[Annotator's Note: Recording begins while interviewer is prepping Robert Lewis Beilman. Actual interview begins at 0:01:51.000.] Beilman was born on 8 November 1925 in New York, New York. He grew up in Queens [Annotator's Note: Queens is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. His father was a banker during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], so his family was very well off. During his high school years, he would often go to Coney Island [Annotator's Note: Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn] with his friends. While they walked along the beach, Beilman saw black tar that were remnants of tankers sunk by German subs [Annotator's Note: submarines] near the shoreline. When World War 2 began in America, there was the introduction of raid wardens and rationing. Gas was the most trafficked item on the black market. Everyone wanted gasoline. He attended a Jesuit high school in Manhattan [Annotator's Note: Manhattan is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York], and after graduating, he attended Fordham College [Annotator's Note: now Fordham University in New York, New York] which was close to home. His mother developed cancer and he wanted to be near her. In 1943 he enlisted in the US Army to enter the ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers] and was sent to Syracuse University [Annotator's Note: in Syracuse, New York] to study engineering. When the ASTP was broken up Beilman was reclassified as an infantryman. In January 1944 he was sent to Texas for infantry training, and upon completion was then sent to Camp Gruber, Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: near Braggs, Oklahoma] where he joined the 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division]. He was also trained at Fort Benning in Georgia for three weeks as a communications specialist made a section chief. In November 1944, Beilman's unit was sent to New York where they boarded a transport ship to Southern France with a convoy.

Shortly after arriving in Marseilles [Annotator's Note: Marseilles, France] with his unit [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] Robert Lewis Beilman settled in for a few weeks. He was required to always wear his helmet to protect himself from the fallen stray shrapnel from the anti-aircraft guns. His unit took a train to eastern France at Alsace-Lorraine, and then took a truck to the Maginot Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by France in the 1930s]. He was sent to the front where his unit was placed in defensive positions along the Rhine River where they repulsed several German attacks, including in Strasbourg, Germany and Hatten, France. Beilman and his unit often explored the Maginot Line fortification and when they could see over, they saw the Germans on the other side of the river. He also saw how fast the currents were of the Rhine River. One particularly tough battle Beilman took part in was the Battle of Hatten [Annotator's Note: also called the Battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen, January 1945, often considered part of the Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] where his battalion held their ground against elements of multiple German regiments supported by armor. His company had a large casualty rate among the officers due to this battle. His regiment had mined [Annotator's Note: by burying stationary explosive devices triggered by physical contact] the roads, so the Germans had a difficult time passing through the town. The battle initially started as a tank battle in a large field [Annotator's Note: phone rings in background at 0:17:27.000]. Beilman's unit stayed in basements of the houses in town. The Germans wore white uniforms as camouflage in the snow. His unit would go out at night and fight the Germans using grenades so it would not give away their positions. Eventually the Germans had them surrounded for four or five days. The 79th Division [Annotator's Note: 79th Infantry Division] arrived, broke through the German line and saved Beilman's regiment. His regiment received a Presidential Citation [Annotator's Note: Presidential Unit Citation, or PUC, originally called Distinguished Unit Citation, awarded to military units for extraordinary heroism, on or after 7 December 1941] for their participation. After the Battle of Hatten, Robert Lewis Beilman and his unit moved south and off the front lines to retrain with replacements from the repo depot [Annotator's Note: replacement depot]. There were two replacements that were given Presidential pardons [Annotator's Note: federal pardon; action of the President of the United States that sets aside punishment for a federal crime] and were released from prison to fight in the Army.

Robert Lewis Beilman enlisted into the Army with the hopes of being accepted into ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program; generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers]. Before World War 2 began, Beilman was 16 years old when his father took him and his brother to the Giants game [Annotator's Note: New York Giants, now the San Francisco Giants; American professional baseball team]. During the game, an announcement kept replaying that all military personnel had to return to their bases. Beilman and his family were wondering what was going on, so finally when they returned to their car after the game, they turned on the radio and learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Then, Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] declared war on the United States not long after the Japanese attack [Annotator's Note: Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941]. When the ASTP was broken up Beilman was reclassified as an infantryman. In January 1944 he was sent to Texas for infantry training, and upon completion was then sent to Camp Gruber, Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: near Braggs, Oklahoma] where he joined the 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry, 42nd Division [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division]. He was treated well at Camp Gruber and did extensive company maneuvers, dug foxholes and other shelters. He was taught how to lay down wire and how to work a walkie-talkie. Beilman's job in Europe was to make sure the communication lines were laid down and the communications were working properly. The most difficult part about coming back to his own lines was remembering the password to get through. Most of the guys never received the newest password or forgot it. His regiment used maps created by the French which were very accurate. The Germans also had their own maps which were accurate as well because they had occupied the area for five years. There were a few guys that often looted when they occupied towns through Germany. His ASTP record said that he had good night vision, so Beilman was assigned to do night patrols. Beilman could always smell when a German was near because of the tobacco they smoked. He was amazed at how many animals were out at night. Soldiers would wear their knit hats, and some would wear socks over their boots to quiet their stride. He and the men would avoid paths because Germans tended to booby trap [Annotator's Note: an apparently harmless object containing a concealed explosive device designed to kill or injure anyone who touches it] them. They often used grenades to trap prisoners. The main mission for night patrols were to locate the Germans. Beilman carried a Garand rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. The carbines [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine] were worthless. He carried a lot of equipment including a pistol [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] and a radio.

