant but would lose infantry officers. He talked to the regimental commander about it and became friends with him. Alvarez started working as a cartoon writer in the unit and would make cartoons about various funny things that happened. He made a cartoon about an officer that the officer did not like it. The regimental commander thought the cartoons were funny. The commander tried to show the men artillery being parachuted from a plane, but it did not go as plan. He promised the commander not to talk about the event and Alvarez managed to secure a position in the 187th Infantry Regiment.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez was given a platoon in the 187th Infantry Regiment [Annotator's Note: 187th Glider Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division]. Many of the men had been wounded and the general was going to present them with Purple Hearts [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is an award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy], so they needed to clean the area. The general hit his face with a piece of iron while pinning the medals on the men. Alvarez told the men not to be seen laughing as the general slid down the hill in the rain. Sometime later while Alvarez was in New Mexico, he got in touch with General Westmoreland [Annotator's Note: William Childs Westmoreland, General, US Army; Commander US Forces, Vietnam, 1964-1968; US Army Chief of Staff, 1968-1972] and asked to be moved to the 11th Airborne. He was known as "Westmoreland's Boy" because of the friendship they had. The men and officers did not like that about him. He was given a regular army commission and started working with the mail. They thought Alvarez was Spanish because of his name and he was assigned to South America. He was sent to school and promoted to major. Alvarez was then sent to Argentina. It was miserable because everyone was a field grade officer, and no one knew anything about the country. During that time, there were revolutions going on. The United States became interested in South America when Kennedy [Annotator's Note: President John F. Kennedy 35th President of the United States of America] was president. Alvarez had to show the locals how to make hamburgers. The steaks in the area were very good. They opened up a hamburger store in the region. Alvarez remained in Argentina for almost three years and learned how to speak Spanish, which lead him to Bolivia while Che Guevara [Annotator's Note: Ernest "Che" Guevara, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary] was there and later the Falkland Islands [Annotator's Note: Falklands War, 2 April to 14 June 1982].

Alfred Alvarez was about 16 years old when Pearl Harbor happened [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He immediately wanted to join the military but was too young. Alvarez managed to lie and get into the service. A friend of his helped him get through the physical. His friend ended up in Alaska. Alvarez managed to enlist in July 1942. He was assigned to the 7th Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division [Annotator's Note: 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division]. Getting into the unit was not difficult or painful. The men had seen combat and were burned out. The men were friendly but said horrible things to Alvarez. He was told to tell three people anything he was going to do. The men were old and experienced. There was a warrant officer and a general from World War 1 in the unit. All of the artillery officers were from New England. Many of the officers were lost, but the NCOs [Annotator's Note: noncommissioned officers] were always there. Alvarez wrote a book about D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He was about 19 years old and well trained. At the time, he was a PFC [Annotator's Note: private first class] which meant something to him. When he arrived, his battery commander asked him why he was a PFC and then told him to do well or he would be demoted. That officer was lost in the first week of the invasion. Alvarez was sent out as a FO [Annotator's Note: forward observer] with the 16th Regimental Combat Team. [Annotator's Note: interviewee shows interviewer various articles, pictures, and quotes]. Alvarez chased Che Guevara [Annotator's Note: Ernest "Che" Guevara, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary] in Bolivia. The Bolivians captured Che and he was killed. Che was an Argentinian, but they did not want to believe it. He was later buried in a secret place.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez ended up on a LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] with a portion of the radio [Annotator's Note: with the 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division] . It was so heavy with all of his equipment. When the landing craft hit land, he ran onto the beach and fell down [Annotator's Note: on D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. The radio hit him in the face. One of the radio operators asked him to check his head and Alvarez saw a hole in the center of his helmet. Blood was streaming down his face. The man asked him to check the wound and Alvarez found that the bullet did not enter his skull. Alvarez never reported the wound and the man never received the Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is an award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy] or 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] for being wounded. In 1945, Alvarez saw that man on the road, and they started talking. He brought Alvarez to a bar room, and the man's helmet was on the wall. He wanted Alvarez to tell the guys in the bar that he had really been shot. Alvarez landed on Easy Red beach [Annotator's Note: Easy Red sector, Omaha Beach. The landing was noisy, so he kept his head down. He lost both of his lieutenants on the landing. The sergeant went to get another lieutenant and showed up two hours later. Alvarez remembered the officer being very brave, standing up while Alvarez laid down. The officer directed the men off of the beach. That officer was hit in the Hurtgen Forest [Annotator's Note: Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945, Hürtgen (Hurtgen), Staatsforst (state forest), Germany] and was never seen again. They finally got to the top of the hill, and they ran into the battalion commander. A few years later, Alvarez ran into the battalion commander and was surprised he knew him. When Alvarez became a battalion commander, he tried to know his men.