John McConn was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1923. Raised during the Great Depression, McConn's father was an accountant and associate for a worldwide accounting firm. His father became a CPA [Annotator’s Note: Certified Public Accountant] and maintained his job throughout the Depression. He was transferred with the firm from Tulsa to Houston in 1939. At one point, his father's salary had to be reduced which resulted in considerable consternation in the family. McConn had three younger brothers. His brother Bob was in the Navy during the war. That brother attended pre-medical school at Tulane University in New Orleans and medical school at Baylor University in Houston. While not going overseas during World War 2, his brother Bob did get called back into service as a medic in the Air Force during the Korean War. McConn was 18 years old on the Sunday that Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: on 7 December 1941]. He was listening to the radio at a friend's house when the announcement was made. Everyone there became excited and talked about what service they would enter. McConn wanted to join the Air Force and fly, but his nearsightedness prevented him from being accepted. The same was true of his attempt to enlist in the Navy. The war was a major topic of conversation during his education at Rice University. The students followed the progress of the war through the newspapers and newsreels. Although Rice did offer ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officers’ Training Corps], McConn elected to join ERC or Enlisted Reserve Corps instead. ERC gave McConn a physical but because of his eyesight, he was selected for limited service. McConn did not like that classification. Later when the ERC was called up into active duty, McConn found himself in a camp in Paris, Texas. He memorized the first three lines of the eye chart so he would not have to be considered a limited service guy. He later had moments when he regretted that action. He volunteered for service because in those times patriotism was shared by all his friends. Other than one friend with bad asthma, all of his buddies got into one branch of the service or another.

John McConn was sent to Paris, Texas for basic training. That lasted about four months then he was sent to Kingsville, Texas where there was an agricultural college, Texas A&I [Annotator's Note: Texas Agricultural and Industrial College], where he studied engineering. McConn had been studying pre-law at Rice. He entered the service in May 1943. While in Army training as an engineer, one of his professors told the class that England and the United States, as well as Germany, were all working on a type of bomb that would emit a tremendous explosion. The class knew about the development of what would come to be called the atomic bomb before many others did. McConn's education at Rice was business oriented. During that time, he received advanced mathematics training which helped him later. During his military training, McConn was qualified with an M1 rifle. He thought it was a fine weapon. When he received his battlefield commission in Epinal, France in December 1944, he was issued a carbine. He elected to replace the carbine with an M1 because of the latter's greater fire power. Many officers followed that same course. During his training at Texas A&I, he was called into the infantry and ordered to Camp Howze in north Texas. He spent six months there before taking a train to New York for deployment overseas. Riding the train across country in 1944 was quite an experience. A friend from Ohio previously had commented to McConn during 15 mile training marches in Texas that the state had no trees. When the two men crossed through Pennsylvania on the train, the friend told McConn that they were seeing real trees out the window of the railcar. [Annotator's Note: McConn chuckles.] The troop train spent a night in a rail yard in Chicago before continuing for two days to Camp Shanks. McConn was assigned to Company C, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division before his overseas deployment. He was a PFC and a first scout in an infantry squad. Being a first scout, McConn was on point in front of the squad. The second scout behind McConn was of Italian ancestry. Being first scout saved his life sometimes. The Germans did not understand why Americans fired on the first head they saw instead of waiting for the scouts to go by in order to have more troops to fire upon. The Germans felt they were better trained in that regard. When McConn was on patrol and he heard the firing behind him, he would dive for cover and survive as a result. While at Camp Shanks, the men had training on rope ladders in preparation for disembarking ships. They also had gymnastic training. He had another eye exam at Shanks and passed. He knew where the letters were [Annotator's Note: McConn was nearsighted. To avoid a classification of limited duty, he studied the standard eye chart and memorized the letters on the first three lines]. A friend with a problem with his feet was even defined as acceptable. The trip overseas was on the troopship USS Brooks [Annotator's Note: ship name not verified]. It was originally designated for 1,200 people but carried a whole regiment of 4,500 men. It was crowded. McConn had KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] duty while on the voyage. He served meals much of the time. While at Camp Shanks, the troops were given passes to go into New York. There he attended night clubs where he enjoyed music. He also enjoyed too much to drink on occasion. On one such occasion, McConn and a friend went up to the captain's cabin on the Hudson ferry. The captain had them escorted down below. Boarding the troop ship in preparation for the voyage to Europe, McConn went up the gangplank and was ushered down to C deck, a couple decks below, where his bunk was located. The bunks were four high and McConn's was second from the bottom. The man in the bunk above was so close that his rear end was nearly touched his nose. It was really crowded. He used his large bag behind him as a pillow. All the equipment and gear that he carried was in a larger duffle bag that weighed about 60 pounds. The trip overseas was alright for McConn because he never suffered from seasickness. Nine out of ten men did get sick. It was especially bad near the exhaust blowers from the kitchen. There were Marines onboard. Cards were played in the dining room until the Marines would dictate when it was time to bunk down. One Marine who was particularly troublesome to the soldiers was given meager portions by the Army mess attendants when he went through the chow line. Otherwise, onboard existence just seemed like work in a kitchen or restaurant. While aboard the ship, McConn did not dwell on surviving his time in combat. It did cross his mind though. While in transit, there was a collision between two boats in the convoy. The ships could be seen burning from McConn's ship. The transport captain came on the announcement system and told his passengers that the burning ships had not been hit by a torpedo. Instead, a man had not properly performed his watch duty and the ships rammed each other. The troop ship experienced rough seas with the vessel bouncing between high waves. The troops had to all go below. It became quite claustrophobic.

