Leno E. Stone was born on 23 September 1921 in Red Lodge, Montana. As a child he went to school in Kalama, Washington and lived on his grandfather’s farm. The WPA [Annotator's Note: the Works Progress Administration was a federally sponsored program that put unemployed Americans to work during the Great Depression] used wheelbarrows and horses to build a new road that led to the farm. He lived on the farm until sixth grade, where he then moved to Kelso, Washington because his stepfather got a job in a paper mill there. The family then moved to Longview [Annotator’s Note: Longview, Washington] where Stone went to high school. After graduating high school he attended Washington State. While Stone was in college the United States entered World War 2. Recruiters came to his college campus because they needed people to enlist to help the war effort. The recruitment officers suggested that those enrolled for engineering would not be called up if they joined the ERC [Annotator’s Note: Enlisted Reserve Corps] and they would be able to finish their education. Things did not unfold that way for Stone, who was called to service at the end of his sophomore year of college. The Army sent him to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City [Annotator’s Note: Salt Lake City, Utah] and then to Kansas for basic training. He joined about 600 other ERC students from all over the country there. After completing basic training, they were all given a test. The top 200 were sent to the University of Nebraska [Annotator's Note: University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska] for schooling, the military sent the remaining 400 to Burma [Annotator’s Note: now Myanmar]. Because of the need for more soldiers, Stone and the other students at the University of Nebraska were later sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana to join the 44th Division [Annotator’s Note: the 44th Infantry Division]. The 44th Infantry Division went to Kansas to finish training before leaving for Boston [Annotator’s Note: Boston, Massachusetts] to go overseas. They traveled by train. It took them a few days to cross the Atlantic in their convoy of ships. The ship that Stone was on was armed to protect the rest of the convoy in case of submarine attack. They finally arrived in war torn Cherbourg, France. By this time, the town’s harbor was littered with sunken ships. Stone had to get onto a barge which then brought him to land. He got in a vehicle which brought him to a camping area. On the voyage across the Atlantic they never experienced any U-boat [Annotator's Note: German submarine] attacks. On one occasion they did drop depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] because of the possibility of a submarine in the area. While disembarking the ship in Cherbourg they feared attack from German planes, but there were barrage balloons [Annotator's Note: large, tethered kite balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack] in place to protect the harbor from enemy planes. In the area that Stone was deployed there were hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] that completely obstructed vision. Fighting in hedgerows was completely foreign to the Americans, so they needed additional training before moving out.

The Army moved Leno E. Stone and the 44th Division [Annotator's Note: 44th Infantry Division] by train to an area close to the French and German border. They were given control of the area by the 5th Division [Annotator's Note: 5th Infantry Division]. The more experienced soldiers told the 44th Division what to expect. Stone and his fellow soldiers used the old foxholes [Annotator’s Note: defensive position created by digging a hole into the earth] left by the troops that had just left. The Army made the decision to move the 44th Division forward. They left their foxholes and advanced into a forest where they slept for the night. After leaving the forest, they began encountering old German fortifications that still had German equipment left behind from their retreat. The war continued in this fashion for all of Stone’s time in Europe. They advanced mostly on foot, sometimes by vehicle, and set up camp further into German territory. Sometimes they had to retreat, but for the most part they continued forward. The weather got colder as the winter closed in. Stone and his unit made it to a small village. The people who lived in the village deserted it, leaving their farm animals behind. While staying in the village they had an observation post on a nearby hill. They stayed in the village for several weeks. The Army cooks came to them at night with hot food when they could. They made do with the supplies available to them left behind in the village. By this time Stone had been promoted to staff sergeant. His platoon had three sections, and each section two squads. Each section had a second lieutenant in charge. As the war progressed the Army ran out of second lieutenants to command the sections, so as a staff sergeant Stone was in command of his section. Because of the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] the 44th Division was split and divided amongst three other divisions as reinforcements. Stone’s section was ordered to not shoot more than one shell a day, as they were short on ammunition. The 44th Division was returned to normal once the battle was decided. Stone crossed the Rhine [Annotator’s Note: Rhine River in Germany] on a bridge built by Allied military engineers. They expected to experience enemy fire once across the river but did not. The Germans were not prepared for the Americans to move into Weinheim [Annotator’s Note: Weinheim, Germany]. German civilians were still in the town. They watched as the Americans entered the town with no resistance. Stone was forced to confiscate the pistol of a German woman who approached him and the other troops. They established fortifications in the hills of the town. The Americans pushed faster than ever through German lines. Germany was running low on oil, and they could not sustain their earlier war effort. Stone wound up in Oberjoch [Annotator’s Note: Oberjoch, Germany], where a German military hospital had been established. The Allies stayed in the same building as the hospital. While there, the war ended.

