R.M. Wilkes was born in July 1923 in Georgia. His father was a pharmacist in the small town of Cobbville [Annotator's Note: Cobbville, Georgia]. He mostly served the nearby farmers. Life was simple for Wilkes. He had plenty of time to do young boy things. Living was easy and prices were low. Wilkes was attending Notre Dame [Annotator's Note: Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana] when he heard about the attack at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] on the radio. He knew the country was going to go into a hard situation. It was a complete surprise. Wilkes enlisted into the Army in January 1943 and was shipped out in February. He did not think much about the service he chose. Army life suited him. Wilkes was inducted at Fort Oglethorpe, near Atlanta [Annotator's Note: Atlanta, Georgia] and the next day he took a troop train to Biloxi, Mississippi, and then to Camp Swift, Texas, near Austin. Wilkes was originally sent to an engineering unit, the 327th Engineers [Annotator's Note: 327th Engineer Combat Battalion], 102nd Infantry Division. In May, Wilkes completed basic training and decided to do special training for officers. He was taken to Texas A&M [Annotator's Note: Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas] with other soldiers. He stayed there for a month, then traveled to Perdue [Annotator's Note: Perdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana]. He remained at Perdue for almost nine months. He earned credits at Perdue that were transferable to Notre Dame. In May 1944, the ASTP, Army Special Training Program, was broken up and Wilkes was sent back to Camp Swift to do basic training with the 102nd Infantry Division. In July, Wilkes was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he did more training to go overseas.

On 10 September 1944, R.M. Wilkes was sent to Camp Shanks [Annotator's Note: near Orangetown, New York] and two days later, he joined a convoy to Europe. His battalion [Annotator's Note: Wilkes was an infantryman in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 407th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division] was on the Santa Paula [Annotator's Note: USAT Santa Paula] in a convoy. Wilkes docked in Weymouth, England on 23 September, and the following morning he crossed the Channel [Annotator's Note: English Channel]. He disembarked in Cherbourg [Annotator's Note: Cherbourg, France on 23 September 1944]. He saw how badly the city had been bombed. He had to be ferried in offshore on a barge. He was sent to Saint-Pierre-Eglise [Annotator's Note: Saint-Pierre-Église, France], where he trained and got to know some of the villagers. He liked camembert cheese, which he traded for chocolate and soap. The encampment had a kitchen, and he regularly got a hot meal. In the later part of October, he was told to gear up and march to Valognes [Annotator's Note: Valognes, France], where he boarded a train to the front. The boxcar was crowded. The train went past Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France], but did not stop. The train went on to Tongres, Belgium, near Liege [Annotator's Note: Liege, Belgium]. He was put in a truck and driven to Heerlen, Holland. The first night there, he saw his first front line action. He has thought about his crossing the Cherbourg. He thought with all the patriotic fervor, he might be the next Sergeant York [Annotator's Note: Sergeant Alvin Cullum York]. The first night of action stopped those thoughts. When he heard the shells scream over his head, he just wanted to survive. Wilkes remained in the Heerlen area for ten days, then started slowly moving forward. There was not much resistance. The tanks lead the way and the infantry followed. It took time, but by the end of November [Annotator's Note: 29 November 1944], Wilkes was approaching the Roer River. That is where he got into his first fire fight. The Germans were on the ridge and started shooting at the Americans. Wilkes remembered bullets hitting near him. They were able to drive the Germans off the ridge. He spent most of his time at the town of Linnich [Annotator's Note: Linnich, Germany]. Wilkes lived in a foxhole near the river. He remained in the foxhole during the day and at night would sleep in abandoned cellars in town. It was very cold. The Americans kept two men in a foxhole with blankets. Having two men in a foxhole helped keep it warm. On 12 December 1944, Wilkes volunteered to go on a patrol. Four men got into a boat, but the currents were strong. Two thirds across the river, one of the men stood up, giving away the position. They ditched the boat and the current brought them back to their bank. They were too cold to walk, so some of their allies helped them to a cellar. [Annotator's Note: The 407th Infantry Regiment was attached to the 29th Infantry Division from 28 October to 3 November 1944.]

