Reginald Duncan was born in February 1922 in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in Kearny, New Jersey with his parents and twin siblings. He attended public school and played sports and music. He had joined a scout club as a boy and picked up the trumpet and bugle during that time. He was a very good trumpet and bugle player. He played in bands prior to joining the service. He was drafted into the Army and was sent to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: near Trenton, New Jersey] in November 1942 for basic training. For six weeks, he was given the task of keeping track of the men who were AWOL [Annotator's Note: absent without leave]. In January 1943, he was sent to Texas where the 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company was being formed. He saw an announcement on the bulletin board for a bugle player and inquired about it to his commanding officer. He was given a try out and given the job along with the first Private First Class stripe for the outfit. Along with his bugle duties, he was the captain's driver. His outfit was sent to Arkansas and he was tasked with driving the mailman around, which Duncan enjoyed. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview due to the noise of a dog's collar at 0:10:22:000.] His unit was then sent to Louisiana for two months where they practiced building pontoon bridges on the Sabine River. After completing basic training, Duncan and his unit were sent to Austin, Texas. There he was given a leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. While visiting home, he married his wife on 11 September 1943 in Newark. They honeymooned in Austin for three months, while he was stationed there, and then she returned to Kearny.

Reginald Duncan had left his bride in Connecticut and boarded a ship to England. He and his unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company] stayed in England for six months. Duncan continued to play his bugle but added a jazz note to his sound to his superior's dismay. The day after the Battle of Normandy [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], his unit was moved to Southern England and bivouacked on a golf course. While he was sleeping in the command car, a buzz bomb [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] went off near him and blew him off the seat. About ten days later, they embarked on several LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] and landed on Omaha Beach. Since Duncan was the driver for the captain and drove the command car, he was first to drive onto the beach. The first night his unit bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a temporary camp], it was completely dark and Duncan could not see a thing. He heard a bunch of voices and silhouettes of Germans, so he shot at them. In the morning he found out he killed three Germans. His unit continued through Normandy and headed into the hedgerows. [Annotator's Note: The microphone falls and the interviewer adjusts it on the interviewee at 0:23:14:000]. When they were about two miles from Saint-Lo [Annotator's Note: Saint-Lô, France] they could feel the heavy bombardment by the Army Air Forces. They made their way to Sens-De-Bretagne [Annotator's Note: Sens-De-Bretagne, France] and camped for the night in their foxholes. There was heavy fire all around them. They moved quickly through France and every night they had to set up perimeters to protect the unit and equipment from the enemy. There was an air raid every night and every afternoon. When they reached Rennes, France, they built two pontoon bridges over the canals in one afternoon. He talked to a woman with a small child and learned that her husband was taken for slave labor. General de Gaulle [Annotator's Note: French Army General Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle; later President of France] came in and demanded that Duncan's unit build a bridge for the French Army. Duncan's captain told him he only takes orders from General Middleton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General Troy Houston Middleton]. Duncan thought his captain was a good man and respected him greatly.

Reginald Duncan was the driver for the captain in his unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company] and he was asked to take him to Brest [Annotator's Note: Brest, France]. On their return, the assistant driver asked to drive and crashed the command car. Duncan woke up in an aid station in Morlaix, France with medics picking thorns out of his face. He eventually made his way to Quimper, France to connect back with his unit. He finally saw a beat-up command car and was picked up by his unit. Duncan spent six weeks setting up lucky engineer dump number five near the Brest Peninsula. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings and interrupts the interview from 0:38:29.000 to 0:39:30.000.] Duncan was told to drive to an artillery observation post so the captain could visit a friend. The road up was very dusty and created a dust ball. The Germans saw it and let off a few rounds of artillery which made Duncan fly off his feet. He learned later that he had developed a concussion and had permanent damage to his left ear. After completing their mission in Brest, Duncan's unit drove to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France]. They reported at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, stayed for a several hours, and then were ordered to proceed to Belgium.

With his unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company], Reginald Duncan arrived in Arlon, Belgium and bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a temporary camp] for three nights in the woods. They eventually moved to Redange, Luxembourg and took over several buildings in the town. Duncan billeted in a doctor's home and was very happy to find out that there was a flushing toilet. The citizens of the town were happy to have the Americans and cater to them when they could. The townspeople gave the G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] a Thanksgiving Day feast in the beer hall owned by the Baron. Duncan talks about a guy who was arrested by the military police a couple of times for trying to steal cars. He ended up driving for the Red Ball Express [Annotator's Note: a American supply convoy route that became famous for its accomplishments], which was a caravan of vehicles that brought supplies to the front lines during the war. 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], Duncan was ordered to drive to Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Bastogne, Belgium] almost everyday for various tasks. On the Morning of 16 December 1944, he was ordered to go to Bastogne to receive orders from the 8th Army Headquarters. When he arrived, he was met by the military police who told him that the headquarters had moved out, and he needed to get out of the city as soon as possible. On his return to Redange [Annotator's Note: Redange or Redange-sur-Attert, Luxembourg], he could see the German tanks coming in to blockade Bastogne. The following days, his unit moved just south of the Bastogne to guard the town of Martelange [Annotator's Note: Martelange, Belgium] during the Battle of the Bulge. Duncan recalled that his unit would not been able to stand up to heavy fire because they did not have enough fire power. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 0:57:23.000.] The 4th Armored Division relieved them sometime later, and his unit moved on to North Luxembourg to rebuild roads and clear mines.

