Robert G. Frey was born in August 1924 in Bethlehem and ended up in Bath [Annotator's Note: Bethlehem and Bath, Pennsylvania]. His father was an electrician but worked steadily for a cement company. His father held a decent job during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. His mother went to work as the children grew up. Frey had two brothers. During the war, Frey was attached to the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He reached the rank of corporal. He entered service in the Spring of 1942 after graduating high school. He was trained at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Soon after basic training, he was shipped to Europe. He transited through New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and boarded the Queen Elizabeth for the voyage. The ship docked in Ireland. He had not been assigned [Annotator's Note: to a unit] at that time. He was a replacement sent in preparation for the big invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. While stationed in Ireland he and the other troops spent their time in training. The D-Day invasion was secret so the training occurred remotely in Ireland. [Annotator's Note: Frey mentions several times that he has forgotten much of the details.] Frey was fortunate because his company commander, Fred D. Valentino [Annotator's Note: later Army Major Fred D. Valentino], was a gem. He took Frey in as his jeep driver because Frey had a driver's license. Valentino thought the Army was sending him children as replacements. Valentino was subsequently wounded 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], but it did not prevent him from returning to his command. Frey and Valentino have kept in touch through the years. Valentino named his son Robert, after Frey. Valentino lives in Texas. His son has visited Frey. When Frey sailed from Ireland, he could tell that D-Day was on. There were so many ships bringing the troops into Ireland. One morning, the troops were loaded into vehicles and transported to invasion ships. It involved many people and many ships as well as numerous aircraft flying overhead to bomb inside of Europe. Fighter planes flew escort for the bombers and also strafing missions.

Robert G. Frey took his entry into combat on a day to day basis. He had good leadership in Fred Valentino [Annotator's Note: later Army Major Fred D. Valentino]. Frey became Valentino's jeep driver. There were huge numbers of ships in the English Channel on D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. There were large flights of Allied aircraft protecting them. Frey landed on Omaha Beach on 7 June. There was no enemy resistance encountered by Frey and his unit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division]. The beach had been beaten up by the air force. [Annotator's Note: Frey has some limited memories of the event.] Frey slept on the ship. Female nurses were on the Queen Elizabeth to tend battle wounded [Annotator’s Note: Frey deployed to Ireland from the United States aboard the Queen Elizabeth]. Upon arriving at the beachhead, ships were backed up awaiting their turn to offload. Frey has not talked much of his experiences since the war. Upon landing, Frey and the combat engineers moved inland while friendly aircraft flew overhead strafing the enemy. Frey helped recover several pilots who were shot down. They were young aviators and anxious to get back to base and receive a new plane. Frey went through the hedgerow [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] country where the Germans had their artillery prepared for the invasion forces. The air forces helped soften up the enemy resistance. The hedgerows subdivided farmland in Normandy. As Frey advanced with his battalion, he could hear the fire of artillery. As combat engineers, they never had to participate in hand to hand fighting. The infantry preceded them in the hostilities. The combat engineers had to locate mines so they could be neutralized. The Germans had many minefields making vehicle travel dangerous. Frey and his unit had mine detectors to find the mines ahead of the troops. There was a lot of confusion. The combat was new for him. The planning was good and the Americans had the right leaders for the conflict. When mines were discovered, rear echelon personnel came up to put them out of commission. They had been trained to do that work.

