Jack Appel was born in Brooklyn, New York [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York], in September 1923. He had a good upbringing as a child. He graduated high school at age 15 and a half as a result of being in an accelerated learning program. He went to NYU [Annotator's Note: New York University in New York, New York] and was deferred from the draft [Annotator's Note: postponement of military service] for the first three years of the war. When he heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], he had no feeling of personal involvement. It was a terrible act on the Japanese part that forced the United States into the war. There would be 16 million people serving in the armed forces during the war. Most people do not realize that. He took no note of the changes that occurred due to the war. He looked forward to participating in the war after completing college. He had his chance in January [Annotator's Note: 1943] when he was inducted. Everyone was patriotic so it was accepted that people would either serve in the military or the war production effort.

On 1 January [Annotator's Note: 1943] Jack Appel was brought to Penn Station [Annotator's Note: Pennsylvania Station in New York, New York] by his father to be inducted. Now as a parent, Appel can now better appreciate how his father felt at that time. After his induction by a drunken sergeant, an officer had to apologize to the new recruits for the inebriated sergeant that coordinated their service entry that day. It was a terrible day. Appel received his uniform, and it all was an adventure. He was not sent to basic training immediately. [Annotator's Note: there is a video issue from 0:06:43:000 in the interview until it resumes at 0:07:48:000.] He had basic training with rifles and marching but nothing with the Signal Corps [Annotator's Note: the US Army Signal Corps]. On 1 February, Appel contracted cerebral and spinal meningitis [Annotator's Note: inflammation of fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord]. He was close to death after an epidemic at the camp [Annotator's Note: Camp Crowder, later Fort Crowder, in Neosho, Missouri] that killed 15 or 20 soldiers. Appel was close to death. His family was called to Missouri as he was in the hospital for 56 days. He totally lost the hearing in his left ear as a result of the meningitis. After the 56 days in the hospital, he had a 28-day convalescent furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] back in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. Afterward, he returned to Camp Crowder to continue his basic training. OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] was closed so he was not able to apply for that. During his meningitis, he was in a coma for a week. He is 40 percent disabled today as a consequence of the disease. The VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] has furnished him hearing aids to help offset his loss of hearing in the left ear. At Camp Crowder, there was no way to test the complete hearing loss in one ear, and it was said he would be discharged. That did not come to fruition. Having only one ear was a big disadvantage particularly later at the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He was also hit by a truck at Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France] and was knocked into a ravine. He was shaken up but not hurt. Because of the need for men, the military thought Appel could serve after his meningitis. He entered the Army's Advanced Specialist Training Program [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers] and attended Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. His prior educational experience did not lend itself to the requirements of ASTP, so he was sent back to Camp Crowder. Those who remained at Grinnell were sent to the 106th Infantry Division after ASTP was disbanded. Most of those former ASTP individuals were killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Appel led a charmed life after meningitis. He survived many things afterward in the course of his military service. Assigned to the 17th Signal Operation Battalion, [Annotator's Note: Company B, 17th Signal Operation Battalion, 1st Army] he participated in maneuvers in Oregon. He was then sent to Fort Lewis in Washington. He anticipated going to Alaska but instead ended up on a train back to Brooklyn [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. The battalion was sent to Camp Shanks [Annotator's Note: near Orangeburg, New York]. Landing in Glasgow [Annotator's Note: Glasgow, Scotland] in October 1943, Appel was broke after playing poker the whole trip. He thought the European war was a much better war than the Pacific war. The convoy across the Atlantic and avoided U-boats [Annotator's Note: German submarines]. It was an adventure for Appel. After Glasgow, the battalion transited to Bristol, England which had suffered mightily from the air raids in the Battle of Britain [Annotator's Note: 10 July to 31 October 1940; Germans include the Blitz, July 1940 to June 1941]. The battalion was billeted [Annotator's Note: a place, usually civilian or nonmilitary, where soldiers are lodged temporarily] in local homes vacated by the residents because of proximity to the Rolls-Royce [Annotator's Note: British manufacturer] aircraft plant. The plant was targeted frequently by enemy bombers. Assigned to First Army headquarters in Clifton College [Annotator's Note: in Bristol, England], the 17th Signal began operations. Although Bristol had been hit by the enemy, there was not that much destruction where he was based.HY

