Dr. John Julien Zingheim was born in July 1923 in San Jose [Annotator's Note: San Jose, California]. [Annotator's Note: Zingheim continually crosses and uncrosses his arms across the microphone creating sound quality issues.] His father was a carpenter. His mother did all her own shopping and canning. His father did his own contracting. School was important to his mother because she had been a teacher. All her children had an education. Zingheim's sisters helped him with his education. He was at Santa Clara University [Annotator's Note: Santa Clara, California] doing pre-medical education, when he was drafted. He was sent to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] for debarkation. The military rushed him through the process. He was not given any military training. He was in the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] in Santa Clara University, but he was not interested in military service. Zingheim was sent east and departed for Europe. The journey was the first time Zingheim had been on a ship. He was comfortable on the journey. On a clear day, he was able to see the coast of Spain. Landing craft would be filled and then sent to land. His ship moved three times. Eventually Zingheim was able to see the landing beaches [Annotator's Note: of various points along the European Atlantic Coast]. The engineers were building a floating dock. Once on land, Zingheim expected to see the after effects of the battles. There were no enemies nearby, so the unit started walking towards a town to sleep in. Everyone slept in a tent. It was cold and rainy. The following morning, the troops found out their boots were missing. The children in the town were good at getting candy from the Americans. The kids wanted to be on their good side because they stole the boots. Zingheim was told he would be going to Belgium and Holland. He was given some new boots after walking several miles. Zingheim's boots were too big for his feet, but he did not mind.

Dr. John Julien Zingheim was taught how to setup an aid station. He served in the 329th Medical Battalion [Annotator's Note: 329th Medical Battalion and was attached to the 1st Battalion, 413th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division]. He had to find a place to setup in the French town he was in. He could not hear the gunfire from where he was. Suddenly, the injured started flowing in. Zingheim saw various kinds of injuries. It was his first experience of the war. There were between eight and ten men in the group. Some were specially trained to set up the rooms for operations. Those that needed emergency work were sent elsewhere. The battalion moved a couple of times in Holland. The battalion was put into ambulances and sent to Aachen [Annotator's Note: Aachen, Germany]. The division was trained for night fighting, so Zingheim was not able to see much of the fighting. Much of his work was done in daylight hours. As soon as one person was done being treated, another would be waiting. Much of the work was indoor, unless you were a litter bearer, but Zingheim worked indoors cleaning up patients. He was used to seeing surgeries. At first, it was disturbing to help the wounded. The men were relaxed because of the morphine. They were happy to be done with the war. The battalion would move locations each day. They set up in towns that had civilians and retreating soldiers. The head wounds bothered the men the most. Zingheim would be able to see brains sometimes. Shredded limbs were difficult too. Sergeant Pierce [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] would have to cut limbs off with scissors. Zingheim never had to do that. The severe wounds bothered him. Near Duren [Annotator's Note: Düren, Germany in February 1945], men would come in with injuries from anything ranging from artillery fire to self-inflicted wounds. There were no hand-to-hand combat wounds. When the division was going to cross the Roer River, some of the men, including Zingheim, volunteered to cross [Annotator's Note: on 23 February 1945]. There was debris everywhere. The engineers had constructed some flotillas, but they were destroyed by enemy artillery. Zingheim was among the first to make it across the river. Shells were still landing occasionally. The battalion found a school to set up in. There was barely any equipment, except some small boats. That night, the Germans shelled the area. The following day, the battalion started receiving American and German wounded. The shells would break the windows, so men would have to clean the debris. Zingheim was sent to the church to find brooms and shovels. On his way back, several vehicles appeared, then there was a massive explosion. His best friend and another man fell. Zingheim ran into the building and found a man with shrapnel in his neck. Zingheim did not realize he had been hit as well. When they finished with the man, Zingheim had to be worked on. He did not want to be sent away in an ambulance. Eventually, the battalion convinced him to leave and get his hand worked on. He was worried it would affect his career as a dentist, but it did not. Not long after that incident, the Germans surrendered.

