James “Jim” William Niederer was born in January 1921 in Waco, Texas. He grew up with 5 siblings and his mother died when he was only 16 years old. His parents were immigrants from Switzerland. His dad served in the Swiss Army and went to school in France to become a butcher. He then went to Waco, Texas because he thought he would have better opportunities in America. Niederer grew up speaking German and English. During World War 2, he used his German fluency frequently talking to German prisoners. He remarked how the older soldiers told him they were ready for the war to be over, but the young soldiers still wanted to fight because they were brainwashed by Nazi education. He met one German in Waco after the war that praised Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. Niederer attacked the man and others had pull him off the man. That was the only time he remembered someone liking Hitler after the war [Annotator’s Note: Clock dings in background 0:7:58.000]. Niederer’s father managed a packing house for 37 years, butchering cows and hogs in a slaughterhouse. His mother stayed home and raised the children. His family lived in the city and Niederer walked or rode a bicycle to school. Sometimes he hitchhiked to school. 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], he knew things were hard and had friends’ parents that did not have jobs, but Niederer’s family did fine because his father kept working. Niederer graduated from high school in 1939 when he was 18 years old. He found a job at a service station for a little while, and then moved to Dallas [Annotator’s Note: Dallas, Texas] to be close to his sister and brother. He found a job at the Dallas Morning News, working the night shift, and was paid well. He then found a job at Wester Electric and moved to Fort Worth [Annotator’s Note: Fort Worth, Texas] with his younger brother and they lived at the YMCA [Annotator’s Note: Young Men's Christian Association]. In 1942, Niederer joined the Army and served for four years. He was sent to Camp Walters in Mineral Wells, Texas for bootcamp. He felt fortunate to be in the American Army and was treated fine. He did what he was told to do. He trained in infantry and electronics. He was assigned to the 74th Signal Company. He kept the communication from ship to shore on for the invasion he took part in. He often had to tell the Navy when they were bombarding too close to the infantry. At the beginning of his service they used communication wires, but then switched to radio. He worked in a 20-man team and was followed by the war correspondent, Ernie Pyle [Annotator’s Note: Ernest Taylor Pyle was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War 2], for five months. After bootcamp at Mineral Wells, he was sent to Camp Crowder in Neosho, Missouri for advanced training in communication school. He learned Morse code, signaling, and other communication techniques. He performed maneuvers and did calisthenics for an hour each morning. He also learned fist aid and about shell shock. After he completed in his advanced training, his unit was sent to Norfolk, Virginia for a little while to practice amphibious invasions using Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat].

James “Jim” William Niederer and his unit [Annotator’s Note: 74th Signal Company, 36th Signal Battalion] were sent from Norfolk [Annotator’s Note: Norfolk, Virginia] to Europe. He boarded a troop ship and crossed the Atlantic in a caravan of ships heading for Oran, Africa [Annotator’s Note: clock dings at 0:23:04.000] holding the whole 36th Division [Annotator’s Note: 36th Infantry Division]. It took abut four weeks to reach Oran because of the zigzag pattern [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] the ships used to avoid German submarines. He only stayed in Oran for about a month. He did not interact with the locals too much, but they were hard to avoid. His unit then received orders to head to Sicily [Annotator’s Note: Sicily, Italy]. He boarded another ship and made an amphibious invasion in Scoglitti, Sicily [Annotator’s Note: as part of the Allied invasion of Sicily, code named Operation Husky, 9 July to 17 August 1943]. Niederer recalled that the invasion was easy because the Italians and Germans did not expect the invasion so the area was poorly defended. He remarked that the Italian Army was mostly captive troops under Benito Mussolini [Annotator's Note: Italian fascist dictator Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini; also known as il Duce]. The Navy bombarded the beach first and many of the Italians were killed or wounded by the time Niederer arrived on shore. His unit moved inland and reached Messina [Annotator’s Note: Messina, Italy] in 30 days. He boarded a ship and went to Tunis, Africa. Then he boarded a truck and headed back to Oran to gather supplies. He had a friend, Melvin Hale, that he stayed close to after the war, along with others in his crew. He felt fortunate to serve with the 20 men in his unit and he is now the last surviving one. While he was in Africa, he contracted malaria and did not feel the symptoms until after he invaded Salerno, Italy [Annotator’s Note: part of the Allied invasion of Italy, 3-16 September 1943]. He was sent to a hospital for three weeks, and during this time he learned that his father had died in Waco [Annotator’s Note: Waco, Texas]. He rejoined his unit and moved into North Italy easily heading to Naples [Annotator’s Note: Naples, Italy]. They received a warm welcome from the Italian citizens in Naples. His unit headed to Foggia, Italy where his brother was stationed. Niederer and his unit then fought in Anzio [Annotator’s Note: Anzio, Italy] where they became stuck for about four months fighting on the beachheads. There were constantly 88 shells [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] flying around. He received a short leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go to Naples where the Red Cross fed him well, and then received permission to go see his brother in Foggia for his two weeks. He flew back in a B-17 bomber [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] to his outfit. During battle, Niederer was always within one mile of the front line in order to conduct communications.