John McConn and his troopship went directly from the United States through Gibraltar and landed in Marseilles, France. Crossing into the Mediterranean, he saw Africa on the right and Gibraltar to the left. It was quite an experience. In Marseilles, the soldiers exited the troopship on rope ladders to smaller boats. After docking, they marched to a tent city. For several days, they worked at the harbor unloading all kinds of cargo from ships. There were Indian Sikh troops acting as guards. The guards kept the American troops on the docks. They were not even allowed to visit shops nearby. For a Texan, it was exciting to see the French citizens expressing their gratitude verbally to the Americans. The sights in the French city were different from the United States. Cobblestone streets and running water in the streets made things looked strange.

John McConn and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company C, 1st Battalion, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division] got on two and half ton trucks and went up the Rhone Valley. The Krauts [Annotator's Note: a disparaging reference to Germans] had retreated from that area only a short time before. The area had dead horses and ruined vehicles everywhere. American airplanes had decimated the German convoy. The dead enemy soldiers had been removed. McConn and his squad headed to Nancy in northeastern France. From Nancy, they were transported by truck to Saint Dié [Annotator's Note: Saint-Dié-des-Vosges] on the Meurthe River. McConn and his outfit helped serve as replacements for the 3rd Army when they arrived in the early hours. The position they assumed was in the foxholes dug by their predecessors. They were on the opposite side of the river from the city of Saint-Dié. The new troops could smell the 3rd Army in those foxholes. They had been there for awhile. Saint-Dié was on fire. The next morning, the men saw that their foxholes surrounded the house where their company headquarters was located. The Krauts had an 88mm cannon and took pot shots at any Americans who made themselves visible. There was a lot of destruction and people dying. It let McConn know that he was about to experience something that would not be very nice. He saw two German casualties in a different location from Saint-Dié. He was with Romano, the second scout. As he and Romano approached the two enemy soldiers with their rifles trained on them, they saw that they were in bad shape. There had been a lot of American artillery shelling and those two had been hit by some of it. The Americans later took their objective, which was a hill. One of the men in the outfit was reported to be an atheist. After that man was hit, McConn overheard him praying in a loud voice. Soon afterward, the fatally wounded man died. That had an effect on McConn and others who were around him. Several men were killed taking the hill. Many were wounded. The first patrol was composed of six men. McConn was asked to find a ford to cross the river. He carried his rifle, a pack and bandolier of ammunition. What he did not know was that the river was at flood stage. After the water rose to his waist, he took another step and suddenly it was over his head. He threw his rifle away as the river carried him on. He grabbed a branch from a tree and pulled himself to the bank. His sergeant took the message to headquarters that the river was too deep. McConn was allowed to sleep in the big house that night because of his attempt to ford the river. The next day, a combat patrol with 18 men was organized. The patrol crossed the river in two rubber boats. Having reached the opposite bank, they entered a burned town that was empty. They spotted a building that was occupied by German troops. Some of the enemy walked right beside the hidden Americans but did not see them. The sergeant told the men to withdraw but one man opened up on the enemy with his submachine gun. The Germans began to fire on the retreating Americans and tracers filled the air. The Americans fired rapidly in the direction of the opposition. They could not see the enemy soldiers. They only saw the tracers coming in at them. The Americans withdrew across the river without any of them being hit.

John McConn fought his first major battle at Saint-Dié [Annotator's Note: Saint-Dié-des-Vosges]. The Americans were on the west bank of the river Meurthe and the main city was on the opposite side of that river. In order to reach the city, the river had to be crossed. There were no intact bridges. [Annotator's Note: A portion of the recording dealing with a kitchen was lost.] When the men were leaving, the kitchen was a mess. There were stacked empty ration cans in that kitchen. A series of 88mm shells hit near the house as the men were about to exit. One shell hit the part of the house not occupied by the Americans. When there was a let up, the men boarded two and half ton trucks and made their getaway. They headed toward a wooded area. That was where they spotted two seriously wounded Germans. The Americans later attacked a hill where one of their own, an Italian from Chicago, was killed. The hill was taken. Captain Neely gave the command to take the next hill [Annotator's Note: no further identification of the captain was given other than the name Neely]. The men thought the captain was crazy but followed his orders. McConn and Romano got down to the opposite side of the hill into a field. [Annotator's Note: McConn and Romano were first and second scout, respectively]. There was a point of woods extending into the field they entered. As the two men got into the field, Sergeant Awk, who was a seasoned Army veteran, began cursing them. He told them to immediately return to cover because there was probably an enemy machine gun at that point. The men later approached the potential machine gun position by a circuitous route. As they closed in, a shadowy figure emerged from the woods and fired upon them with a burp gun [Annotator's Note: most likely a German MP40 submachine gun]. Romano threw a grenade at the enemy but he did not allow for the timing on the fuse. The German picked up the American grenade and tossed it back at the Americans. The grenade landed close to the Americans, but not close enough. Since all the Americans were lying down, none were injured. The opponents continued to fire at each other until the German stepped out in clear view. The two scouts and their sergeant shot him down. Later the first day, the men fired on a lost German soldier calling out for his comrades. The enemy soldier was not hit because a body was not found. The battle was in the middle of October [Annotator's Note: October 1944]. Town after town was taken as the weeks went by and progress was made in the Allied advance.

