[Annotator's Note: There is background noise throughout this segment.] John Edward Pierce was born in January 1925 in Palacios, Texas. He grew up on a ranch, so he always had food 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]. It was difficult to make money, but his father seemed to provide for his for children. He was finishing high school when World War 2 broke out. His brother-in-law was killed in a plane accident while he was training to be a fighter pilot, so Pierce had to help his family with getting his possessions transferred from New Jersey. In June 1943, Pierce was drafted into the Army. He was shipped to Camp Abbot in Oregon for six months of training. He went on long marches. The training was tough overall; however he enjoyed the climate. After training, he was sent to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] to wait for a ship to take him to the Pacific. However, he boarded a train that took him east and then boarded a troop ship in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] to head over to England as a replacement. His ship was in a convoy of 40 with the USS Texas (BB-35) as the escort. He disembarked from the ship in Glasgow [Annotator's Note: Glasgow, Scotland) and boarded a troop train to Southern England where he joined his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company A, 149th Engineer Combat Battalion]. He was billeted [Annotator's Note: a place, usually civilian or nonmilitary, where soldiers are lodged temporarily] out to civilian houses and reported to a city park where the mess hall was set up. They practiced two amphibious invasions on the English coast and ate K-rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals]. The English civilians treated the troops very nicely. Pierce was trained to remove mines [Annotator's Note: stationary explosive device triggered by physical contact] and booby traps [Annotator's Note: an apparently harmless object containing a concealed explosive device designed to kill or injure anyone who touches it], and other explosives. He was not aware of what kind of amphibious invasion he would soon take part in. He heard no rumors about the battles to come. One morning, he was told to load up in the truck to relocate to a port city. When he arrived, he was brought into a fenced in area and was not allowed to leave or write letters for two weeks. While in this enclosed area, they were given information about the landing, where they would be making their invasion and at what hour. The superiors told them that the Air Force would be there for support and would be bombing the beaches so the troops could just walk in without resistance. Pierce felt ready for the invasion.

John Edward Pierce [Annotator's Note: with Company A, 149th Engineer Combat Battalion] set out across the English Channel in a Landing Craft, Infantry to invade Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. As far as he could see was ships in every direction. He saw the USS Texas (BB-35) and the USS Alabama (BB-60) shelling onto the shore. His LCI's ramped lowered, and Pierce walked into the shoulder-deep water. Only 20 to 40 of the men on his vessel made it to shore because they were under such heavy fire from the enemy. He could not find any of his officers when he made it to shore. There were so many dead Americans in the water and on the beach of Easy Green sector of Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France], Pierce had to push them aside to get through. As he was wading through the water, he lost his machine gun, but was able to hold onto his rifle. He found a trench and hid in it with some other troops for the first night. The Germans had a tremendous advantage, but Pierce and his comrades worked their way up slowly, avoiding the continuous sniper fire. They moved inland more but were still on the beach by the end of the night and had to sleep in another trench. They made it almost to the top of the slope on the third day, eliminating some of the German snipers in the process. Finally some of Pierce's unit's equipment finally reached them so they could clear mines [Annotator's Note: stationary explosive device triggered by physical contact]. It took his unit about a day and a half to clear the mines, fatally wounding two men in the process. On several occasions, German airplanes strafed the area. Luckily, no one in Pierce's unit was killed from the strafing. One night, the troops overheard that the Germans were going to release a gas onto the American troops, but it never came to fruition. The troops had a very uneasy night in anticipation. The Americans were able to make headway, and Pierce was able to help bring in supplies from the ships. The landing was about as bad as it could be. He remained in that area for several months unloading supplies and clearing roads and mines. Pierce was not scared when he invaded the beaches of Normandy, but that was because he was 18 years old. When he was hiding in the trench for two days, he thought he might be killed or taken prisoner. The Germans had a "honeycomb" of trenches with sleeping quarters on the beach.

After three months on the Normandy beachhead, John Edward Pierce [Annotator's Note: with Company A, 149th Engineer Combat Battalion following D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]] was tasked with clearing the hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation]. It was a slow process. A friend, who was engaged to Pierce's present wife [Annotator's Note: at the time of this interview], was killed during the process. His friend found some Germans holding a white flag, and when his friend told them to "come on," they shot and killed him. Pierce's unit used bulldozers to clear the hedgerows. He was also tasked with running supplies up from the beach and building roads. After some time, his unit was loaded onto trucks and transported to Belgium to build a pontoon bridge. When 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, Pierce's unit was sent over for support. His unit was outside of Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] when the Bulge occurred. It was very cold and they lived in foxholes until the Germans pulled back. After the Allies advanced into Germany, Pierce went from one town to the next at a quick pace. His unit did not face much opposition. His unit came into contact and killed a lot of members of Hitler Youth [Annotator's Note: a youth organization of the Nazi Party for young men]. Pierce enjoyed sleeping in the houses as they moved through the German towns. [Annotator's Note: A person interrupts the interview at 0:29.00.000.] His unit continued into Germany until they met the Russians. He liked the Russians and thought they were nice. He did not socialize with them very much. They settled into a town and were given orders to not communicate the with local Germans. When the war ended in Europe, the military began gathering the equipment to ship to the Pacific. [Annotator's Note: A person interrupts interview at 0:33:42.000].

John Edward Pierce [Annotator's Note: with Company A, 149th Engineer Combat Battalion] was given orders to settle 50 miles outside Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] for the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. It was very cold, and he dug a very deep foxhole. He had a coat but still did not have enough clothing or supplies. He was living on rations to get by. The German lines were not very far from the American lines. Sometimes the Germans would put on American uniforms and walk right through the American lines, so Pierce was given orders to check everyone as they went through. While settled in this area, his unit received a lot of mortar fire. They were ordered to form a holding section to prevent the Germans from breaking through. After the Bulge, Pierce's unit went back to Belgium and crossed into Germany. He crossed the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s] without much opposition, and they came into contact with, and killed, a lot of members of Hitler Youth [Annotator's Note: a youth organization of the Nazi Party for young men]. His unit crossed the Rhine River [Annotator's Note: in Germany] without any problems. The German civilians did not put up any defense when they came through the towns. The Germans were well trained and had good equipment. Pierce was attached to the 29th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 29th Infantry Division] when he first arrived in Europe, but then became unattached after Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. His unit was attached with the 9th Army Division during the Bulge. They had the most casualties during Normandy, including one company being totally wiped out before they hit the beach.

[Annotator's Note: A person interrupts the interview throughout this segment.] After the war ended, John Edward Pierce returned home on Christmas day 1945 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1945]. At five in the morning, he walked inside his family home. He had hired a cab driver to take him home. He enrolled at the University of Houston [Annotator's Note: in Houston, Texas] and studied engineering while his wife worked. He found a job at an oil company and stayed with them for his whole career. His World War 2 experience made him more appreciative of life. The aftermath of war gave him more career benefits. He does not think that World War 2 changed much of the world. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. He suffered from nightmares after the war.