Glynn G. Raby, Jr. was born in Memphis [Annotator's Note: Memphis, Tennessee] in 1924. His father owned service stations and lost everything when the stock market crashed. During the Great Depression, Raby says they didn't have much in the way of material things. He and his friends made their own toys and played broomstick baseball. Everybody was poor, but they had enough to eat, and he had an enjoyable childhood. His father went to work for the WPA [Annotator's Note: Works Progress Administration, later renamed Works Projects Administration; established 6 May 1935], then Fisher Body Works, making the wooden parts for GM automobiles, and later making fuselages for B-25s [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber]. On the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Raby had been to Sunday school, and after dinner the family was listening to the radio when they heard the announcement. He said it was talked about the next day at school. Raby was a senior in high school at the time, working evenings and Saturdays to contribute to the family income. He graduated in June of 1942 but didn't turn eighteen until the last day of November. He started college at Memphis State [Annotator's Note: now University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee] in the fall. He had finished one quarter when he decided to enter the Air Corps. He showed up the day after all enlistments had been stopped. He was put on a train at Fort Oglethorpe in Chattanooga [Annotator's Note: Chattanooga, Tennessee], and ended up at Fort Jackson, South Carolina where he joined the newly formed 106th Infantry Division. He trained with the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 423rd Infantry, Ammunition and Pioneer Platoon [Annotator's Note: Ammunition and Pioneer Platoon, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division] for several months, and made PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class]. When it was learned that he could type, Raby was made clerk at battalion headquarters. At the first of the year [Annotator's Note: 1943], the battalion went on maneuvers in middle Tennessee for about two-and-a-half months. He went on to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, then, in late April, he was sent to Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] to await deployment to Europe with a group of replacements.

Glynn G. Raby, Jr. left Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] on 13 May 1944 and docked in Glasgow, Scotland about 2 weeks before D-Day [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France landings 6 June 1944]. He was in a replacement camp in the south of England when he heard the news of the invasion on 6 June. He remembers they asked for volunteers to donate blood, and the soldiers joked with each other that they might get their own blood back. Raby doesn't remember exactly when, but he soon boarded a ship heading for Normandy. The men slept in hammocks and ate food from buckets during the overnight trip to France. Raby recalled that the ship that took him to Great Britain was the HMS Columbine, manned by the French. He came home from Europe on an American troop ship manned by the Coast Guard with a marine detachment for security. When he arrived in Normandy, he saw a lot of gliders that had brought in the paratroopers, crashed in the countryside. He also saw a few German corpses that had not yet been picked up. He saw dead cattle and other animals. The air was full of the odors of the decaying animals, as well as the smell of spent gunpowder. Raby stayed in a replacement camp among the hedgerows for a while, often in foxholes for protection against the incoming artillery. He was sent up front with H Company, assigned to the 9th Infantry Regiment, Battalion Weapons Company [Annotator's Note: in the 2nd Infantry Division]. He worked for the communications sergeant who handled radio and telephone messages between the front and the commander. Raby said the hedgerows provided a great defense for Germans. The front was a little bit ahead of his position, and his group suffered more from artillery than from small arms fire. In August [Annotator's Note: August 1944], Raby went to a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.] show, featuring Dinah Shore [Annotator's Note: Fannye Rose Shore, 1916-1994, American singer, actress, television personality], which took place on a flatbed trailer pulled by a truck. The stage was complete with a piano, and Raby found it very enjoyable. About 17 or 18 August, the Americans broke out of Normandy, and when the forces divided, Raby's unit went to Brittany [Annotator's Note: Brittany peninsula in France] to take the seaport of Brest [Annotator's Note: Brest, France]. Raby found it quite different. There were not as many hedgerows and very little damage in the countryside. The people were lining the roads, throwing apples and handing the soldiers bottles of cognac and wine; he had seen very few civilians in Normandy. When the troops reached the edge of Brest, however, it was tough going for about six weeks [Annotator's Note: Battle of Brest, 7 August to 19 September 1944, Brest, France] before the German garrison at Brest surrendered.