In the early part of December, John McConn and his outfit was taking a German town. [Annotator’s Note: 1944] The Germans had mortars and were finding the proper range of their American foes. With the fields being wet, the mortar shells were going down in the mud before exploding. It lessened the force. Captain Neely ordered Staff Sergeant McConn and his men forward to take the town. McConn was in a dead run toward the enemy when a shell exploded and knocked him down. He thought that he had been hit in the chest. He was wearing multiple layers of clothes but took medical gauze out of his pouch on his belt. He could not wrap it around his chest so he took off running and entered a barn where the captain was with several other men. Neely reached in and pulled out a hunk of shrapnel from McConn’s chest pocket. The shrapnel had been deflected by a steel covered prayer book. The book had been given to McConn as a gift for his sixteenth birthday. McConn has retained the book throughout the years since the war. [Annotator’s Note: McConn takes the damaged prayer book and indicates where it was near his heart when it saved his life] McConn and Romano entered the town. They were crouched down at a water fountain shooting their M1 rifles. A bullet hit Romano in the helmet. It circled inside the steel outside helmet and knocked him to the ground but did not harm him. While they were standing guard, the Krauts were firing screaming Mimi’s at the Americans. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy. A screaming Mimi is a rocket propeller artillery shell that made a peculiar screaming sound when fired. McConn emulates the sound of the rockets going off.] When the shells hit a large building, it was evaporated. Several buildings were hit close by. The town was finally taken. Small and medium size towns were taken by the Americans after continued German resistance. The advance reached a point in Alsace. It was there that the men saw a captain fleeing his position. He said he and his men could not take anymore. McConn’s captain told his men to take over the deserted position. While there, the Germans shelled the Americans. One man that was hit was a star athlete for Rice University. [Annotator’s Note: William Marsh Rice University is in Houston, Texas] The soldiers heard the obvious sound of a Tiger tank. The captain escaped his headquarters. The men abandoned their jeep and Sherman tank. The Germans took the American equipment and returned to their lines with them. This equipment was likely used later by the enemy in the Bulge when the Germans used captured equipment to fool American troops. [Annotator’s Note: some specially trained Germans wore American uniforms and drove captured vehicles to disorient already confused and unsuspecting American troops during the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944]

John McConn and Ganyo were given the duty of guarding a bridge. [Annotator’s Note: the spelling of Ganyo’s name is not certain. No further explanation of whether the name of his buddy is a given name or surname.] Both men were staff sergeants at the time in December 1944. A jeep drove up and the two men were told to report to Neely. [Annotator’s Note: Neely was the company captain. No further explanation of whether the name of the captain is a given name or surname.] When they reported to Neely, they found out that they were to be promoted. Although they originally thought that they would be returning to the United States, instead, they were sent to Epinal, France. Prior to signing the commissioning papers for the promotion, the men had to sign discharge papers as enlisted men. One man thought of the idea of signing the discharge without countersigning the promotion papers. A sergeant there recommended highly that he not follow through with that idea. All the new officers signed the papers and that night they decided to enter an officers’ club. When they entered, an Air Force officer challenged them and sent them out of the club. The former enlisted men were conditioned not to enter the club. Ganyo and McConn thought about it after exiting and decided they had a right to be in the club because of their recent promotion. They reentered the club and explained that even though they were in enlisted dirty battle dress without insignia, they had both just received battlefield commissions. After that, the Air Force officer proceeded to buy them drinks for the remainder of their attendance in the club. When men returned, they were both assigned to the 45th. McConn and Ganyo went to different companies but their paths crossed often. In the regimental headquarters tent, the three new officers met their first lieutenant named Wance. [Annotator’s Note: the given name of the first lieutenant was not provided.] Two other second lieutenants besides McConn were introduced to Wance. They were Zeddie Sears, an old Army guy, and Cerubi, who was like McConn. [Annotator’s Note: the spellings of these names are not certain and no given name for Cerubi was provided] When the three new officers saluted their first lieutenant, he told them not to do so. His rationale was that rank amongst lieutenants was just about as meaningful as virginity amongst whores. There was no such thing. After that, they never saluted Wance again. The three new officers were then transported by truck to a sector to begin an attack with their new company assignments. McConn had joined C Company of the 279th Regiment of the 45th Division.