The Army moved Staff Sergeant Leno E. Stone and the section [Annotator’s Note: of the 44th Infantry Division] he commanded to Hollensee Lake, Germany once the war ended. The German peasants at Hollensee Lake were forced to relocate while most of the town became occupied by the American military. Stone became friends with the remaining German civilians there and donated the German money he confiscated from enemy soldiers to the town’s church. Stone and one of his friends, Jack Purdue [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling], were given three day passes [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went to a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] show. It was the first time that Stone and Purdue were able to drink beer in a long time. At that show, they met Mickey Rooney [Annotator’s Note: born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr., American actor], who talked to them at length until Stone and Purdue wanted to leave. They stayed for a couple of days until they had orders to go to Heidelberg [Annotator’s Note: Heidelberg, Germany]. Stone was to go to Heidelberg and from there to Camp Chesterfield [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Chesterfield was near Le Havre, France]. They waited at the camp for several weeks for transportation to England. Life at this time was significantly more relaxed for the soldiers because the war was over. They organized recreational activities such as sporting events between different companies, with winners being given prizes such as beer. The military moved Stone from Camp Chesterfield Stone to Fort Kibworth in England for a couple of weeks. From Fort Kibworth they went to Scotland where they boarded the Queen Elizabeth [Annotator’s Note: RMS Queen Elizabeth] to go to New York Harbor [Annotator’s Note: in New York, New York]. They were immediately put on a ferry and sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey. The military gave the soldiers a 30-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to visit in the United States, because they were scheduled to be sent to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. Stone went to Seattle [Annotator’s Note: Seattle, Washington] to visit one of his fraternity brothers. While Stone was in Seattle, the Japanese surrendered. The military sent Stone and other soldiers to a fort in Texas, where if they had a sufficient number of 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] they would be released. Stone stayed in Texas for three months until he was allowed to complete his service. [Annotator’s Note: The interviewer returns to asking Stone about his time in Europe.] Stone does not remember many of the details surrounding his operations in Saarburg [Annotator’s Note: Saarburg, Germany]. He helped liberate a prisoner of war camp. At the camp, American military prisoners were treated better than political prisoners, who were given special uniforms to identify them. Some of the prisoners were so malnourished that they looked extremely sickly. Stone stayed there until his unit was relieved, whereupon he continued further into Germany.

Leno E. Stone attended Washington State College [Annotator's Note: now Washington State University in Pullman Washington] and graduated in 1948 with a degree in electrical engineering. With his degree he began working in a paper mill in his hometown. After a couple of years a friend called him and offered him a job at Conoco [Annotator's Note: Conoco Incorporated] in Texas and Louisiana. In 1953 Stone married his wife in Lake Charles, Louisiana and went to New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] for their honeymoon. Stone used the GI Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, 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] to put himself through college. His brother, a sailor in the Navy, gave Stone some money to help him pay tuition for his sophomore year. Without the GI Bill he would not have had the necessary money to finish his education. Before their first engagement, Stone and the soldiers he fought [Annotator’s Note: in the 44th Infantry Division] with were all nervous and scared of fighting the enemy. He remembers the sound of shells exploding and the sound of burp guns [Annotator's Note: German MP-40, or Maschinenpistole 40, 9mm submachine gun] firing. One advantage of being in the heavy weapons section was that they did not experience small mortar attacks or rifle fire often. He and the other soldiers all concerned themselves with if they could remember the correct password for a certain day. One soldier, an inexperienced private, asked for the password while on guard duty one night. The other soldier could not remember the correct password, so the private fired on him, accidentally killing him. Because of the constant state of nervousness and fear, they also could not get any sleep, making their performance even worse. While on leave after a battle, the soldiers took a trip to a champagne [Annotator's Note: type of alcoholic beverage] factory. The champagne had expired, which made the soldiers sick. The military offered soldiers a choice of liquor that they had confiscated, Stone arrived late and was given Roman Catholic communion wine. The wine was too sweet for him to drink. The next day he was one of the first people to arrive at the mess tent to eat because he was one of the few soldiers awake early in the morning.

Leno E. Stone does not think that the war changed him very much. His service in the Army was a job that needed to be done that he accomplished. He did not talk about his time in the military very much. After many years he decided to write memoirs of his time in the military for his family and friends to read. Looking back at the wars America has participated in, Stone wonders if it was all worth it. He thinks that Germany and Russia would have collapsed anyway. Wars that involve religion never settle anything either, because those ideologies are so strong in the people fighting for them. He looks at the wars of the Middle East like they will be another Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975], and we [Annotator's Note: the United States] will pull out anyway. It is critical that the history of World War 2 be maintained, and that the National World War II Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is doing its job in making sure that people are educated on the effects of the war. Stone does not think that the United States changed much because of the war. War production allowed the United States to leave the Great Depression [Annotator’s Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] behind. Stone started off as an ammo bearer [Annotator’s Note: Stone in the 44th Infantry Division]. He was made sergeant, now responsible for aiming the mortar. Eventually he became a staff sergeant commanding a section during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] and through the end of the war. He often worked in tandem with other mortar teams trying to shell enemy positions and recalls having difficulty hitting an enemy position due to Germany’s hilly terrain. Stone feels that the German troops were well trained, possibly better than the Americans. Stone thinks that the command officers and decision makers of the Allies were better as they were better free thinkers and more creative. The German civilians treated the Allied soldiers nicely as they advanced through Germany. He thinks that the German people recognized how badly they were now losing the war, and if Allied forces were advancing this far into Germany that the war would be over soon. He also thinks that they had lost faith in Adolf [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and expected to lose the war. The Allies did not have artillery that could match the German 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. The Germans began having serious logistical issues at the end of the war, especially with fuel, rendering their more advanced tanks useless against the Allies.