Gowan Duffy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in December 1920. He would bounce from one job to another because they were scarce. He joined the Louisiana National Guard at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans in 1938. He was 18 years old. They did drill work once a week at Jackson Barracks. In 1940, the National Guard was federalized. They joined the Army. He was sent to Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He worked in the daytime and at night he was off. He was free to leave on the weekends. If he was not on duty on the weekends he would return home if he was not on duty. On one trip home, he got married in May 1941. In December 1941, he went home on the weekend. When he was headed home that Sunday, the convoy suddenly stopped. Each truck was informed they hit Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. They were all shocked because in January he thought he would be getting out of the Army. Now he would be in for the duration of the war plus six months. He was stationed at Camp Shelby until June 1942. In June, they headed to New York for embarkation. They loaded onto the Queen Elizabeth. They were on the ship for seven days while it was loaded. There were 20 thousand troops on the ship. They were going across the Atlantic alone. They learned that Queen Elizabeth could outrun the U-boats [Annotator's Note: German submarine]. It took seven days to cross the Atlantic. They landed in Scotland. Then they went to Northern Ireland to train. They were there for six months.

Gowan Duffy was stationed in Northern Ireland [Annotator’s Note: with the 141st Field Artillery Battalion]. They trained in the rain. After a month, he got leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went into Belfast [Annotator’s Note: Belfast, Northern Ireland]. Then they went back to Scotland where they stayed for five or six months and continued training. He went to Edinburg, Scotland, and toured castles. Then they went to Wales for five or six months of more training. They started preparing camps for the new American troops who were arriving. He went to radio school in Bristol, England. He would do the mail run for the unit. Next, the unit moved to England and continued training. London [Annotator’s Note: London, England] was bombed nightly. He made good relationships with the people he met. They loaded up on trucks again and headed south. They knew they would eventually have to cross the English Channel. They went into an area and were locked in a fenced-off area. The MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] were guarding the gates. They were not allowed to communicate with the locals. After seven days, they loaded on the trucks again. They made it to the harbor late that afternoon. They were loaded onto an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. Their cannons were too large for a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. It took seven days to load all the LSTs. On 4 June 1944, they started up the engines and headed into the English Channel. They got several miles out and then turned back. There was a storm and the waters were too rough to make the landing, so it was postponed until 6 June 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. They were not allowed to get off the LST. On the 5th of June, they moved out again. They were locked below deck. They did not know where they were going. It was a rough trip. Some of the men got deathly seasick.

Gowan Duffy remembers around five in the morning [Annotator’s Note: on their way to D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] they stopped forward motion. They thought they were in France. As soon as there was daylight, all hell broke loose. The guns started going off on the ships around them. The LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] was vibrating. They were facing the Germans with heavy artillery and machine guns. The German air force was strafing and dropping bombs. They were sitting right off Omaha Beach [Annotator’s Note: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France]. The LST was being hit by machine gun fire. Duffy and the other men stayed below deck during the artillery fire. They wanted to take their chances on shore rather than the possibility of drowning. The next morning, it was their turn to make the landing. Duffy was one of the first ones on the deck. As far as he could see there were ships. The scene in front of him was nothing but carnage. His training told him to keep moving forward. There were many bodies in the water going toward the beach. [Annotator’s Note: Duffy becomes emotional.]

Gowan Duffy remembers the waters were still rough from the storm the day before. As they hit the shore [Annotator’s Note: of Omaha Beach, one of the landing sites of D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] they drove off the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. The entire beach was covered in debris. There were damaged Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] in the water. There were men on the beach who had been wounded or killed. A few tanks that made it to shore were on fire. They had to wait until they were onshore to set up their guns. They had to get behind the infantry so they could support them with artillery fire. They needed to get the cannons up to the high ground. Another unit was digging mines out of the ground. They put up ribbons to show the other men where to walk. As the engineers were digging up the mines, Graves Registration was picking up bodies so they would not be run over. They followed the path going up to the high ground. They were dragging the guns behind them. As they got to the top they were kicked off the road. The infantry was not far ahead of them. The infantry needed water, food, and replacements. As they left the road they began to be hit with sniper fire. Duffy and some of the others took their rifles and flushed the snipers out. They watched as the infantry got further ahead of them, and more men and equipment moved up. The German air force was bombing and strafing. When darkness fell, it got worse.

