Joe Crandall was born in Topeka, Kansas in May 1920. His father managed hotels, so he moved his family all over the United States. His father lost his job 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] and died shortly after. Crandall and his family moved back to Highland Park, Kansas where he finished high school. In May 1940, Crandall decided to enlist in the Kansas National Guard in the 114th Calvary [Annotator’s Note: 114th Cavalry Regiment] for a year. He was then inducted into federal service in December 1940 when the guard became nationalized. The military changed the unit to the 127th Field Artillery []Annotator’s Note: 127th Field Artillery Regiment] and was transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas. He joined the Army because all of his buddies were joining as well. Crandall was not interested in the military, but just wanted to get his required year of service over. One Sunday morning, he was lying in his tent with some of his friends listening to the radio. Suddenly, the announcement about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] came over the radio. He was a few days short of being discharged after his year of service. Crandall said, “the honeymoon was over.” Crandall knew how to play the bugle and was assigned to play while in service. He was free most of the day until it was time to blow bugle calls for lunch and assembly. His unit was shifted to anti-tank platoons a few days after Pearl Harbor. Crandall was assigned as a reconnaissance sergeant for a tank destroyer battalion. His unit was deployed overseas in February 1944 and trained there for four months. He boarded the S.S. Andes [Annotator’s Note: RMS Andes], a British Ship outfitted as a troop ship. The food was disgusting and the ship was overcrowded. Many of the men were seasick, including Crandall. There was a significant shortage of food while he was in England. He enjoyed spending time with British girls when he went on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He also took a seven-day leave in Glasgow, Scotland. Right after Pearl Harbor, his unit was shipped to Fort Ord, California and then to Glendale, California to guard the Lockheed plant for one year. His unit then trained at Fort Hood, Texas.

Joe Crandall served with the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the European Campaign of World War 2. Two weeks before the Normandy invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], his unit was given orders to waterproof all of their vehicles. They were not allowed to leave the area. They boarded an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] and began to cross the English Channel, but when his unit disembarked, they were right back where they boarded because the mission was called off due to bad weather. Many of the guys in his unit were his buddies from back home that joined the Kansas Guard with him. When they finally invaded Omaha Beach [Annotator’s Note: one of the landing beaches of D-Day], the situation was a mess. His unit was able to follow a trail from the beach. After he saw all the wounded, Crandall realized this was no adventure. After they landed on the beach, they received orders to de-waterproof their vehicles. While they were de-waterproofing, a guy in another platoon was shot by a French woman. The platoon executed her. He first came under enemy fire at Colmar, France. They dug foxholes and remained there for a month. His unit suffered their first casualty, Crandall’s best friend. Crandall wrote letters to his friend’s family. They left Colmar and moved outside of Saint-Lô [Annotator’s Note: Saint-Lô, France]. One morning they saw hundreds of bomber planes bombing the town. Crandall’s unit was affected by the bombing and took friendly fire.

After moving inland following the Normandy invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Joe Crandall’s unit [Annotator’s Note: the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion] supported the breakout at Saint-Lô [Annotator’s Note: Saint-Lô, France]. When they drove through Saint-Lô, he saw that the whole town was wiped out. His unit moved through France at a rapid pace. At one point during their movement, there was a sniper attacking his unit. Crandall shot and killed him. They found the body the next morning. It later affected him because he thought about the man’s family. On 7 November 1944, his unit reached the German-Belgian border. A group of men were coming through who he determined were Germans, so he boobytrapped the area. The next morning, they found two German bodies and figured out it was a total of six patrol men. Crandall does not hold any animosity towards the Germans even though he tried.

Joe Crandall’s unit [Annotator’s Note: the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion] was pulled from the front and sent to Aachen, Germany for a week of rest. Then the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] broke out and they received orders to head to the Ardennes Forrest. The night before they were to head out, Crandall received news that he had been selected for a 30-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He was thrilled by the news and went to Paris [Annotator’s Note: Paris, France] for three weeks before being sent to England. He left his unit on 7 December 1944 and returned to them in May 1945, the day before the war ended. He enjoyed his time home, and visited the family of a friend who was killed in Europe. [Annotator’s Note: A telephone rings and there is a video break at 0:51:12.000.] Crandall talks about his planning for direct fire missions on a field of German personnel. While his unit was in Aachen, they had to watch out for buzz bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug].

Joe Crandall experienced the most difficult combat when his unit [Annotator’s Note: the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion] fought on the Belgian-German border because the Germans fought really hard. His unit had to drive through the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s]. After Crandall was given a 30-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] back to the United States, he returned to his unit in May 1945 to Linz, Austria. His unit’s duty was to process German prisoners and determine if the individual was SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization]. Those that were in the regular German army were sent home, while those who were in the SS were detained. Crandall had 98 points and was two points short of being able to fly home [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home]. He boarded a liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] to the United States and arrived in Newport News, Virginia. When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, he was transferred to the 6th Armored Division and then made his way home by July 1945. He was discharged out of Leavenworth, Kansas as a sergeant. He joined the reserves. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 1:04:27.000.] The only guilt Crandall felt was when he was sent home on a 30-day furlough. He felt other soldiers in his unit should have been selected. His reserve unit was not called to the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], and Crandall decided to retire from the military. Crandall took advantage of 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] and went to school. When he was training with the Louisiana Maneuvers [Annotator's Note: a series of major Army exercises held in 1941 in northern and west-central Louisiana], it was kind of a joke. He had an emergency appendectomy while there.

Joe Crandall believes that 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] was a great opportunity the government gave to World War 2 veterans. Crandall fought in World War 2 because he did not want to be drafted and went in the National Guard to avoid it. The war changed his life because of the education benefits he was given after he served. His experience was something he would not change, but he would not want to go to war again. His most memorable experience was being selected for a 30-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and missing the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. Crandall believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewer asks someone off camera if the interviewee missed any stories at 1:19:15.000.] The Germans put wires across roads to decapitate motorcyclists. The production plants at home camouflaged their buildings so the enemy could not locate them. At the beginning of the war, the fear of the invasion of the United States was very real among civilians. [Annotator’s Note: Video break to interviewee showing artifacts at 1:23:00.000 until the end of the segment.]