In November [Annotator's Note: November 1944], Kenneth H. Bailey's outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Cavalry Group] had to get a new commanding officer. Bailey got a jeep fixed up for their new Colonel. Prior to that in August, they had the Mortain [Annotator's Note: Mortain, France] counterattack [Annotator's Note: German counterattack during the Battle of Normandy, Mortain, France, 7 to 13 August 1944]. The infantry was surrounded, and it was bad. Bailey found a dry creek bed for his armored car. He could not get it out, so they had to cut down trees to do it. Bailey got a Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] for his actions. When the war ended, his Colonel went to all the different cemeteries and gave speeches and handed out awards. Bailey had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to go home and was sent to Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France]. Bailey got to go to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] a few times. Nice [Annotator's Note: Nice, France] was all bombed out. He finally got to go home.

Kenneth H. Bailey was born in Albany, New York in February 1922. He grew up and went to school in Delmar [Annotator's Note: Delmar, New York]. He graduated high school in 1939. He had one younger sister. His father was a maintenance mechanic for a bakery. They always had bread to eat. His mother worked. Later his dad went into business for himself, remodeling homes. It was a good life. The Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] was long. He met his future wife roller skating. Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] came along. They got engaged in June 1942 and they were married on 4 October [Annotator's Note: 4 October 1942]. On 4 November [Annotator's Note: 4 November 1942] he got his draft notice then on 18 November [Annotator's Note: 18 November 1942] he went to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: in Trenton, New Jersey] and then took a train to Fort Meade, South Dakota where he joined the 4th Cavalry [Annotator's Note: 4th Cavalry Regiment]. They were the first recruits. They did basic training then, in January 1943, they went to the Mojave Desert to Camp Young [Annotator's Note: Camp Young Desert Training Center (DTC), also known as California–Arizona Maneuver Area in Arizona and California]. It was really hot. While they were there, the war in North Africa ended. They left there in August 1943 for Paris, Texas for more training. He had a baby by that time and his wife came to Texas. He was put in communications school. They went to Singleton, England in December 1943 [Annotator's Note: 4th Cavalry Regiment was redesignated 4th Cavalry Group]. He was assigned to an M-20 armored car [Annotator's Note: M20 Armored Utility Car; a derivative of the M-8 Greyhound]. They trained at Brighton Beach [Annotator's Note: Brighton, England] for quite a while. He had one furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] back to the United States. His officer left and Bailey did not know why. He learned later that he went to Saint Marcouf [Annotator's Note: Saint Marcouf, Manche, France]. On H-Hour [Annotator's Note: the moment when Allied troops first landed on D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Troop A [Annotator's Note: A Troop, 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment] went in on Saint Marcouf to prepare Utah Beach [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France]. Their Colonel came back, and they all got on an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. Bailey was the first one off, six days after D-Day. They went to Cherbourg [Annotator's Note: Cherbourg, France]. The first thing he saw when coming off Utah Beach was the paratroopers hanging in the trees. The Germans had shot them and left them. It was an awful sight. They went to just outside of Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] and headed towards Belgium. They finally took Aachen [Annotator's Note: Aachen, Germany], lost it, and had to retake it. Bailey saw Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] in Aachen. From there they went to Holland and all through Germany. He ended the war near Leipzig [Annotator's Note: Leipzig, Germany] when they met the Russians [Annotator's Note: 8 May 1945].

Kenneth H. Bailey went from New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] to England on the Highland Chieftain. It was a British Merchant Marine ship. They got two meals a day and ate standing up. They slept on mats. He does not think they ever washed their cooking utensils. Two weeks after they landed, the ship was torpedoed and lost. He returned on a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship]. He came back to Camp Shanks [Annotator's Note: Camp Shanks, New York] and was discharged on 30 October 1945. He went home and his wife was waiting [Annotator's Note: Bailey gets emotional.] His old boss called and asked him to have dinner. He went back to work for him in December 1945. He lived with his parents for a while. He had a child in December and another on 30 March 1949. He worked for 15 years as a mechanic and then became a Service Manager. He lost his oldest son in 1966 to an aneurysm. He retired in 1986. He lost his youngest son in 2002. His wife died on Christmas Eve in 2005. Bailey was invited to go to the World War II Monument in Washington [Annotator's Note: World War II Memorial, Washington, D.C.]. He joined the Patriot Guard Riders [Annotator's Note: non-profit organization founded in 2005 in Mulvane, Kansas]. He is a Charter Member of the World War 2 Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana].