[Annotator's Note: Glynn G. Raby, Jr. took part in the Battle of Brest, 7 August to 19 September 1944, Brest, France.] The communications sergeant that Raby worked with was in the next foxhole, about 15 to 20 feet away, along a hedgerow. A mortar round dropped directly on the sergeant, and he was killed instantly. In another day or two, Raby had just finished a radio transmission to his battalion CP [Annotator's Note: Command Post], when a voice came on and called his code word. Raby hadn't heard the voice before, and he though he detected a German accent. He had heard of a procedure called triangulation wherein a position could be plotted, using the angle or azimuth of signal origination. Raby suddenly thought a mortar shell could be aimed right at him. He was scared to death and immediately moved. He later learned that mortars were not that accurate, nor was triangulation yet perfected, and he had been upset for nothing. Raby noted that there were hedgerows in Brittany [Annotator's Note: Brittany peninsula in France], similar to, but not quite as large as the ones in Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France]. One day, while he was using his entrenching tool to dig in, a mortar exploded nearby and a small piece of shrapnel nicked his thumb, drawing blood, which he staunched with his handkerchief. A fellow soldier suggested he go to the battalion aide station for treatment, and he would be eligible for a Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: a Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy]. Raby said he believed that if he did that, he would get it between the eyes the next day. The nick on his thumb was the only wound he ever suffered during the war. Raby said they didn't get to shower very often, but in Brittany he had a chance to go to the rear and clean up. The Army brought in two vehicles, one a pumper that took water in from a little stream and transferred it to another truck that heated it and dispersed it through two showerheads. The area was cordoned off for privacy. The soldiers shed their dirty clothes on one end and picked up clean ones when they emerged. While Raby was there taking his shower, he saw a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] hit by a smaller plane that severed its tail section. The tail spun down behind German lines, and remarkably, the tail gunner survived. The main part of the plane fell in American territory, but there were no survivors. Brest was surrounded by a medieval wall had been occupied by the Germans for quite some time. It was heavily fortified. Taking it was the key to ending the war in that area. Once the Allied forces prevailed there, it took several days to get equipment and personnel in order. Raby had some time off and went to visit the small fishing village of Landerneau [Annotator's Note: Landerneau, France]. There he found a bakery where he purchased a warm loaf of bread and ate the entire thing.

[Annotator's Note: Glynn G. Raby, Jr. took part in the Battle of Brest, 7 August to 19 September 1944, Brest, France.] Three or four days after securing Brest Raby's regiment [Annotator's Note: Company H, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division] started east toward Germany. While the majority of the soldiers traveled by boxcar, he was lucky enough to travel by jeep. The troops went through Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France, but didn't stop, and Raby glimpsed the Eiffel Tower from a distance. After four days they arrived in the Schnee Eifel [Annotator's Note: area of Germany], a wooded area in low mountains. Raby remembered that when they dug in, their foxhole soon filled with water. The area overlooked a vast pastureland, part of the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s] and included two German pillboxes [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns] that were promptly inhabited by the company commander and the mess and supply sergeants. The troops were spread out pretty thin, and Raby took his turn on patrol while they were there. After about two months, they were replaced by the 106th Infantry Division, which got hit pretty hard, ran out of food and ammunition, and were ultimately taken prisoner. Meanwhile, Raby's division moved twenty miles north, and on 13 December [Annotator's Note: 13 December 1944], started toward a crossroads near the Belgian-German border' The crossroads was guarded by 24 German pillboxes. They spent three days trying to secure the position, during the coldest weather Raby had ever known. He said the soldiers did not have the proper clothing, and lost as many people to frostbite, over exposure, frozen feet and pneumonia as they lost to enemy action. Raby's 9th Infantry 2nd Battalion led the attack, while the 1st Battalion [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division] took the other side. They captured the crossroad on 16 December, allowing the 38th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division] to go through, with the object of the reaching the Ruhr River. The Germans started their offensive on 16 December [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] just a little south of Raby's division, and the unit was in danger of getting surrounded. The division commander wanted to pull back, but his request to do so was denied. On 17 December, he finally prevailed and pulled the division back to the Rocherath [Annotator's Note: Rocherath, Belgium] and Elsenborn [Annotator's Note: Elsenborn, Belgium] area where they set up a defense there that stopped the German 6th Army from getting over the Elsenborn Ridge. They went through rough times there, and Raby doesn't remember much about that period. He does recall, however, that on Christmas day the troops got a turkey dinner. They still had to eat out in the cold, but it was better than K Rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals]. At the time, families were sending packages of gifts and food, but there was a big problem with deliveries, because so many soldiers had been killed or evacuated. So the decision was made to open and distribute the contents of the packages. Raby was allotted somebody else's new wallet. The next month of the war is a total blank in Raby's mind. After that, they went back to the crossroads, which was lined with German prisoners of war, then started back on the attack toward the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River, Germany].

