Ray Marvin League was the second of twins born in November 1925. There were 11 boys in the family along with two girls. The Great Depression was rough on his family. They lived on a farm but still needed food and clothing provided to them. His father worked with one of League's older brothers and a team of animals to help hard surface roadways in the area. Because he was a farmer, he was not allowed to draw pay for his work but was still given the use of the team of horses with his wagon. The horses did not always work as hard as the team handlers wanted. The family lost their automobile in an accident. It was a large Oakland car [Annotator's Note: Oakland Motor Car Company] with multiple seats in it to handle all the children. The vehicle would sometimes be used to work the fields instead of the team of horses. After losing the Oakland, League's father bought a 1931 or 1932 Chevy. Making payments on the automobile was difficult. The family would go to town on Saturdays in the car. League's mother died in 1936 and the Chevy became their entertainment. League was in grade school at the time. Before the war, the family was dependent on the 320 acres of farmland purchased after his mother's parents passed and left her an inheritance. Droughts and dust storms were prevalent and ruined crops. Some years the fields would not even be harvested. League joined the Army after being drafted. One of his brothers had previously been accepted in the Coast Guard. Another brother had been drafted. When League was drafted, two of his brothers simultaneously received their notices. League's father requested dispensation from the Draft Board because he was a farmer. They agreed that he could keep two sons. One son was 4-F [Annotator's Note: Selective Service classification indicating that an individual is not qualified for military service] and one of the twins would be given an agricultural deferment. League agreed to go in the military because his twin was a harder worker and better farmer. League was more the family cook along with the associated responsibilities of that task. After training, League and two of his brothers were home on furlough. One older brother had gone through basic with League which was not comfortable for the younger brother. League went to Camp Shelby [Annotator's Note: near Hattiesburg, Mississippi] for assignment with the 65th Infantry Division. His older brother shipped out to Europe and would ultimately injure his kidneys in combat. After that injury, he had to be transferred to a hospital in California and was discharged with a disability.

Ray League had a rough voyage to Europe during his overseas deployment. The living conditions were tight and uncomfortable while the seas were rough. Seasickness abounded. He managed to survive until the ship reached Le Havre, France on 21 January 1945. The harbor had been destroyed but had recently been made suitable to receive ships. With the priority given to the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], the division [Annotator's Note: 65th Infantry Division] was hastened to Camp Lucky Strike. Their clothing was poor for the weather conditions. Their tents were in the mud. Heating in the tents was next to nothing with only a helmet of coal a day allocated for their potbelly stove. Two meals a day were provided. Soldiers were hungry but found ways to scavenge for food from the mess tents. They managed to get by during the rough time. When Eisenhower reviewed the troops, he sent them on to Paris via rail boxcars [Annotator’s Note: Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower; later 34th President of the United States]. The 65th Infantry Division was slated to move to the front near Nancy, France and relieve the 26th Infantry Division. As a farmer, League remembers seeing cattle in the homes of the French inhabitants and piles of manure outside on the streets. Caution had to be taken with the locals because they were allied to the American troops. The 26th showed its wear after being on the line for quite a while. They had been involved in D-Day [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and other tough combat after that through France and the hedgerows.

Ray League and his company [Annotator's Note: 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] had no problem breaching the Siegfried Line. Resistance was insignificant for the 200 men in Company C, 261st Infantry Regiment. Each company had three infantry squads and one heavy weapons squad. The Germans had bunkers but they were destroyed. Tank obstacles did not bother the infantry's progress. League was a scout along with a guy named Phelps [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. It was scary out there when he was by himself even though the Germans were purported to allow scouts to pass by them in order to fire on the larger body of troops behind them. While out forward, a black quartermaster brought up supplies to League and the others with him. The quartermaster asked if he could take a look around and League told him it would be safe enough. When the man came back, he had a jeep full of Germans who had surrendered to him. The driver was very pleased with his haul. Some of the Germans were just tired of fighting at that time. League gave two new German Lugers [Annotator's Note: German Luger P-08 9mm semi-automatic pistol] to the quartermaster.