Kenneth H. Bailey was 20 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He and his future wife were at her parents' house. They did not know what to think. Franklin Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] came on and told everyone what happened. Bailey was not in the Pacific. He got all five Battle Stars [Annotator's Note: device worn to denote subsequent awards on medals and ribbons; also called campaign stars or service stars] for his duty in Germany. He was drafted in November 1942. He spent three years in the service. In 2015, the President of France presented him with the French Legion of Honor Medal [Annotator's Note: highest French order of merit; est. 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte]. He got the Croix de Guerre [Annotator's Note: Cross of War, military decoration of France for distinguished heroism involving combat with enemy forces] too. When Pearl Harbor happened, he did not know if he should get married, but he did. Heroes are the ones left over there. Every day should be Memorial Day for the ones lost. His father was in World War 1 and Bailey has his uniform. He knew he would eventually go into the war. It happened when he was 20. At the time, he did not want to do it, but looking back it is probably the best time he ever had. It taught him morals. He tells people to not put things off, as you never know what is going to happen. He went with George Gray [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] to basic training at Fort Meade [Annotator's Note: Fort Meade, South Dakota]. Gray had a little girl and Bailey had a little boy. Gray was killed in August [Annotator's Note: August 1944].

Kenneth H. Bailey and his future wife did a lot of talking about the war before he was drafted. In England, they started fighting in 1939. A lot of kids were brought up with war. The buzz bombs [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] were the worst. They sounded like an old washing machine. If it was running, it was going past you. If it ran out of fuel, it was going down. They landed every place. The bombing in England was terrible. The Russians went to Poland in 1939 too [Annotator's Note: Soviet Invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939]. Bailey is glad he did not go to Africa. They were put in trucks and taken to get a shower [Annotator's Note: while in desert training]. By the time they got back they were covered in dust again. His armored car had a motor in the back. It had to run all the time so the radio could run. In England, they lived in a Quonset hut and had straw mattresses. The deer there are small and belong to the Queen [Annotator's Note: the Queen of England]. So do the pheasants. One guy killed a pheasant and cooked it. In Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France], his radio operator got eggs and potatoes. Most of the time they were on K-rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] and C-rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food]. Later in the war, they had a five-in-one [Annotator's Note: prepackaged ration for small, motorized combat groups]. Every 14 days the field kitchen would come and give them hot meals. Showers were set up once in a while. They got clean clothes, but they came from dead soldiers. When he got out, he thought he wasted three years. Now he learned from it. He wants to live as long as he can.

The day Kenneth H. Bailey got his draft notice [Annotator's Note: 4 November 1942] was a very bad day. He knew it was coming. He always thought he was going to get back. A lot of good friends had his back during the war. At Fort Meade, South Dakota, it was so cold that the regulars did not turn out. The new recruits lost toes and fingers due to the cold. On the rifle range, they laid on straw. The training was very rough. In April 1942, they did away with the horses except for one named Topper. It was a good experience and taught him how to live. He was assigned to an M-20 armored car [Annotator's Note: M20 Armored Utility Car; derivative of the M8 Greyhound series] in England. He later was assigned to Colonel McDonnell [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] from Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] 3rd Army. The Mortain [Annotator's Note: Mortain, France] counterattack [Annotator's Note: German counterattack during Battle of Normandy, Mortain, France, 7 to 13 August 1944] was rough. The Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] was very rough. The Germans were taking the uniforms off dead American soldiers. They spoke English and knew more about America than the Americans did. Bailey got to the Hollywood Canteen [Annotator's Note: in Hollywood, California] once and danced with Betty Grable [Annotator's Note: Elizabeth Ruth Grable, American actress]. Shirley Temple [Annotator's Note: Shirley Temple Black; American actress, singer, dancer, businesswoman, and diplomat] sold him refreshments. The Cavalry were Scouts in the old days. They only had 1,800 men and officers. They did primarily armed reconnaissance. Johnny Kluzak [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was his gunner [Annotator's Note: on the M20]. He was a nice guy, and they were close. Tommy Kutcher [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was lost in the war. The crew was close in age. Johnny Piazza [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was another good friend he went through training with. They visited after the war. A couple of years ago, some Patriot Guard Riders [Annotator's Note: non-profit organization founded in 2005 in Mulvane, Kansas] found some grandchildren of the officers he had served with. They had a conference call. Last year one of the grandsons had dinner with him and he showed him pictures of his grandfather. At night, the Germans would put cables across the roads at head height. They also laid mines. Bailey saw something wrong and stopped and they had a close call with mines.

When Kenneth H. Bailey landed on Utah Beach [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France], they drove the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] as far as it would go. They opened the doors and put down the ramp. He was the first one off. Bailey was scared because the water was 13 feet deep. They waited until the tide went out and drove off in three feet of water. Tommy Kutcher [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was up in the turret with the gunner and helped with the radio. The Lieutenant Colonel would usually stand up there with them. When the snow, sleet, and rain came down, the gear shift would freeze at its last position. He started putting oil in his to keep it from freezing. He made an electric wiper for it too. They only had duffel bags to live out of. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer stops to be sure he has the crew member names correct for the M20.] Bailey was the driver. Johnny Kluzak [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was the gunner. Tommy Kutcher was the radio operator. Lieutenant Colonel Dunn [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was the commander. Bailey had a .45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] and Tommy gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun]. He made a new handle for the pistol with a picture of his wife and his son on it. The car had a 37mm [Annotator's Note: M6 37mm anti-tank gun]. In training, they had a .22 rifle in the barrel of the 37mm. In basic training, he liked the .30 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun]. [Annotator's Note: Bailey apologizes for jumping back and forth in his stories.]

