[Annotator's Note: Can hear muffled chatter throughout this segment.] Monroe "Tex" Combs was born in October 1921 in Craig, Colorado. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], he grew up on a farm during his childhood and moved to McClain, Texas for high school where one of his teachers had a tremendous impact on him to pursue college at Texas A&M [Annotator's Note: Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas] but Monroe wanted to join the Marines to fight against Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. He took a job in an oil field and injured his back. He did eventually fully recover. He and two other friends decided to enlist in the Marines. After being denied enlistment for being partially color blind, Combs decided to enlist into the Army as a paratrooper in Fort Sill [Annotator's Note: in Lawton, Oklahoma]. Combs was very excited about being part of the paratroopers because he could not get into the Marines Corps or Air Corps and did not like the Navy uniform. The paratroopers were his last chance to get into war. He conducted his basic training in Toccoa, Georgia and jump school 100 miles away at Fort Benning, Georgia. He trained for months running three miles up and down a mountain daily. He also went on a hundred-mile march to outdo the Bataan Death March [Annotator's Note: the forced march of 60,000 to 80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army in April 1942]. He jumped from a 300-foot tower with a parachute and practice landing. Then he had to jump five times out of a plane to pass jump school. Combs also did maneuvers and broke his foot on a practice jump. After completion of training, Monroe was sent to England with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. His regiment continued to train overseas until they were given orders to head to Europe. His unit finally received orders to jump into Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944].

[Annotator's Note: Can hear muffled chatter throughout this segment.] Monroe "Tex" Combs Monroe received orders to jump into Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] with his regiment [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division]. He started preparing and assembling for the invasion at night and took off at one in the morning. He boarded a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft] and as soon as they crossed the Channel [Annotator's Note: the English Channel] the Germans began attacking with anti-aircraft fire. The plane dropped the paratroopers 15 miles from their target zone. Monroe was so shocked by the initial entrance into combat. He was in the machine gun platoon in the Headquarters section. Combs lost his weapon on the jump and landed into a tree several miles from his assigned drop zone. He saw a light off in the distances and thought it was the assembling point. He began wading through water towards the light, when a machine gun opened up on him and two others. The two others were killed. The German machine then moved so Combs was able to get out safely. After moving throughout the morning of 6 June 1944, Combs jumped into a hedgerow [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] and fell asleep. When he woke up, others had assembled near him. One soldier had a .30 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun] that he gave to Combs. They organized at an assembly point at Carentan, France.

[Annotator's Note: Can hear muffled chatter throughout this segment.] Monroe "Tex" Combs [Annotator's Note: with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] was attached to a rifle company to give them support. Combs was assigned to Easy Company [Annotator's Note: Company E] and had set up his machine gun on the outside of town. Combs was the gunner and also had an assistant gunner. He walked 100 yards and climbed up a tree to observe his surroundings. A German saw him and open fired on the tree with an 88mm [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. Combs was wounded in the process. He was sent to the hospital tent and the doctors removed the shrapnel from him. While he was there, he saw so many wounded with missing limbs. The doctors wanted to send him back to the United States, but Combs insisted to return to his unit before they jump again. Combs was reassigned to the bazooka [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless 2.36-inch anti-tank rocket launcher weapon] squad into the jump into Holland [Annotator's Note: Operation Market Garden, Netherlands, 17 to 25 September 1944]. His unit jumped during the day, landed, and found the assembly point. Then they began heading to their next directive to Eindhoven [Annotator's Note: Eindhoven, Netherlands]. Combs and his unit moved from one town to the next clearing out Germans and securing the area. After some time, Easy Company was relieved from their duties to rest.

[Annotator's Note: Can hear muffled chatter throughout this segment.] In December 1944, Monroe "Tex" Combs [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division] was loaded into a truck without all his proper clothing and equipment and then dropped off near the city of Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Bastogne, Belgium]. Combs could hear the Germans revving their equipment less than a mile from where his company was located. His company had no ammunition and no protection for their feet. The weather was so cold that soldiers were getting frostbite. Combs and his company moved to an area outside the town of Foy [Annotator's Note: Foy, Belgium] making foxholes in the woods. Germans attacked his unit with machine gun fire, and they would fire back with bazookas [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless 2.36-inch anti-tank rocket launcher weapon] 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]. Combs and his unit were able to fight off the Germans and take Foy. As Combs and his unit began to head to Germany, they came under attack. Combs found a building to bring his men in for cover. He saw that one of his soldiers was wounded badly and it was so cold, the blood was freezing on the soldier. His company captured over a hundred Germans. His crew was attacked by a German tank while in the building, but somehow evaded casualties. They were relieved for a few days until they marched into Germany. Combs got word that a German patrol was walking in their vicinity, so he and a couple others hid and waited for them. When they approached, Combs open fired onto the Germans. His commanding officer began yelling at him to hold his fire.