Ray League and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company C, 1st Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] entered quickly into Germany and kept up a rapid pace riding trucks and tanks. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] said the largest problem he had was finding enough trucks to keep the American troops moving forward. League preferred not to be on a tank. There was little protection and the vehicles were noisy. After passing through the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s], the regiment was mainly involved in small skirmishes. Sometimes, his company would be on point and sometimes on a flank during the advances. There were few German counterattacks. They were low on fuel with some of their trucks being wood burners. Much of their equipment was pulled by horses. Many of the horses were killed during the fighting. The SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] troops were determined to fight it out and tried to push the old German soldiers into keeping up the fight. The Wehrmacht [Annotator's Note: German military] was mainly older men. League never ran into younger troops. When prisoners were captured, they were sent to the rear, often unguarded. Many of them probably just went home. In one town, the Germans fled and left behind their vehicles. Trucks, motorcycles and other transports provided some of the Americans with fun riding them around. One of the American tankers accompanying League's outfit destroyed a German lady's front yard. [Annotator's Note: League laughs about the incident.] There were instances when the Germans took advantage of the Americans who had allowed them to sleep in their barn while the soldiers took over the house. The Germans brought it on themselves. The German troops encountered often were snipers. The battalion commander had his jeep destroyed because he went down the wrong road. He lost his legs in the incident. It was early in the war. It was a shame Major Weigel [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling; no given name provided] was hurt but he lived. There was a firefight at Struth [Annotator's Note: Strüth, Germany] where League first saw a German being killed. American forces threw back a delaying action attack by the Germans. By this time, the Danube had been crossed. Pontoon bridges spanned that river. A bridgehead had been established by troops who rowed over and fought against the enemy 88mm guns [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. Tanks were the priority to get across the river with infantry coming afterward. Pontoons would dip with the weight of the heavy equipment but it was better than crossing in a row boat. There was little German fire as they crossed although an 88 might come whizzing over his head.

Ray League was introduced into combat when his colonel [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel William E. Carraway, commandin officer of the 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] wanted a prisoner of war. A patrol was to be sent out in broad daylight. League was among the seven man patrol, as they advanced, they were stopped by the sound of an 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. The men retreated with the enemy rounds landing just behind them. League felt the Germans were better shots than that and they were just playing with the Americans. He received his combat infantry badge for that action. The next night, the enemy bunker was blown up by the patrol and one or two prisoners were captured. As the outfit [Annotator's Note: 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] proceeded further into Germany toward Regensburg, the fighting was mainly just mopping up enemy troops. There were more prisoners taken along the way. This was the time that League obtained a German judge's pistol and belt as a prized souvenir.

Ray League and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company C, 1st Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] met little resistance in the town of Regensburg. They were mainly mopping up enemy positions and capturing a few prisoners. League had been one of the company scouts in his platoon [Annotator's Note: 3rd Platoon] prior to being assigned as a runner. His platoon went without him out on a scouting mission in three jeeps. They encountered a group of German SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] troops which outnumbered them and were forced to surrender. The Jewish lieutenant returned blindfolded to the American lines accompanied by a female SS member in the jeep with a white flag. It would have been a funny situation if the officer's religion and the SS guard were not involved. A prisoner exchange was negotiated and the situation was resolved. The former American POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] were rewarded with a case of pink champagne from the regimental chaplain.

Ray League and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company C, 1st Battalion, 261st Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] advanced but were told not to go beyond a railroad embankment in some German town he can no longer identify. They held that position until the next morning when a local scout leader or school master marched his students in uniform toward them. The youngsters were armed. The officer in charge of League's outfit told the adult German to withdraw his students because the Americans did not want to kill them. The boys did in fact retreat and disappear. One of the American troops went beyond the embankment and was inadvertently shot by his own troops. It must have been nerves on the part of the American guards because they knew a man was out there. The individual had run back to the line and did not give the password. That was one of the two deaths that League was close to [Annotator's Note: the other had happened on League's participation in a firefight in Strüth, Germany when a wounded German was shot by someone else]. League restrained himself from shooting a German that he discovered in a shed. He thought the enemy soldier gave him the Hitler salute before saying "Nicht schiessen" [Annotator's Note: German for "don't shoot"]. League did not fire and his commanding officer told him to let the prisoner go back to the rear. The company crossed the Enns River and took over German houses. The people were friendly. The Russians came up two days after the Americans arrived. The Germans were fleeing the Soviet forces. A German officer offered to surrender to the Americans if they would turn around and fight the Russians with them. That was a common theme with the surrendering Germans. League was ready to cease fighting in Europe. He knew he would be going to fight the Japanese.

