Robert Geller was born in July 1922 and grew up in New York City [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York]. Geller’s parents were Jewish immigrants from Austria and Lithuania. His father, a World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] veteran for the United States, worked in a sweat shop factory as a men’s pants tailor. He brought his father lunch to the factory every day. He grew up with a brother and a sister. Growing up in a tough section of Brooklyn, the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] forced his family deep into poverty. His shy demeanor kept him from turning to trouble in the streets. He was always happy when they had food on the table. Geller knew about the German advances across Europe in the late 1930s, but was not concerned it would come to affect the United States. The news of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was a great shock to him. He was exiting a movie theater when he first read the headlines in the paper about the attack. He was drafted into the Army on 31 December 1942, and put on a train to California for basic training. On the first morning of training, Geller was selected to be the company clerk because of his experience as a typist. Because of this position, he had direct access to the commanding officer and was able to avoid KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] duty. After several other training stops across the United States, Geller received orders to go overseas on a liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] in late 1943.

After training in the Army, Robert Geller boarded a ship to Liverpool [Annotator’s Note: Liverpool, England] as a member of the 295th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company. While stationed in Wem, England, Geller recalled coming under many buzz bomb [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] attacks. He often took trips to London [Annotator’s Note: London, England] when he received furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. His time in London was a pleasant experience. He met a lot of English families who were very welcoming to the Americans. The 295th was then sent to Le Havre, France and worked its way across Europe throughout the remainder of the war. [Annotator’s Note: Phone rings and interviewer pauses interview at 0:18:14.000 – 0:19:17.000.] Geller was also in Liege, Belgium; Maastricht, Holland; Aachen, Detmold, and Karlsfeld, Germany, the latter of which is where he was when the war ended in Europe. He visited the concentration camps at Dachau [Annotator’s Note: Dachau, Germany]. Though he knew of the atrocities committed against the Jews by the Germans, Geller did not hold grudges against the German people because he knew the leadership was responsible for it. After he returned to the United States, Geller used 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] to attend Long Island University [Annotator’s Note: in Long Island, New York] to study accounting, and then attended NYU [Annotator’s Note: New York University in New York City, New York] and received his MBA degree.

During the occupation of Germany, Robert Geller mostly waited around to earn enough points to return home for discharge [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home]. He chose to go on trips while he waited for his turn to go home. He visited Biarritz, France; Innsbruck, Austria; Berchtesgaden [Annotator’s Note: Berchtesgaden, Germany] to visit the Eagle’s Nest; and Italy. On his way back to France to return to the United States, Geller stopped in Nuremberg [Annotator’s Note: Nuremberg, Germany] and took the opportunity to sit in on the war crimes trials. He listened to testimony by Rudolf Hess [Annotator’s Note: Rudolf Walter Richard Hess, a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany] and Hermann Göring [Annotator's Note: German Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring, or Goering, commanded the German Air Force and was second only to Adolf Hitler in the Nazi chain of command]. As a Jew, these trials were particularly impactful to Geller and represented the culmination of all the evil that had happened in Europe. On VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], his unit was in Detmold, Germany and all the troops were firing off their guns in celebration. Geller was elated that the war in Europe was over. On 15 March 1946, he was discharged with the rank of technical sergeant. When he arrived in New York [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York] his cousin put a big sign out that said “Welcome Home Robert Geller.” Geller did not suffer from any post traumatic stress disorder and assimilated back into civilian life easily. He was married in 1947.

Robert Geller’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was seeing the end of the war. He watched artillery shows of bombardment towards Germany. He also recalled observing the Nuremberg trials. He fought in the war because it was his duty to defend his country. If it was not for 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], Geller would not have been able to attend college and receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He was then able to pursue a successful career as a CPA [Annotator’s Note: certified public accountant]. He is proud to have served in World War 2 and to have done his part to help win the war. He regrettably feels that Americans know little about World War 2, or do not care to learn about it. Geller 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 to prevent future conflicts.