Norman Riggsby was born on 9 June 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in a small town in Michigan near Detroit. It was called Taylor Township about 20 miles from Detroit. Growing up was great. He played sports and attended school but did not graduate. He was drafted in his senior year of high school. He had three brothers with two younger than him. His father was an engineer; while his mother was a housewife. His family had a small farm and raised cherry and orange trees plus a large garden. The farm had no livestock but had plenty of dogs and cats. The family farm in Indiana had the livestock. The family had originated from there. Young Riggsby would spend his summers working on the family farm in Indiana. Living in the country was just one day similar to the next. There was little talk of the war that brewed and later erupted across the globe. Riggsby’s father had never served in the military. When young Riggsby was drafted, his mother was not happy. He would have volunteered to go into the Air Force, but his mother would not sign the paperwork. He was drafted into the infantry instead. Riggsby heard about Pearl Harbor while he was delivering newspapers along his 20 mile route. When he finished his route, the papers to announce the Japanese attack were waiting for him to deliver. It was an extra edition with the headline “Pearl Harbor Bombed.” He had to run the route all over again with the update. As a 16 year old, Riggsby could not believe the news. Talk centered on that topic after its occurrence. He did not anticipate that the event would affect him. He was not concerned until the draft came out after that. That concerned everyone. The family thought the oldest brother would go into service right away. He did not because of his exemption due to his being married and father of a child. Riggsby was too young at the time and had to wait until he was 18. His folks would not agree to his entry into the military at 17. In particular, his mother would not approve and sign the paperwork. As stupid as he thinks of it now, Riggsby thought receiving the draft notice was great [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby laughs.].

Norman Riggsby was drafted. He then went to an examination. Afterward, he went to a reception center in Michigan. From there, he went to Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi for 13 weeks of basic training. When it was discovered that he played the trumpet in the school band, he was made battalion bugler. He went to bugler school and had to wake early every morning so that he could play reveille and get the men out of bed. At night, he would play taps. He enjoyed the duty. It got him out of a lot of work such as KP [Annotator’s Note: kitchen patrol]. It also resulted in him being attached to the company commander as his aide. He was a member of the headquarters group. After basic, he was sent to New Jersey to board a ship for transit to Europe. The ship was the second largest passenger ship in the world. It was named the New Amsterdam. The ship voyaged without escort. German submarines chased them two or three times but never caught them. Riggsby was fortunate on the trip. He was assigned to a double 40 machine gun on deck and bunked with six men in a room. Other men were jammed together all across the ship, but he lucked out. He did not think much about going into combat. He was too busy looking over the side of the ship. There was nothing to see. He did not want to be a sailor. At the time, he gave little thought to being in combat and killing someone. That did not come until he actually found himself in the midst of the action. He never considered possibly killing somebody until he saw guys dropping dead all around him. The ship with Riggsby landed in Glasgow, Scotland. There were maneuvers and practice landings before the actual D-Day invasion. He visited London once. Everything was blacked-out there with no lights at night. He observed some of the previous bombing damage and even was there during a bombing. The British had built were bunkers to hide in during enemy aerial attacks. There was a lot of shrapnel flying around. The British and Scots talked funny. There were nice girls over there. Riggsby was always after the girls [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby laughs.].