On 16 December 1944, the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] started. All the troops on the front, including R.M. Wilkes, had to hold steady. The Germans and the Americans threw artillery shells at each other. The Americans hid in their foxholes and hoped enemy shells would miss. Wilkes had a good Christmas dinner. In the middle of January, General Frank Keating [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General Frank Augustus Keating] formed a specialized night patrol group. Lieutenant Roy Rogers was selected to lead the group [Annotator's Note: Army First Lieutenant Roy "Buck" Rogers; the group was nicknamed Rogers' Raiders]. Wilkes volunteered for the group, which was composed of 40 men. They went about four miles behind the line for training. Wilkes was able to sleep in the beds of abandoned houses. Wilkes and three other men paddled across the river one night. He cut the wire to make a hole for the men to crawl through. The patrol was to do reconnaissance. Sometimes the patrols were combat patrols. Rogers rotated the men for patrol missions. Wilkes went on five missions. On a reconnaissance mission, he looked for German positions and troop levels to report. His second patrol was a combat patrol. Wilkes led three men because he was a staff sergeant. They had to destroy a machine gun nest across the river. Two men went around the back of the nest while the other two acted as a decoy. Wilkes made brush noises and the Germans started shooting in his area. He was wounded by a piece of grenade shrapnel and was awarded the Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy]. Meanwhile, the other two managed to sneak around and complete the mission. Wilkes was awarded a Silver Star [Annotator's Note: the Silver Star Medal is the third-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] for leading the mission. He thought all four men deserved the award. On another mission, seven men, including the lieutenant, did a combat patrol to destroy an underground bunker. A German came out of the bunker but did not know the Americans were in the area. The Germans were killed when they got close enough. The lieutenant was awarded the Silver Star and Wilkes and another man were awarded a Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy]. It was Wilkes' second Bronze Star, so he was given an oak leaf cluster [Annotator's Note: used to denote multiples of the same military award]. On another patrol, Wilkes almost stepped on a trip wire, which would have caused a land mine to explode. He thinks there might have been up to 20 of those patrols. Of the 40 men in the unit, only 20 ever went on actual patrols. Only one man was seriously injured. Wilkes thought they were well trained. The secret was to be stealthy. The patrols lasted until 23 February 1945.

On 23 February 1945, R.M. Wilkes crossed the Roer River [Annotator's Note: at Roerdorf, or Rohrdorf, Germany]. Rogers' Raiders [Annotator's Note: special unit of the 407th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division led by Army First Lieutenant Roy "Buck" Rogers], which Wilkes was a member of, was chosen to establish the beach head. Four boats, with the raiders in them, crossed at four in the morning. Wilkes was not in the initial crossing, instead, he served as support on the riverbank. The men got across the river, knocked out some machine gun nests, and brought back prisoners. When those men returned, 200 howitzers started firing on the Germans. The firing produced enough light a man could read a newspaper. The Germans were stunned, allowing the engineers to build a pontoon bridge. It was the start of the drive across Germany. Roger's Raiders lead the 102nd Infantry Division. The Rhine River was 25 miles away, but it only took a few days to arrive. On the way, Wilkes helped capture Krefeld [Annotator's Note: Krefeld, Germany, 2 to 3 March 1945]. After that, he did not have to march anymore, he traveled in a truck across Germany. Thousands of German soldiers surrendered to the Americans. There were some hot spots, but most of the Germans wanted to surrender to the Americans before the Russians captured them. Wilkes traveled through Munster [Annotator's Note: Munster, Germany], Hanover [Annotator's Note: Hanover, Germany], and ended just north of Magdeburg [Annotator's Note: Magdeburg, Germany]. It took about three weeks to drive across Germany. Wilkes met some Russian troops. About six Americans were sent to have a celebratory dinner with the Russians. The Americans were given a gun salute. He was taken outside of the mess hall where he ate fish and drank wine. When he went inside, Wilkes was given steak and ice cream. The Russian general would toast the Americans every 15 minutes. A Russian machine gunner would shoot some rounds to liven up the situation. Wilkes enjoyed the evening.

On 8 May 1945, the war ended, and R.M. Wilkes was told to stand down. After a few weeks, he was sent to Czechoslovakia to serve in an occupation force. His station was near a Russian station. The Russians would drive around in American jeeps full of invasion currency trying to get watches and cigarettes. Wilkes later found out the Russians were given all that money by Roosevelt's [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] Secretary of the Treasury [Annotator's Note: Harry Dexter White]. Sometime later, they found out the man had communist ties. Wilkes was given a medal by the Russians at the ceremony he attended. He was also given a Croix de Guerre [Annotator's Note: French military award given to individuals who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with enemy forces] by the French. He stayed in Czechoslovakia for a month before he was sent home. He had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to be allowed to leave. Wilkes went to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: a transit and rehabilitation camp in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France], where he stayed for a month. He returned home by ship around 19 October 1945. He went to a base near the Hudson Bay [Annotator's Note: near New York, New York]. He was in Europe when the Japanese surrendered. From the Hudson Bay, Wilkes took a train to Fort Gordon, near Augusta [Annotator's Note: Augusta, Georgia] and was released from the Army on 20 October. He was discharged as a staff sergeant.