After joining the 45th Division, John McConn and his company moved fast by traveling on tanks and tank destroyers. The first town they approached was a German town named Weinheim. [Annotator’s Note: city spelling has not been confirmed] The town was at the foot of a hill that had a large pillbox at the top of the rise. It was part of the Siegfried Line which was Germany’s answer to the Maginot Line. [Annotator’s Note: both lines were defensive positions designed to eliminate the trench warfare of the First World War. The Siegfried Line was called the Westwall by Germany. With the advent of blitzkrieg and modern warfare, static defenses were bypassed and these types of positions quickly became ineffective and obsolete.] The German town circled the base of the hill. The Kraut defenses were dug in halfway up the hill. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy.] The Americans attacked the hill with no cover and only two small tanks. The tanks were knocked out quickly by German 88mm shells. When the shells hit the hard ground, they would ricochet and make a strange sound. [Annotator’s Note: McConn emulates the sound of the shells] There was continuous noise with heavy machine gun as well as rifle fire. Wance was further up the hill when he received orders from Regiment to back off the hill. [Annotator’s Note: McConn was a second lieutenant at the time and Wance was his first lieutenant. No given name is provided for Wance.] McConn told his men to withdraw by telling his runner to spread the word. The runner was a good guy from New York called Rosy. [Annotator’s Note: spelling of the name is not certain. There is no indication given by McConn whether Rosy is a nickname, given or surname.] Rosy reported that Sergeant Kreib had been hit. The sergeant looked to be wounded. McConn told Rosy to withdraw and that he would take care of Kreib. A medic arrived and helped McConn pull Kreib away from the firing. Kreib would return to the United States for treatment of a stomach wound. Kreib later wrote the men in his company that he would not be returning to action because he lost his guts. Kreib had a hell of a sense of humor. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the memory. There is no given name provided for Sergeant Kreib.] The battalion lieutenant colonel told a meeting of officers that night that they would no longer try to go up that hill but would capture the town instead. McConn was given point with the 3rd platoon. He was told that if he took the town, it would be named McConnville. The town was taken, but it was not renamed. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the memory] There was thought to be an 88mm artillery gun in the town. The men were promised smoke to disguise their advance. The wind was heavy and blew the smoke away from protecting them. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the memory] McConn and his men ran at full tilt to avoid being fired upon by that enemy gun. Intelligence was wrong. There was no gun, but the Krauts were in the houses and a church steeple. It was a house to house fight. McConn and his men advanced deep into the city until they reached the church with its steeple. The men found protection from the machine gun fire until they had to cross an open street. At that point, they were exposed and had to run to avoid being shot. Generally, the machine gun bullets would hit behind them as they raced across the open street. McConn advised Wance of the machine gun and then took off running across the street. Wance initially did not run until he was wounded and his carbine was hit by the machine gun fire. He stopped walking across the street and immediately began to run to avoid further enemy gunfire. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the memory] Wance ordered a tank to come up and knock down the large steeple. A Sherman tank came up with a 76mm cannon and destroyed the Kraut position with its two soldiers and machine gun. Proceeding into the town, Cerubi and Zeddie Sears were there along with McConn. [Annotator’s Note: the spellings of these names are not certain and no given name for Cerubi was provided. These two men were given battlefield promotions to second lieutenant at the same time that McConn received his promotion.] Sears commented that the three officers and a staff sergeant were further ahead than the enlisted men under their command. Sears committed to get more men forward with them. McConn and Sears were in a doorway of a building when a machine gun opened up on them and laced bullets across Sears’ chest. The bullets missed McConn. McConn and the sergeant pulled Sears into the building, but the machine gun opened up again. One bullet hit the sergeant in the wrist. The men saw Sears was dead and decided to evacuate the building. They left through the back of the building and climbed over tile roofs to escape. With all the noise the Americans were making in their departure across the tile roofs, the Krauts began throwing potato mashers at them. A potato masher is a German hand grenade which appears to be an explosive canister attached to a wooden handle which is used for throwing the apparatus. The explosions were behind the running Americans, but it was making a lot of racket. None of the Americans were hit. They returned to their outfit and Wance. McConn explained what had happened to Sears to Wance. Sears was a great guy and popular in the outfit. Wance was attached to Sears so he was angered by his death. Wance was friends with all of his lieutenants. He was quite a character and a hell of a soldier. Wance ordered the tank to destroy all the houses between their position and where Sears was killed. It was about eight houses. Early the next day, the men were ordered by a regimental major to take the hill and the pillbox located there. The man who had taken Sears unit refused to lead his men up the hill. After conferring with one another, they decided to advance on the hill. They dug in about halfway up. Using concrete tank traps at the base of the hill as cover, the company had to traverse barbed wire to get to the base of the hill. The Americans went up to the hill where trenches had protected German troops. The enemy dugouts were abandoned. Left behind were weapons and ammunition. The enemy had left in a hurry. Reaching the pillbox at the top of the hill, McConn saw the door was open. He yelled at a man with a flamethrower to blow fire into the emplacement. After he did, there was no sound from the pillbox. The Americans went in and saw two machine guns with their ammunition in place. Again, the German troops had fled in a hurry to avoid confrontation with the advancing Americans. The night before, a jeep had arrived with hot food, which was a rarity. The driver also brought along a Stars and Stripes. [Annotator’s Note: the Stars and Stripes newspaper was produced by the military as a means of distributing to the troops information on the progress of the war.] The paper had a story about General Patton crossing the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany. The article went on to say that the German army was in full retreat in order to prevent encirclement. The action in the town was no indication of that, but capturing the pillbox on the hill adjacent to the town was a sure sign that the newsman knew what he was talking about. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the memory]

John McConn and his outfit spent three weeks training to cross the Rhine River in boats. The first boat to cross with the 1st platoon was to be a speed boat. The 2nd and 3rd platoons would cross on pontoons lashed together and powered by a motor manned by an engineer. With the Rhine River at flood stage, the word was to prevent men from going forward in the pontoon vessels. The 410th Regimental officers were shown where they were to land and advance on the enemy side of the river. McConn and Cerubi were drinking the night before the attack and joking about a million dollar wound. [Annotator’s Note: the spelling of Cerubi’s name is not certain. No given name for Cerubi was provided. Cerubi was given a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant at the same time that McConn received his promotion.] A million dollar wound was one that was not too serious but serious enough to get a trip back to the United States for recuperation. The attack for McConn’s outfit was planned as a sneak attack early in the morning. The start up of the speed boats eliminated the surprise element for the attack. Flares were dropped and that alerted the enemy, also. With the 3rd platoon under his command, McConn had command of one of the pontoons. While climbing over the side of the pontoon to get in, McConn could see machine gun bullets hitting the water close by. The pontoons started out, but the engineer manning the motor on the vessel could not get it started. The pontoon was spinning in the Rhine. The motor finally started and progress was made in the crossing even though the vessels had traveled quite a bit laterally in the river. Some men moved to the forward part of the pontoon at the edge because of the machine gun fire. One of those shifting forward was a platoon sergeant named Tex Krabe. He was a big man. McConn and Krabe were grabbing guys and pulling them to the back of the pontoon. When they reached the bank on the opposite side of the river, the 2nd platoon pulled up next to McConn’s platoon. At that point, a mortar shell hit the bow of the 2nd platoon pontoon. All the men in that outfit were killed or wounded. The wounded included Cerubi. As McConn passed by Cerubi, the wounded friend joked that he got his million dollar wound. McConn and Cerubi wished each other good luck and McConn moved on. There was a town near the river that became the objective. Moving along the bank of the Rhine, McConn discovered manned enemy pillboxes. There were occasional firefights. One of the captured enemy soldiers could speak English very well. He offered to tell the remaining enemy soldiers in the proximity to surrender. That ploy worked very well. White flags would show and sometimes a couple Germans would surrender. Other times four or five would give up. McConn’s company strength at the time was about 35 men down from the nominal strength of about 200. Nearly 200 Germans surrendered to the advancing American troops. When the Americans reached the town, a post was set up in a cellar with a bazooka man in case of German armor attack. While setting up, a fellow with a British accent said that he would like to surrender. It turned out to be a German officer who had been educated in England. There were about 20 enemy soldiers with him. They stacked their guns and came out to surrender. The enemy officer joked that the war was over for them. An American retorted that the enemy officer had better shut up or it would all be over for him. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles.] The town was taken easily because the Germans were ready to quit at that point in the war.

