Richard Edward Gile was born in Buffalo, New York in March 1923. He recalled the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] as a very trying time. His mother and father worked several jobs, while Gile worked a paper route to help make money for his family. When he was in high school, he attended classes from eight in the morning until one o’clock in the afternoon, then headed to a spoon factory to work for the rest of the day. He enlisted in the Army the day after Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], when he was a senior in high school. He received an appointment to report for a physical on 13 December 1941 because there were so many men trying to enlist. He was sent to quartermaster training at Camp Lee, Virginia. After graduation, he was sent to the Third Army Division [Annotator’s Note: 3rd Infantry Division] in Louisiana. He was promoted at a rapid pace and eventually became a supply sergeant. [Annotator’s Note: Phone rings at 0:02:17.000. Video break at 0:2:20.000]. He applied for OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school] and was accepted. He reported to Fort Belvoir, Virginia in 1942. However, he washed out because he slipped and fell into the Potomac River on a maneuver and contracted pneumonia. He was in the hospital for five weeks. When he returned to OCS training, the commander wanted him to start the program all over again. Gile refused, so he was sent back to the Third Army. He was given the rank of supply sergeant with an ordnance company. His company was sent overseas to prepare for the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and he became First Sergeant at the age of 21. He boarded the SS Washington [Annotator’s Note: USS Mount Vernon (AP-22), previously the luxury ocean liner SS Washington], which was a converted World War 1 German ship carrying 5,000 troops. The ship sailed for 14 days on the water, zigzagging [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] across the Atlanta with a convoy. The shipped arrived in Scotland and they boarded a train to England. After he landed in Normandy and moved to the outskirts of Paris [Annotator’s Note: Paris, France], two of his officers decided to put Gile in charge of the unit while they went to Paris. Gile thought that the whole company should go to Paris, so he found some trucks and packed everyone in. They were caught by the MPs and Gile was reprimanded. He was demoted two ranks and transferred to an infantryman. He became a replacement in the 26th Infantry Division in late October 1944. He was becoming a squad leader in the 104th Infantry Regiment. He saw action at Metz [Annotator’s Note: Metz, France] and secured it. His unit’s rest in Metz was interrupted by the German offensive in the Ardennes, 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 moved north to Luxembourg to take part in the battle of the Ardennes break-through. They were told by locals that the Germans put up a strong offensive and were killing every American they found. [Annotator’s Note: Clock dings at 0:06:55.000. Video break at 0:07:03.000.] It took three days for his regiment to take a hill, but with the help of constant artillery power, Gile’s unit was able to secure the hill, leaving hundreds of Germans dead in their foxholes. He found a German soldier still alive and dazed in his foxhole. He grabbed him with the intention to bat him around and possibly kill him, but he sent him to the rear instead. Years later, Gile and his wife were on a cruise, and he reunited with the same German soldier. The Bulge was very difficult due to the cold weather conditions. He led 10-men patrols every night for 20 days. When the Battle of the Bulge came to an end, his regiment moved to Saarlautern [Annotator’s Note: Saarlautern, Germany] where he continued to do patrols from building to building. One morning, he was in a pot and pan factory and the Germans opened fire on him with a machine gun. He could hear the bullets dinging on the pots and pans as he laid on the floor for cover.

Richard Edward Gile fought in the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] with his unit [Annotator’s Note: 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division]. On Christmas Day [Annotator’s Note: of 1944], his regiment was resting in Arsdorf [Annotator’s Note: Arsdorf, Luxembourg] when a group of Germans launched an attack on their position. It was a suicide attack because his regiment shot them up as the Germans rode down the road. His unit did not have proper winter clothing during the brutal weather conditions. He contracted a minor case of frostbite on his feet. He was supposed to go on a patrol mission where he had to cross the Saar River and go through explosives in a pill box to make the Germans run out the other side, but it was cancelled because Gile requested two boats and he was only given one. After his battalion crossed the Rhine River, they secured a village. However during the night, a group of SS men [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] arrived. The following morning, while Gile was observing, he saw a Mercedes car with several German officers in it. He signaled to his BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR] man to fire on the car. None of them survived. For the remainder of the war, Gile became the battalion commander’s personal guard and rode with him in his car. He was in Czechoslovakia when the war in Europe ended. He met the Russians in a small village there. Gile became close with a Russian major and even offered gas supply for about a month. However, one day when Gile was delivering gas to the Russians, he was met by an officer that told him he cannot return. The Russians changed their troops and relations at the local level became less cordial. Gile also befriended a German Officer who worked for his unit after he surrendered. He told Gile that the American military and German military should join and fight the Russians. Gile was scheduled to transfer to the Eighth Army and take part in the invasion of mainland Japan, but the Japanese surrendered, and he was instead able to return home. Gile contracted an illness and had to stay in a hospital for a time. He was discharged in January 1946. He once found five women hiding in a pill box.

Richard Edward Gile was a replacement in the 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division in Europe during World War 2. He had to prove himself to his fellow comrades. Before they headed 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], his unit had 20 more new replacements. Many of the new replacements had very little experience with weapons. Most of them were cooks. He encountered very heavy fighting in the city of Metz [Annotator’s Note: Metz, France]. When they were resting on a hill, he looked down with his binoculars and saw Germans below. Gile ordered mortar fire which scattered the Germans, but did not deter them from advancing on the hill. Germans fired artillery which made the trees burst. The platoon sergeant and Gile decided to grab their wounded and go down the backside of the hill. The joined Company G and waited the next day to take their position again. Once, Gile was in Stauffenberg [Annotator’s Note: Stauffenberg, Germany] and he was given orders to take two jeeps and two tanks on a scouting mission. He spotted a French soldier who was carrying liquor. The French soldier told Gile that he could locate more liquor in two warehouses down the road. Gile found the warehouses and loaded all the liquor that he could in the truck. When he returned to camp, the troops had a party all night long. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:40:21.000.] Gile was on a patrol when they located a barn, but as they came closer to the structure, he heard movement and sounds of clicking. He decided to turn his men around. Not long after he left his position, a mortar fire exploded in the area where he and his men were standing. Another mortar shell came upon them, but he was able to get his men back safely. It was hard to keep warm during the winter weather conditions. The military replaced their weapons with a grease gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M3 submachine gun, also referred to as a grease gun] which was a lousy gun.

After Richard Edward Gile was discharged from the Army, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and went to night school. He was recalled to active duty for the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] and became a company commander. He then applied for flight school and served in aviation for the rest of his career. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He retired from the service when his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. [Annotator’s Note: interview is interrupted, video break at 0:50:25.000.] Most Americans at the time were very supportive of the war and we were fortunate to have won the war. After the war, the world admired America until recently. Gile spent two months of occupation duty in Czechoslovakia after the war in Europe ended. He thought that the German army was outstanding. He thought it was unbelievable that the military trained 100 divisions of men and moved them logistically. The problem with the German army was its leadership. He thought the 88 mm gun [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] was great equipment. Gile believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations and should be proud of the people that served.