Joseph Rockforte was born in 1922 in what is now Plaquemine, Louisiana. After he was born his father moved the family to Baton Rouge. Rockforte's father had lost three children to typhoid fever. From Baton Rouge, the Rockfortes moved to Port Allen where they farmed sugar cane and other vegetables. Rockforte was drafted right after Pearl Harbor was bombed. He had been at home when he learned of the attack. At the time of the attack, Rockforte was working cutting grass at the local airport. Things changed after the war started. When Rockforte was 18 he wanted to join the Navy but his parents would not sign the paperwork. After getting his draft notice he was given a physical at a building on Poydras Street. He then went home and told his family that he was leaving. His younger brother took it very hard.

Joseph Rockforte was sent to Camp Beauregard in Alexandria [Annotator's Note: Alexandria, Louisiana]. There, he got all of his shots and was issued his uniforms. From there he was sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas for basic training. After completing basic training he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for additional training. That is where officers were trained and Rockforte would drive them around. He stayed there for about 14 months. One day, he got a furlough and when he got back from his visit home all of his clothes were already packed. They were moving out. They went to Fort Dix where they did some more training. Then they moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. That is where Rockforte boarded the ship that took him to Liverpool, England.

It was Holy Week when Joseph Rockforte got there [Annotator's Note: to England] but he did not know it. When he went to eat breakfast on Holy Friday morning they were fed SOS [Annotator's Note: American servicemen referred to meat and gravy served over bread as "shit on a shingle" or SOS]. While in England, Rockforte got the mumps and was hospitalized. When he returned all of his gear was packed up. On 3 June [Annotator's Note: 3 June 1944] he was put on a boat which steamed out into the English Channel. Rockforte went ashore on Utah Beach the day after the invasion. It was tough on him seeing the bodies of American soldiers floating in the surf. Rockforte had only been on the front lines for 12 days when he was captured at St. Lo.

After they were captured, Joseph Rockforte and his fellow prisoners walked across France. When they stopped they were put in boxcars. Whenever the American pilots saw something moving they attacked it. The train Rockforte was on was strafed multiple times by American fighters. There were 300 or 400 prisoners on the train from various units. In the boxcars there were no toilet facilities. Rockforte and the prisoners were delivered to the prisoner of war camp in Moosburg, Germany [Annotator's Note: Stalag VII-A]. The prisoners were given the option of working on local farms. Rockforte did so. That life was much better than life in the camp. The farmers would feed the prisoners. There was a Polish girl working on the same farm Rockforte worked on who was also a prisoner that he got attached to. The prisoners got Christmas packages and the Red Cross gave them heavy underwear and overcoats when the winter came. When Rockforte was first captured he went two days without any water. He finally found a small puddle of muddy water and drank from it. Rockforte is glad his sons did not have to go to war.

When Joseph Rockforte was captured there were many other soldiers captured with him. They had been tasked with capturing a hill near St. Lo. Before they attacked, the hill was supposed to be bombed. They went up the hill so the bombers were forced to stop bombing. When they stopped, the Germans surrounded and captured them. When he was first captured, Rockforte feared the SS but he was never mistreated during his captivity. He did, however, have to go without food. When he hit the beach [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach] he weighed 165 pounds but 30 days later he was down to 135 pounds. When he was liberated, Rockforte was in a house and could hear firing close by. A recon jeep approached the house and the Polish girl who was with him pointed it out to Rockforte. He went outside and spoke to the reconnaissance soldiers and told them that he was a prisoner. Rockforte stayed in the same house that night then drove to Munich the next day in an appropriated car.

From Munich they [Annotator's Note: Joseph Rockforte and his fellow newly liberated POWs] went to Le Havre. Rockforte went by airplane to Le Havre. In Le Havre they were issued new clothes and toiletries. They got cleaned up and were given medical exams. They put in at New York and Rockforte saw the Statue of Liberty. He was then sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey where he spent a few days then went on R&R [Annotator's Note: Rest and Recuperation or Relaxation] in Florida. He was then sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi then on to Camp Livingston, Louisiana. From there he went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where he was discharged in November 1945.