John McConn and his company were the first Americans into Nuremburg. They cut the Autobahn while the Krauts were retreating on that freeway. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy. The German Autobahn was built during Hitler’s rule over Germany. It was intended as a means to rapidly move wartime vehicles and personnel across Germany.] On the outskirts of the town, the Americans came to a standstill. There was a big house that McConn and Wance were in. [Annotator’s Note: McConn was a second lieutenant at the time and Wance was his first lieutenant. No given name is provided for Wance.] There was a large square with the Krauts on the other side of the alley. The McConn and Wance had a jeep with a large American insignia on it to prevent friendly fire from Allied aircraft. A P51 did not see the indication and dropped a 500 pound bomb on two Americans. They were killed. [Annotator’s Note: the North American P51 Mustang was introduced as a long range fighter plane intended to escort Allied bombers across enemy territory and take on German aircraft. As the war came to closure and enemy aircraft diminished, the P51s ranged the enemy held territory looking for targets of opportunity to strafe or bomb. This case of friendly fire was an unfortunate error by the pilot.] The two fatally wounded men had been with the 179th since Anzio long before McConn joined up. An Englishman who had been freed wanted to kill a German for every week he was incarcerated. Wance said to give him an M1. A Russian was given the same opportunity even though it was against regulations. The bomb that was dropped by the P51 resulted in some slight injury to McConn. The Englishman lost his leg as a result of the errant bomb. He was a very calm individual and asked for a cigarette. During his captivity, the Englishman had been forced to work in a German munitions factory. He said some of the explosions that the prisoners initiated were far more intense than that of the 500 pound bomb. The man remained calm and probably survived even though he had lost his leg. The same day, McConn was running up stairs in pursuit of the enemy. Running was necessary because of enemy machine gun fire. While running, McConn tripped and his steel helmet came down and broke his glasses. That was the second time his glasses were broken. The other time was when he jumped off a tank during a firefight. Wance and McConn were the only two remaining officers in the company. McConn finally told Wance that he had broken his glasses. McConn had to be sent to a hospital in Epinal, France to get a pair of glasses. It took two weeks to get those new spectacles. By the time McConn returned to his unit, they had taken Munich.