Dr. John Julien Zingheim does not remember going to Cologne [Annotator's Note: Cologne or Köln, Germany], but thinks he might have. Everyone talked about going to Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. The doctor in the rear stitched his hand wound. His hand did not bother him much, but he did worry about losing mobility. He returned to his unit [Annotator's Note: Zingheim served in the 329th Medical Battalion and was attached to the 1st Battalion, 413th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division] the same day. After the fighting stopped, Zingheim and about six men were sent to a concentration camp. He drove past a trench with thousands of bodies in it. Zingheim could not believe what he was seeing when he got into the building. He just saw bed after bed of people. A couple helped the medics identify the living from the dead and converse with the people. Some of them were too weak to talk. The depredation at Nordhausen [[Annotator's Note: Nordhausen sub-camp of Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, Nordhausen, Germany] bothered the medics. The people were dying from hunger. Most of them did not weigh over 50 pounds. Zingheim was overwhelmed when he saw it all. He had been told about what had been happening in the camps. After a few days, local Germans helped move the weakest around. They would send the people to a collecting company for food and for diagnosis. At first, Zingheim thought everyone was dead. He would have to shine lights into their eyes to see if they were alive. Some would die before they could be picked up and moved. About three quarters of the people were already dead. Some of them would crawl around trying to help the Americans find living people. There were a few people in better shape because they had been chewing on animal hide. They offered the Americans soup. If they found a dead person, they would drink their soup too. The German military used horses, and they would eat the horses when they needed food. There were cauldrons in the camp that were used to cook the animals. Zingheim did not spend much time at the camp, but he did see the giant pots. He tried to save as many people as he could. Some of the living people would steal soup from the living that could not help themselves. It was a bad experience. Zingheim remained there for three days. He helped get living people out of the camp. The Germans would get rid of bodies before the Americans got there. There was not much on the bodies that could rot. The people were emaciated. The day after Zingheim arrived, he saw townspeople help with the cleanup effort. He was happy he was not a German living in Germany. He thinks something else should have been done.

Dr. John Julien Zingheim was not close to Remagen [Annotator's Note: Remagen, Germany]. He occasionally operated on Russian soldiers. His unit worked on any soldier that came through his aid station. He collected various military medals. The Germans were every pleasant to talk to. Many could speak some English and Zingheim could speak a little German. He did not come across belligerent Germans. He did not see any SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] soldiers. Those people had ways of escaping. The Americans were about a day and a half away from Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. His interactions with the Germans were pleasant. The Germans would come in looking for medical attention. They were all conscripted soldiers, not volunteers. Zingheim was moved away from Berlin to Halle [Annotator's Note: Halle, Germany]. By that time, the fighting had stopped. He remained there for ten days and then was shipped back to the United States. He was told he would be sent to the Pacific war. Zingheim had felt lucky but was worried about going to another battle space. He had heard about the fighting in the Pacific, and it was different from what he was used to. The Japanese would chop people's heads off. Zingheim was training near Denver [Annotator's Note: Denver, Colorado] when the war ended. Zingheim thinks the fight against Germany was clean. He did a water landing every day. He would volunteer for hospital work to get out of the training. He got to know many of the ambulance drivers. Zingheim learned how to make beds while others were doing amphibious training. Within four days of the surrender, Zingheim was home. He felt relieved that he would not have to go to Japan. The men were trained to assault the Japanese islands. Zingheim did not think he would have survived. He could not wait to get on the train for San Jose [Annotator's Note: San Jose, California]. While in Germany, Zingheim went into a V2 rocket [Annotator's Note: German Vergeltungswaffe 2, or Retribution Weapon 2, ballistic missile] factory. The factory was in good shape, but there was not much to see.

Dr. John Julien Zingheim does not think the war changed him. He was not bitter about being forced to go to war. The experience was overall good. He was treated well wherever he was sent. He would not be forced to do things he did not want to do. If he did not want to do something, he would be sent somewhere else. In Denver [Annotator's Note: Denver, Colorado], Zingheim was in a military hospital, where he received dental training. He thought that was where he would be staying, until he was sent to the east coast to board a ship. Zingheim does not approve of war. He does not see a point to war because it destroys things. He does not understand why people destroy before they build. He does not understand bombing a country. He does not know how Germany survived. Zingheim does not know if World War 2 changed the world. He does not know if there is a significance to having The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana]. He thinks it depends on how it is looked at. He thinks younger service people enjoy it more than older veterans. It brings back many memories. During his journey across the Atlantic [Annotator's Note: Atlantic Ocean], he was in a large convoy. The convoy had hundreds of ships in it. The windows were sealed, so he did not notice the weather. He would eat, shower, and go to his bunk. He did not go on the deck of the ship. He thinks the ships were like a comfortable prison. Some of the bunks were five beds high. It was very tight in the quarters. Zingheim does not understand why the museum interviews veterans, other than to show other people. Zingheim did not try to earn a medal during the war, however, he was awarded one. He did what he was told to do. Zingheim would have to move around to various trenches to check on men after fire fights. Some of the bodies had brains coming out of them.