Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert was born in April 1921 in Farmington, New Hampshire. He had an older sister and younger brother. His parents divorced when he was young and he lived with his mother during his childhood. His mother worked in a shoe factory during the Great Depression and then worked in a shipyard during World War 2 making submarines. Gilbert tried to enlist in the service in 1938 but was denied because he wore glasses. He worked in the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] and he delivered mattresses and bedding to and from military bases. He was in jail for stealing a car when heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was drafted into the Army in October 1942 and was sent to Fort Devens [Annotator's Notes: Fort Devens, Massachusetts] for induction. He was then sent to Fort Riley, Kansas for basic and advanced training. He tended to find himself in trouble frequently, so Gilbert volunteered to go to Camp Patrick Henry [Annotator's Note: Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia] to expedite being shipped overseas. To keep out of trouble he was assigned to prep military vehicles and weapons for combat.

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert was sent overseas. His passage lasted four days then he landed in Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco]. He remembered that the city smelled of garbage and made him gag. Gilbert and the rest of the troops that came over were there as replacements for the 1st Army and 2nd Army. As Gilbert waited at a repo depot [Annotator's Note: replacement depot] to be placed, he volunteered for the Rangers and they accepted him because he qualified for several weapons. He trained with the Rangers, learning how to use different weapons and techniques on how to fire. On 4 July 1943, all the American troops celebrated the holiday by letting off live rounds and listening to the band play the Star-Spangled Banner. They shipped out a few days later. Gilbert recalls the bad weather and rough water which made him sick. One time, he and some others broke into the kitchen and stole some ice cream. That same night the troops invaded Sicily. Gilbert recalled the orders over the intercom to get into the small boats. When they reached land, he observed that the city had already been bombed and burned.

When the American troops landed in Sicily, Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert recalls receiving heavy fire from the Italians as they stormed the beaches. He observed that the city had already been bombed and burned. They were able to neutralize the heavy fire and proceeded into town. The Germans fired at them when they made it to the city. The Germans fired with tanks, but the Americans had Naval support that helped Gilbert and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 1st Ranger Battalion] establish a position. His unit began pushing through the country taking towns from the enemy with some resistance. Gilbert was assigned to lay telephone wire as they went through. While bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a temporary camp] in Corleone [Annotator's Note: Corleone, Italy], many of the troops contracted malaria, including Gilbert.

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert had come down with malaria while in Sicily. Gilbert recalled the good weather on the night of the invasion of Salerno [ Annotator's Note: Salerno, Italy]. He described the cityscape as a tourist town and the beach was very small. When they landed, Gilbert's unit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 1st Ranger Battalion] started up the road into town and into the mountains. He recalled that the troops fired mortars off the mountain to get the Germans off the road leading in and out of the way. He was also ordered to fire at an ammunition trailer and then toward the Germans to advance through the path. At one point, he thought he would have to evacuate the hole because he was receiving so much fire in his direction. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 0:57:08.000.]

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 1st Ranger Battalion] were able to secure a position during the Battle of Salerno. He recalls that it was difficult for the Army to deliver rations and equipment while they were in the mountains. His unit eventually advanced their way into Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy]. They bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a temporary camp] at the University of Naples near the library, which had been burned by the Germans. Gilbert and his unit stayed in Naples for a little while before moving on to Trento [Annotator's Note: Trento, Italy] to pick up new troops. They then went back into the mountains by October 1943. It was difficult to travel through the mountains because of the gaps of the terrain. By that time Gilbert was the assistant gunner for the mortar. He was responsible for dropping the round into the tube. In November, Gilbert contracted hepatitis B during the Italy Campaign and was sent to the hospital for three weeks. Gilbert recovered from his illness and returned to his outfit and began retaining with new recruits near Naples.

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 1st Ranger Battalion] were sent out again after recuperating from medical illnesses and retraining in Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy]. He was put on a transport ship and sent to Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy]. The Germans seemed surprised when they arrived. The weather was rainy and cold. His unit ambushed a German camp when they got off the main road one night. Gilbert's unit also went into a house that was the German's headquarters while no one was there, but the Germans saw them from a distance and began firing at them, while Gilbert and his unit returned fire.

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company F, 1st Ranger Battalion] were under heavy fire from the Germans near Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy] which caused major casualties in his group. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to adjust the camera at 1:33:52.000.] Gilbert eventually had to surrender to the Germans and became a prisoner of war. The Germans organized all the allied troops in a ditch and eventually marched them out. Gilbert remembered passing through Rome [Annotator's Notes: Rome, Italy] and was taken to a prisoner camp somewhere outside Florence [Annotator's Note: Florence, Italy]. He was then put in a boxcar. A group of prisoners tried to escape from the boxcar, but the Germans caught them. They were sent to 2B Hammerstein prisoner camp [Annotator's Note: Stalag II-B in Hammerstein, Germany; now Czarne, Poland]. Gilbert recalled that the living quarters were bad and they had a limited amount of food. He was put on a farm detail daily. Around August 1944, one night while it was raining, a small group of them managed to escape and get on a train. The train ended at a German army garrison where he was captured again.

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert was put on a work detail building houses on a Jewish cemetery. They used the tombstones for footings. While working in the town, he could bathe at a nearby lake with Germans. He interacted with a lot of the local population and bartered for food. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 1:54:01.000.] He continued to work in the town for a period of time then went to Stalag II-B [Annotator's Note: Stalag-II B, Hammerstein, Germany; now Czarne, Poland] for a short time until the Russians came in January 1945. He was evacuated and forced to march west with other prisoners. Because of the Red Cross, Gilbert had some warm clothes, boots and blankets. From January to April 1945, he marched across country until they reached Bremen [Annotator's Note: Bremen, Germany]. A lot of the prisoners did not have good clothing or equipment and got sick or died during the march. When they reached Bremen, the Germans gathered the prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners and put them together. Gilbert could not believe the site of the concentration camp prisoners. At one point, a food cart was brought into the compound. The prisoners ran toward it and the Germans opened fired on them. Gilbert began to throw glass and rocks at the Germans shooting at the prisoners.

Lawrence Richard "Red" Gilbert and a few other prisoners were released from the prison camp near the end of the war. He traveled down a road until they met up with the British military. Gilbert was transferred to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. He recalls that on his return to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] there was a lot of fog. He was discharged a few months after arriving at Fort Knox [Annotator's Note: Louisville, Kentucky]. He signed up for the Reserves and was reactivated for the Korean War. He remained in the Army for over 31 years. Gilbert tells a story of trying to catch a rabbit for food, but it caused a lot of commotion. He also recalls when they evacuated from the prison camp [Annotator's Note: Stalag II-B, Hammerstein, Germany; now Czarne, Poland], they were knee deep in snow.