John McConn arrived after Munich and the nearby terrible death camp had been captured and cleaned up. [Annotator’s Note: Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp. It was opened in 1933 and located near Munich.] McConn’s buddies told him that taking Munich was a cakewalk. The ladies were lining the streets and throwing flowers on the tanks. The men that were left were saluting and clapping. The civilians were happy it was the Americans and not the Russians who had captured the city. McConn and a friend took a jeep to go out to the camp and see what it was about. While there, they had a drink with a local citizen. The Americans questioned the German as to how he could stand by and watch what was going on with the abuse of the camp inmates. The German told them that if he would have complained, he might have been imprisoned. Hearing that, McConn was more understanding of the nature of the situation. He next questioned the German about the Autobahn and whether it was obvious that Hitler was up to something. The German agreed that something was going on but the populace had plenty of work and plenty of food so that made a difference to them. [Annotator’s Note: the Autobahn was Hitler’s superhighway to expedite military transport across Germany. Its construction helped give the unemployed citizens jobs to lift them out of the Depression of the 1930s. At times, McConn uses German to capture the words of the man he interviewed.] The German pointed to his refrigerator and said that he purchased it because of the things that Hitler did for him. Following this, Wance had McConn guard a displaced persons camp outside of Munich. [Annotator’s Note: the given name of McConn’s first lieutenant Wance was not provided. A multitude of displaced persons—DP camps where used in Europe to sort out those people who had been incarcerated by the Germans and transported far from their original homes. The camps aided in the repatriation of those people displaced from their homeland.] McConn had 12 men in his outfit to watch 45 hundred displaced people. The camp was an old SS camp. [Annotator’s Note: the SS or Schutzstaffel was the Nazi organization responsible for the management of the concentration and death camps scattered throughout Europe. They also manned infantry and armor units and were Hitler’s personal body guards. The individuals prided themselves on being the most ardent of the Nazi followers. Ironically, these persons displaced from SS prisons were housed in an old camp that may have once billeted their SS perpetrators.] The camp had anti-aircraft guns and ammunition. When McConn arrived, the inhabitants were firing the guns and making sky bursts above the camp. McConn was in a jeep with a heavy .30 caliber machine gun mounted to it. [Annotator’s Note: a heavy .30 caliber machine gun was the Browning 1917 water-cooled machine gun. Typically, air cooled machine guns would be mounted to jeeps.] Using a member of his unit who spoke Polish, McConn addressed the largely Russian population of the camp. The camp inhabitants understood the dialect being spoken to them. There had already been eight to ten murders in the camp. Inmates would point out someone who was thought to be an insider in the camp who had been in contact with the Germans. Once that happened, the accused was a dead man. Pipes, boards, and whatever was handy would be used to kill the accused there on the street. A few times, McConn and his Polish speaking unit member would break up an assault on an individual by firing an airburst with the heavy .30 machine gun and then talking the Russians out of killing the accused. The Russians were not happy about leaving their victim, but they did leave. A Russian colonel approached McConn and complained about their Russian food. The colonel was much older than McConn. The American told the Russian that they were doing the best that they could. The Russian then shrugged his shoulders and left with his interpreter. One night a big, black Mercedes sedan pulled up at the wharf where supplies were being received. There was a German general and a major inside. Both of the enemy officers had just come from the Redoubt area. The Redoubt was in a densely wooded area of southern Germany. That location was an area occupied by Germans who held out for a few weeks after the final Nazi surrender. [Annotator’s Note: nothing much came of the concern that fervent Nazis would hole up in this fortified area and fight to the last man over a prolonged series of weeks or months.] The German general and major were taken in and given rooms. The enemy officers were still there when McConn left after the two week DP assignment. The next assignment given to McConn after the DP camp was to guard Hitler’s Führerbau. [Annotator’s Note: translated as the Führer’s building, this was the location where the infamous Munich Pact was signed in 1938 between Britain and Germany. It also served after the war as one of two buildings in Munich used by the Allies to gather art stolen by the Nazis during their conquests.] In the Führerbau basement there were large numbers of confiscated works of art. There was water lapping up at the paintings even though there were electric pumps. No electricity was available in Munich at the time to power the pumps. McConn warned his superiors that the paintings were going to be damaged. A truck soon appeared and the paintings were removed with the idea that they would be returned to their original owners. Although first thought to be part of Goering’s confiscated art work collection, McConn later learned that it was part of Hitler’s collection for the opening of his grand museum in Munich. The museum was to be built after the Nazi victory. The Allies interrupted that plan. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the irony] There were American individuals interested in this particular collection because in their efforts to save the art of Europe, this collection was only belatedly identified. During this point, there was a colonel from Oklahoma that may have been named Smith who wore cowboy boots. He was a good guy. He was a leaf colonel who was out one day with McConn probably looking for food. [Annotator’s Note: a lieutenant colonel wears a silver oak leaf insignia to indicate his rank] They returned to the Führerbau and walked up a few steps to the main entrance. A man came up to McConn from the basement and showed him treasures that had been given to Hitler. There were two gold plated pistols with mother of pearl handles that had been inscribed as a gift for Hitler. He also had a gold ring with rubies making a swastika. There was a box with four diamonds ranging from raw to rough to highly polished. Each of the diamonds was as big as McConn’s thumb. There was a Dateline gold watch with an inscription to Hitler. Other items were in the discovery. Colonel Smith offered the soldier five hundred dollars for one of the pistols. The soldier agreed to sell it to the colonel. That took care of one of the pistols. McConn looked over the items and was not interested because it looked a little too rich for him. McConn discovered a bronze desk set in the basement. He was interested in that as a souvenir. He boxed it and sent it to his dad in Houston. A bomb had hit the building on its rotunda and broken the glass and burned some of the wood surrounding it. Hitler’s office was on the second floor of the Führerbau. That office was a few doors down from where McConn was billeted. It looking at Hitler’s personal effects in the basement, McConn surmised that the items in Hitler’s office were quickly evacuated to the lower level to protect them. [Annotator’s Note: Hitler was not in his office in the Munich Führerbau when it was bombed. He spent his last days commanding the Third Reich in Berlin protected in the Führerbunker.]

John McConn experienced German machine gun fire at the battle of Saint- Dié. The enemy fired their guns at the Americans across the river. [Annotator’s Note: the battle for Saint-Dié-des-Vosges was McConn’s introduction to combat.] As events transpired, McConn would be given a battlefield commission. That was acceptable to him because he realized that officers lived better than enlisted men. As a buck sergeant and then a staff sergeant, he had already experienced what it was like to have men under him. He was comfortable with that. As an officer, he was doing the same thing he had been doing before. His experience as an enlisted man had given him the practical knowledge of what he needed to do as an officer. He was given a two week instruction on what he needed to know to be an officer. That instruction was a joke. Nothing was learned in that two weeks of instruction in Epinal, France. The man who was giving the lessons was the same captain who had led his outfit in abandoning their position just as McConn was entering the line. The captain had all his men behind him as he ran from his post. McConn and his men had to replace them. When McConn was promoted, he entered an officers’ club and celebrated with a buddy named Ganyo and an Air Force officer. [Annotator’s Note: the spelling of Ganyo’s name is not certain. No further explanation of whether the name of his buddy is a given name or surname.] During the celebration, the bartender joined in with them. The training in Epinal was only during the day. The evenings were off duty, but Epinal was not much and especially then. The battle of the Bulge broke out early the next morning after McConn was transferred to Epinal for his promotion and training. [Annotator’s Note: McConn and two other sergeants were sent to Epinal for a battlefield commission to second lieutenant] The Germans advanced over the territory held by Ganyo and McConn’s companies. Over half the men died during that enemy attack. Several things of that kind happened to McConn. [Annotator’s Note: lucky twists of fate] Another example was when he had to attack up a mountain and the Krauts retreated beforehand. If the Remagen Bridge had not been crossed shortly before, McConn and his men would have been slaughtered. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy. The incident discussed here involved a frontal assault up a hill that formed part of the Siegfried Line—main German home defense line. [Annotator’s Note: the German Siegfried Line (called the Westwall by Germany) and the French Maginot Line were defensive positions designed to eliminate the trench warfare of the First World War. With the advent of blitzkrieg and modern warfare, static defenses were bypassed and these types of positions quickly became ineffective and obsolete.] McConn and his men had been ordered to attack an entrenched position and a pillbox. When they reached their objectives, each was abandoned. The Germans had hurriedly withdrawn just prior to the American advance in order to avoid being encircled. Weapons and ammunition had been abandoned by the enemy in their haste to leave. When McConn was promoted, he took over the 3rd platoon. It was only half manned with about 20 men at that point. It was a little uncomfortable leading men whom he had never served with into battle. The men were a good group and the discomfort wore off soon. Kreib and Rosy were both good men. [Annotator’s Note: spelling of Rosy’s name is not certain. There is no indication given by McConn whether Rosy is a nickname, given or surname. There is no given name provided for Sergeant Kreib.] Rosy was McConn’s platoon runner. As a trial lawyer, McConn had runners but they had bad reputations. Another Houston lawyer jested with McConn that he even had runners during the war. McConn could not remember exactly where the 45th Infantry Division was when he rejoined them in northeast France. He did remember that the regimental headquarters was in a big tent in wooded country.