Prior to being sent overseas, Robert Lewis Beilman and his unit [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] had to pass a poison gas drill and then were issued gas masks that they never used. He also sat through lectures that explained what to do when captured. He took a couple of passes to New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] during this time. One day, he and his unit took a bus to the docks and boarded the USS General W. M. Black (AP-135) for transport to Southern France. While on the transport ship he ate two meals a day. The food was pretty good. He was put on KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol] duty and was responsible for managing the food storage room. He used his assignment to his advantage because he would convince the Navy chef to make ice cream for him and his guys. They did some drills with their life jackets too. His transport was with a large convoy. Each outfit had their own codes to communicate with each other. The Germans often jammed their communication systems and even German planes would drop thousands of foil scraps that would mess up the radio communication. The walkie-talkies were very effective and could be as far apart as eight miles [Annotator's Note: Interviewer pauses interview. Video break 0:57:36.000]. Beilman saw a lot of fighting near the French-German line. His unit became good at town fighting. Communication and artillery were outstanding. As they traveled along the Main River towards Würzburg [Annotator's Note: Würzburg, Germany], they had skirmishes. Most of the officers in his unit were very good officers. As they crossed the Rhine River, they marched eight miles a day. Schweinfurt [Annotator's Note: Schweinfurt, Germany] was rubble. However, underneath the town, women slave labors were living and working underground. They quickly marched through towns and did not stop. Germans were beginning to surrender to them as soon as they arrived. When they made it to south Germany, near the Austrian line, the war in Europe ended. Austria was broken up and divided between the United States, Russia, England, and France.

Robert Lewis Beilman and his unit [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] were in Vienna, Austria near the end of World War 2. While there he observed that the British officers had their assistants cleaned their guns for them. Beilman got along with the other Allied troops, including the Russians. He did not personally liberate Dachau concentration camp [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany], but many of the guys in his regiment who did say it was a bad situation. They found live people lying in a pile of dead bodies or the inmates trying to attack the SS officers [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS]. There was also a German SS officer who put on a prisoner uniform to hide from the Americans, but he was eventually discovered. Beilman first heard about the existence of concentration camps and gas chambers in the fall of 1944, but the reality never sank in until he talked to his friends in the regiment and saw pictures. He drove past Dachau and saw the barbed wires and the towers but did not go inside. The Germans were so cruel for doing this. His company stayed in Salzburg [Annotator's Note: Salzburg, Germany] for about three months and stayed in a house where a woman prepared them meals. They found a picture book in her house. The book was about Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] when he came into Austria, and she was in one of the pictures waving to Hitler in a parade.

In January 1945, Robert Lewis Beilman and his unit [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] participated in the Battle of Hatten, near the French-German border [Annotator's Note: also called the Battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen, January 1945, often considered part of the Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] . The Germans had crossed the Rhine River on barges and boats bringing with them tanks and troops. Even with all the support, the Germans never broke through Hatten because of the resistance of the 42nd Infantry Division. Beilman's regiment lost many men fighting the Germans in this battle from tanks and artillery guns. Beilman's role in the battle was at company headquarters. He went out to different platoons to make sure the communications were open and replenished supplies, which included food and ammunition to the troops. He often used food from the cellars of houses in town. Beilman always kept his M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] with him. There was an instance where he was instructed to protect a minefield Annotator's Note: areas where mines, stationary explosive devices triggered by physical contact are buried or under the water]. He often assisted with night patrols and used grenades to attack the enemy. The Germans had excellent equipment and firepower versus the Americans firepower that was often clunky and visible at night. Beilman had good snipers in his company. After the Germans surrendered, Beilman interacted well with the German soldiers and local population. After the Allies landed in France, Montgomery [Annotator's Note: British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery] was very cautious about what to do next, while Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] was about sweeping through Europe as fast as possible, outrunning their supply lines.

After the Germans surrendered [Annotator's Note: in May 1945], Robert Lewis Beilman and his unit [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 242nd infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] had the option to attend a university that the Army had set up while they were in Europe during occupation. Beilman took calculus classes and was given credit when he returned home and went back to college in the United States. [Annotator's Note: Beilman gets up from his chair and walks off the view of the camera at 1:34:14.000.] Beilman arrived in Europe in November 1944 and does not recall how he spent the holidays. He was in southern Germany when he heard the news of VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. Everyone celebrated by drinking liquor and shooting off ammunition. His unit was then given an eight-week training session to prepare for the invasion of Japan. Lots of rumors were going around that his regiment would be in the third wave of the invasion. In August, he heard about the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] the United States dropped on Japan, and all the orders stopped. Beilman feels that he would not have survived the Japanese invasion and is thankful for the atomic bombs were dropped. He returned to the United States in the summer 1946. He shipped out from Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France] and was assigned to Camp Kilmer [Annotator's Note: Camp Kilmer in Piscataway Township, New Jersey and Edison Township, New Jersey] upon his return. He was given leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], so he went home to see his parents. Beilman corresponded with many of his family and friends while he was serving in Europe. He was separated from the service at Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] as a sergeant. Having completed much of his college course work, he used his GI 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] to go to medical school. Anytime he heard a car backfire, he would jump because it sounded like a mortar fire.

World War 2 changed Robert Lewis Beilman's life because he met many people from all over the world. He was able to observe several types of armies, including Russian, British, and French. He was able to visit many European cities. The war helped him mature, and he saw how war can be messy. He had several narrow escapes from death. Beilman always had respect for human life, even before the war. He continued to keep up with a couple of people after the war and attended a few reunions. The Americans were able to stamp out some pretty bad guys, leaving Stalin [Annotator's Note: Joseph Stalin; General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union] behind. The American troops saved Europe. He believes 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 because people need to know that the Nazis and the Japanese were very cruel. Beilman was relieved that he did not have to fight in Japan. He enjoyed his time in occupation Europe skiing and visited different places in Europe. He has respect for the American military.