Kenneth H. Bailey deployed overseas in December 1943. He spent Christmas in Singleton, England. They spent six months training and waterproofing the equipment. The 4th Cavalry Reconnaissance [Annotator's Note: 4th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 4th Cavalry Group] landed in Saint Marcouf [Annotator's Note: Saint Marcouf, Manche, France] earlier than D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He spent Christmas 1944 with Colonel McDonnell [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] at Humain [Annotator's Note: Humain, Belgium]. McDonnell used Bailey's jeep like a horse, and they moved with the tanks. It was always the two of them. He was scared out of his pants. He was scared at the landing too [Annotator's Note: on Utah Beach, Normandy, France, on 12 June 1944]. In Normandy, going through to Cherbourg [Annotator's Note: Cherbourg, France], they parked alongside the hedgerows. Every night, Bedcheck Charlie [Annotator's Note: nickname given to aircraft that performed solitary, nocturnal operations] would come through. They just waved at each other. They were in the hedgerows and the farmers were hollering that there was gas. The Germans were picking up their fallen, and it was so bad, they had to put their gas masks on. In gas training, they had different gases they had to name before they put their gas masks on. He had an infiltration course before going overseas. In the desert, they had cut-outs they used to train them to shoot quickly and to not shoot kids. If Bailey saw kids and had something left to eat, he would give it to them. A couple of men in his outfit would make the kids get it out of the garbage. Bailey got in a couple of fights over that because that is not being an American. Bailey interacted with the English civilians quite a bit. Bailey was on guard duty and tried to find his friend for the changing of the guards. The Major reported him. They found him asleep, and he was court-martialed. In Liege [Annotator's Note: Liege, Belgium], they got their first ice cream. In Brussels, Belgium a woman gave them waffles. They had hot milk and it curdled.

The closest Kenneth H. Bailey got to combat engagement was in the Mortain [Annotator's Note: Mortain, France] counterattack [Annotator's Note: German counterattack during Battle of Normandy, Mortain, France, 7 to 13 August 1944]. In the Cavalry, if you goofed up, you would be in the point bantam. The jeep is called a bantam. The point was the first one to go around the corner. You never wanted to be in the point bantam. Bailey first came under fire in Mortain in August. He did not think he was going to make it. He was not going to be a prisoner of war. It was a rough one. Another time was an easy one. Colonel McDonnell [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] and he were coming back from a meeting when a German lieutenant came out and gave himself up. Bailey got his P38 [Annotator's Note: Walther P38 9mm semi-automatic pistol] then. He also had a Luger [Annotator's Note: German P08 Luger 9mm semi-automatic pistol] and a shotgun. He gave them away after the war. He did not want them in the house when his boys were growing up. He kept two daggers with swastikas on them. He took some parachutes from Utah [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France]. He brought home a lot of ammunition. He has two German ceremonial swords in his den. When he landed in Utah Beach, there were rafts all over. He cut the top off one and would slide it under the armored car as a place to sleep. Bailey went from armored car to jeep driver. His commanding officer was a West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy in West Point, New York] Cavalry. He did not want to be his driver at first, but he was taken care of doing that. They became close. Bailey sent everything home to his wife.

Kenneth H. Bailey was about 60 miles from Leipzig, Germany when they [Annotator's Note: Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Cavalry Group] met the Russians. There are two kinds of Germans. The regular kind and the Nazis. The Russians were like the Nazis. They raped the women and stole everything they could. They [Annotator's Note: Bailey and his fellow American servicemen] had to be polite to them. They would drink vodka. They spent four or five days with them. He felt for the German civilians who had helped them out like the French did. Bailey got the Legion of Honor [Annotator's Note: The National Order of the Legion of Honour is the highest French order of merit]. The only Russians he met turned his stomach. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Bailey where he was when the Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945 started.] That was the worst one. They [Annotator's Note: German agents wearing American uniforms who infiltrated the American lines and worked to sow confusion among the troops] spoke such good English and knew baseball, movie stars. The 4th Cavalry was in the Hurtgen Forest [Annotator's Note: Battle of Hürtgen Forest, 19 September 1944 to 10 February 1945, Hürtgen, Staatsforst or state forest, Germany]. They dug a hole in the ground and put logs on the top. They were there three or four weeks. The snow and weather slowed them down. They did not eat well. At the end of the war, they were moving very fast. The Germans ran out of fuel and were using horses to pull the tanks. The planes [Annotator's Note: American planes] would strafe them. They would come across the horses and the men all swollen and it was terrible. Before the Mortain [Annotator's Note: Mortain, France] counterattack [Annotator's Note: German counterattack during the Battle of Normandy, Mortain, France, 7 to 13 August 1944], they [Annotator's Note: the Americans] were strafed by their own Air Force. The Germans were ahead of the Americans with planes until the P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] came out.

