Jerry LaMura was born in Manhattan [Annotator's Note: Manhattan, New York City, New York] in June 1925. He grew up in Manhattan and in Italy, where his parents were from. One of his brothers was left in Italy with his grandfather and two sisters were left in Italy and brought up in a convent. His father owned a restaurant and was a bootlegger [Annotator’s Note: bootlegging is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such is forbidden by law]. Sandwiches cost about 15 cents during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. He was walking the streets when he heard over the radio that the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He graduated high school in June 1943. He was 18 years old and had to register for the draft. He was working in a Navy yard when he was called up by the draft. He reported in September 1943 to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Jerry LaMura received his basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on artillery. They were being trained as replacements. They learned the difference between a cannon and a rifle. He went to Massachusetts to be shipped overseas in 1944. A lot of men got seasick because of the waves. When he arrived in Liverpool, England, he went to radio school. A gun crew consisted of forward observers, an officer, and a radio operator. LaMura had a portable radio. After radio school, he was shipped to Normandy after the initial invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He took a train to his unit. He was assigned to the 104th Infantry Division, known as the Timberwolves. He joined them in Aachen [Annotator’s Note: Aachen, Germany]. His feet were freezing in the Hurtgen Forest [Annotator’s Note: The Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September to 10 February 1945; Hurtgen Forest on the German-Belgian border]. He was wounded during one of the battles. He remembers seeing bodies piled up. He remembers they killed the Americans that were captured so they were told to take no prisoners. LaMura had trench foot [Annotator's Note: immersion foot syndrome] and had to go to an aid station. The fighting was so severe sometimes that they would have to duck to protect themselves. He spoke Italian. He missed his transportation and had to walk when it was cold. When he was south of Cologne [Annotator’s Note: Cologne, Germany], the villagers thought he was someone’s son because he resembled him. When LaMura was wounded, he had the radio with the officer in the attic. After they hit the Headquarters, LaMura was hit by shrapnel in the lung by German counterfire. He was taken back on a stretcher. When he woke up, he was in the hospital and a priest was reading him his last rights. A German man’s wife had been wounded and he thought this would happen to his wife until the Americans saved his wife. His back was operated on. He was flown to the 1st General Hospital in Paris, France. He was hit in the shoulder and the chest. He was hit in the lung and some shrapnel caused his spleen to rest on his kidney.

Jerry LaMura was sent to a hospital in Long Island [Annotator’s Note: Long Island, New York] and then to Washington D.C. where he was discharged with a disability discharge in 1945. He was wounded on 23 March 1945. He returned to the United States in April of that year. He was in D.C. when the Germans surrendered [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. There was a celebration. LaMura was not allowed to leave the hospital. The hospital staff had some time off. He was flown back to the United States from Paris, France. He was discharged on 23 August 1945 at Walter Regional Hospital. He was a PFC [Annotator’s Note: private first class] when he left service. He had never been away from home before the war. His mother got a telephone. The Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] was interesting. He was supposed to meet headquarters. Someone had stepped on his rifle. He had to shoot it in the air to clean the barrel. The colonel made LaMura report to his captain. LaMura took battery punishment which was KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] and then the Battle of the Bulge happened. He was in the kitchen while they were up there fighting. The only problem he had was physically and readjusting to civilian life. He went back home and then went to college in 1946. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. LaMura was not able to work physically due to his injuries. He got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.

Jerry LaMura remembers hitting the beaches in Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and going up the hill. He stayed in France for a while and picked up the language quickly. Salon [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling] was completely destroyed. LaMura registered for the draft when he was 18 years old and he was drafted in September 1943. He would not have been able to go to college without the war happening. Without the war, he would not be where he is now in life. It changed his life for the better. The whole world was changed because of the war. Rosie the Riveter [Annotator's Note: nickname used to identify any female working in a physical role in the defense industry during World War 2] gave women freedom. They did not have those freedoms before World War Two. Young people should understand the war. They need to know the travesties of war. When people are safe at home, they do not think about the dangers others are affected by. In other places, there are children who are armed like in Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975], and Iraq [Annotator’s Note: The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 that began with the invasion of Iraq by the United States-led coalition that overthrew the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein]. Today people do not wear uniforms and they do not know who the enemy is.