Ray League never heard about the Holocaust prior to entering the Army. He did not want to know, but the Germans knew. When Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower; later 34th President of the United States] learned of two of the camps, he made local Germans view what was done there. When League realized what had happened, he did not think much about it. He was a young guy just trying to survive. There were not those kind of people in Nebraska or Oklahoma. He does have an idea about what makes a soldier fight and part of that is the isolation he feels in combat and the urgency to return home. League had applied for West Point but without coaching or a legislator on his side, he did not attend. His education was through his experience in the Army. He returned home in May 1946. He used the G.I. Bill when he went to school at a business college in Enid, Oklahoma. He got married and then was called back into service for the Korean War. He spent a year there. After he was discharged, he ran a mill and then went to work for Phillips Petroleum for 30 years. He worked for a telephone company on the side and eventually worked for them full time with his territory in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Ray League was raised with authority and discipline in a Christian home so he was not changed very much by his time in the Army. It was a similar experience for him. His decision making was improved by combat and being on his own. Foxhole training was good but foxholes are not possible to dig in a cobblestone street. He learned a lot at the front. America benefited by the United Nations resulting from World War 2 and the efforts of Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] and Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States]. The United Nations is a structured means to reign in nations when they get out of line. The League of Nations did not have that power. The United States did not even join the League of Nations. The United States helped create democracies after World War 2 such as South Korea, Japan, and Germany. The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is a reminder of the history for scholars to use to train people. It reminds League of some of the events he participated in during the war. When League was a scout, he often advanced forward of the main body on foot. He remained in sight so that he or his fellow scout could signal the oncoming force. It causes problems if scouts are not ahead of the main force.

Soon after the war, Ray League's involvement with the 65th Infantry Division ended. The division was disbanded, and he was transferred to the 9th Infantry Division. The 9th was in the Munich area in an isolated camp. He had little contact with the Russian soldiers across the Enns River. The local inhabitants wanted to be known as Austrians and not German. The women of the area were not treated right by the Russians. League returned home in May 1946 with half his occupation duty spent in the Munich area. He was posted in a prisoner of war camp at Dachau. The division had to repatriate the prisoners whether they wanted to go home or not. That was part of the Potsdam agreement. League had guard duty over war criminals who were imprisoned at Dachau. He let one of the prisoners shave him with a straight razor in exchange for a couple of cigarettes. League did not smoke and had plenty of cigarettes to trade. The Munich criminals were lesser prisoners compared to those held in Nuremburg. One SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] female constantly beckoned her guards to her cell because she wanted to get pregnant and avoid the hangman. She did finally get pregnant, but it was not by League. The prisoners were well behaved and disciplined. There were no problems with them except they wanted to go home. League spent a month or two there making sure the facility was guarded. When League arrived in Munich, Mauthausen and Ohrdruf were still occupied by former concentration camp inmates. Medics were in the camps trying to get the situation under control. German prisoners of war were put in the same camps and treated in some of the same ways that the former inmates were treated. The food provided to them was better than what they were used to having. The prisoners were happy to see the Americans [Annotator's Note: assumed reference to the liberated concentration camp survivors]. The camp was likely Mauthausen. Ohrdruf had many satellite camps. The Russians opted to give some of the duties of cleaning out the concentration camps to the Americans. League learned of that later. League received an R&R [Annotator’s Note: rest and recuperation] in Switzerland. He met a Swiss man and his family there and drank more wine than he should have. After his time in Munich, Japan fell, and, without enough points, League knew he was not destined for home yet. He was going to have to stay another year from that date.