Richard "Dick" Loges was born in January 1921 in in Dayton, Ohio [Annotator's Note: Interviewer pauses interview at 0:00:51.000]. He attended school and was part of the infantry ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] program. He began college in September 1939. He heard the announcement of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] on the radio while at his mother's house. He really did not think much of it. He headed out the door to pick up his girlfriend to take her out. When he went to ROTC the next day, he realized how serious the event was for the country. He was given a choice to enlist in the Army through ROTC or to drop out of the program and wait to be drafted. He was inducted into the Army at the beginning of January [Annotator's Note: January 1942] with permission to finish college. When Loges was 16, he joined the Citizens Military Training Corps for a month under the Regular Army [Annotator's Note: Regular Army of the United States, now a component of the United States Army]. This program gave him experience in the military world and taught him the basics of military life. He completed college in April 1943, and was supposed to receive his commission, but the commanding colonel made Loges and his class go to Fort Benning [Annotator's Note: Fort Benning, Georgia] for an additional three months of basic training. Loges was furious about this because he was already married. He wanted the commissioned pay rate and would not receive it until he successfully completed the training program. In August 1943, he finally received his commission. During his last year in college, he was also working at a defense plant making equipment for bomber planes. While he was training at Fort Benning, his wife had their first child. Once he received his commission, he went home for two weeks and met his son before being sent to Macon, Georgia to train Black soldiers to drive two and half ton trucks, which he himself had driven before. After six weeks he received orders to go to Camp Polk [Annotator's Note: Camp Polk in Vernon Parish, Louisiana] to join the 102nd Division [Annotator's Note: 102nd Infantry Division]. Loges was on his way from Dayton to Fort Benning, when MPs [Annotator's Note: Military Police] came through the train and forced the Black soldiers to move to the back. After joining the 102nd Division, he trained in crossing rivers for three weeks and then began a march to Waco, Texas. Loges and his unit were eventually picked up and sent to Camp Swift in Austin, Texas. In January 1944, he received notice that he would be deployed overseas as a replacement. When he got overseas, he joined the 45th Division [Annotator's Note: 45th Infantry Division]. Loges was taken under wing by his NCO [Annotator's Note: noncommissioned officer], Sergeant Roberts [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling].

Richard "Dick" Loges received orders for overseas deployment. He and his wife went to Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] to wait for Loges to get boarding orders. When he received them, he boarded a train that took him to Newport News [Annotator's Note: Newport News, Virginia] where he boarded a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship], which held about 550 troops. His ship met with a convoy of 200 ships. Loges was not told where they were going, but he had an inkling they were headed south because over the three weeks voyage the weather changed from cold to hot. The ship made a stop in Gibraltar, Africa, then headed to the Mediterranean. He disembarked his ship at the Brindisi [Annotator's Note: Brindisi, Italy] port, boarded a train which took him to Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy]. He then boarded a truck and went through a couple of Italian cities and stopped in the Po Valley near Mount Cassino [Annotator's Note: Monte Cassino, Italy] where a replacement depot was situated. He and 30 thousand soldiers were waiting to be assigned to a regiment. He could hear the combat at Mount Cassino [Annotator's Note: Battle of Monte Cassino, also called Battle for Rome, 19 January to 18 May 1944]. He was there for six weeks. Loges did not like Italy at first. The people were uncivilized. He hitchhiked to different Italian cities including Pompei and Naples. While visiting Naples, he learned to enjoy going to the opera. He met some of the Italian officers and became friendly with them because they spoke English. He often went up in the mountains to train, but mostly tried to stay in Naples. One night he stayed at the Red Cross in Naples, and the city was bombed. Loges never went back there at night because the people were going crazy, and he thought he was going to get stomped to death. Loges was sent to Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy] and assigned to Company G, 180th Regiment, 45th Infantry Division [Annotator's Note: Company G, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division]. He replaced an officer that was injured, but the officer returned, so Loges was reassigned to Company H [Annotator's Note: Company H, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division] which was a heavy weapons company. He was assigned a section leader in the 81mm mortar platoon [Annotator's Note: M1 81mm mortar]. He oversaw about eight men. His division was headed to Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy], but was then put on reserve [Annotator's Note: in June 1944], so they set up a bivouac [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] ten miles back and began training for combat in Southern France.