After finishing ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Special Training Program], R.M. Wilkes was not sent back to the engineers, which is why he did basic training twice. He served in Company I, 407th Regiment [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 407th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division]. The ship he went overseas on had been freshly painted. He was supposed to sleep in a canvas hammock but decided to sleep on the deck instead. Everyone was getting sick from the smell of paint. Wilkes' unit took over the foxholes of a previous division when he first got on the front line. The Germans knew there was a change happening and started an artillery barrage. Wilkes did not know which shell was meant for him and everyone was afraid. He could tell from the shell whistle where the projectile was going, unless it was fired from an 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery], which did not produce a whistle. The shell would be in your area before you heard the noise. Lieutenant Rogers [Annotator's Note: Army First Lieutenant Roy "Buck" Rogers] had been in an anti-tank company. The Rogers' Raiders [Annotator's Note: special unit of the 102nd Infantry Division led by Lieutenant Roy Rogers] was recruited from different units in the 102nd Infantry Division. The Raiders were disbanded after they got to the Rhine River [Annotator's Note: at Wesel, Germany 3 to 4 April 1945]. Wilkes was trained on the various terrains he would encounter, and he was taught how to react to various things. Wilkes was able to capture a few Germans while on combat patrols. He wrote an account of his patrols. On one patrol, he captured a couple Germans and brought them across the river. It was the first time he could see how young one of the Germans was. Wilkes was also able to see the man's eyeball was hanging out of its socket for the first time. The young man never made a sound. The boy was put through a quick interrogation then sent to a field hospital. Many of the Germans Wilkes saw were young. They were put with the veteran troops. Before Wilkes went into combat, he knew the Germans could be merciless. He did not want to be captured. Wilkes believes the Germans were not naturally bad, they were ordered to do bad things. The Raiders used their M1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. Wilkes thought it was a wonderful rifle. Wilkes was not in the unit that came across a war crime at Gardelegen [Annotator's Note: Gardelegen Massacre near Gardelegen, Germany in 13 April 1945]. Wilkes was sickened by what he heard. It reinforced why he was there. That was near the end of the war. Wilkes was treated well by the French. They were happy to see the Americans. Wilkes wondered why that part of France was chosen for the invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. It was a vulnerable place. He thinks Germany should have been invaded, not Normandy. Wilkes liked the Dutch people. They were honest and sincere towards the Americans. When he arrived in Heerlen [Annotator's Note: Heerlen, Netherlands], Wilkes saw starved Dutch people offer the Americans anything they could. The German civilians would tell Wilkes they were not Nazis. He does not think all of the Germans were Nazis but had no choice because they could be killed or financially ruined if they came out against the government. Wilkes was proud of his service.

R.M. Wilkes returned to the school using the G.I. Bill. He attended Notre Dame [Annotator's Note: Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana] until the summer of 1946. It helped him retrain his mind. He saw awful things and he could not change overnight. Wilkes believes he took a life when he was on a patrol near a wagon trail. His group did not destroy the bunker, their target. The Germans had run away by that time. He also thinks he killed some Germans that were shooting at him from a ridge. Wilkes was a good shot. He was doing his duty. The war gave him a real view of what war is. It also gave him more composure. When he was at college before the war, he had a hard time. When he returned, he did much better in his classes. The war also showed influenced his values. He appreciated life more after the war. He knows he could have died several times. The only time he was wounded was by a small grenade fragment. He went to the aid station and they helped him out. Wilkes thinks The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is vital to carry on the story and appreciation for what happened. He thinks the museum provides a valuable service to the country. Wilkes believes there was no choice for the country other than to go to war, but also thinks America did a good job. One of his bad memories was watching German kids dig through trash cans looking for food. Wilkes knew it was the German leadership's fault for that situation. Wilkes can still see those kids digging through the garbage. One day, some of the men found a safe and thought they would be rich. They blew it up with C-4 [Annotator's Note: high-yield chemical explosive], but it was full of German Marks [Annotator's Note: Reichsmarks, German currency used from 1924 to 1948], enough to buy some bread. After getting married, Wilkes started working in New Orleans. The family moved around the city as it grew. They bought a house and lived next to the man who ran the D.H. Holmes department store. One night they started talking about the war. Wilkes told them the unit he served in and found out he served in the same company as his neighbor's wife. The man was Wilkes' lieutenant. Unfortunately, he died during a mission. Wilkes was the last man to see him alive. [Annotator's Note: Wilkes shows interviewer a picture of the lieutenant.] Wilkes worked in Europe occasionally. His travels brought him to Bremen, Germany. He started talking about the war with a man. The man told him he fought in the Army and fought near Magdeburg [Annotator's Note: Magdeburg, Germany], where Wilkes was located at the end of the war. Wilkes had been told not to let the Germans surrender. That man spent seven years in Siberia [Annotator's Note: Siberia, Russia] and spoke in a whispery voice.