After Normandy, Robert G. Frey and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division] got a break for refitting and rest in England. He was a replacement for the 2nd [Annotator’s Note: 2nd Infantry Division] in Ireland. He did not know what was about to happen except that there would be an invasion [Annotator’s Note: Frey is referring to D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. After being in Normandy about a month, he was shipped back to England for a break, good food, and refit of clothes and equipment. He remained with the 2nd Infantry Division. By October, he had reached Germany. The 2nd Division has an excellent book with the highlights of their actions. The objective in Germany was to reach the dams before the Germans blew them. Constant aircraft support was overhead. The big bombers were high above but the fighters were doing the dirty work of close air support for the ground troops. When Frey picked up a downed pilot, the airman gave thanks to Frey but said he was headed back to base. The Americans intended to seize the dams but by mid-December, that all changed. It was cold and the advance into Germany was halted as Frey and his unit were shipped back to counter the German offensive at Elsenborn Ridge [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. There was a lot of German artillery using air bursts that spread shrapnel to those below. The men were told to wear their steel helmets for protection. The weather was cold. Frey and others had frostbite. He did not report it because he did not want to be pulled from his outfit. The men slept in a house if they could find one. They did not abuse the inhabitants. Frey also stayed in foxholes. He was given a bit of TNT to loosen the hardened ground to dig the foxhole. As a combat engineer, he had experience with explosives such as that. Frey heard about self-inflicted wounds but never saw it happen. Artillery was the worst worry. It occurred mainly in the morning so muzzle blasts could not be seen as easily as at night. The incoming fire came from tanks that were continuously on the move. Germans and Americans had a lot of tanks but the enemy tanks were far superior. The German Tiger tanks [Annotator's Note: German Mark VI main battle tank; known as the Tiger] were huge. The best defense was to dig in and stay in a foxhole for protection. To stay warm, things would be burnt in the hole. Christmas was no big celebration although they were provided with something good to eat. Frey felt homesick but his time was limited to think about it. Frey had friends wounded in combat and then there were some who did not return. Frey was small and made a tougher target. The riflemen were the greatest. Engineers worked with enemy mines but the infantryman had only his rifle and hand grenades. The Germans had long handles on their grenades so they could throw them farther. American grenades were safe until the pin and spoon were released. It had to be gotten rid of quick after that or it would explode. After the transport planes managed to drop supplies to the American forces, the Germans were being pushed back. [Annotator's Note: Frey ent on to push into Germany and cross the Rhine River by March 1945.]

Robert G. Frey crossed the Rhine River in March [Annotator's Note: March 1945]. The Air Force had taken out most of the bridges. They were very active. An Air Force liaison man traveled with Frey's group to maintain communication on what was happening on the ground. The Remagen bridge [Annotator's Note: Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany] was crossed by Frey's outfit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division]. The bridge was not destroyed as the Germans had planned. Frey did not experience enemy fire while crossing the bridge. After crossing the river, the Germans were on the run and surrendering in large numbers. The Americans moved in with German families to keep warm. They stayed with a little old lady the men called "Mom." They gave her food and she gave them shelter. After the war, Fred Valentino [Annotator's Note: later Army Majory Fred D. Valentino was Frey's company commander] brought his son to reunite with her. "Mom" had passed away but her daughter and her husband were still living there. Valentino and his son met them. It was a small town so it was not hit too hard. Few Americans in Frey’s outfit could speak German but there was one soldier who had been born in Germany before immigrating to the United States. That individual served as the interpreter. As the troops proceeded into Germany, they witnessed the devastation wrought by the Air Force. Frey rescued a downed American pilot along the way. As the battalion captured enemy prisoners, they were turned over to the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police]. They enemy was surrendering all the time. The Air Force was continuously harassing the enemy. It was clear the war was coming to an end. Frey still never knew if his time would come, but he continued to hit the dirt pretty often. He never spent too much time worrying about death because he knew he would not last if he did.

Robert G. Frey has spoken more to the interviewer about the war than he has ever previously done. He was there and when he returned, he was finished. One thing he will never forget is when he went in at D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He did not go in the first day, but when he did, he saw dead GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] stacked up against a building. The dead were covered with tarps and zippered rubber bags to be used to remove them for burial. The first wave that went in took the worse beating. Fred [Annotator's Note: later Army Major Fred D. Valentino was Frey's company commander] said that Frey and the other replacements seemed to be just children to him. Frey was lucky to have survived the war. Frey has talked very little of his war years since his discharge. The worst things to remove from his memory are some of the bad parts. There were good parts. Valentino stays in touch with Frey. At the end of the war, Frey was in Czechoslovakia. He does not remember the event. He was shipped home fast so that his division [Annotator's Note: Frey was a member of the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division] could participate in the conflict on the other side of the world. Fortunately, the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] saved him from doing so. The veterans in Frey’s outfit knew one another and were like family. Fred Valentino was a brilliant man with scruples and respect for all his men. He was disappointed in some of the officers not doing their job. His parents were from Italy. Valentino had respect for his non-commissioned officers. After discharge, Frey was glad to get home. His parents were disappointed he had not written to them more while deployed. Frey was lucky to get back. He had an artillery round explode near him and take out a man's eye next to him. Frey was Valentino's jeep driver but the officer drove most of the time. The officer was a nice man who deserves everything he received. Frey would not want to go through it again. The bombing of Japan was the only way to make them quit. It was necessary to destroy everything they had to force them to surrender.