Warren Bowersox was born in St. Charles, Pennsylvania in 1923 and grew up on the family farm in nearby Mahoning, Pennsylvania. Bowersox’s father raised dairy cows for a while before raising hogs. He received minimal schooling and left school in the ninth grade to work on the farm. He is one of three children, with one older and one younger sister. The farm shielded Bowersox and his family from the full impact of the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], and they always had enough food to survive. Whatever money his father made from farming went towards paying the note and taxes on the farm. Bowersox was largely ignorant of anything going on in the outside world in relation to the wars in Europe and in the Pacific. The family only left the farm twice in his childhood, once to visit Chesapeake Bay and another time to visit Niagara Falls [Annotator’s Note: Niagara Falls, New York]. Bowersox does not remember how he received the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. As an 18-year-old at the time, he still led a very sheltered life. He soon left the farm to work for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. He tried to enlist in the Navy at this time, but was turned down because of a mastoid operation he had had. After a short time at this job, Bowersox and a friend moved to Buffalo, New York in search of work. Bowersox received a draft notice and reported to Pittsburgh to be drafted into the Army. After induction at Fort Meade, Maryland, Bowersox reported to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for field artillery training. He contracted pneumonia while at camp and had to be hospitalized. While in training, Bowersox learned not to judge people based on their appearance. While boxing in the barracks one night, Bowersox landed a punch across the other guy’s cheek and was quickly hit in the nose and knocked out. His opponent, as it turned out, was heavyweight champion Billy Conn’s [Annotator’s Note: William David Conn, an Irish-American professional boxer and light heavyweight champion] sparring partner. After his time in North Carolina, Bowersox was assigned to duty with the 116th Field Artillery Battalion stationed at Fort Mason, California. It took a seven-day train ride to get to California. While in California, Bowersox was assigned to guard duty behind a 40mm anti-aircraft gun [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] on the Golden Gate Bridge [Annotator's Note: a suspension bridge in San Francisco, California]. [Annotator’s note: phone rings at 0:15:56.000.]

Warren Bowersox was assigned to duty with the 116th Field Artillery Battalion stationed at Fort Mason, California. It took a seven-day train ride to get to California. While in California, Bowersox was assigned to guard duty behind an anti-aircraft gun [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon]. After a year of guard duty, the 116th was disbanded and Bowersox was transferred to Camp Adair, Oregon where he joined Company F, 2nd Battalion, 274th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division. The division was transferred to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for ten weeks of advanced training before boarding the train to Boston [Annotator’s Note: Boston, Massachusetts] to await transport to Europe. After a week in Boston, Bowersox boarded the SS Mariposa bound for Marseille, France. After arrival, Bowersox boarded a boxcar in the dead of winter for transport north to the front lines. [Annotator’s Note: Phone rings at 0:21:01.000.] Bowersox recalls collecting coal alongside the railroad tracks to burn in a stove to heat the boxcar. They collected clean water from the locomotive engine. After three nights on the train, Bowersox exited in Bischwiller, France and was assigned to an outpost along the front. [Annotator’s Note” Phone rings at 0:24:13.000.] His first night on the frontline, 24 December 1944, was spent in a bombed-out ammunition factory along the Rhine River. German patrols attempted to infiltrate their lines all night long. One night, Bowersox was assigned to a patrol behind enemy lines to locate German patrols. He recalls laying in six inches of snow listening for enemy movement. Because he was so cold, Bowersox does not know how he would have reacted if he did come across an enemy patrol.

Around 1 or 2 January 1945, Warren Bowersox and the 274th Infantry Regiment [Annotator’s Note: of the 70th Infantry Division] was assigned to reclaim Wingen, France. Wingen had recently been taken by two battalions of German SS troops [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] and members of the 45th Infantry Division were being held prisoner in the town. Bowersox advanced slowly from foxhole to foxhole towards Wingen in the dead of night. As his platoon approached the town, they discovered a 12 foot high railroad bridge in the center of the town. Only one man in Bowersox’s platoon was lost while advancing along the railroad bridge. Bowersox recalls clearing out Wingen house by house until reaching a “Y” in the road where the Germans had set up a stronghold. Bowersox’s squad advanced along a ditch towards the house where the Germans were stationed. Of the 12 men in his squad, nine were killed during this advance, including the first sergeant. The squad managed to take the house and establish a checkpoint in the basement. Bowersox and the BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] team set up their weapon and picked off German positions one by one. Bowersox recalls talking with a guy from the 45th Division who had just been freed from captivity. As they proceeded out of the door to the checkpoint, one of their ambulances rolled over a mine, sending shrapnel into the man’s stomach. Bowersox saw the man being operated on, but does not know what ever happened to him. For their actions in Wingen, the 274th was awarded a presidential unit citation. After Wingen, Bowersox advanced into the Ardennes [Annotator’s Note: the Ardennes Forest situated between Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and France] and established a holding position while awaiting their next objective. One night they came under heavy German 88 fire [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] after they had lit a fire to stay warm. After this attack, Bowersox received Holy Communion in six inches of snow. Next, Bowersox and his unit were ordered to take the high ground at Spicheren Heights [Annotator’s Note: Spicheren, France] on the banks of the Rhine River across from Saarbrücken [Annotator’s Note: Saarbrücken, Germany]. The Germans defended this area fiercely and with pride as it was the location of a German military cemetery, like the Arlington National Cemetery [Annotator’s Note: one of two cemeteries in the United States National Cemetery System that are maintained by the United States Army; Arlington, Virginia]. Bowersox’s platoon was ordered to go on patrol into the town of Spicheren. He and some other guys went into a farmhouse to search for food. While eating, they heard Germans approaching, and took cover in a hay bale. They spent the night hidden while surrounded by Germans. The next morning, the house came under heavy fire by what was thought to be a German tank. Bowersox soon discovered that it was friendly fire directed at the house to clear out the Germans who were there. Bowersox was constantly under fire while fighting in the forests around Spicheren, diving from foxhole to foxhole. While in a shallow foxhole, he was hit in the leg with shrapnel, but continued to fight.