John McConn has a vivid memory of the attack on the Siegfried Line because of his terror about mounting a direct attack against fortified German position. [Annotator’s Note: the Siegfried Line (called the Westwall by Germany) and the French Maginot Line were defensive positions designed to eliminate the trench warfare of the First World War. With the advent of blitzkrieg and modern warfare, static fortified defenses were bypassed. These types of positions quickly became ineffective and obsolete.] The previous day, McConn had experienced house to house fighting in the town below the emplacements on a hill. During the fighting in the town, he lost a very good friend named Zeddie Sears. Sears was a friend to all. The defenses in the Siegfried Line consisted of strategically placed pillboxes with overlapping fire. The fire of the machine guns was set to hit the oncoming troops at about knee level. The defensive fight by the Germans was extremely tough even at the end of the war. As the Americans advanced through enemy occupied territory, they rode on tanks. The only way that the riders would know that the Germans were firing on them would be if one or two soldiers on the tank in front were hit and fell off their vehicle. The column would stop and a firefight would ensue. The Germans could be on one side of the road or the other. The enemy fought all the way up to the end. There were booby traps set up in the towns that the Americans would capture. They had to be on alert for them. In the town where McConn earned his Silver Star citation, after the hostilities ceased, McConn returned to a spot where he had spotted smoke coming out of a tin chimney. When he entered the room, a Kraut jumped up from a sofa and tossed his rifle away. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy.] After tossing his rifle away, the soldier held up his hands and shouted Comrade. That soldier was just a kid probably 15 years of age, but the incident scared the living daylights out of McConn. McConn took the young soldier as a prisoner and brought him to the front where he was taken off his hands. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the memory] McConn had another encounter with a Kraut that stuck in his mind. They were taking a town called Weinheim located adjacent to the Siegfried Line. [Annotator’s Note: city spelling has not been confirmed] Rosy and McConn were advancing behind a tank. [Annotator’s Note: spelling of Rosy is not certain. There is no indication given by McConn whether Rosy is a nickname, given or surname.] A panzerfaust was fired from a cellar window and exploded on the soft spot of the tank—its track. [Annotator’s Note: a German panzerfaust was a one shot, shoulder weapon used against armored vehicles] The tank was disabled and two men bailed out of it with their hair on fire. McConn went to the tank and looked in to see if he could assist any survivors. The two other men in the tank had been blown to pieces. At that point, Rosy and McConn went down the cellar where the charge had been fired. The enemy soldier in the cellar was another young man. He immediately attempted to surrender. Rosy looked at the young soldier who had just fired the panzerfaust and told Lieutenant McConn that he was going to kill the offender. McConn told Rosy he could not kill their prisoner because he had surrendered. Rosy reluctantly complied, but he took out his Star of David and showed it to the Kraut and told him in German that he was a Jew. Rosy asked the young man if he understood him. The frightened prisoner shook his head to indicate that he understood. It was a tense moment.

John McConn was awarded his Silver Star medal as a result of his actions while his unit was capturing a German town. The men were fighting from house to house, but were pinned down while under fire from a German machine gun emplacement. McConn took another man with him and attacked the position. When he and the other GI reached the door of the building housing the machine gun nest, McConn told the soldier to toss a hand grenade through the door. After the explosion, McConn entered the building and shot the three man enemy team manning the position. That was the end of the machine gun nest and the whole outfit could then move forward. Afterward, they captured more of the Germans before the town was taken.

