Joseph P. Fulco was born in December 1925, in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. His father ran a carnosine route and also sold fruit, vegetables, and chickens. Fulco grew up with a younger sister. He was in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Many of the boys that were 17 years old joined the Navy. Fulco graduated from high school and the following day he was inducted into the Army. His friend was lost at sea in the Navy, so Fulco joined the Army. He was inducted into the Army at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans. Fulco was sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas for basic training. From there, he went to Wisconsin, where he joined his unit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division]. He adjusted to military life. He did not come from a wealthy family. From Wisconsin, he went overseas. After landing in France, he was sent to Germany. In Wisconsin, he was assigned to the 358th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division. Fulco was trained as a scout. There were two scouts to squad. Using tracer bullets, he would map out the boundaries of the enemy lines. His comrades would then fire into that area. He was worried his own men would hit him. Fulco trained with the M-1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand], the BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle], and mortars. He was rated an expert with the M-1 rifle.

After training in Wisconsin, Joseph P. Fulco was shipped overseas. He departed on the RMS Aquitania. The trip was the largest convoy from the United States [Annotator's Note: during World War 2]. Fulco did not get seasick on his trip over. He returned to the United States on a hospital bed. Many men were seasick on that trip. Fulco had been wounded and helped give bags to the sick men. When the ship stopped rocking, Fulco and the nurse he was with both got seasick. His unit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division] was not a replacement outfit. Fulco arrived in France, disembarking in Le Havre. When he arrived at the Rhine River [Annotator's Note: Germany], he had an accident. Flares were sent overhead to locate enemy positions. The Germans shot a flare while Fulco was on patrol. He tried to stop, but fell on his back, giving him life-long pain. Medics helped him as much as they could. After three days, Fulco crossed the Rhine with his unit. On the other side of the river, Fulco climbed up some steps and found a place to stop for the night. The next day he found a dead German in the tree dripping blood on him. The Americans had artillery firing behind them. Fulco's unit was in Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] army. Patton used tank destroyers as mobile artillery, allowing him to move faster. Patton and Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] did not get along because Patton tried to move too quickly. Fulco did not see action in Belgium or Luxembourg.

The first time Joseph P. Fulco went into combat, he did not know what to expect. When in combat, he immediately hit the ground. He had gone on a few patrols. He saw the dragon's teeth [Annotator's Note: rows of concrete anti-tank devices] along the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s]. The tank destroyers destroyed the concrete blocks. It was cold that time of year. A French barrack was given to the Americans to sleep in. The next day, the Americans were full of bugs, leading to scabies. They were pulled off the line to take showers. Red Cross nurses took all their old clothes. After that episode, Fulco was not a fan of the French. During a patrol, one of Fulco's men stepped on a land mine, blowing his leg off. Fulco carried him to a medic station. After the war, he called that man and they met up for dinner. Fulco was close with his comrades, especially the other scouts. One man was older than the others and was married, but was still drafted. Fulco has Army friends around the country and keeps in touch with them. He liked his captain, even though he never gave anyone a medal after the war. Fulco was waiting for support. In the rain, he heard a jeep role up. George Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] was in the jeep, Fulco recognized him from his pistols. Patton cursed Fulco for taping his grenade up. Some Germans started attacking and Patton jumped into his jeep and drove away. Fulco cursed him as he drove off. Fulco later found out his neighbor was the jeep driver. The driver told Fulco Patton wanted to return to the scene so he could kill him for cursing Patton out.

Joseph P. Fulco did not think the fighting was as bad after crossing the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River]. He captured the town of Ecternach [Annotator's Note: Ecternach, Germany]. While taking the town, there was street fighting and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division] took many prisoners. Many of the soldiers he captured were old men. Fulco did not have any close calls during that time. Fulco liked the M-1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. He also helped with mortar fire, even using it a couple times in combat. There was a lot of fear in combat. [Annotator's Note: Fulco and interviewer discuss the address of soldiers and Hurricane Katrina.] Fulco remembers all his comrades being different. When the war ended, Fulco was sent to France, but was not allowed to go home because he did not have enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving oevrseas could return home]. He was in France when the hydrogen bombs [Annotator's Note: atomic bombs] were dropped. He was offered a spot in an army band. When he was training in Arkansas, he tried to get into a band, but was not able to join. From France, he traveled to Munich, Germany, where he played with The Rockettes [Annotator's Note: an American precision dance company]. The band hired Germans to play as well. Fulco was sent home in 1945. He played the clarinet and saxophone. He played at The Cotton Club when he was 16 years old. Fulco played in a big band like Glenn Miller's [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Major Alton Glenn Miller; a famous musician and big band leader] band. As a kid, he took lessons on clarinet. He played in nightclubs before entering the service. While in Munich, Fulco came down with an illness and ended up with a doctor from New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. They talked about coffee and food every night.

Joseph P. Fulco returned to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York], where he entered a hospital before being discharged. Afterwards, he returned home and started going to the VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] and working. He used to wake up screaming. He could not remember what he dreamed about. Fulco got married in 1948. When the war ended, Fulco wanted to know who made it through. He knew a set of twins in the war. They served in the same unit, but different squads. Fulco did not use the G.I. Bill after the war but he did join the 52-20 Club [Annotator's Note: a government-funded program that paid unemployed veterans 20 dollars per week for 52 weeks]. While in Europe, Fulco wrote to his family when he had time. He usually ate K-Rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] in the field. It came with a can of ham and eggs or corn beef, crackers, cigarettes, and chocolate. When he entered Germany, Fulco would take bread when he found it. He once found a reservoir in a bakery with warm water, so he decided to take a bath. He was caught by the owner and his squad mates made fun of him for it. In smaller towns, they would search the homes. The basements had charcoal and potatoes in them. Some of the Germans were friendly because the Americans would treat them well. Fulco entered Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] and saw how the people were treated. He saw the gas chambers and how the people were starved. The Germans tried to get rid of the bodies before the Americans arriveda. He saw the ovens in the camp. Most of the prisoners were gone when Fulco entered. He went into another camp, but does not remember the name. Fulco does not remember where he was when he heard the war in Europe was over. Replacements were brought into Fulco's division [Annotator's Note: Fulco was an infantryman in Company B, 1st Battalion, 385th Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Division] as they moved across Germany. They just melted into the unit, but they listened to the veteran troops. He did not mind getting to know the new guys, but he depended on many of the older soldiers. He thought of them as family. One night, Fulco jumped into a foxhole with another man. As they were laying in the muddy hole, they later realized they were laying in a cemetery. He woke up in an iron casket. Many of the German prisoners spoke English. Fulco met with Russian soldiers after the battle of Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. They met in a woman's home. She spoke English, so Fulco talked to her and kept soldiers from stealing her belongings. Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] made a deal with the Russians not to enter Berlin.