George Tamburello was born in February 1924 in Staten Island, New York. He was raised on a farm in in the rural community of Englishtown, New Jersey. He was the youngest of eight children. Since he was the youngest, he was very spoiled. As a young boy, he would bring out water to his father and older brothers while they worked on the farm and took care of the cow and horses. He did chores for his siblings and felt that this is how he could help the family. [Annotator’s Note: Noise is heard in the background at 0:03:50.000.] Tamburello stopped going to school at age 15 and helped work on the family farm. He also worked on a friend’s farm as a field hand. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his family never lacked food or housing, but they never had money. In the late 1930s, Tamburello was completely ignorant of world affairs, but longed to travel. He believed the military would be his best chance at that. Tamburello volunteered to be drafted in 1943. They tried to draft him into the Navy, but he was adamant about serving in the Army.

[Annotator’s Note: A dog barks throughout the segment.] George Tamburello volunteered to be drafted in 1943 and was sent to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] to be inducted before going on to basic training at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. Tamburello felt exhilarated to be away from home and doing something meaningful with his life. He enjoyed the military life and regimentation. During basic training, they hiked and exercised a lot. They were given firearms with Cosmoline [Annotator's Note: name for petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors] on them. It took days to clean it off. He was also surprised by the language that was used by many of the recruits. He received some training in rifle shooting. He did well, but was not great. He had an argument with another recruit and got in trouble with the sergeant. The sergeant decided that Tamburello and the other recruit needed to fight it out. Tamburello refused to fight and was sent to the commander. They agreed that fighting each other would not solve anything. After basic training, he was sent to Newport News [Annotator’s Note: Newport News, Virginia] and headed to North Africa as a replacement. He crossed the Atlantic on an English ship, which stunk. There were so many troops on the ship that there were not enough sleeping quarters. While on the ship, he had to see the provost marshal [Annotator’s Note: head of a military police unit] and found out that he missed his KP [Annotator’s Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] duty. He lied to the provost marshal and said he was seasick. The ship zigzagged [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] across the ocean before reaching its destination in North Africa.

[Annotator’s Note: A dog barking and other noises are audible throughout the segment.] In the fall of 1943, George Tamburello went to Casablanca [Annotator’s Note: Casablanca, Morocco] as a replacement. He did a lot of mountain training in Casablanca while waiting to be assigned to a regiment. One day, they were coming down the mountain and heard a loud boom. An airplane had crashed into a mountain. Tamburello’s eyes were opened when he was immersed in a different part of the world and around people from different places. He was put into the 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division and began anti-tank training on the 57mm anti-tank gun. He was assigned as the loader in the tank. He loaded on a liberty ship and crossed the Mediterranean Sea. The weather conditions were bad, and the water was very rough.

[Annotator’s Note: A dog barking and other noises are audible throughout segment.] In February 1944, George Tamburello [Annotator’s Note: serving with the 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division] landed at Santa Maria, Italy, just north of Naples [Annotator’s Note: Naples, Italy]. He was loaded off the ship and sent to an area for bivouac [Annotator's Note: a temporary campsite]. He entered combat in Santa Maria, fighting in the city. Tamburello was told that the Germans were big, mean fighters. He did not see too many Germans because he was on an anti-tank team. While they moved from Naples towards Rome [Annotator’s Note: Rome, Italy], he participated in heavy resistance from the Germans. He saw lots of swollen bodies as they pushed through. After a while, seeing dead bodies was normal. In one instance, his outfit accidentally moved up across the front lines into the enemy territory. They came under fire quickly. As he reached for some shells, he was wounded by shrapnel in his face on the day Rome fell. A medic ran over and helped him, telling him that he would be okay.

[Annotator’s Note: A dog barking and other noises are audible throughout the segment.] George Tamburello [Annotator’s Note: serving with the 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division] was wounded in the face by an explosion of shrapnel while fighting near Rome, Italy. After the shelling stopped, he was loaded into an ambulance and was taken to a field hospital. He was then sent to Naples [Annotator’s Note: Naples, Italy] to recover in a hospital. He had a lot of bad headaches during his recovery. When someone sang to him, it was very soothing. He remained in the hospital for six weeks. After recovering, he was sent back to the front lines and faced tremendous psychological effects which he overcame on his own during combat. He reunited with his unit above Rome. As they traveled up the road, they stopped by a river, and he drank a handful of water. When they moved further up the road, he saw a bunch of dead German bodies floating in the river.

[Annotator’s Note: A dog barking and other noises are audible throughout segment.] George Tamburello moved through Italy with his unit [Annotator’s Note: 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division]. Tamburello became sick and was told to go to get checked out by the doctor. He had contracted hepatitis and was sent to a hospital ship with gorgeous nurses. He was then sent to a hospital in Naples [Annotator’s Note: Naples, Italy] where he shared a room with another soldier. After six weeks, he recovered and was sent back to his unit. He had to treat a soldier that was shot by two women because he was trying to take advantage of them. Near the end of the war, his unit was stationed in a village in the Alps. His squad took over an apartment. Because of his Italian heritage, he was able to converse and become acquainted with a woman and her mother late in the war. One time, the girl accompanied him while he was on guard duty. Suddenly there were bullets whizzing by. The girl grabbed him and protected him during the firing. When his unit left the village, the girl met him by the trucks before they drove off. He later sent her gifts by mail.

[Annotator’s Note: A dog barking and other noises are audible throughout segment.] George Tamburello [Annotator’s Note: serving with the 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division] moved through Italy with his unit as the war came to an end. His unit was ordered to round up German prisoners and disarm them. Tamburello took one of the German’s pistols and his Iron Cross [Annotator’s Note: a German military decoration]. He discusses his opinion of the Germans and its evolution throughout his time in combat. He delivered the German prisoners to a prison camp. When he returned to his unit, he was told to pack up because he was going home to prepare for the invasion of Japan. After the war ended in Japan, he was able to go home. He felt lousy when the war was over. He was beginning to get used to military life and combat. He was happy that the Americans won the war. He was discharged in late 1945 as a private first class. Tamburello took advantage of the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and worked.

George Tamburello’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was getting wounded because he thought he was going to die. He fought in the Army because believed in the cause of the war. Going into war made him a man. He was very young going into combat and found out that he measured up pretty well with the rest of his comrades. It gave him confidence in himself. He shared a story of a time when he was being shelled by the Germans and he prayed hard and pleaded with God to let him survive because he never experienced life. The shelling suddenly stopped. After coming home from the war, Tamburello felt he could accomplish anything. His service means everything to him. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because kids need to know their country’s history and find honor.