Martin J. Anschau was born in April 1925 in Plainfield Township in Northampton county [Annotator’s Note: Northampton county in Pennsylvania]. His father worked as a carpenter in construction and sometimes as an independent worker. Anschau had three brothers and five sisters. One brother died of scarlet fever. His mother was a housewife. The family had a 30-acre farm during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. They raised cows, horses, mules, pigs, and chickens. Later, they had a 117-acre farm near Wind Gap [Annotator’s Note: Wind Gap, Pennsylvania]. Anschau and his siblings helped with the farm chores. Anschau had a pony as a boy. He ran some of the farm equipment and used the horses on the farm. Extra food was sold on the road. He worked hard in his youth. His brothers were older than him. His work on the farm prevented him from attending high school. He went into the Army in July 1943 because his brothers were already serving in the military. He did not want to be in the Navy because he did not like water. There were no foxholes there. Anschau had been a hard worker on the farm.

Martin J. Anschau enlisted in July [Annotator’s Note: July 1943]. He was sworn in in June 1943. He got used to boot camp. His future wife was his girlfriend at the time. She saw him off when he went to training. He went to California and then Germany. He had ten months of antiaircraft training, but was reassigned after furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He had trained with 40mm [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] and quad .50 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: four Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns mounted together]. He spent three months at Camp Carlson in Colorado, and then had another furlough. Upon his return, he was sent to Breckinridge, Kentucky for infantry training. He was next sent overseas from New York [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York], arriving in Birmingham, England where he spent a month from September to January [Annotator’s Note: September 1944 to January 1945]. He had little leave while there. He could see the Spitfires [Annotator’s Note: British Supermarine Spitfire fighter] training to bomb. He went to Le Havre [Annotator’s Note: Le Havre, France] and then Belgium on the European mainland. The rain was heavy in Belgium. Anschau was posted on guard duty with his M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] in the bad weather. He rode trucks and tanks until he dismounted with his outfit and began to march up the hill. A young sergeant refused to get up after being ordered to do so by a lieutenant. Anschau coaxed the young man to follow the officer’s command.

Martin J. Anschau and his outfit crossed an open field [Annotator’s Note: in Belgium with the 290th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division in December 1944]. The troops were discarding equipment that they felt they would not need. That night, they missed some of that equipment. Refusing at first a set of wire cutters, the troops soon discovered that wire ahead of them necessitated the cutters. Shortly after traversing the wire, the enemy opened fire on the Americans. Anschau could see the tracers coming close to his shoulder. He took cover behind a felled tree. He was hit by one of the rounds. Patched up by a friend, he was told he was lucky. He started to cry. He was just a young man at the time. He crawled back across the field to reach an aid station. He was removed by jeep to another rear location. There were two German prisoners there who were calling out for their mothers. Anschau told them to shut up. He may have given a Lucky Strike cigarette to one of them. Anschau was moved to Cherbourg and then Paris, France. It was New Years Eve [Annotator’s Note: 1944]. He was then removed to England after New Years Day. He stayed there for quite a while until ready to return to the 75th and Lieutenant Sasson, Sergeant Lamar and Jordon [Annotator’s Note: no given names provided]. Eight others in the squad had quickly been killed in combat, just like that [Annotator’s Note: he snaps his fingers]. After hospital recuperation, his ability to walk improved. He saw a neighbor from home while in the chow line. They hung out together for a while. Combat caused the neighbor to start stuttering. He went home. After returning to his outfit on the front lines, Anschau and a buddy from Mississippi found an American bomber pilot who had been shot down. He was wrapped in his parachute in a foxhole. Reaching the Rhine River, Anschau went on patrol with some veterans in a jeep mounting a .50 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun]. Anschau heard two explosions from friendly artillery fire that passed over his head. They kept going until bumping into an MP [Annotator’s Note: military police] directing traffic. Early the next morning, he crossed the Rhine River in a Navy motorboat. In doing so, he observed 50-gallon drums floating down the river. He told the helmsman to avoid the obstacle. He reached the opposite side never getting his feet wet. Germans were firing so the Americans returned fire. By daylight, the Germans had left. Reaching a house with seven Germans, they attempted to slow the advance of Anschau and his squad. The Americans had a BAR [Annotator’s Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR] and their M1s [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. The BAR man was hit so Anschau grabbed his weapon and shot at the enemy machine gun position. Lieutenant Rickenbacker entered the building and Anschau told the enemy to surrender [An: he spoke German]. A potato masher [Annotator’s Note: a German Stielhandgranate, or stick hand grenade, distinguished by its long handles] was thrown at the Americans before the enemy decided to surrender. It was 8 April 1945. On 12 April, a German woman told Anschau that the Americans would lose the war because President Roosevelt had died [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. A few days later, Anschau turned 20 years old and shortly thereafter the war was over [Annotator’s Note: V-E Day or Victory in Europe was 8 May 1945].

