Manuel Ruiz was born in March 1921 in Dallas, Texas but was raised by foster parents in Minnesota. His foster family spoke German in the home, and he learned much of the language as a result. Because of the close family ties, he was very aware of the situation in Germany in the 1930s. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], Ruiz left school in the 8th grade to work on a farm. He then got a job working on a railroad loading and unloading boxcars. After the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Ruiz, a husband and father at the time, enlisted in the Army, although he preferred the Navy or Marine Corps. His training was intense, but his background of manual labor prepared him well for the physical aspect of it. Many of the city boys in the training outfit were wimps and they often teased each other in a good natured way. He trained at various camps in Texas, California, and Washington before reporting to Baltimore [Annotator's Note: Baltimore, Maryland] to be issued equipment for overseas duty. He was then transported to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] to await transport overseas. While in New York City on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], everyone treated the servicemen with great honor, meals and drinks. He arrived in France in late March 1945 as a replacement. Upon arriving, he boarded a boxcar one night and was trucked across France to the German border. Upon arriving in Germany, he and the other replacements were told to grab an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] from a pile of used ones near the train tracks. After some digging to find one that was fully functional and not covered in blood and debris, he settled on a gun. He was assigned to the 71st Infantry Division. His first combat experience was against the German 5th Division [Annotator's Note: formerly the German 5th Infantry Division; designated as the 5th Jäger Division at the time Ruiz encountered it]. The fighting varied in intensity as the Americans mopped up the remaining German forces. Most of the combat occurred in small skirmishes within small, nameless German towns.

[Annotator's Note: Various noises are heard in the background throughout this clip.] Manuel Ruiz was frightful in combat and prayed constantly. The fear of not knowing whether he would live or die was the worst fear of all. The Germans were the most professional soldiers and were fiercely defending their homeland. After a week in combat, the unit's [Annotator's Note: 71st Infantry Division] machine gunner was killed, and Ruiz took up the .30 caliber weapon [Annotator’s Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun] for the remainder of the war. [Annotator's Note: the video and sound breaks up during the interview. Ruiz is hard to understand from 0:15:30.000 to 0:16:50.00.] Ruiz's facility with the German language proved useful as his unit began to capture more and more soldiers. The SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] troops all spoke English but would give up no information when interrogated. He was surprised by the advanced age of many of the SS men. Shortly before the end of the war, Ruiz was chosen to draw a map on the ground for General George S. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.]. Having heard many of the stories about Patton's demeanor with enlisted men, Ruiz says he saluted and was a brave soldier when confronted by him. Ruiz was strafed by an American P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] while chasing closely behind a German unit. At the last second, the P-38 pulled up and began firing on the German position. The following morning, Ruiz came across the carnage inflicted by the P-38. He would have been killed by the Germans if not for that plane. This memory still affects him today and he remains afraid of loud noises. His unit continued their advance until they met up with Russian troops who were a motley crew. They traveled with animals and women. They were very unfriendly, and he heard that women were told to hide when Russians came through. After VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], there was chaos across Germany with prisoners and displaced persons streaming in all directions. He became the de facto interpreter for the outfit, communicating between his officers and the German population whenever necessary. Ruiz passed a concentration camp [Annotator's Note: Gunskirchen Lager subcamp of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, Gunskirchen, Austria 4 May 1945] and saw corpses stacked along the fence line. He did not enter the camp though many in his outfit did. Ruiz was also in charge of interrogating German drivers at various roadblocks to determine if they were smuggling any war materials and other treasures.

Upon returning to the United States in mid 1946, Manuel Ruiz turned down the opportunity for a promotion if he agreed to remain in the Army. Ruiz took his discharge as a PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class]. He believes this decision saved his life as he would have gone on to fight in Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953]. The soldiers and Marines had it so much worse in the Pacific. He did not take advantage of the G.I. bill because he had a wife and three children to support and needed to get to work. A future boss paid for him to attend night school. He worked hard his whole life, for a railroad company and newspaper.

Manuel Ruiz's most memorable experience of World War 2 was at the end of the war, and hundreds of people were going crazy. The German civilians feared the Russians. The Americans always tried to help the German soldiers. Ruiz fought in World War 2 because the newsreel footage he saw was terrifying. He felt compelled to fight because everyone able was going. Everyone wanted to fight at the time. The war changed him in many ways. It allowed him to go to school and to continue moving forward in life. He "worked his butt off" his whole career. It helped that his wife is very frugal. He finally landed a great job that he worked for 25 years. He had a knack for selling and received great commissions. He felt proud to be able to afford to send his kids to schools. [Annotator's Note: Ruiz goes talks about the difficulty of using new technology]. World War 2 brought America out of darkness and Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], but at a high cost that we remember on Memorial Day [Annotator's Note: federal American holiday to honor and mourn United States military personnel who died in the performance of duty] each year. The war helped transform the country into a great nation. He thinks highly of Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. There was a lot of building and real estate. Today he is saddened to hear when soldiers commit suicide. He believes America has become costly. He is so confused about who to vote for in the next election [Annotator's Note: 2020 Presidential Election]. World War 2 did a lot of good and Ruiz believes that children need to say the Pledge of Allegiance [Annotator's Note: an expression of allegiance to the flag and republic of the United States of America]. He is not sure if we should continue teach about World War 2 to children. Ruiz recently looked at his discharge papers and it does not reveal all the information about his service [Annotator's Note: Ruiz asked the interviewer about this].