John McConn experienced the end of the war in Europe while he was guarding a displaced persons camp. [Annotator’s Note: A multitude of displaced persons—DP camps where used in Europe to sort out those people who had been incarcerated by the Germans and transported far from their original homes. The camps aided in the repatriation of those people displaced from their homeland.] Word was received that Jodl had signed the surrender and essentially the war was over. [Annotator’s Note: German General Alfred Jodl was Chief of Military Operations for Hitler during the war. After Hitler’s death, Jodl signed the instrument of unconditional surrender on behalf of Germany on 7 May 1945. After the war, Jodl was tried as a war criminal and executed.] McConn was in Camp Lucky Strike, which was a tent city north of Rheims, France, when he heard the war with Japan had ended. He was on his way back to the United States to be prepared for the invasion of Japan. There was celebration at the word of that surrender. Since he was slated to return to the United States and prepare for the invasion of Japan, he was very much relieved that he did not have to fight the Japanese. He felt more relieved with the Japanese surrender because everyone knew the war was ending soon. While serving on occupation duty in Germany, McConn no longer felt animosity against the Germans. They reminded him of neighbors back home. His grandfather was very much a Kraut. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy.] His grandfather’s name was August Trinkaus which was recognized as a real Germanic name. [Annotator’s Note: surname spelling is not certain] Dealing with the Japanese would have been different than with the Germans because of their appearance. McConn got along well with the Germans when they learned of his ancestry. There was a no fraternization rule. [Annotator’s Note: this was applied to GIs with limited success after the war. It was intended to limit black-market activities as well as sexual contact and the potential for consequential disease.] McConn was in the officers’ club with a man named Delongchamps. [Annotator’s Note: the spelling of this name is not certain] They came in contact with the captain who was president of the officers’ club. It turned out to be the same officer who McConn and his men had witnessed deserting his frontline position with his men behind him. McConn had run into this officer several times during the war and had no respect for him. The club was filled with music and celebration. Some officers had dates with German girls. Meanwhile, Champ and McConn had no dates that night. They were in the bar drinking when they heard shots outside. There were two intoxicated lieutenants outside in a jeep with a machine gun mounted to it. They had fired the gun into the air to scare off some MPs. Champ and McConn realized that trouble was brewing so they returned inside the bar. A group of about eight MPs arrived under the command of a very tall captain. The MPs knocked on the door, but it did not open quickly enough so the MPs forced their way in. The cowardly captain who was disrespected by McConn, offered to introduce himself to the MP Captain. The MP Officer brushed the cowardly captain’s hand aside and told him that everyone in the club was under arrest. Champ and McConn could see what was going on and found a side door and escaped and headed back to their unit. McConn later talked with a lieutenant who was arrested that night. The arresting MPs were from the 3rd Army. The 3rd Army was a real spit and polish outfit. They even polished their helmets. [Annotator’s Note: the 3rd Army was under the command of Lieutenant General George S. Patton whose flamboyant nature resulted in a spit and polish attitude in his troops.] The 7th Army was a much more relaxed group. The lieutenant said the arrested officers from the club were all lined up and ready for a march to the brig. He asked one of the guards about what was going on. The MP said that the amount of fraternization going on all around them would surprise anyone. At that point, the lieutenant knew he was headed to the brig. [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles at the humor of the incident]

John McConn received a birthday gift in June 1940 when he turned 16 years of age. It was a rosary. The crucifix had his name engraved on the back of it. While in Germany advancing on a town, McConn and his men approached a barn where several enemy soldiers were lying on a haystack. One of them looked like he was dying. McConn asked the fatally wounded man in German if he was Catholic. The enemy soldier replied in the affirmative. McConn handed him the rosary which had been his gift. The German thanked him and McConn proceeded onward all the while thinking that was the last he would see of the rosary. Later that evening after the town had been taken, Platoon Sergeant Kreib returned the rosary to McConn since that latter’s name was inscribed on the reverse side of the crucifix. [Annotator’s Note: no given name is provided for Kreib.] Kreib said he had found the rosary on a dead Kraut. [Annotator’s Note: McConn uses the word Kraut as slang terminology for Germans. This was a disparaging reference commonly used during World War Two by American troops while talking about their German enemy.] McConn told Kreib that he felt sorry for the mortally wounded German. McConn requested that his platoon sergeant not tell the other men about the incident because he did not want to be perceived as a German sympathizer. McConn has carried the rosary with him through the years until recently when he failed to be able to locate it. He felt it had to be in his home somewhere.

Return Home

John McConn worst memory of World War Two was when Zeddie Sears was killed. It was a panic situation. The event was hard to forget. [Annotator’s Note: Sears had received his promotion at the same time as McConn. He became a very good friend of McConn. McConn witnessed Sears’ death when they assaulted a town near the Siegfried Line in Germany. German machine gun fire ripped across Sears’ chest as McConn stood right next to him.] The best memory was when he returned home where his parents resided in a new home. In leaving a message for future generations, McConn felt the words provided by President John Kennedy during his inauguration would be appropriate. People should not ask what the country can do for them, but, instead, ask what they can do for the country. McConn fought in World War Two because he was fighting for the country and its freedom. Hitler planned to strip away the freedom of the world and he did not hide that fact. The attack by the Japanese on the United States made the war more immediate. It was no longer an obscurity that was far away. That attack brought the reality home to Americans. It galvanized people. The war changed McConn’s life because he saw a lot of the world he had never seen before. He grew up during the course of war. Before Pearl Harbor, he thought about getting a battlefield promotion. He turned in a theme in his class on the last school day before the attack that dealt with the potential of a Japanese attack. The English professor read aloud all the theme titles for the class on the day after Pearl Harbor. The professor was taken aback and said he wanted to talk to McConn after class. McConn’s prophetic theme title was “Japan Awaits Its Chance.” [Annotator’s Note: McConn chuckles] Before submitting his theme, McConn had read an article in Time magazine about two Japanese midget submarines deployed just outside of the protected waters of Pearl Harbor. World War Two was the most important event in McConn’s life. That is probably true of those who were in service. For those not in the service, it does not mean the same. Many of the public schools today do not teach details of past American wars. That is true in wars that involved the United States like World War One and the Spanish-American War. It even applies to the Texas-Mexican War. More information should be provided. Private and parochial schools do a better job but are too expensive for many people to afford. The National World War II Museum does an important job in teaching the details of the Second World War. It is a fine museum. The exhibits are accurate and splendid. It is a very important endeavor.