Sullivan Tindal was born in September 1925 in Hampton [Annotator's Note: Hampton, South Carolina]. He grew up on a small farm with plenty to eat. He had four siblings and enjoyed family gatherings. He and his brothers pranked each other up through adulthood. Tindal did not appreciate his childhood situation until he was an adult and working. He recalls the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] because his sister was born that day. After he left home, he did not see her again until she was seven years old. Tindal did not really think much of the attack on Pearl Harbor because he was too young to understand. He wanted to go into the Navy but was rejected because he is color blind, so he was assigned to the Army. He did his basic training at Fort Jackson [Annotator's Note: in Columbia, South Carolina]. He was assigned to KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] duty on Christmas night. He was then put on a train and sent to the Camp Shelby, Mississippi. [Annotator's Note: There is a tapping noise in the background.] He was assigned to a barracks where he met a guy named Charlie Farmer. They became instant friends and stayed together throughout their time in service. They had a few close calls as they advanced into Germany. They had an instance when they were trying to get through a gate and were shot at by the Germans. Another time, they saw a German tank. Farmer set up a bazooka [Annotator's Note: man-portable recoilless anti-tank weapon], Tindal took a shot at the tank and left before the Germans could strike back. Another time they were guarding near the Enns River [Annotator's Note: in Austria] to keep Germans from passing through. Two girls came by in a canoe. Tindal and Farmer were supposed to take them to the stockade, but they allowed the girls to stay with them after they passed a health examination.

Sullivan Tindal recalls an instance when his superior officer would not give him enough K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] for his men. Tindal and the officer had a small scuffle, but Tindal was able to get the correct number of ration boxes he needed for his squad [Annotator's Note: Tindal was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 259th Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division]. [Annotator's Note: there is a tapping noise in the background.] He was given a 45 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go home. He was dating a girl, Annie, while in Europe. She was upset that he was leaving because she knew she would never see him again. They wrote letters to each other for a short time, but Tindal stopped writing to her. While he was at home, the war in the Pacific ended and he was discharged from the Army at Camp Atterbury [Annotator's Note: in Edinburgh, Indiana]. He returned home to help his father on the farm and finished his high school education. The principal at first did not want Tindal or the other veterans to attend the high school. Veterans Affairs [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs or VA] came down to the school and changed that. His teacher asked him to share his war experience. The class enjoyed it so much, Tindal continued to speak to other high school classes. He did not use the G.I. Bill. He got married to his high school sweetheart.

Sullivan Tindal developed a relationship with a family that hosted him while in boot camp in the South [Annotator's Note: at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina]. Every Friday, one of the family members would pick him up and he would spend the weekend with them. The day he left the United States to go overseas [Annotator's Note: 10 January 1945] was the lowest point in his life because he feared he would never return. During his voyage, they had a submarine attack and were ordered to go to the top of the ship. His ship was initially headed to England, but the convoy split, and his ship headed to France for the invasion. Tindal recalls the day he invaded the beaches was freezing cold and it was snowing. He feared what he saw and what was going on around him. He saw several men he knew in training fall, and he wondered when it would be his turn. He recalls dodging bullets and trying to take out pillboxes [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns]. He and his friend Charlie were able to fight their way up on the beach. He made it to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transits and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. The weather was so cold his pants were frozen the next morning. He was able to shower and shave and was given a hot meal.

Sullivan Tindal left Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France] and traveled across Europe with little resistance until they [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 259th Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] reached the Danube River [Annotator's Note: 26 April 1945]. The Germans had destroyed the pontoon bridges that the Army engineers built, so Tindal and his unit had to hold their position until another bridge could be built. It was a scary feeling passing across the pontoon bridge following tanks because the bridge would shake. Once they crossed the bridge, the unit regrouped and then continued to take the villages throughout Germany. His unit was able to go to Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] hideout in the Bavarian Alps [Annotator's Note: Berghof, Hitler's home in Obersalzberg, Bavaria, Germany]. He was amazed by the construction of the layout and how high it was in the mountains. He feels good that they beat Hitler. His regiment participated in a nasty fight over a town called New Market [Annotator's Note: unable to identify], in which the Americans lost five tanks. Tindal witnessed a young girl hit by shell and killed. Once they took the towns, the local people were very nice to them. To get through the hard times, the troops had to have a sense of humor. Another time he saw a shell hit a soldier and blow his legs off. He and his friend, Charlie, would support each other when they had bad days. [Annotator's Note: There is a tapping noise in the background.]