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez became a lawyer after the war. In Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975], he was given a direct order from a general to deny the enemy use of a piece of land for a whole day. Alvarez wrote a story about the Hurtgen Forest [Annotator's Note: Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945, Hürtgen (Hurtgen), Staatsforst (state forest), Germany, as a member of the 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division]. He was friends with a sergeant in one of the other companies. They were talking one day and realized how many people they had lost in a short amount of time. The weather was wet and cold. The senior people were losing everything including the veteran troops. Alvarez had picked up spare clothing from wounded men on the ground to keep warm. The medics would tear the clothes off of the wounded to work on them and then Alvarez would take them. He did not feel emotions while doing that. The troops had to walk through ice. The Germans were better prepared. They had been fighting on the Eastern Front and knew about the cold. Alvarez was somewhere making coffee and had some prisoners with him. They would ask if they could have sandwiches. Alvarez was eventually told to move them somewhere else. The radio wire went out and he was told to find out where the break was as well. The prisoners had been cooking, which irritated the lieutenant. Alvarez had a pistol and had to walk through tall snow. While walking, he tripped, and the pistol landed somewhere else. The Germans helped Alvarez find it in the snow, cleaned it, and gave it back to Alvarez. They recognized the situation they were in. When the war ended, Alvarez was told to stand at a corner and collect German weapons and check people as they passed through. As a wagon passed through, a man noticed he was carrying two canteens. He tossed the extra canteen to the man who gave the water to his wife and kids. The locals started talking about how well the Americans treated their former enemies. Alvarez went on to fight in five wars.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez was clearing out a town [Annotator's Note: with the 7th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division] when a jeep full of Germans started shooting up the town. The Americans shot the vehicle, wounding the occupants. One of the men was an officer who demanded medical attention. One man hit him with his rifle butt in the face, wounding him further. The medics needed help and asked for more wagons to move the dead and wounded. Alvarez did not do anything to help and did not feel guilty about it. The medic realized the wagon would help a wounded man and not a dead person, so he further wounded one of the men. Alvarez does not blame the medic. It was easier for him. That was during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. Once the military realized they were against a massed armored attack, they tried to put together groups to fight back. [Annotator's Note: Alvarez starts to read an account of the battle.] The treads on the German tanks were much bigger than the American tanks. A tank shell hit his jeep while he was at Waimes [Annotator's Note: Waimes, Belgium]. [Annotator's Note: Alvarez shows the interviewer a map of the battle.] The Americans were firing new artillery shells that exploded at the height of their trajectory, which was a problem.

Alfred Anthony Alvarez retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel. He had earned a CIB [Annotator's Note: the Combat Infantryman Badge or CIB is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers in the rank of Colonel and below, who personally fought in active ground combat while assigned as members of either an infantry, Ranger or Special Forces unit, of brigade size or smaller, any time after 6 December 1941]. While he was a major, Alvarez was acting commander. However, because he did mostly paperwork, he was not given the command. He realized he was not going to be moving up in the ranks much more and got a civilian job doing administration work for North Carolina hospitals. One of the hospitals was out in the country and was opened in 1913. Apparently if a girl was fooling around with boys, they were sent to that hospital and beaten. Alvarez called the governor who had the place cleaned out. Two girls burned the buildings down. Alvarez built a swimming pool, cleaned up the place and made it nice. There were schools for people that were deaf and mute. When Alvarez arrived, he found out the girls were being raped by the male employees. He had the state police come out. The teachers were former students and told Alvarez's men what happened and the man in charge was arrested. One of the women was afraid to get into the bus with that man. Alvarez did not like what was happening, he had a daughter and did not want that to happen to her. Other people that worked there wrote down what he did, but never did anything to stop it from happening. The former governor called him to find out what happened, but Alvarez refused to talk to him. He was the husband of one of the female clerks and wanted to find out what happened. The hospital was closed down. He was given hospital clothes to wear as he checked the wards. While checking a room, he saw 60 people covered in their own waste. All of those people had to be cleaned with a hose and cleaner. Alvarez was then sent to the ward that held murderers. Alvarez did that for a couple of years before returning to Fort Bragg [Annotator's Note: Fort Bragg, North Carolina] to train troops. Alvarez enjoyed being in the service. He spoke to many troops about how to succeed in the military, including getting educated and trained in various aspects of military life.