Jack Appel served in the message center [Annotator's Note: Company B, 17th Signal Operation Battalion, 1st Army] forwarding classified information for the US First Army headquarters. He was the armed guard or driver delivering information about the pending invasion of France [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Upon return from Grinnell, Iowa, he said he wanted to be a truck driver because of limited opportunities otherwise. He did not have a license and said so to the first questioner. Without one, he would not be accepted. After the rejection, he told the next interviewer that he had a license and entered the training. His first attempts at driving were successful until he had to park his vehicle. That was where his lack of driving skills became apparent. He was rejected from the training. He was in Bend, Oregon for Second Army maneuvers, when he learned to drive a jeep. He was in a weapons carrier when he attempted to rollover a log in the road. He had been told the vehicle could do that. The accompanying sergeant failed him in his driving course as a result of that attempt. In England, he tried to drive again and obtained his license. He drove jeeps through England delivering invasion plans. He saw a lot of the country which was beautiful. He had a seven-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] due to his prior stateside meningitis Annotator's Note: inflammation of fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Appel describes this in Segment 2, "Becoming a Soldier" of this interview]. He subsidized a cook on the furlough after the friend had lost all his money on beer. The cook agreed to stay sober. They went to Edinburgh, Scotland and found a comfortable hotel. Appel had the best sleep ever. A defense worker earned 15 dollars a month while the G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] were paid 30 dollars a month. Appel did not drink or smoke so that was worth a lot of money to him. At Edinburgh, he went to the dog track and was very lucky there as well. Locals even asked him which dog to choose to place their wager. [Annotator's Note: Appel laughs as he imitates the local dialect.] In London [Annotator's Note: London, England], there were no accommodations available, so he stayed at the Red Cross. Shoes had to be placed under the pillow at night so they would not be stolen. He returned to duty at Bristol [Annotator's Note: Bristol, England] but could be found on Saturdays at the racetrack making money on the dogs. Appel would lend money to others without interest with the caveat that he be repaid on payday. Appel even had relief by his sergeant from KP—kitchen police - in order to attend the races. Appel still gambles to this day. It is his one vice, but it keeps him sharp at 90 years of age. He avoids dementia [Annotator's Note: loss cognitive function] with poker, computers and technology.

There were two companies, A [Annotator's Note: Company A] and B [Annotator's Note: Company B], in Jack Appel's outfit [Annotator's Note: 17th Signal Operation Battalion, 1st Army]. Their task was to waterproof the vehicles of the battalion. Company A went into France eight days after the initial landings [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. Appel and B Company were held back in case the planned landings did not succeed. Company B entered France on the 28th day after the invasion commenced. The beachheads were secure and there was no gunfire. Appel drove the first vehicle onto the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. He was to be the first vehicle off the vessel's wide ramp as it beached 100 yards off the shoreline. His tires went off the ramp. Several troops lifted the jeep back on the ramp and Appel drove it to the beach. The officer on the shore recognized Appel as someone he did not authorize a license to previously and told Appel to turn in the jeep. When Appel landed at Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France] and went off the ramp, he delayed the offloading of the LST. Personnel from his outfit had arrived at the beach in several different ships performing communications duty for the First US Army. Reaching a farm near Sainte-Mère-Église [Annotator's Note: Sainte-Mère-Église, France], tents were pitched. The second night there, a German plane dropped two 500-pound bombs. Other personnel heard the plane coming and dispersed to the hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation]. Appel was sleeping on his good ear [Annotator's Note: a near fatal case of meningitis during boot camp resulted in total loss of hearing in Appel's left ear]. He heard nothing until the explosions startled him. The next morning, Appel discovered that the soldier who bunked next to him had his rifle shattered by shrapnel. Normandy was the same place Appel was hit by a truck while walking along the road. Having survived meningitis, nothing in combat phased him during Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], or advancing into Germany. The Americans had been pinned down at Saint-Lô in Normandy. In Germany, Appel saw Cardinal Spellman of New York City [Annotator's Note: Francis Joseph Spellman American bishop and cardinal of Catholic Church]. In Appel's company, there were teletype, telephone, and radio operators working out of mobile trainers. After the Saint-Lô breakout [Annotator's Note: Operation Cobra, 25 to 31 July 1944, Saint-Lo (Saint-Lô), France], the company moved quickly through Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] and pitched tents in the Gardens of Versailles [Annotator's Note: in Versailles, France]. Paris was off-limits to American soldiers, but a sergeant friend asked for a ride in Appel's jeep to Paris. It was the second day after liberation [Annotator's Note: Liberation of Paris, Paris, France, 19 to 25 August 1944], and it was a wonderful sight. The Parisians were so happy to see the Americans. After Versailles, the company moved to Saint-Quentin [Annotator's Note: Saint-Quentin, France]. While in Normandy, Appel used his knowledge of the French language to get his officer's as well as his own laundry done by a local farmer's milk maid. The officers only had to supply the soap. After the work was done, the farmer was so happy that he offered the local apple cider alcohol called Calvados [Annotator's Note: apple or pear brandy from Normandy, France] to Appel. Appel's helmet fell off his head when he took the strong shot of liquor. The company moved into Belgium and ended up at Liege and then Spa. The latter gave the word its meaning. It was a beautiful town in Belgium. They were put in a hotel as it began to snow. The rooms were beautiful with adjoining bathrooms with bidets. Not knowing what the basin was for, they washed their socks in them]. That was the best time he had. Upon an accidental friendly fire incident wounding the PFC [Annotator's Note: private first class], Appel was promoted to the rank of PFC [Annotator's Note: he laughs].

