Meade Willis was born in Plaucheville, Louisiana. His mother died when he was four years old, and he did not get along with his stepmother so he lived with different people. He moved to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] in 1931 to work in a glass shop on Oak Street. He worked there for ten years. He joined the Army in March 1937. He was sent to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina and then to Panama. He boxed during his time in the service. He returned to the United States in 1939, was discharged, and began a boxing career. He met and married his wife. He got another job driving a truck in 1940, and he worked there for 42 years. He was making a delivery in Pascagoula, Mississippi when he heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. The draft was put into effect, and he decided to enlist so he could go where he wanted to go. In May 1942, Willis reenlisted and went to Texas. Since he had already served, he was put in charge of a platoon of 70 men. He was at Camp Wallace [Annotator's Note: near Galveston, Texas] from 1942 until 1944. He was a gun commander on a 90mm gun, which was not needed during the invasion of North Africa [Annotator's Note: codenamed Operation Torch, 8 to 16 November 1942]. His group was sent to Gainesville, Texas to join the 103rd Infantry Division. He laughed when he got there because no one knew what they were doing. It was full of ASTPs [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers] who had gone to college, and pilots who did not have their wings yet, and put them into the infantry. Willis was made First Sergeant for the regiment [Annotator's Note: Willis does not identify which regiment he was assigned to], and started from scratch with these men. They were then made an airborne division and did glider training, loading C-46s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss C-46 Commando cargo aircraft] and C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft]. They deployed overseas as an airborne unit, but once they got overseas, it was changed again. They went to the Mediterranean and landed at Marseille, France in October 1944. Willis' mother was French and his father did not speak English, so he knew how to speak French. From then on, he had to be at the front because he was the only one who could speak French. He was on an anti-tank 57mm gun [Annotator's Note: M1 57mm anti-tank gun], but was always with the battalion commander because of his language skills.

Meade Willis first experienced battle at Saint-Die [Annotator's Note: Saint-Dié, France]. Willis was tasked with dealing with the local Frenchmen [Annotator's Note: since he was fluent in French]. After Saint-Die, the 103rd [Annotator's Note: 103rd Infantry Division] headed for the Meurthe River along with the 1st and 36th and Infantry Divisions. There was no bridge over the river. They reached a German bivouac [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] and Willis was tasked with probing for mines so that they could use the camp. They stayed for a day before going into a town called Frapelle [Annotator's Note: Frapelle, France]. They were there on Thanksgiving Day. Willis was welcomed and housed by a local family. Willis had three Frenchmen assigned to him. He would interpret for them as they guided the battalion [Annotator's Note: Willis does not identify which battalion]. The commander sent Willis and the Frenchmen ahead. A German patrol passed about 50 yards ahead of them, so they stayed quiet. Willis notified the battalion commander that there were Germans in the area. One of the Frenchmen was shot and killed. Willis' helmet was blown off his head by a machine gun. There were Russians fighting with the Germans. Willis' unit continued into another town. One of the women there did their laundry and fixed his socks. As they continued on, they ran into Germans again, one of whom fired three shots at Willis but missed. One of his good friends was killed. The trees were loaded with German snipers, so they were ordered to move out. Willis was sent ahead to find a location for Headquarters to set up. Once that was done, they were then sent behind enemy lines to accompany one of the Frenchmen to a French camp. They ran into six Germans who dispersed, except for one who led them out of the forest.

Meade Willis dug a foxhole, which was always the first thing he did when he arrived somewhere. Mortars [Annotator's Note: a short smoothbore gun which fires explosive shells at high angles] were set up, and they hit an ambulance full of Germans. The Germans fired back. They lost one man. The mayor of a town welcomed Willis, and asked for medical attention for the people there which Willis called for. The mayor had vats of wine. The colonel called for Willis. The officers got a whiskey allotment, and he shared with Willis and the Frenchmen [Annotator's Note: three Frenchmen, one of whom had been killed by this point, had been assigned as guides, while Willis, who spoke French, would interpret for them]. This was after the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], and they were in snow up to their knees. General McAuliffe [Annotator's Note: US Army General Anthony Clement McAuliffe] took over Willis' division [Annotator's Note: the 103rd Infantry Division]. They knocked out three German tanks in a cemetery. Willis got hit in the chest, but went on patrol that night anyway. He was brought to a medic to treat broken ribs, as well as pneumonia. A French nurse was assigned to him and she gave him penicillin and treated his feet which had been frozen. Willis pulled through, and was sent to rehab.

Meade Willis would only be given one slice of bread, while the German prisoners would have all they wanted. He asked to talk to the general to straighten it out. It turned out this man had been his platoon sergeant in Panama [Annotator's Note: Willis had previously served in the Army in Panama from 1936 to 1939]. Willis asked to be sent back to his unit [Annotator's Note: 103rd Infantry Division] after being in rehab [Annotator's Note: after being wounded and hospitalized], and got back with them in March [Annotator's Note: Mach 1945]. They got back into action and it was tough. They had a battle with Germans in a graveyard. The Air Force was called in, and hit their own men instead of the Germans. They lost half of their battalion [Annotator's Note: Willis does not identify the battalion]. After that, they won one battle after another. He saw one of his friends get shot right next to him. They crossed the Alps. When they got to the other side, they captured a group of Germans. They continued into Innsbruck [Annotator's Note: Innsbruck, Austria] and through the Brenner Pass [Annotator's Note: a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria], making contact with the 85th Infantry Division and 5th Army and that was the end of the war. Willis was with the 103rd when they liberated Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany]. The people still standing were just bones. They gave them K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] but they could not handle it, so orders were given to not give them food. Willis had no love for the Germans. He did work as an interpreter with the French and became close with one of the Frenchmen he worked with.

Meade Willis was at Dachau [Annotator's Note: serving with the 103rd Infantry Division which liberated Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany]. They had to bury many people, too many to fit in a single graveyard. The people still standing were starving. Initially, the Army gave them K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals], but it killed them, tearing up their stomachs. Willis returned to Camp Shanks, New York in early August [Annotator's Note: August 1945] before going to Camp Shelby [Annotator's Note: near Hattiesburg, Mississippi] and then home. While he was home, the bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was dropped and ended the war. Willis was discharged from Camp Campbell, Kentucky. He bought a house. He joined the National Guard in 1949 and got out in 1964.

[Annotator's Note: Unidentified people speak from off camera.] Meade Willis was in Panama in a seacoast artillery antiaircraft battery [Annotator's Note: having served in the Army from 1937 to 1939 before reenlisting for World War 2]. Many of the shots fired were duds. A local native hit a dud and it exploded. [Annotator's Note: People speak from off camera.] During World War 2, they stopped at a bar in Munich, Germany and had hot beers. They continued to Langenberg, Germany where the 5th Army was. Willis took part in a Memorial Day service while overseas.