While in North Luxembourg, Reginald Duncan and a couple other men in his unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company] stayed at a house with a father and his daughter. The daughter was very kind and doted on the soldiers. Since Duncan was the captain's driver, the First Sergeant of the unit always used Duncan for the "dirty" tasks. One night, Duncan was woken up and was given an order. Begrudgingly, he got up and took a jeep to complete his orders. On the way, the jeep got stuck on some asphalt and he could not get it loose. He had to sit there until morning when someone came to help him. [Annotator's Note: The microphone falls off of the interviewee and the interviewer reattaches it at 1:04:24.000.] When his unit moved into Germany, they went through several towns with hidden amor factories. One town had a factory that had a pocketbook emblem on the outside, but when he went inside, he found out it was a factory that produced German grenades. Another town had a factory disguised to make women shoes but, in actuality, made parachutes. Then, in another town, they found a huge factory that was covered with a camouflaged net. This factory produced German machine pistols. They arrived in Plauen [Annotator's Note: Plauen, Germany] as it was burning and built a bridge across the autobahn and then was sent near Hof [Annotator's Note: Hof, Germany]. For the duration of the war, his unit ran an outboard motor school for men going to the Pacific on a nearby river.

Reginald Duncan was always the lead vehicle during blackout convoy driving. There was one incident that Duncan claims to be his worst driving experience. He was ordered to lead a blackout convoy of trucks to a bridge site. The weather was very foggy and he could not see anything in front of him. He made his passenger get out of the car and direct him to stay on the path. They finally made it to their destination and assisted in building a bridge. On his return, he realized the path he took was very dangerous. If he had veered off the slightest, he and the trucks folling behind him would have fallen off a mountain.

Reginald Duncan was stationed in Hof [Annotator's Note: Hoff, Germany] near Saale River at the end of the war in Europe. His unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company] ran an outboard motor school to prepare soldiers ordered to go to the Pacific. They helped feed the German villagers and were treated kindly by the local Germans. His unit was sent near Regensburg [Annotator's Note: Regensburg, Germany] in a town called Plattling [Annotator's Note: Plattling, Germany]. Duncan tells a story about having to smack a Hitler Youth because he said something horrible to a German seamstress who was working for the Americans. Duncan interacted with the German townspeople even though there was a decree not to fraternize. He and his unit arranged youth sports and helped them when they needed medical attention. Duncan saw Bob Hope's [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope was a British-American entertainer who spent a great deal of his career entertaining American servicemen overseas] last USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] show and the next day he began his journey home. Duncan was surprised to learn that he would be given a 30 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a specified period of time] and then be sent to invade Japan. While he was in La Havre, France he learned that the United States had dropped atomic bombs on Japan. He was stunned that there was a bomb that could blow up a whole city. By the time he was on the ship back to America, he found out the war with Japan had ended. He was relieved it was over and he would not have to fight in the Pacific.

Reginald Duncan was wounded twice during his time in Europe but refused to receive 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]. If he did, his wife would have received a wire that he was wounded, and he did not want to worry her. Duncan always wrote positive letters to his wife and often kept the bad things out. His wife became skeptical about what he told her. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings in the background at 1:31:56:000.] When he landed in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts], he did not have any money to call home. He lost it all playing poker. Duncan recalls that many of the troops would take weapons from dead Germans as souvenirs or sell them to make money. He also remarked that the troops drank a lot and somehow could find liquor even though they were not allowed to have it.

Reginald Duncan and his unit [Annotator's Note: 511th Engineer Light Ponton Company] were based in Redange, Luxembourg right before the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He and a couple other guys stayed in the servant's quarters of a doctor's mansion. The doctor asked Duncan and the guys to clean out a shed, and when they did, they discovered the doctor had a brand new 1939 Dodge he was hiding from the Germans. Another time in Luxembourg, they stayed with a father and his adult daughter. Duncan and his friends had a radio and they would play music so the woman could dance. Duncan recalled the difficulty of going back to civilian life after he returned to the United States. Duncan admitted that he would have nightmares but refused to comment more about it. He compares the American weapons to the German weapons. He thought the Americans had good handguns, but the Germans had great tanks and machine guns. Duncan was a great trumpet player prior to World War 2 and played in bands. He continued to play while he served in the Army, and postwar. He enjoyed playing jazz and swing.

Reginald Duncan's most memorable experience of World War 2 was getting off the train and reuniting with his wife after he returned home from fighting. Duncan served in the war because he wanted to, and he would have felt slighted if he did not. It changed his life because he made him grow up and when he got out of the service, he was determined to make a life for himself. He used the G.I. Bill and attended school. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 1:57:34:000.] He used the G.I. Bill to buy his first house as well. [Annotator's Note: A dog comes in the room during interview at 1:57:49.000.] He appreciated the G.I. Bill because he would not have been able to go without it. He believes its important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] and to continue to teach to future generations about World War 2.