Richard "Dick" Loges was deployed to Italy [Annotator's Note: and assigned to Company H, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division] during World War 2. He was assigned as a section leader in the 81mm [Annotator's Note: M1 81mm mortar] mortar [Annotator's Note: a short smoothbore gun which fires explosive shells at high angles] platoon. His men were very nice and experienced soldiers but most of them were illiterate. He taught many of his men how to read and write. Loges' position was not very hard. He waited for orders from the company to fire the mortars and gave orders to his men where to position them. They fired nine rounds for effect. Loges liked two of his commanding officers. They both came from West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy in West Point, New York]. Loges began as a section leader in the 81mm mortar platoon then worked his way up to mortar platoon leader and finally to executive officer of Company H. After combat in Italy, Loges' division was placed in reserves to prepare for the invasion of Southern France. For training they hiked 30 miles at a time, target practiced with rifles, as well as boarding and deboarding a ship. While on the ship, Loges decided to dive 40 feet into the water. He almost killed himself. It took him a while to not feel dazed. He also had the best food while on the ship because he was able to eat with the Naval officers. About a week later they boarded a different ship and headed to Southern France. During their voyage, Loges saw bombers fly over them to bomb the beaches of Southern France [Annotator's Note: Operation Dragoon in Provence, Southern France, 15 August 1944]. When Loges landed on the beach, he saw how the battleships had destroyed the beaches. The Germans were quick to retreat from the invasion and Loges' regiment suffered only a few casualties. After the invasion of France, he reunited with a boyhood friend that was in the 157th Infantry Regiment [Annotator's Note: 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division]. As the war progressed, Loges learned that he was killed. Loges also lost another friend who was in the Air Force. Loges had a soldier in his unit that lost his mind and ran off. They found him a few days later, hiding in a barn. He had not eaten in days. He was taken out of combat. Loges became immune to seeing wounded men and casualties, so much so, that when his division liberated Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany on 29 April 1945], it did not surprise him to see all the atrocities. He suffered from posttraumatic stress after the war.

Richard "Dick" Loges was deployed to Europe as a replacement [Annotator's Note: Company H, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division] during World War 2. He was first placed in Italy and was stationary for the most part of his time there. When his unit transferred to Southern France, they were moving very fast through the Vosges Mountains and from one town to the next. He took a train through the Vosges Mountains. He heard rumors that the Germans had sabotaged the route, but his passage was fine. When they reached the border of the German line, he was in combat a lot. They had a large battle in the city of Épinal [Annotator's Note: Épinal, France]. The Germans had blown all the bridges to keep the Allies from crossing the river. His company used Long Toms [Annotator's Note: M114 155mm howitzer or 155mm Howitzer M1, towed howitzer, nicknamed Long Tom] and 81mm mortars [Annotator's Note: M1 81mm mortar] against the Germans. [Annotator's Note: Black screen until 0:57:00.000]. His regiment moved towards the Maginot Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by France in the 1930s] where his unit was given orders to protect the Switzerland, France, and German border. Loges could see the Germans some miles ahead, but there was never any crossfire between them. His unit remained there for about a week and then moved on into Germany. In February [Annotator's Note: February 1945], Loges was given a one-week leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and so he went to London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. When he returned to his unit, he met them at a river. The enlisted men received little to no information from their sergeants. He got more information from Ernie Pyle [Annotator's Note: Ernest Taylor Pyle, American journalist and war correspondent] than his own commanders. Loges' unit was never told if they were fighting the regular German Army or the SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS], but during the battle, they could tell because the SS would never give up. They were able to move up to the Rhine River without much resistance but stopped for several days. They crossed the river in boats. Then his unit was met with fierce combat at the edge of Nuremburg [Annotator's Note: Nuremburg, Germany].

The lowest point of Richard "Dick" Loges' service [Annotator's Note: with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division ]was when his friend was killed. There were times when he was in the middle of combat and was being shelled that he feared he would be killed. He prayed to Mary [Annotator's Note: mother of Jesus and a person of worship in the Catholic Church] and promised to name his daughter after her if she helped him through the shelling. Loges named his first daughter, Mary. There was a time that he sat in a foxhole and shook for hours because he was so scared. He often prayed for courage to lead his platoon. He received 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] and his men recommended him to receive 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], but the war concluded before they could turn in his application. They recommended him for a silver star because he planned an evacuation from a shelling in which no one died. Out of the 13 1st lieutenants he came overseas with, Loges was the only one not killed, captured, or wounded. His oldest brother served as an engineer in the Army Air Forces stateside. His other older brother had been denied because he had a health condition. Loges' father was proud of him and his service. By spring of 1945, Loges' outfit came across a large wall and decided to break through it. When they came through, they soon realized they stumbled across Dachau concentration camp [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany]. The wall they broke through was right next to some barracks. When Loges went into the barracks, he was hit with a horrible odor and saw people laying on three tier bed. They were such poor health that they could not get out of bed. As Loges walked around the site, he saw piles of dead bodies including adults and children. Loges learned from the prisoners that the German guards dug a massive grave for the bodies. His unit forced the guards to dig up the area so they could determine about how many bodies were buried. Loges was put in charge of guarding the camp for a week to make sure people were not entering or leaving. He does not believe the local towns people that they had no idea about what was going on because a train went through the city of Dachau to the concentration camp.