Joseph Rockforte was not able to see the actual invasion of Normandy because he was on a ship offshore. When he went ashore the following morning he saw dead bodies in the water and on land. They fought their way to St. Lo, during which one of Rockforte's friends was killed. Rockforte was awarded medals that his whole company received. He is glad that he has lived to be 92.

Joseph Rockforte and his first wife were together for 48 years. Now his kids and grandkids are all grown. After his wife died he got a call from a girl living in Plaquemine [Annotator's Note: Plaquemine, Louisiana]. They met each other at church and she later called him. The girl was looking for Rockforte's daughter. Rockforte invited her over for coffee and she accepted. They started dating and were together for a year and a half before they married.

Joseph Rockforte's company [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division] was on a hill that was being bombed. When they got up there, the bombing stopped and they were surrounded by Germans and captured. At that moment he did not think he would make it home. He was in fear that the Germans would tie him up naked and let a German Shepherd dog bite him or put him in a pit full of rats. Nothing like that ever happened. He was never mistreated during his imprisonment. Rockforte spent about a week on a train after he was captured. They were taken to Reims, France then from there to Moosburg. During the trip the train was strafed by American fighters and disabled. Another train was brought up and the prisoners were transferred to it and taken to Germany. Life was hard on the prisoners. When they arrived at the prisoner of war camp [Annotator's Note: Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany] they were each assigned a bunk and fed. Men who had been wounded were not properly cared for. The latrine was nothing more than a log suspended between two posts. In the camp the guys talked about what they were going to do when they got home. Christmas of 1944 was the saddest Christmas Rockforte ever spent. His mother made fig cakes and other goodies which she would send to him before he went overseas. In the camp they received Red Cross parcels. They enjoyed that because it told them that the people back home were thinking about them. The guards were friendly to them. One of them was an old man. When the Americans arrived to liberate the camp, Rockforte told that old guard to take off his uniform and go home. He would not have survived being in a prison camp. Rockforte took six Germans prisoner in the house he worked in. The prisoners had been given the choice to work on the farm or stay in the camp. They stayed on the farm in a small room that was locked up every night. The men all got along well. They would not fight in front of the Germans. They played games to occupy themselves. The weekends were very sad. They never considered trying to escape. They were surrounded by Germans. Once he was liberated he wrote to his mother to let her know he was back in American hands. His mother died in 1950.

Joseph Rockforte knew he would soon be liberated when he heard the firing of guns getting closer. The Germans he worked on the farm with acknowledged that the Americans were coming. The farmers in Germany worked hard. They did not have modern equipment like they had in America. The farmers were all nice to the prisoners. The Polish girl working with Rockforte told him that an American jeep was approaching. That was when he was liberated. He was happy to get home and straighten himself out. Rockforte decided to fly back to France. The flight was not very comfortable. The next time he took a flight was on an Honor Flight to Washington. Those were the only two times he has even been on an airplane.

One of Joseph Rockforte's most memorable experiences of the war was that he was going to England, France, and Germany. He never thought he would see those countries. He wanted to go to Normandy but it was too expensive. Rockforte served because he had been drafted. He most likely would have enlisted even if he had not been drafted. He had tried to enlist prior to being drafted but his parents refused to sign the papers. He met a lot of people and saw a lot of countries. Rockforte feels that he did something for his country. After he came back he got married and had four kids. He now has six grandkids too. Rockforte believes that some realize that they are free as a result of the war and are respectful of the veterans. Others are not. Teaching young people about World War 2 is important. Many young people do not learn about it in school. Rockforte is proud of his service. He gets treated well at the VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] clinic. He burned himself and hurt his leg. He went to New Orleans to get an electric wheel chair but was told that he could not get one. He went home and had his wife write a letter to Bill Cassidy [Annotators Note: William M. "Bill" Cassidy is a Senator from Louisiana].