Warren Bowersox received a field promotion to sergeant for his fighting in Spicheren, France, though, according to him, the paperwork was never completed and he was discharged with the rank of PFC [Annotator’s Note: private first class]. In March 1945, Bowersox, as sergeant, was selected to lead a patrol to establish contact with another regiment in the division [Annotator’s Note: the 70th Infantry Division, Bowersox served in the 274th Infantry Regiment]. The tanks assigned to the patrol were drawing heavy 88 fire [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. A tree burst sent shrapnel into Bowersox’s arm. Though determined to keep fighting and cross into Saarbrücken [Annotator’s Note: Saarbrücken, Germany], Bowersox was convinced to report to the medic, ending his time in combat. Bowersox was taken by train to the 23rd General Hospital which was set up in a former hotel in Marseille [Annotator’s Note: Marseille, France]. After a two-and-a-half-month hospital stay, Bowersox was transferred to the 822nd Military Police Battalion in Hurst, Germany for 30 days before receiving orders to report to Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany] for occupation duty. In Berlin, the 822nd MP Battalion was assigned to clear out a civilian apartment building that was to house occupation troops. At seven in the morning, Bowersox was assigned to nail notices to doors ordering evacuation by 11 in the morning. He was told there was no reason not to evacuate, and ambulances waited to take the sick away. Bowersox pushed an elderly lady out of her apartment with the butt of his rifle. This was a sore spot of his service, as he saw for the first time how devastating war was. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:52:16.000.] Bowersox goes on to tell stories concerning times spent with both the 274th and the 822nd. Once while in combat, Bowersox was housed in a farmhouse and grew close to the family. He helped them with the farm work. One night, Bowersox and some other men had the farmer help them fortify one of their outposts with lumber they had collected. The ox used to haul the lumber refused to go any further, forcing the G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] to move it themselves. Bowersox remembers this as a one of the funny experiences he had while in combat. On VE Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], Bowersox was in a replacement depot awaiting reassignment. He often has second thoughts about leaving his unit and reporting to the medic. He was afraid to go back to his unit after spending so much time away recuperating, but wishes he could have been with his unit when they entered Saarbrücken.

While fighting in Europe, Warren Bowersox recalls returning from a contact patrol and being fired on by replacement troops who had entered the division [Annotator’s Note: 70th Infantry Division] and had not known to ask for a password before opening fire. [Annotator’s Note: Clock dings at 0:57:49.000.] Another time, Bowersox was sent on a patrol behind enemy lines into the town of Kerbach, France and immediately came under enemy fire. Bowersox and the others dove into a ditch where he watched as German tracer bullets came within inches of the nose a fellow soldier. Bowersox could not shower for three months while in combat. One day, a shower truck showed up and he was able to take a cold shower using melted snow. A band from the 70th Division called the Blues Chasers played music while Bowersox showered. While in Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany] on occupation duty, most of the city was a “pile of rubble,” including the subway system. He had some good times there too, including visits to the “Donut Dugout”, a coffee shop operated by the USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.] where G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] could receive coffee and donuts. When news of the atomic bombings of Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] reached Berlin, Bowersox recalls the jubilation of the G.I.s and the German civilians alike. Bowersox was also able to visit Switzerland for a week on furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time].

In early January 1946, Warren Bowersox left the 822nd Military Police Battalion in Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berline, Germany] and reported to Le Havre, France to await transport to the United States. After being discharged in New Jersey, Bowersox took a train to Pittsburgh [Annotator’s Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] and was greeted by his parents and girlfriend. Bowersox 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 enroll in agriculture courses for a year. As part of his studies, Bowersox took courses in electricity and used them to become an industrial electrician for 30 years before retiring. Bowersox’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was during his combat at Spicheren Heights [Annotator’s Note: Spicheren, France] and the number of casualties there. He fought because it was his patriotic duty. His experience changed his life, and he used his experience to move on in civilian life. His service gives him a sense of pride for his country. He does not know what Americans think of World War 2 today. He thinks most people know that America would not be what it is today without their efforts in the war. Bowersox believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.