Weldon Fruge was born in January 1925 in Eunice, Louisiana. His parents were sharecroppers, moving from farm to farm about every other year. Fruge was the sixth of seven children in his family, and had two brothers and four sisters. He was a young boy during the Great Depression, and although the family would have been considered poor, Fruge said they didn't know any better. When he was 15 years old his father died, and he quit junior high school to work on the farm. Fruge said he heard about Pearl Harbor, but didn't know much about the political situation at the time. Fruge knew he would have to go into the armed services sooner or later, and he was drafted into the Army in March 1943.

When he was drafted, Weldon Fruge wasn't excited about leaving his home and family, but he traveled to Fort Knox, Kentucky for boot camp. After boot camp, he says he was assigned to the 45th Division, armored infantry, and sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He trained in driving half-tracks and tanks. Information was not forthcoming about his mission, and Fruge said he just had to do what he was told. He sailed to Italy where he was issued an M-1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M-1 rifle, also referred to as the M-1 Garand] and retrained as a foot soldier. He took part in the invasions of Italy, and southern France. They disembarked LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] into knee-high water carrying all their equipment and Fruge said he walked across France, from Sainte-Maxime to Epinal. Fruge said the fighting wasn't any fun. After clearing all the cities of France, they marched into Alsace-Lorraine, ending up near Dachau, Germany. From there he went to Berlin, fighting every foot of the way.

While Weldon Fruge was in France, he served with C Company of the 180th Infantry Regiment [Annotator's Note: Company C, 1st Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division] as a French interpreter. He is fluent in French and can read and write that language. He could also speak a little German, which was helpful when his division crossed the border. Fruge recalls taking town by town, and always looking for the next place to fight. He remembers it being very cold during his first front line battle, and how the soldiers were jumping into deep foxholes to hide. Fruge remarked that of the two years he was in Europe, he was on the front for about 13 months. He was issued a BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] and the higher fire power put him at greater risk. He noted that while fighting in France, the Americans were joined by the French Moroccans, and the combat was dog-eat-dog. He also mentioned that as a young man, he liked looking at the ladies. Fruge said he was "growing up," and came to enjoy his work. Once separated from the service, however, Fruge didn't give it much thought. Fruge thinks he was very lucky, and that God was on his side, because he was never hit.

At 90 years old, Weldon Fruge says he still has flashbacks that keep him up at night. He said he lived the war from day to day. Fruge remembers the European people and countryside being beautiful, especially in France. He said he joined the service because he needed the money, and because it was "more or less an education." Fruge came back to the United States a couple of months after the war ended in Europe, and went to work in the rice fields of Louisiana. He got married in 1945, and the union lasted until his first wife died about 14 years before this interview [Annotator's Note: interview conducted on 8 July 2015]. Later, he was employed in the offshore oil field industry for 38 years.

Weldon Fruge can now speak four different languages, including sign language. He has mingled with people all his life, and contends that to this day he is not certain that he killed anyone during the war. The range of the BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] was such that he could not see the results of his fire, and he said he never stood and shot somebody and watched him fall. Fruge said they never did tell him what he was fighting for; he just knew he was fighting for the Americans. It was only a few years of his life. Now it's just a faint memory.

Weldon Fruge credits the war with teaching him how to get along with people, and he thinks it was a good thing for a young man to do. He and his first wife produced three children, one of whom died in his youth, which was hard for Fruge to bear. He has been careful of his own health, and sometimes suffers as a result of hardships endured during his Army career. He believes young people need institutions like The National WWII Museum to teach them about the nation's history. He fought in the war and came home, had a good job, and has enjoyed his life.