James “Jim” William Niederer and his unit [Annotator’s Note: 74th Signal Company, 36th Signal Battalion] stayed in Naples [Annotator’s Note: Naples, Italy] for about a month to prepare for the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. [Annotator’s Note: clock dings at 0:38:06.000.] His unit boarded a ship and made an amphibious invasion at Saint-Raphaël in the south of France to take pressure off the beaches of Normandy. He loaded trucks with gallons of gasoline for tanks to take to Patton’s army [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.]. His unit then proceeded towards the Rhine River and crossed into Southern Germany. He recalled that the area of Germany was very industrious, but all the buildings were bombed out. They were seven miles from Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] when his unit received K-rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals]. He was sitting by the road eating and waiting to go forward when they 20 saw men in striped pajamas walking down the road. Niederer talked in German to one of the men and found out who they were and where the concentration camp was located. The MP’s [Annotator’s Note: Military Police] took the men into custody. The following day, Niederer and his unit came upon the camp and entered it. They found the shacks where people slept on stacks. They also found the ovens and gas chambers that the Germans used to exterminate the Jews. Niederer recalled that Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] made all the German civilians from the town come and walk through the camp. Niederer’s unit moved through Germany and into Austria when the Germans surrendered in May 1945. His unit stayed at a ski lodge, the landscape was beautiful across the mountains. They waited for several days hoping to get orders to go home. Niederer soon learned that his unit would begin preparations for the invasion of Japan. He knew that the invasion would be harsh. After the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945 respectively], he heard that the Japanese had surrendered. He and his friends were thrilled World War 2 was officially over. All they had to do was wait to see if they had enough points [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 go home. Niederer scored high on his points and was able to go home by November 1945. He boarded the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship and headed across the Atlantic. He arrived in New York and took a train to San Antonio, Texas where his sister met him and brought him back to his hometown of Waco, Texas [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:54:36.000]. Niederer was asked if he wanted to reenlist, but he did not because he wanted to go home.

After James “Jim” William Niederer was discharged from the army, he married his wife in 1947. They had known each other since they were kids. Their families were friends. They have two children. Niederer did not talk much about his war experience until he got older. It was not his intention to go, but he did because he was asked by his country to do so. He is proud of his service and glad they won the war. His military service was a time that he had no control over his life. He did what his commanders told him to do, and he had no choice in the matter. He never resented the fact that he was in the Army, but looked forward to his discharge. He does not believe he was changed by the war, but it was a period of his life he does not forget. He believes that the true heroes are the men who did not make it back. He often thinks about the lost men. He had a sergeant that was killed standing right next to him. Niederer did not believe in shell shock before his war experience, but he now knows that it is a real thing. His most memorable experience was being given a three week leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go to Switzerland where he was able to visit some of his relatives and toured the country. It was one of the happiest three weeks of his life. Liberating Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] was one of his most horrific experiences. He will never forget witnessing firsthand what the Germans did to the Jewish people. He saw a large trench into which the Germans had used a front loader to transport the dead bodies. He remarks that the Jewish community in Waco, Texas is always happy to meet him. He gets mad when people deny the events of the Holocaust. After his discharge as a sergeant in 1945, Niederer went to work as a watch maker and worked for Briggs-Wheeler until his retirement in 1975. He is thankful for his wife and children and has no gripes. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations to prevent events like that to happen again. Unfortunately, he believes America does not think much about World War 2 because the country has moved on.