Melvin Dahlberg was born in August 1924 in St. Paul, Minnesota, just days after his parents had moved there from Sweden. His mother was pregnant with him when encountering a storm off Norway and she had to get into a lifeboat. He thinks this is why he has a nervous nature. His mother was a tin worker in Sweden and worked for her father there. She could not do that here in the United States. His father worked on elevators for Archer Daniels company [Annotator's Note: Archer Daniels Midland Company, Chicago, Illinois]. His mother was a line worker in a factory that made breads and candies. One of Dahlberg's aunts had come to the United States earlier and they lived with her for some time. His mother's brothers came over eventually as well and were a big part of his life. He went to school in Minneapolis. There was never any talk of war at home. They would listen to the radio reports of the war. Dahlberg was very rambunctious and was a good ski jumper. When he enlisted, he wanted to get into the ski troops, the 10th Mountain Division, so he signed up to be a paratrooper, but it had been disbanded. He went to Georgia for his training. His commander told him he had okayed 3,000 out of 8,000 people to become paratroopers. Dahlberg wanted to see some action and figured this was the best way. His parents were sorry to see their only child go to war but knew it was necessary to serve the country.

Melvin Dahlberg went to paratrooper school in Georgia. It was very difficult training, running five to ten miles every morning up Mount Currahee [Annotator's Note: Currahee Mountain, Stephens County, Georgia]. He went over to North Carolina for more weapons training and then jump training at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was the first time he had ever fired a weapon and became a rifle sharpshooter. His first jump made him very nervous because he did not know what to expect. After about four jumps, he was used to it. [Annotator's Note: He describes the jump in great detail]. There is a shock of a jolt when the parachute opens. It's a good feeling to know it opened up. He was anticipating jumping into combat and could hardly wait for that time. All of his training was put to use. In January and February 1944, he was on maneuvers in Tennessee and he came down with trench foot. [Annotator's Note: Immersion Foot Syndrome is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, cold conditions.] They returned to North Carolina and then left from Virginia to cross the Atlantic on the SS Santa Rosa with 500 WACS [Annotator's Note: members of the Women's Army Corps, the women's branch of the US Army from 1942 to 1978] who were dropped in Oran, Africa. Most of them were nurses and he thought highly of them. They were all treated very well by the men on board. They did not have to talk to their buddies about the war, which Dahlberg felt was a nice break.

Melvin Dahlberg and the 517th Parachute Regiment Combat Team [Annotator's Note: 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment] went into Naples, Italy and were immediately transferred to an old volcano [Annotator's Note: mostly likely Mount Vesuvius, Naples] for about a week before receiving orders to move to the Anzio beachhead. They got turned around on the ocean and ended up in a port in Civitavecchia, Italy instead. In a day or so they met Germans. Dahlberg was a scout for his company. They were receiving fire from the Germans that they had on the run. He was leading a patrol in the middle of the night, when he heard someone say "dummkopf" [Annotator's Note: German term for a stupid person]. He hit the ground and was hit in the hand by a grenade. They sat for a while, but the Germans did not attack them. The next day they saw them retreating towards northern Italy. His unit left the next day for the area around Rome where they awaited their next orders. On 15 August 1944 they got orders to France. They left the airfield at 2:30 in the morning on a two-hour flight. The mission planners had forgotten about some mountains in the way and they had to jump high above some clouds. Dahlberg thought it was the ocean and he had left his life preserver in the airplane. What he thought were splashes in the water were the other men hitting the trees. He went down through a tree and landed on rocks, spraining his ankle and breaking his rifle. For four hours they had no contact and were clearing the area for gliders to come in. The first glider he saw hit an olive tree head-on. There was only a pilot in the glider and his load of ammunition had crushed him to death. The pilot had a pistol, so Dahlberg took it in order to have a weapon. He and some other paratroopers joined up to make a small company. That same afternoon a dozen of them were going down a road and came across an AP [Annotator's Note: Associated Press] photographer who had jumped earlier too. The photographer had them to get into the ditch pose like they were getting into action. Dahlberg saw these pictures in a book in 1983, which surprised him.

After parachuting into France and landing in trees in the mountains, Melvin Dahlberg and other paratroopers from the 517th Parachute Regiment Combat Team [Annotator's Note: 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment] took a day to form into a good fighting group. They then set a still-standing US Army record for being on the front lines for 94 straight days before getting relieved. They took part in the Champagne Campaign [Annotator's Note: Operation Dragoon, initially Operation Anvil, code name for Allied invasion of Provence, France on 15 August 1944], so-called because the Germans always brought out their best to fight them. They were relieved into Nice, France from Sospel, France. They had taken part in quite a few battles including Hill 1098 [Annotator's Note: part of Maritime Alps in Southern France]. They and the Germans would mortar each other. Dahlberg was in a foxhole when a mortar landed but did not go off. They had mortar squads and would sometimes make patrols. One of his sergeants got killed on one patrol. Dahlberg was sent to retrieve his body a week later. [Annotator's Note: Dahlberg takes a deep sigh before continuing and describing the body's condition.] Dahlberg took the body back to the lines. It was a tough job. Dahlberg was part of one of two patrols that went down into the valley at Sospel with members of Companies D and E. They went into a chalet that had been the German headquarters. He stayed with them that night and left the next morning. He and another soldier walked about a block away and the chalet exploded behind them. The Germans had mines on a timer which the scouts had not discovered in their searches. Four men died and many more were injured. Dahlberg gives thanks that he stayed alive and was able to raise a family. He thinks of the bad experiences often and is always thankful he made it out.