Richard "Dick" Loges [Annotator's Note: with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division] did not like Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] and did not believe him when he said that American sons would not be going to war during his presidential campaign prior to World War 2. Loges did not know anything about the rising hostilities in Japan. He was a 16-year-old teenager "living it up." He was aware the British were at war and Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] power was rising, but that did not mean anything to him. He was too busy having a life in America to care. He did not want to go to war, and he did not vote for FDR for the three times he ran for office. When he was in Germany, he learned to have a lot of respect for the British and for the Germans. He had no respect for the Italians and French, especially Charles De Gaulle [Annotator's Note: French Army General Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle; later President of France] . When he liberated the Dachau concentration camps [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany], he finally understood what he was fighting for. His unit stayed at the concentration camp for a week before he was given orders to head towards Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. The Germans had surrendered by the time he reached Munich. Loges and his unit were allowed to take over the homes of many of the German families. They began training for the war in the Pacific. Loges' commander always put him in charge of the formal duties, like supervising parade details. In July of 1945, he received orders that returned him to the United States to set up Camp Bowie [Annotator's Note: in Brownwood, Texas] in order to prepare soldiers for combat in Japan. He managed to get to Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France] and spent a week being retrained to act like a civilian. At the end of July [Annotator's Note: July 1945], he boarded a merchant ship for an eight-day voyage back to America. Some of the merchants [Annotator's Note: US Merchant Marines] stole his goodies, including a Luger [Annotator's Note: German P08 Luger 9mm semi-automatic pistol] and small pistol. [Video break at 1:57:12.000. Black screen until 1:57:53.000.] He disembarked in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and went home for about a week before he was to report to Camp Bowie. During his time home, America dropped the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] in Japan. Loges did not believe the news about the bomb until he saw newsreel footage of it in the theater. He was given an extra two weeks of leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], and then reported to Camp Bowie. His wife and son came with him to Texas. Loges' duties were very minuscule, and he often went out on day trips with his wife and son. In November 1945, he was discharged from service and moved back to Dayton, Ohio.

After Richard "Dick" Loges was discharged from service, he did not take 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]. He had saved all his pay checks from the Army and was able to buy a house and furniture. When he returned from combat, he suffered from "battle rattles." He did not suffer from nightmares or posttraumatic stress. Loges was very interested in World War 1 as a child and often read about the Red Baron [Annotator's Note: German Air Force Captain Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen] and setting up battle fields using clothes pins. He joined the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] while in college, and when the war started, he wanted to be an officer. The war made him more religious and formed him into a man. The service gave him a lot of discipline and knowledge. He also worked for a foundry which also shaped his life. He also encouraged trouble youth to join the military and he saw some of these men come out with a goal in life. World War 2 changed many lives and gave people more opportunity to do more and see more. Loges had traveled a lot before World War 2, but he was an exception to most kids his age.

Most Americans today do not know much or care very much about World War 2. The education system does not teach children enough about World War 2. Richard "Dick" Loges himself did not think much of World War 2 or the Homefront production until he learned some of the statistics about plants building planes at a rapid rate. As a soldier in combat, he always felt he was well supplied except for getting rubber combat boots. His feet were always soaked. The worse thing about the army was logistics, and they would always run out of gasoline. His most memorable experience was the anticipation of landing in Southern France [Annotator's Note: with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division during Operation Dragoon in Provence, Southern France, 15 August 1944]. He was the most frightened when he went through a long shelling in France. Loges has visited several World War 2 related museums and has enjoyed learning more about the events and the lead up to the outbreak of war. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. His children and grandchildren want him to talk about his war experiences. He has given all his souvenirs to his family. When he first returned from combat, he wanted to quickly forget it, but his family never really let him. Loges never killed a German in hand combat. When he was a kid in Dayton, Ohio he often went to McCook Field and watch the Army Air Corps test planes.