Norman Riggsby went through maneuvers and practice landings in preparation for the invasion of France. Riggsby approached the process of learning what to do as just another day performing his job. He did not know what he was getting into. Most of the men were young like Riggsby and had never seen war. A couple days before D-Day, the men were loaded aboard ships. The weather was terrible. It was rainy and foggy. It was doubtful if they would be able to cross the Channel. The men remained on the ships just bobbing up and down until Eisenhower [Annotator’s Note: General Dwight D. Eisenhower] gave the word “we’re going.” Riggsby was on a Canadian ship rigged for carrying troops. It was a landing ship and had guns on it. The ship was packed with men. Some had to sleep on deck. That was rough with the rolling ship. Some managed to go below deck but not everyone. Many got sick because of the choppy sea. Riggsby never got seasick because he always made his way on the end of the ship. Many sick soldiers spent their time hanging over the rail [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby laughs as he gestures how the ship bounced up and down in the sea.]. It was dark when he reached France. The weather was against the invaders. The tide had been misjudged. The tide was in and many men jumped off the landing craft and sunk to the bottom with the weight of their equipment. Riggsby was lucky because he could get to the sandy bottom quickly and make his way forward. It was bad on the beach. Everyone was trying to find a place to hide. What saved many men was the pre-invasion naval shore bombardment by the battleship Texas. Craters were blown in the beach, and men could find some cover there. Invasion troops were being hit by shrapnel. Riggsby held up his M1 rifle to save his face and ended up having shrapnel wounds on both arms. He carries those wounds today [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby reveals wounds on his left forearm and comments that the same exists on his right arm.]. Germans rounds were flying through the air. He made it to a bunker and remained for two days before he could go onward. Approaching the beach, it looked like a normal sandy beach. As he went ashore, he saw bodies of those who had not made it. Riggsby’s division [Annotator’s Note: the 29th Infantry Division] had the Big Red 1 [Annotator’s Note: 1st Infantry Division] and the 4th Division [Annotator’s Note: 4th Infantry Division] attacking alongside them. Riggsby’s division was on Omaha Beach. They had the worst landing location. There were high cliffs in front of them. They landed with the Rangers [Annotator’s Note: 5th Ranger Battalion] who had the job of going up there with bandoliers and blow a hole in the defenses so the landing forces could reach the high ground. All the while, the Germans were looking down on the incoming forces. Riggsby had landed with friends in his outfit. They were all a part of the 29th Division. He still has his division patch. The division came from Virginia and is still active. The whole division of four regiments went into the assault. Some of the men that Riggsby knew well did not make it. He feels very fortunate and lucky that he survived D-Day. He was hit on his arms and could have bled to death but did not. He was lucky he did not get a fatal hit. What he saw that day is hard to explain. He saw men his age falling to enemy fire. It ages a person quickly when people are shooting at you. It was rough to get up through the bunkers on the high ground. The men went through the openings that had been blown. Once they reached the top, they began chasing the Germans.

Norman Riggsby started heading for the hedgerows [Annotator’s Note: after reaching the high ground on Omaha Beach, he and his 29th Infantry Division got off the beaches and made their way inland. He explains hedgerows later.]. They were in there for a week or two and began to head for St. Lo where there was a railroad center for German supplies. That became the objective for the Americans. There was a seesaw battle for the area with both sides exchanging control of the town. The high command decided to pull all their forces back two miles and send in a thousand bomber attack. After that aerial bombardment, the Americans went back into the town and finally ran the Germans out. Patton [Annotator’s Note: General George S. Patton] and his armored division had to stay on the highways. The Germans pulled back into the hedgerow country and ambushed the tankers. Patton pushed right on through. The infantry came behind him and ran into the German armor. A German Tiger tank wounded Riggsby next [Annotator’s Note: he had already received shrapnel wounds on Omaha Beach.]. He could hear the shells but never heard the one that got him. After Riggsby woke up in England, he was told that he had been in a coma for three weeks. There was a bag waiting for him to be shipped home. He was shooting Germans right before he was hit. He and his outfit were trying to move forward in the hedgerow country. The hedgerows were used as fences by the French. Over the centuries, bushes grew up over the rock barriers. They not only grew very thick, but there were also thorns in them. Riggsby received a wound on his chin that resulted from being cut by a thorn as he dove into a hedgerow [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby points to the scar on his chin from the incident. He gestures that the rock wall was about four feet high and states that the bushes grew on top of them.]. Tanks could not penetrate the rock fences. It was tough fighting over the rock walls and through the bushes. When the tanks finally had blades installed in front of them, it enabled the breakout. Riggsby did not have much to like about the Germans since they were killing his buddies. Additionally, there were stories about what they had done prior to the Normandy invasion. It was shocking waking up in the hospital. He did not remember being evacuated or getting to the hospital. He woke up with tubes running all over the place. They were keeping him alive.