Kenneth H. Bailey was close to the concentration camps but were not to liberate them. The Colonel would tell Bailey some of what he learned in meetings. They never got the Stars and Stripes [Annotator's Note: American military newspaper]. They got Coke [Annotator's Note: Coca-Cola] every two weeks. Back at Fort Meade [Annotator's Note: Fort Meade, South Dakota], his girlfriend would send him chocolate chip cookies. He was going to Dallas, Texas with his shoe stamp [Annotator's Note: ration stamp for shoes] and bought cowboy boots for his son. He realized later that she needed shoes. 8 May [Annotator's Note: 8 May 1945] came up like any other and the Colonel told him the papers were being signed and the war was over. Bailey thought he was going home right away but went to the cigarette camps [Annotator's Note: American transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands]. They had a Red Cross [Annotator's Note: Red Cross, an international non-profit humanitarian organization] truck there where he had breakfast. He returned home on a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] in 11 days. He was discharged on 30 October [Annotator's Note: 30 October 1945]. He never collected money while he was overseas. He did not smoke so he traded his cigarettes for chocolate. He went to work for 46 years, and his wife worked for 43 years. They bought two lots and built a house. They were married for 63 years and three months. He is living life over again with the Patriot Guard Riders [Annotator's Note: non-profit organization founded in 2005 in Mulvane, Kansas]. He left France in late October 1945. He was discharged at Camp Shanks [Annotator's Note: Camp Shanks, New York].

When Kenneth H. Bailey was getting ready to go to England, the First Sergeant would say they could do what they wanted until six o'clock in the morning. His wife would meet him at a hotel until he left. They had a Captain Watson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] who had to censor their letters. His wife said not to say anything about where he was or what he was doing because there was nothing to read. He was discharged as a Corporal. He was treated as a Sergeant but never made it. He did not consider staying the Army. He wanted to know his son who was almost three. He had three great boys. Bailey did not take 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 right to work for his old boss. Bailey had things come back but no post traumatic stress [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder; a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event either experienced or witnessed]. He thinks about some of the guys. He loves motorcycles and midget auto racing. He had trouble transitioning to civilian life. For the first year, he wore his combat boots to work. He would have memories and would try to put them out of his mind. As he has gotten older, it comes back more than it did then. It was embedded in him. He knows his serial number better than his Social Security number. He saw parts of Saving Private Ryan [Annotator's Note: 1998 American war film set during the Invasion of Normandy] but never the whole thing. His most memorable experience was the Mortain [Annotator's Note: Mortain, France] counterattack [Annotator's Note: German counterattack during Battle of Normandy, Mortain, France, 7 to 13 August 1944]. He was scared to death and was going to fight to the end. He was not going to be a prisoner. They got out of there finally. He was scared at Utah Beach [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France] because he cannot swim. At Humain [Annotator's Note: Humain, Belgium], he thought the Colonel was crazy and they would not make it out. The French and Belgians were good people. Some Germans helped them too. Everything was booby-trapped. At the end of the war, they were going so fast, they were not getting food. The Mess Sergeant would get deer and black bread. In the desert on maneuvers, they had Lister bags [Annotator's Note: a canvas water bag used to purify drinking water] for water. An infantry unit stole their Lister bags. They made coffee out of rusty water off the front of the tanks. Bailey loves the 4th Cavalry [Annotator's Note: 4th Cavalry Group]. The 4th Cavalry Spur [Annotator's Note: newsletter] comes out four times a year and he has every one of them.

Kenneth H. Bailey fought in World War 2 without hesitation. You had to go over. Conscientious objector was not in his vocabulary. He was scared quite a few times. He wanted to get the war over with. Then he did not get home right away, and he did not like that. The war interrupted his life for three years. Most importantly he got through it alive and with all his limbs. His woman stuck with him all the way through. [Annotator's Note: Bailey gets emotional.] He has not seen the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] yet, but he is a Charter Member. He never thought he would be in New Orleans, and he loves the street cars. They used to have those when he was a boy. Bailey feels that more and more the younger people do not know what D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] or Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] are. The Museum is important for telling this. War is not fun and games. His dad was in World War 1 which was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Kids today have to be taught what happened in history and the Museum is a wonderful place. In Bedford, Virginia, they have the National D-Day Memorial, and it is a good one.