[Annotator's Note: Glynn G. Raby, Jr. was with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division moving towards the Rhine River, Germany on 1 February 1945.] The division traveled on foot, and the going was pretty slow. During the first week of February, there was an epidemic of dysentery [Annotator's Note: infection of the intestines], and there was evidence that the retreating Germans were suffering from the illness as well. Fortunately, Raby did not contract it. All of the soldiers were given hot tea instead of coffee in hopes of relieving the problem. During an overnight stay at a small village, a shell explosion killed their company commander, William Higgins [Annotator's Note: Captain William. B. Higgins], a well-respected soldier, and also wounded the company mess sergeant. They continued on the attack, and about 10 or 11 March [Annotator's Note: 1945] they reached the Rhine River, and crossed it on 21 March in assault boats. Once across the Rhine, Raby's name came up for R and R [Annotator's Note: rest and relaxation]. He was given a choice of destination, and he selected the French Riviera [Annotator's Note: known as Cote d'Azur (Côte d'Azur), the Mediterranean coast of France] for a week. He flew on a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft], stayed in a very nice hotel across from the beach, and ate in a well-appointed dining room. He then returned to his unit, which was advancing at a much faster pace. When they got up near the city of Leipzig [Annotator's Note: Leipzig, Germany, captured on 19 April 1945], they came under heavy fire from anti-aircraft guns. They moved on to the Mulde River [Annotator's Note: Mulde River, Germany on 24 April 1945] and stopped there. The Russian army was coming from the Elbe River, and on 25 April, Raby's regiment sent out a motorized patrol hoping to make contact with the Russians. In December, Raby had been transferred to a machine gun platoon as its instrument corporal, handling the maps and communications for the unit. On this patrol, he rode in a jeep toward the rear of the convoy, on a beautiful day, through pretty little towns, and never saw a civilian. They stopped at a pub where they liberated some apple cider, and even filled the water cans they carried for the machine guns with the libation. Later that day, they had to use the cider to cool their guns. Along the route, they emerged from a fairly densely wooded area, onto an open plane with a village about a half-mile away. The lead vehicles were fired upon from that town, and the convoy returned fire. They went back to camp and learned that the 69th Division [Annotator's Note: 69th Infantry Division], which had been traveling on their left flank, made contact with the Russians that day, robbing Raby's group of that historical encounter.

Glynn G. Raby, Jr. was transferred to the 3rd Army and moved to Czechoslovakia. They arrived in pro-German territory, and there was some resistance, but also some white flags. Deeper into Czechoslovakia, the people who were liberated seemed really happy. The unit progressed through town after town and were regaled with snacks and goodies. His regiment proceeded toward Prague [Annotator's Note: now Prague, Czech Republic], stopping in a little town called Rokycany [Annotator's Note: now Rokycany, Czech Republic] and were there the day the war ended. The regiment stayed there close to a month before learning that they would be brought home, then sent to the Pacific. By then, he had been promoted to sergeant. His job was similar to what he had been doing for the platoon, but with the promotion his duties covered the whole company. It took four days to get to a camp in France, where they turned over their vehicles and ordnance. On 12 July, they sailed out of Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France] on a troop ship, and landed in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. After a stop at Camp Myles Standish [Annotator's Note: in Taunton, Massachusetts], where he was issued summer uniforms and had a chance to call his family, he went to Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Georgia. While he was on a 30-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], the atomic bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. When he reported back to Fort McPherson, he was sent to Camp Swift, Texas to mark time. He was finally discharged on 25 October [Annotator's Note: 25 October 1945] as a sergeant.