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], Jack Appel [Annotator's Note: with Company B, 17th Signal Operation Battalion, 1st Army] was handed grenades as the German tanks advanced toward Spa [Annotator's Note: Spa, Belgium]. The Germans had broken through at St. Vith [Annotator's Note: St. Vith, Belgium], Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Bastogne, Belgium], and Malmedy [Annotator's Note: Malmedy, Belgium], where the Americans were slaughtered [Annotator's Note: Malmedy Massacre, German war crime against American prisoners of war, 17 December 1944 near Malmedy, Belgium]. The clouds broke and fighter pilots attacked the enemy tanks near Spa and destroyed them. Appel missed combat as a result. That night, the company was withdrawn to Liege [Annotator's Note: Liege, Belgium]. While at Spa, Appel observed a buzz bomb [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug]. It was not made very well. When its engine that sounded like a tractor stopped, it immediately fell to Earth to explode. As Appel's convoy motored to Liege, a buzz bomb exploded, destroying a truck and its troops ahead of him. After withdrawing, they stayed at Chaudfontaine [Annotator's Note: Chaudfontaine, Belgium] until the lines were secured. Proceeding to Germany, the company set up communications in Aachen [Annotator's Note: Aachen, Germany]. The whole telephone system was salvaged despite heavy damage to Aachen by bombing. Communications at Aachen as well as the bridge at Remagen [Annotator's Note: Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, Germany] were very important to the advancing Americans. Appel reconnoitered the next day route for convoys. Entering Germany, the war could be seen as winding down. America lost over 400,000 troops in the war. The losses for Russia, China, Germany and Japan were staggering. There were six million Jews killed in the Holocaust [Annotator's Note: also called the Shoah; the genocide of European Jews during World War 2]. Other classes of people were killed by the Germans. Appel reached Weimar, Germany as the Russians captured Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. An officer ordered Appel to take him to Buchenwald [Annotator's Note: Buchenwald concentration camp, Weimar, Germany] where the horrors were unbelievable. Bodies were stacked and inmates were in terrible shape. The smell was sickening. Appel speaks to students and groups about what he saw. He would tell any denier that he saw the results of the Holocaust. He could not believe what happened unless he had actually seen it. It is hard to believe the German people did not approve of Hitler's action. After the war's end, his company moved to Brunswick in Germany and joined the Ninth Army as part of the Army of Occupation.

Jack Appel transitioned to the United States through Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. There was nothing significant about his occupation duty with the Ninth Army [Annotator's Note: Company B, 17th Signal Operation Battalion, 9th Army]. He had a great meal of steak, French fries, and Coca-Cola [Annotator's Note: American beverage] when he returned to the United States. Neighbors and family gave him a wonderful homecoming. He survived the war. He had a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and then was slated to train for the invasion of Japan prior to the dropping of the two atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. Instead, he went to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] and then Camp Bowie [Annotator's Note: in Brownwood, Texas]. The manual effort in Texas was difficult for Appel so he got a reprieve due to his previous bout with meningitis [Annotator's Note: a near fatal case of meningitis - inflammation of fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord - during boot camp]. He was given a job as the captain's driver. On 11 October [Annotator's Note: 11 October 1945], he was discharged from the Army. Arriving from Europe through New York Harbor [Annotator's Note: in New York, New York], he experienced a great homecoming. It was special seeing the Statue of Liberty. It is rewarding to be thanked for his service as he walks around today whether in the United States or Europe. Years ago, he was not lauded as he is now. He is happy to be so respected. A tour through Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France] to the Courville-Sur-Mer cemetery [Annotator's Note: Normandy American Cemetery in Courville-Sur-Mer, France] resulted in him raising the American flag. That was memorable for him. The French even wanted his autograph [Annotator's Note: Appel is visibly moved]. He was celebrated in Belgium at Bastogne. He is glad he did what he did, but he would not do it again. The people at home supported the war effort through war production. The troops behind the lines were important to the winning of the war also. The veterans did their part and were patriotic. World War 2 was in the best interest of the country and saved the world.