Melvin Dahlberg and the 517th Parachute Regiment Combat Team [Annotator's Note: 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment] went from Sospel to Nice, France. The 596th Engineering Company [Annotator's Note: 596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company] was responsible for clearing the area of mines and were given a Presidential Unit Citation for their work there. They then moved to Soissons, France. They were there to train for going to Japan. They arrived 16 December 1944. Gerd von Runstedt [Annotator's Note: German Army Field Marshal Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt] had broken through into Belgium and decimated the 106th Infantry Division. Dahlberg then headed to the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or Ardennes Counteroffensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, Ardennes, Belgium]. It was cold and clammy. They had fresh weapons and were in reserve until 3 January 1945. Dahlberg saw his commanders talking with the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division and he knew something big was up. He was a scout and went across what he thought was a cemetery due to how many holes there were. He did not realize the Germans had dug them and had mortars zeroed in, hoping the Americans would take cover in them. He and his patrol were heavily mortared. His company commander was hit and killed. Two other men were also wounded. Dahlberg was concussed and was unconscious until 8 February when he woke up. He never did get back to his outfit. He was put on limited service in four different hospitals. He was eventually transferred into an Army Air Corps outfit, the 31st SCU, Statistical Control Unit, 8th Air Force. He worked with WACS [Annotator's Note: members of the Women's Army Corps, the women's branch of the US Army, 1942 to 1978] and drove the area commander's jeep. He also worked with some of the very first computers. His friends were still in combat and he felt sorry for them. He would receive mail from them and some of them managed to come visit him. He spent the rest of his time with this unit and when the war ended, he returned to the United States on the RMS Queen Mary. Many of the men on board wept when they entered the port and saw the Statue of Liberty. [Annotator's Note: Dahlberg gets emotional.] Dahlberg had seen 20 months of combat and was glad to be discharged in December 1945. Some of his unit remained in Berlin, Germany and some came to the United States on furlough and were to go to fight in Japan, but the war ended.

After being discharged, Melvin Dahlberg took two weeks off and then went to work as an auditor at a bank for the next 41 years. He also worked in the theater as a wardrobe dresser for 51 years. He has kicked himself many times for not using the G.I. Bill and getting a college degree. He had gone to work for this same bank before he enlisted in the Army. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dahlberg about growing up during the Great Depression.] Dahlberg's father worked all through the Depression as did his mother, which taught him to be pretty independent. He never lacked for anything despite the hard times.

Melvin Dahlberg's first time abroad was in Italy which was very rundown. The local people were begging for food. He went sightseeing in Rome and Tuscany and the poverty was severe. The people were kind towards the Americans though. In Nice, France, he and a buddy would tour around and have drinks on leave. He was made a scout and he carried a .30 caliber folding stock carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1A1 carbine]. After being knocked unconscious in a mortar attack during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or Ardennes Counteroffensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, Ardennes, Belgium] on 3 January 1945, he did not wake up until 8 February. He was very surprised to be in a hospital bed in England. He was then transferred to the 8th Air Force in England. He saw a lot of the damage the Germans had caused to London. He found readjustment to civilian life very easy. He returned to Europe on the 50th anniversary of D-Day [Annotator's Note: the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944]. Dahlberg was hit hard by PTSD [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder] in 2003. He watched Band of Brothers [Annotator's Note: the 2001 HBO miniseries based on the 1992 book of same name by Stephen E. Ambrose] on television and was really affected by it. Previously, he had been able to go give talks of his war experiences to students but after watching the series, he could no longer do so. He had not had problems prior. The show was so well done and so realistic that it put him right back in the middle of combat. He has been able to speak again but it is still very difficult and makes him anxious.

Melvin Dahlberg was in the battle for Hill 1098 [Annotator's Note: part of Maritime Alps in Southern France]. They were being mortared back and forth and they piled rocks around themselves for protection. One soldier, John Pacey, was hit by a small piece of shrapnel right in the heart that had come through a small space in the rocks. There were six men killed in his outfit on that hill. Sometime later, Dahlberg and his men were trying to interrogate a captured German soldier when one of his men got disgusted and shot the prisoner. He could not figure out why. He did see this man later in life and asked him if ever regretted having done that and the man told him "not once." Dahlberg admits that it went against the Geneva Conventions and he thought it was terrible, but they kept it within their squad. Dahlberg hated the Germans, but he knew it was wrong to murder a prisoner. It was hard to imagine the concentration camps. He never did see any of them though. He also hated the Japanese because of the atrocities they committed. He had wanted to see action when he enlisted, and he did not care which theater he went to. Dahlberg used V-mail [Annotator's Note: Victory Mail; hybrid mail process used as a secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad] while in Europe. After returning home, he met his wife when he went to the bank in his uniform. He jokes about them falling in love with each other's clothes. They got married after about four months and have been married for over 70 years.

Melvin Dahlberg finds it hard to point to one experience from the war that is the most memorable. The blast that leveled a chalet he had just left minutes before really stands out though. It was a shock and he could not believe some of the men lived through it. He had decided to enlist because he knew he would be in the war eventually. He was a daredevil and he liked excitement. World War 2 matured him and he is proud of having served. When he wears his Purple Heart cap, he gets thanked for his service. People pay his restaurant bill and all of it really moves him. World War 2 stands out in American history. He is asked about what Japan would have been like if the atomic bombs had not been dropped by Truman [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman], and he answers that an invasion would have cost far too many lives. Truman made the right decision. He feels that the war is not being taught very well, and he feels that it should not be put on the back burner.