During the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], Sullivan Tindal stayed at an outpost outside of a town. A group of men in American Army uniforms arrived giving him the password to go through the outpost. Tindal called his superiors and asked if American troops were traveling through the outpost. His superior said "no" and gave orders for the next outpost to shoot the men. Tindal heard machine guns go off at the next outpost. The men were Germans in American uniforms. [Annotator's Note: There is a tapping noise in the background.] He found out later that there was an American giving Germans the passwords. The Battle of the Bulge was freezing, and the terrain was icy because he fell on his butt regularly. He and his friend, Charlie, woke up one morning, did not see anyone around and realized that snow had covered all the men sleeping in the field. They lived on a two day supply of K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals], which he enjoyed eating. Tindal and his friend, Charlie kept up their friendship after the war until one day when Tindal could not get in touch with him. He never knew what happened to him. Tindal adapted easily to civilian life after the war and finished school. He did not suffer from nightmares or post traumatic stress [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD]. He thinks that because he is social it helped him get back into civilian life. When he was older, his daughter convinced him to go reunions, which he did. Tindal had one brother who was a prisoner of war in Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953]. His brother escaped and returned to the United States and worked in the Air Force. His brother did not like to talk about his war experience. His other brother was stationed in Germany. Tindal shared his war experiences with his family. When Tindal returned to America he arrived in Massachusetts, took a train to Camp Gordon, Georgia, and a bus to Savannah [Annotator's Note: Savannah, Georgia]. He met an acquaintance who was able to help him get home the rest of the way. He had not been home in over seven years.

Sullivan Tindal did not write too much to his family while he was in Europe because he did not have a lot of time and they censored most of what soldiers were writing. [Annotator's Note: There is a tapping noise in the background.] Tindal's regiment [Annotator's Note: Tindal was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 259th Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] helped liberate Czechoslovakians near the end of the war. The Germans were overall nice people and very relatable. His unit captured several Germans and left a soldier to guard them. As Tindal was walking down the road, he heard a machine gun go off. When they returned, the guard had shot them all, claiming they were trying to escape. Tindal was happy when he heard about the dropping of the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] because he knew he would not have to go to Japan. Germany had a great air force and had almost perfected the jet engine.

Sullivan Tindal's most memorable experience of World War 2 was fighting in France and witnessing his fellow troops die. He fought in the war because he was drafted, but it was also an honor. His experiences made him more mature and gave him a better understanding of life. He is proud of what he did for his country and everything he went through. He believes it is important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] and to continue to teach about it to future generations, so they understand the price of freedom.

Sullivan Tindal and his unit [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 259th Infantry Regiment, 65th Infantry Division] were stationed at Camp Shanks, New York. He and two friends, Charlie and Finley [Annotator's Note: unable to identify either], made a trip to New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and met three girls. Finley fell in love with the girl he met. She would send him packages during his service in Europe, all the while Tindal and Charlie made fun of him. When Tindal returned to the United States after the war, he found out Finley married the girl. Tindal had dinner with them a few times before he returned home, and never saw them again. He was discharged at Camp Atterbury, Indiana [Annotator's Note: near Edinburgh, Indiana].

Sullivan Tindal separated from his wife and worked in various road construction projects in Savannah [Annotator's Note: Savannah, Georgia]. [Annotator's Note: There is a tapping noise in the background.] He developed a friendship with his boss who always made sure Tindal had a job. In return, Tindal always helped his boss when he was in a bind. His coworkers liked him and thought he was a good worker.

After serving in World War 2, Sullivan Tindal worked in construction for several years. He divorced his wife. He worked on a cattle farm for a brief time but decided he did not like it and went back to working in construction. Once, an old lady began shooting at the construction workers while they were trying to dig a ditch. He got a half-track stuck in the swamp and had to pull it out with a line and dozer.