Norman Riggsby remained in the hospital for several months while his wounds healed [Annotator’s Note: he had first been wounded on D-Day. The hospital stay was due to being severely wounded during subsequent fighting through the Normandy hedgerows. He was in a coma for three weeks before waking and realizing what had happened to him.]. He was then sent to a mechanics school. He did not care for that. Later, a decision was made to establish an MP [Annotator’s Note: military police] outfit using combat veterans who had healed from their bad wounds. They would serve in that capacity rather than being sent home. He went to France with the job of rounding up German stragglers who had escaped capture. He also performed other jobs including escort duty. That was how he was assigned to a motorcycle. It was a Harley-Davidson. After attending motorcycle school, he was given the job of escorting Patton’s [Annotator’s Note: General George S. Patton] tanks through Paris. Riggsby knows one of those tankers who lives in Athens, Texas. At the time that Riggsby escorted the tanks; a large battle was going on in the Ardennes in Belgium. Patton was coming up from the coast to assist in the fighting. Riggsby was given the job of escorting him and his tanks through Paris and into Belgium and up to the Battle of the Bulge. The snow was very deep and it was cold. That did not bother Riggsby. He was used to weather in Michigan. The idea of escort duty instead of combat did not bother Riggsby. He did not miss the fighting. He was glad not to go back. He was helping in the fight even though he was not shooting Germans. He did whatever job he was given as well as he could. Most of the police were combat veterans who had been shot up before their duty assignment. Shortly after the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans decided to surrender. That was when Riggsby went to Rheims, France on his motorcycle. He patrolled the Autobahn like a regular policeman. There were few German vehicles because of their inability to obtain gasoline. The G.I.s who drove the German highway had heavy feet. Riggsby’s job was to control them. He used his Harley-Davidson motorcycle to corral them. He even had bugs on his teeth [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby laughs.]. When he did not work as a patrolman, he worked as a judge for the G.I.s who had to be punished for their driving. Riggsby departed Europe in February and was discharged in March [Annotator’s Note: 1946].

Norman Riggsby worked as an MP [Annotator’s Note: military policeman] and as a judge. When they not on motorcycle patrol duty, patrolmen would take turns serving as a judge for the G.I.s caught speeding on the Autobahn. The guilty parties were arrested and had to pay a penalty. Riggsby also served in Berlin as part of the policing force. It was before law and order was established immediately after the war ended. Eventually, that responsibility was turned over to the German military. Riggsby served as a jailor at the Nuremburg Trials. He also guarded the inmates during the trials. His day started at six o’clock. He would clean up, have chow, and prepare for a spic and span inspection. Afterward, the vehicles would stop and pick up the prisoners every day. Some of the German officers were raunchy. They had a typical Nazi belligerent attitude. Riggsby did not speak German so he communicated little with them. He speaks better French. The prisoners were very stern and talked little. He would escort them to the building where the trials were held at Nuremburg. They would spend the day at Nuremburg. His position was standing behind the prisoners. They could stand at ease rather than being at attention. He could not sit but had to stand. He watched and listened to the trials as he stood there. It was interesting but just another trial. The Germans denied everything. They had little choice. Riggsby felt they were lying quite a bit. They were not very truthful. He did not trust them and had little use for them. They had killed a bunch of Americans. Riggsby remembered Göring [Annotator’s Note: Hermann Göring]. Since most of the guards were combat veterans, they would have preferred to take the prisoners out and just line them up against a wall and shoot them. The veterans all felt there was no need for a trial. The big shots did not want to just have a firing squad execution so there were trials. The veterans had no use for the defendants for what they had done. Riggsby had experienced going through a concentration camp. It was hard to explain what the Germans did to fellow humans. The smell in the camp was terrible. The inmates were just skin and bones. There were big piles of burned bodies. Riggsby does not like to think about it. That was why he deemed the trials for those accused not worthwhile. He has never wavered from the feeling that the defendants should have all been shot. The camps were terrible. It did not matter to the Nazis if those to be executed were women or children. It was just the Nazi way. Riggsby enjoyed his stay in Berlin, but he was ready to go home. The Berliners were not bad to get along with. Riggsby even met some girls. He told a local band that he played a trumpet. He met a few of the people. When the troops first got to Berlin, they were not allowed to talk to the population. He never learned to trust them. They might cut his throat. All the populace did not participate in those concentration camps. It was mostly the military. The German people were not really that bad. It was mainly the Nazis who were part of the crude bunch. There were a lot of civil Germans who did not like the war or Hitler. They did not have a choice of whether to follow him or not. They felt there was nothing they could do otherwise. They had to follow along or get killed or sent to a concentration camp. The Russians patrolled Berlin along with Riggsby. They were a crude bunch. If a Russian MP came along an intoxicated Russian soldier, they would almost kick him to death. Vodka was popular with them. Riggsby did not drink that much, but he had his share of cognac. He still enjoys that beverage. The city of Berlin was divided into four sectors. Each was controlled by one of the major powers—the British, the French, the Russians and the Americans. Each of those powers interacted with each other until Berlin got back on its feet. The big airport was taken over. The military police had to be dressed well. They were the show pieces and expected to be spic and span like showboats.