Glynn G. Raby, Jr. says that in the area of the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, the devastation of war was apparent. Trees were shattered and buildings were torn up. He said Brest [Annotator's Note: Brest, France] was so badly damaged it had to be completely rebuilt. Revisiting his memories of February 1945, Raby says it was cold, and there was snow on the ground. The platoon had dug in near a village, and when daylight came the moved in. His sergeant picked out a small, two-story house in which to set up, and sent Raby to check out the cellar. When he reached a sort of doorway that was covered by a blanket, he noticed a stocking foot sticking out, and thought members of his platoon had already settled in there. Raby shook the foot, and heard a response in German, which startled him. He ducked behind a wall and took the safety off his rifle. He ordered everyone up the stairs, and seven Germans came out with their hands up. Raby said he thinks they were ready to surrender, because they had had a rough time during the battle. It was the first time Raby had been in close contact with enemy soldiers that were not already in custody. He had heard the Nazi propaganda about the superior forces of the German army but said he had seen all kinds of German soldiers. Some were highly trained, others very old and very young. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks when he learned about the fate of his old unit.] He heard about it soon after the 106th [Annotator's Note: 106th Infantry Division] had been captured. Two regiments ceased to exist, including his 423rd [Annotator's Note: 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division]. Raby says those boys were fresh off the boat, green, and didn't know what was going on. They took over the log structures and gun emplacements that Raby's group had occupied for two months, and their demise happened fast. They put up a pretty good fight with what they had. Raby carried and M-1 Garand rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle] most of the time, but because of the job he had, he could carry anything he wanted. A few times, when he was working with big maps, he switched over to a carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. At one time, he had a .45 automatic pistol [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol]. On the occasions when he was on night patrols, he borrowed a Thompson sub-machine gun. [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun] Fortunately, he never had to fire it.

When Glynn G. Raby, Jr. came home, he could not enjoy his 30-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. All he could think about were the horrible things he had gone through for so many months. He dreaded going back into combat in the Pacific. He was in pretty bad shape and spent much of his time in a hammock drinking beer. Then the war ended, and he went back to school and tried to forget about the war. He went back to church and Sunday school, and started dating a girl he married when he had finished two years of college. His wife told him that he had nightmares, but he never talked about his experiences, not even with men he knew had served. Raby has forgotten a lot, both good and bad. When it seemed like he would have to go back into battle in the Pacific, Raby felt he had done his share, and it wasn't fair. He gave some thought to doing something that would physically prevent his return to combat but doubts he could have carried it out. When he was in Europe, he corresponded with his family, and commented that his grandmother, who had raised him after his mother died, was very concerned for his welfare. Raby's messages were short, and usually contained requests for things he wanted or needed. Writing paper was scarce. Thinking back to when he was in Rokycany, Czechoslovakia [Annotator's Note: now Rokycany, Czech Republic], Raby says the locals had a dance party in a pavilion that several soldiers attended. The civilians were in folk costume, and danced the polka, but he doesn't remember swimming in the nearby lake, an event which someone else in his platoon distinctly recalled. When he came home, he applied for 52-20 [[Annotator's Note: a government-funded program that paid unemployed veterans 20 dollars per week for 52 weeks], but there were jobs for him to do, so he wasn't eligible. He attended college on the G.I. Bill and was hired by a government agency that insured mortgage loans. He later became a real estate appraiser. His office came under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and he eventually agreed to take the top position in his office. As soon as he was eligible for retirement, however, he got out. He was 55 years of age.

When Glynn G. Raby Jr. first considered enlisting, he wanted to join the Air Corps. He was young, and aviation was pretty new. He didn't even have a drivers' license, but it seemed like the thing to do. Most people were upset that America had been attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] and didn't like it. Many wanted to join the armed services before the war passed them by. His experience in the armed services made him mature quickly. He feels he changed from a teenager who was only interested in having fun into someone who had a role to fill in this life. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if there was one instance from the war that stands out most in his mind.] 17 December 1945, after his battalion [Annotator's Note: Company H, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division] had secured a Belgian crossroads, they were repositioning, and there was a heck of a lot of artillery flying around. Raby was reminded that Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] and Montgomery [Annotator's Note: British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery] had a bet that the war would be over by Christmas [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1945], yet there he was, in grave danger. Raby very definitely thinks it is important that institutions such as The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] teach the history of the war. He fought because he felt it his duty, he valued what he had, and wanted to defend it. Everybody in the country was behind the effort.