Gowan Duffy remembers the German planes would start at one end of the beach strafing and go on to the other end. [Annotator’s Note: Video goes black at 1:01:00:000.] They were more concerned about their own troops. Every ship out in the channel with a gun opened fire. The shrapnel was coming down like rain. Duffy dove under the truck and felt something hit him on the helmet. It was a small piece of shrapnel. He spent the night under the truck. The captain told the lieutenant to take over because he was going forward to set up the guns. The captain took two men with him. They were observers who flew small planes to check the guns’ aim as they fired. The captain ended up driving right into the German lines and they spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp. Duffy was the radio operator. He could operate while they were moving as well. They started following the infantrymen. The Germans who had been defending the beaches were battle-seasoned veterans. They had their baptism of fire back in 1939 when Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] first invaded Poland.

Gowan Duffy remembers all the soldiers at Omaha Beach were seasoned German soldiers. They set up on the Allied side of Saint-Lo [Annotator’s Note: Saint-Lo, France] and started bombarding the town. The Germans started to retreat and they finally broke through their line. The town was completely wiped off the map. Then they moved on toward Paris [Annotator’s Note: Paris, France]. On the fifth day, the Germans finally surrendered. They were facing the Wehrmacht at the time, which was the German regular army. A lot of them were young men. By this time, they had killed approximately 400,000 German soldiers. Duffy and his unit had lost contact with the men they were supposed to be behind. They were anxious to get into Paris. They had to check all the houses and buildings to make sure there were no Germans hiding inside. They heard a convoy coming up and it was all American trucks. The trucks were clean. Then they saw General Charles de Gaulle [Annotator's Note: French Army General Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle; later President of France] and the Free French Army. They thought they were going in to liberate Paris. The American infantry had already gotten the main part of the German army out of Paris. The French resistance fighters came out of hiding and cleaned the rest of the Germans out. The Free French resistance fighters wore regular civilian clothes. Duffy never stopped when he was in Paris. They had to catch up to the infantry.

Gowan Duffy remembers that in between battles, his unit [Annotator’s Note: the 141st Field Artillery Battalion] would get breaks. The infantrymen would be in battle for three or four weeks before they would be sent back for R and R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation]. After they made it through France, they went into the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. They thought they would get to see what World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] battlefields looked like. As they got to the Hurtgen Forest [Annotator’s Note: on the border between Belgium and Germany] they came under sniper fire. It took them a week to get through the forest. The snow was starting to get deep and heavy. They drove the Germans back and then they were hit with the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. Duffy and his unit along with the regimental headquarters bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] in a small schoolhouse. Duffy was running the radio. It was the worst winter to hit Europe in 50 years. Duffy had to go out on post. He had long underwear, leather pants, a couple of jackets, an overcoat, and a blanket on his shoulders and he was still cold. They gave him a bazooka [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon] and he was going to be stationed on top of a hill. He was told to watch for Tiger tanks [Annotator's Note: German Mark VI main battle tank; known as the Tiger].

Gowan Duffy had a bazooka [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon] up on the hill. They wanted him to fight a Tiger tank [Annotator's Note: German Mark VI main battle tank; known as the Tiger]. He was supposed to look out for paratroopers as well. It was cold and the wind was blowing. He did not think he would last more than a couple of hours. He went and hid behind a bush and a house. Sitting there broke the wind. The sky was overcast. It was starting to get dark. He was two and half or three miles from his command post. His relief never came until the morning. He was basically frozen. They were the only people there at the time for the headquarters battery. During the night, they were bringing in a lot of men and battery. They heard the 101st [Annotator’s Note: 101st Airborne Division] was surrounded in Bastogne [Annotator’s Note: Bastogne, Belgium]. They gave the job to relieve those men to General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.]. General Patton had primarily mechanized units with some infantry. Duffy knew Patton was 48 hours away and they were only 35 miles away. Duffy and his unit were the only ones between the Germans and Belgium. Patton’s outfit made it over there in 24 hours. Patton was out front of the infantry and sometimes ahead of the infantry. Duffy and his unit moved slowly with their big guns.

Gowan Duffy remembers they started to run out of supplies. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] slowed his tanks down because they were running out of gasoline. The infantry was having a hard time keeping up with Patton. For three days they did not get supplies. They had to eat what the Germans were leaving behind. Their supplies were still coming from the beach [Annotator’s Note: in Normandy, France following D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. [Annotator’s Note: Video goes black at 1:58:00:000.] After they completed the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], they felt they had the Germans beat, but they did not let their guard down. Duffy and his unit continued on to the Rhine River behind the infantry. As they approached the river, the Germans started blasting artillery at them. The Germans had placed themselves in strategic positions in a brick buildings across the river. They sent the 17th Airborne Division to the Germans' side of the river. They cleared the Germans out of the building. Then the engineers put up bridges and everyone crossed the river. Their destination was Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany]. As they crossed the river, they met up with the Russians who wanted Berlin for themselves. Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] let the Russians have Berlin. Duffy and his unit went into another large German city, Leipzig. Their duty in the city was to police the people of the city. It was a modern city. They had to set up depots where they took in all sorts of weaponry along with binoculars and cameras. They would tag the items so they knew who turned the items in. The people could come down after the war and recover their property. Next, they moved to Czechoslovakia. They were on regular patrol duty. They made sure the Germans were gone and they helped with the recovery of the small town. They got the cease fire order on 7 May 1945.