Norman Riggsby returned to the United States through New York and Camp Kilmer. It was great. He went to Michigan even though his parents had moved to California during the war. His father had transferred there because he had been working on the Norden bomb sight. His father would also work on the Moon Buggy in space. He was head engineer on that project. Riggsby stayed in Michigan for two months and even drove a school bus during that time. He did not want to stay in the Army. He did not like it that well. He had other ambitions. At discharge in Camp Atterbury in Indiana, he was given some counseling. Upon reaching Michigan, he stayed with his cousin most of the time. It was strange being a civilian. People had questions for him. He tried to answer them to the best of his ability. Some things just could not be explained to a person who had never seen combat. Some of his old gang never were sent to the military. Some did not return. Riggsby’s older brother went into the service. They had both worked for General Motors prior to induction. They played baseball for the semi-pro company team. Riggsby was a pitcher and his brother was the catcher. They were both in the Detroit Cadillac division. Riggsby’s brother came home from the war much earlier than he did. They discussed things they had experienced. They had met up in France. His brother was on an inspection crew. He did not go into combat although he was wounded in Aachen. After the war, Riggsby would suffer from war-related nightmares. It would scare his mother when he woke up screaming or underneath the bed. The California earthquakes frightened Riggsby. There were huge power lines near their home. When the earthquakes rocked them and they got close to each other, they would arc and make tremendous noise. Riggsby thought they were being bombed. His mother had to reassure her frightened son that they were not being attacked by artillery. He could come out from under his bed [Annotator’s Note: Riggsby laughs.]. The dreams were infrequent, and he finally got over it. It helped to talk to ex-G.I.s. It was not so much help to talk to civilians. Riggsby might have had posttraumatic stress disorder. It was easy for him to find a job in Michigan. It took awhile to get a job in California. The family obtained a ranch and he worked there. He would eventually transfer to China Lake where a Navy experimental station was located. Riggsby worked there as an electronics technician for ten years. He used the G.I. Bill to attend U of H. He probably would have managed to work his way through college without it. He wanted an education. His career was in experimental electronics. He had his own lab and built and assembled componentry from scratch. Making weapons was interesting and he never attached the work to his wartime experiences. He enjoyed the research and the testing of rockets and missiles at Death Valley. The rockets on the fighter planes are there partly because of his developmental work in the early days.

Norman Riggsby had a postwar career that was not related to his wartime experiences. His most memorable thing about World War Two was the various countries he visited. He saw Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. He had R&R [Annotator’s Note: rest and recuperation] at the Riviera and then went to Rome, Italy. He saw quite a bit in Europe. He was selected to fight in the war because he was drafted. The Japs [Annotator’s Note: a derogatory wartime term for the Japanese] had already bombed the country at Pearl Harbor before the country actually entered the war. The war changed his life by making him more aware of human rights. He saw how inhumanely the Germans treated the peoples they conquered. Riggsby’s wartime service helped him grow up. It gave him the opportunity to meet people and go places he might never have encountered otherwise. Riggsby is not happy with the way the country is being run today. He does not understand why we have the people that we have. He voted for Trump [Annotator’s Note: President Donald Trump] and it will be interesting to see what he does. Many things need to be changed. The country has gone downhill. Institutions like The National World War II Museum are worthwhile to show that part of our history. It is good to educate children about how bad war is. It would be best to avoid conflicts. Riggsby considers he is fortunate to still be in one piece after his life.