Martin J. Anschau felt he could get killed the first day he was on the front line. He made it though. He cried after being wounded thinking he might not survive. He was far away from home. He wanted to get home and see his girlfriend [Annotator’s Note: his future wife] and his mother. Anschau’s father came from Germany and that was how he learned to speak German. His mother came from Budapest near Austria. Anschau was sent to Germany instead of Japan since he could speak German. Returning home, he saw a fellow 75th Infantry Division veteran. They became friends. The man had been hit in the head by an enemy round that followed his scalp and provided a part in his hair. Anschau had a hard time returning home and making the adjustment as a civilian carpenter. He worked in that trade for 17 years and then changed to another job as a carpenter foreman for 15 years. Anschau remembers the war and the battles he was in every night while in bed. The pictures are vivid in his mind. He wakes up yelling. He gets limited sleep at night. He sleeps mainly during the day. While on guard duty in England, he had an experience with a jeep with three men in it. One pointed a Thompson submachine gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun]. The group could not provide a password, but Anschau thought he might be shot. He let them pass his post. The riders made a loop around the camp and exited. When asked about the event, Anschau lied and said they were surveying the troops. He felt they were Germans. If he shot them and was wrong, he could have been court-martialed. Three Germans were captured in town later that week. Anschau did have some good times while building a baseball field for the company. He had his own truck to make the runs. His buddy was a dispatcher and gave Anschau the good runs to Paris [Annotator’s Note: Paris, France] where he spent the night. He brought a major to Reims, France. The officer rode in the back of the truck with the men. A Red Cross man used Anschau’s transport to move black market cigarettes. The officer managed to send a lot of money home. He no doubt became a rich man. An enlisted man like Anschau could not send that much money home. At eight years of age, Anschau wanted to see Austria in Europe. He did not want to see it the way he did during the war. He was not allowed to go home until he received more 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]. He missed seeing Austria when he returned to the States.

Martin J. Anschau was seasick 12 of 13 days returning home on the ship. He could not eat anything. Food smelled bad. He had to sleep despite the waves going up and down. He worried the ship would break in half. It had to change course to ease the situation. A ship that took a more northern route broke in half. The ship had to be ballasted forward to allow the rudder to steer the vessel. His brothers had reached home prior to Anschau. Neither of them saw action as Anschau did. The war helped Anschau become a braver individual. He used to not mind climbing heights. Now at 87 years of age, he cannot climb any longer. The war made him appreciate the good things like his wife and his home. He still has bad memories about the war. He remembers incidents from his childhood very vividly. While Anschau was overseas, his mother and father divorced. That shook him up. He should have ignored his father when he returned home. As a boy, Anschau stood up to his father unlike his two brothers. His father respected that. It was a rough way to grow up. Anschau now has difficulty physically doing things for himself at his advanced age. He has a lot to be proud of. He has three nice children. One is in Reading [Annotator’s Note: Reading, Pennsylvania], one is in Hawaii, and a third is in [Annotator’s Note: inaudible]. He wished he had a better education. He did well considering he only had a seventh-grade education. He met his future wife during a community gathering near their homes while they were very young. She went to high school and he went into the Army.