Gowan Duffy started his patrol duty on the American and Russian borders. He was rotated home in September [Annotator’s Note: of 1945]. He left Europe from Normandy [Annotator’s Note: Normandy, France]. He had to go through a replacement depot. He spent seven days in Normandy. He was put on a liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] to go home. It took seven days to get to the Boston Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. From there, he took a train to Camp Shelby, Mississippi where he was discharged. He had gone overseas in September 1942 and returned home in September 1945. He was proud of the men he served with. He was particularly proud of the infantrymen who landed on Normandy beach in the first few waves [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. The rest of his unit went back to Pennsylvania where they were from. His unit had been scheduled to go to the Pacific for the invasion of Japan. Duffy was never wounded. He dug his foxholes and stayed in them. He met quite a few German soldiers. When they were in Czechoslovakia, he would help oversee prisoners of war. The Germans were well-trained. They had been brainwashed. They were fighting for their country like he was fighting for his country. He would talk to the German soldiers about their life before the war and their families. If they had free time, they would eat, clean their clothes, wash up, and write letters home. Sometimes they would try to pick up fresh food. Some of the guys would collect souvenirs and ship the items home. Duffy still had his regular duties on the radio. A couple of times he was put on KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police].

Gowan Duffy remembers that they would refer to one German plane as Bed Check Charlie [Annotator's Note: nickname given to aircraft that performed solitary, nocturnal operations]. They could always tell the German planes from the American planes because the engine sounds were different. Duffy and another soldier found a bomb lying on the side of a hill. The bomb was split open. It had anti-personnel bombs inside. They also learned how the buzz bombs worked [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug]. They never knew when the German artillery would zero in on them. They would still get visits from the Luftwaffe [Annotator’s Note: German air forces]. Duffy would always dig a foxhole behind the trucks. They could hear the bullets from the machine guns hitting the hedgerows. They came across several airfields. Many of the planes left behind were damaged or blown up. They always checked out the equipment left behind by the Germans.

Gowan Duffy was stationed in Czechoslovakia [Annotator’s Note: for occupation duty after the war]. Duffy picked up a horse that was running free. It was a regular farm horse. He enjoyed riding the horse in his free time. They found a Mercedes Benz and took rides in it. They stayed in Czechoslovakia for four months. They met a lot of nice people. They would trade their cigarettes for different things. Some of the people would invite them into their homes for dinner. [Annotator’s Note: Duffy describes what the people would do and how their demeanor towards the Americans was.] As soon as they got the Germans cleared out, the Americans would move in. In every town, they would have a court for the young women who fraternized with the Germans. If they were found guilty, they would shave their heads publicly.

Gowan Duffy does not think he came across any man in shock. Some of the men in his unit were dragging because of exhaustion. He does not think anyone he came across had shell shock [Annotator's Note: post-traumatic stress disorder; a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event either experienced or witnessed]. He came across a lot of wounded men and they looked like they were completely numb. They were behind the infantry and had to set up the guns behind them as supporting fire. The men were fighting hard for every inch of ground they got. They needed supplies and medics. There was a steady stream of wounded men going back to the beaches [Annotator’s Note: of Normandy, France]. The Germans put all the planes they could into the air at night. With the increase of planes came the increase of anti-aircraft fire from the ships on the coast. The flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was coming down like rain. Duffy would always be in the truck with his radio. On one occasion, Duffy was hit in the helmet by a piece of flak. He picked it up and kept it as a souvenir.

Gowan Duffy saw the French resistance fighters. They did not associate with them. He assumed they were finding hidden German soldiers. On the way to Paris [Annotator’s Note: Paris, France], they stopped them because there was a convoy coming up from behind. It was American trucks that were clean with all-new uniforms. Duffy caught a rabbit and kept it as a pet. Some of the Frenchmen cooked his rabbit. [Annotator’s Note: Video goes black at 3:01:00:000.] He was put on a liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] and sent home. He took a train to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and received his discharge. Then he returned home to New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He did not want anything more to do with the Army. He walked around Bourbon Street with his wife and sister and saw all the servicemen down there. He felt like he was back in the service. He wanted to relax for a while, but after a week he went to find a job. He went to the naval base to get a job. He was there for six months, then he joined the police department. His father was still in the police department. He was in the New Orleans Police Department for 23 years. Both of his sons joined the police department.