James Harvard London was born in Cordell, Oklahoma in June 1925. London does not remember growing up. His father worked for the railroad during the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. His family moved often but he would call his hometown Rocky, Oklahoma. He went to school in the town. London had two older brothers and a younger sister. He was playing basketball on a cold and windy day when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He heard about the attack at a store. London was drafted into the Army after graduating from high school. He reported to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, but did his boot camp training at Fort Benning, Georgia. His training was 16 weeks long. London was at the post when it snowed for the second time in its history. London's sergeant had fought on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] but did not speak much. He was quartered near the parachute jump school. After completing boot camp, London was sent to Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to take engineering courses. He only took one semester of courses before being sent to Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] to ship overseas. London's ship was the SS Mariposa, which moved quickly across the Atlantic Ocean. It took three days without an escort but sailed with the SS America. The ships docked in Liverpool [Annotator's Note: Liverpool, England]. London was a member of Company K, 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Division, 3rd Army. The division was made up mostly of people from the Midwest and had been in the Louisiana Maneuvers [Annotator's Note: series of Army exercises held in Louisiana, 1941], desert maneuvers, and mountain maneuvers. The division had a mix of ages in it. The commander of the division was Henry Twaddle [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General Henry Lewis Twaddle]. After landing in Liverpool, London's company was sent to Cheriton, Hampshire [Annotator's Note: Hampshire, England]. It had been a British major's estate. London slept in above the major's horses in the stable. There was an ATS [Annotator's Note: Auxiliary Territorial Service] unit around, which was equivalent to the American WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978]. They would go to the pub on bicycles to see the Americans. The men would date the British girls and the British men resented it. While in Cheriton, London practiced night-time river crossings. The British liked the Americans. London was in Great Britain during the summer of 1944. He did not hear details of the invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. The V-1 buzz bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] were coming over two or three a week in his area. Before shipping out, London was given leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] for a day and visited London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. The V-2 [Annotator's Note: German Vergeltungswaffe 2, or Retribution Weapon 2, ballistic missile] rockets appeared later. He was told you could hear the rumble of the engine, but when the noise stopped, it would explode somewhere nearby.

James Harvard London shipped out of Southampton [Annotator's Note: Southampton, England] on the Belgian ship Leopoldville [Annotator's Note: SS Leopoldville]. It was a crowded ship. He slept in a hammock. Liver with gravy and bread was given to the men to eat. He was moved onto an LCI [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry] and landed on Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach, Normandy]. The beach was still cluttered when London arrived. He went ashore in late August [Annotator's Note: August 1944] and remained there for about a week. The nights were cold and wet. They made a shelter with straw and had some Calvados [Annotator's Note: apple or pear brandy from the Normandy, France]. London did not smoke, so he gave his cigarettes away. The 95th Division [Annotator's Note: 95th Infantry Division] was sent to the Third Army. He first moved towards Cherbourg [Annotator's Note: Cherbourg, France], then was directed farther west. The first city London remembers going to is Le Mans [Annotator's Note: Le Mans, France]. He then participated in the Falaise Gap [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Falaise Gap, August 12 through 21 1944, Falaise, Normandy, France]. Afterwards, he started heading towards Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France], but was not allowed to enter until General de Gaulle [Annotator's Note: French Army General Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle; later President of France] entered with the Free French [Annotator's Note: Free French Forces, forces of the Free France government in exile]. The Red Ball Express [Annotator's Note: one of several American military truck convoy systems that transported supplies from the coast of France to Allied forces advancing across Europe] took him through the city and to Verdun [Annotator's Note: Verdun, France]. There were signs warning people about unexploded munitions from World War 1. His final destination was Metz [Annotator's Note: Battle of Metz, 27 September to 13 December 1944m Metz, France]. The Moselle River was a concern for the men and upon the first attempt to cross, they were repulsed. It was London's first action. He was a rifleman until some men were killed and he started assisting with armament and supplies. The 378th Regiment [Annotator's Note: London was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division] attempted crossing the river at Nancy [Annotator's Note: Nancy, France] and Thionville [Annotator's Note: Thionville, France]. In November, the regiment crossed the river into Metz. There was a ring of French forts around the city. London's company was near the railway station and stayed and the Bohnhoff Hotel. The field kitchen was setup in the lobby of the hotel. One evening, a six by six [Annotator's Note: two and a half ton, six by six truck, also known as deuce and a half] showed up full of men from the 5th Division [Annotator's Note: 5th Infantry Division]. The 95th had marched 17 miles at dark in the rain. On Thanksgiving [Annotator's Note: 23 November 1944], London woke up on a pile of straw and manure. The food was navy beans, potatoes and burned turkey. After Metz, the division crossed the Saar River near Saarlautern [Annotator's Note: Saarlautern, Germany]. On one side of the river was Ensdorf [Annotator's Note: Ensdorf, Germany] and the other was Linsdorf [Annotator's Note: Linsdorf, Germany]. For the crossing into Ensdorf, a platoon had to cross back at night. The bridges and boats were shot by mortars. The Germans had a pattern of firing that the Americans learned so they could make the crossings. There was building to building fighting in the town. The Americans would make holes in the walls of buildings to fire in and move through. By the time they made it to the end of a street, the Germans would be at the other end. They used the holes the Americans made to move around. London carried an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. On the Linsdorf side of the river, London went over to a building with a pool table. He tried to play a game with a friend. Some artillery fire started landing around the building, so they did not get to finish the game.

The Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] started after James Harvard London crossed the Saar River [Annotator's Note: in Germany]. When the battle started, Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] and the First Army met at Verdun [Annotator's Note: Verdun, France] with Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.]. They decided that Patton would send help from the south. London was very cold, and it was icy. He arrived near Malmedy [Annotator's Note: Malmedy, Belgium] and Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Bastogne, Belgium], where the airborne was relieved. The Germans ran out of gas and had to head back to their lines. Around New Year's Eve [Annotator's Note: 31 December 1944], London was given a week off and spent time in Liege, Belgium to recover and get new clothing and equipment. The Third Army had the fewest cases of trench foot [Annotator's Note: immersion foot syndrome]. MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] would allow ammunition, food, and socks to move to the front first. Every day, the soldiers changed their socks to keep their feet healthy. In a house, the men found some charcoal and started a fire with it. London took his boots off, but his feet swelled up so much, he could not get his boots back on. A soldier was killed that night and London had to wear his shoes, which broke down his arches and damaged his feet.

James Harvard London was sent to Holland [Annotator's Note: the Netherlands] after the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He was sent to an insane asylum to sleep at one point. The GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] would take wheelchairs and ride around in them. There was another river crossing, and the 95th [Annotator's Note: 95th Infantry Division] replaced elements of the British Second Army. They crossed the Maas and the Meuse Rivers [Annotator's Note: both located in the Netherlands], which was the goal of the Germans during the Bulge. London went to Dortmund [Annotator's Note: Dortmund, Germany] and crossed the Ruhr River [Annotator's Note: at Uerdingen, Germany, 5 March 1945]. London crossed five or six rivers during that time. He is not sure where he crossed the Rhine River [Annotator's Note: in Germany]. The Germans were falling back during that time. Displaced people would get in the way on the road. They were walking in columns, maybe to their homes. London's regiment [Annotator's Note: London was a member of Company K, 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division] was sent to Bremen [Annotator's Note: Bremen, Germany] to the First Army. On the way back to Dortmund, the unit stopped at a small town with thousands of displaced persons in it. While riding in a truck, one of the German speaking Americans started hearing the Germans say the war was over, which is how London first heard the news, somewhere near Maastricht, Holland. London's unit set up its headquarters and things started changing fast. Everyone was getting chocolate bars and cigarettes every week. London did not smoke, so he would trade his. Everyone received new clothes. Combat boots replaced the shoes and leggings London used. He did not get boots and an Eisenhower jacket [Annotator's Note: a military jacket modeled on the jacket worn by General Dwight D. Eisenhower] until the war ended. The men built a baseball diamond and started playing softball. On 21 June [Annotator's Note: 21 June 1945], London loaded onto a ship at Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France]. Before leaving Germany, camps were setup named after cigarette brands, London was at Camp Old Gold [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Old Gold was near Ourville, France]. Later in life, London had a job in Libya as an engineer. For the anniversary of D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] that year, he flew into Brussels [Annotator's Note: Brussels, Belgium], but did not make it to the beach because Reagan [Annotator's Note: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States], Margaret Thatcher [Annotator's Note: Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, British Prime Minister], and other dignitaries were there. He decided to take a train to Liege [Annotator's Note: Liege, Belgium] to find the family he billeted with [Annotator's Note: during World War 2]. Eventually, he stopped in a small shop, where he received help getting to the town. The waiter was best friends with one of the children. He did not get to see the family because they were on vacation.

James Harvard London returned to Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] on the same ship that took him to Europe, the SS Mariposa. The ship was double loaded, and the men were everywhere on the decks playing games. The ship took four or five days to make it to America. Once in Boston, London took a train across the country to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas [Annotator's Note: near Fort Smith, Arkansas], where he received leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and was transferred to the 28th Division [Annotator's Note: 28th Infantry Division]. London had a five-week leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in Oklahoma before reporting to Camp Shelby, Mississippi [Annotator's Note: near Hattiesburg, Mississippi], where he was discharged in December 1945. The Army used the point system [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to see who would go home. London was one point shy of leaving early. He tried to convince the person in charge that he deserved the one point. One week later, London was discharged. The following month, he entered college at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville [Annotator's Note: Fayetteville, Arkansas]. On a trip to Port Smith, Arkansas, where Camp Chaffee was, he saw people still in the service that arrived there before he did. London thinks the war blended everyone together. He thinks that was the biggest accomplishment of the war. He thinks the G.I. Bill made that generation great and it helped people recover from the war. London does not think he would have been interested in college had it not been for that bill. He became a chemical engineer.