William Kracov was born in 1924 [Annotator's Note: October 1924] in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. His father owned a grocery store and his mother was a housewife. He had three younger brothers. He had a tough life attending a boy's high school during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. He graduated from high school at about 15 years of age in 1939. Kracov graduated from City College [Annotator's Note: The City College of New York, in New York, New York] earning his B.S [Annotator's Note: bachelor of science] in Chemistry before entering the U.S. Army. He heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] while in a candy store. A guy jumped up on a table and proceeded to give a long, patriotic speech. Kracov joined the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] while in school and in 1944 became the first member of his whole family to join the Army. He served in Company M, a heavy weapons company, in the 232nd of the Rainbow Division [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division]. There were machine guns and mortars that were too much for him to carry. He was so skinny that he was made a scout. He enlisted in the Army because of patriotism and because his friends were doing so. His parents were not thrilled. His brothers enlisted later after the war.

William Kracov did not particularly like basic training, but he felt prepared afterward. He sailed right to Europe on the Queen Mary [Annotator's Note: RMS Queen Mary] after training. There were 18,000 soldiers on the unescorted ship. The ship was so fast that a submarine could not catch it. He went right through England to France and joined is group there [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division]. The division moved right into Germany at that point. He was with M Company which was mortars. The Division had driven through France to the German border when he arrived. He would return to France later but had problems with the language despite being educated in French. His company was further south than those involved 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]. His company crossed a river in a rubber boat to take the town of Würzburg in Germany [Annotator's Note: the Main River in Würzburg]. As the unit proceeded, a naïve lieutenant gave directions regarding a potential mine [Annotator's Note: stationary explosive device triggered by physical contact] to avoid. Kracov saw a soldier killed as a result of that erroneous information. It was a hell of an experience to see that soldier die from having his leg and head blown off by two different mines. It was Kracov's first day in combat. His outfit fought through numerous towns in Germany. They left their mules on the hills while they battled the enemy in the towns below. Often, Kracov wished he was with the mules. They then went to Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. He would be ahead of his company and return to them when their weapons were needed in a particular location. He was too skinny to hold the .50 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun] or mortars so he was assigned to be a scout. He had a carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine] that he had occasion to use during skirmishes. Würzburg was interesting because General Collins [Annotator's Note: US Army Major General Harry John Collins, commander 42nd Infantry Division] painted a rainbow over "Heil Hitler" [Annotator's Note: a Nazi salute to German dictator Adolf Hitler].

William Kracov [Annotator's Note: as a scout for heavy weapons Company M, 3rd Battalion, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] approached Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] against limited nearby opposition near the end of the war. The 45th Infantry Division simultaneously advanced in the region. A large German camp was close. A railroad was adjacent. As Kracov neared the railcars, he saw bodies falling out of them. That was something. That sight first comes to mind whenever he thinks of Dachau. He was only there for five hours. He thought the war was over. He was surprised at what he saw even though he heard rumors about concentration camps. He went to Austria after Dachau where he taught biology. While at Dachau, Kracov saw a dead soldier. He decided to look into the soldier's wallet and saw a photograph of the dead man holding tongs gripping the ears of a dead Jew. The dead man was laughing in the photograph. It was frightening to see that a man would do something like that. He saw a lot of empty places where the Jews had been killed. It was horrible. There were 30,000 people there who wore bad clothes and looked dreary. Kracov moved on to Austria. They were told that they would be going to fight against the Japanese, but the war ended.

William Kracov entered Austria [Annotator's Note: near war's end as a scout for heavy weapons Company M, 3rd Battalion, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division]. After combat, he was assigned to teach biology in a school in Austria. The hotel and surroundings were very nice. He went to Vienna [Annotator's Note: Vienna, Austria] to obtain microscopes to help in his instruction. He traded cartons of cigarettes for ten microscopes. This was while he was still in the Army. He won a raffle to return to the United States but upon arrival found out that he would not be returning to Europe. Instead, he was sent to Camp Campbell in Kentucky [Annotator's Note: Fort Campbell in Oak Grove, Kentucky/Clarksville, Tennessee]. He taught for about a year in Austria and then taught at Camp Campbell until discharge. After separation, he went to work in a chemical company. He did not want to be in a laboratory the rest of his life, so he worked for the Naval Research and Development facility in Vale, New Jersey. He was in charge of a crew of 25 people. He did not like the Navy after two weeks following boarding an aircraft carrier. He saw a demeaning sign saying that enlisted men should stay the hell out of "Officer's Country." It was disgusting. He enjoyed the research work but that was abolished. He went to the Army and worked there for about 35 years. He was in charge of standardization for the Army. His established many close relationships with officers as they were promoted up the ranks. They relied on Kracov to fix problems that they discovered in the field. He often worked with the troops instead of the officers and insisted that program developers do so also. He received recognition and accolades as a result of his efforts including from a three-star general, General Moore [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; no given name provided]. Kracov never 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] after discharge. Kracov enjoyed doing his work. His chemistry education influenced his decision on employment. Being in the Army caused him to continue his postwar career in the service. He had no difficulty adjusting to civilian life after the war. He never dealt with any posttraumatic stress disorder issues even after seeing things during wartime.

William Kracov's most memorable experiences of World War 2 relate to being awarded two Bronze Stars [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy]. One was for his personal actions and another for unit [Annotator's Note: as a scout for Company M, 3rd Battalion, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] accomplishments. He did not think about Germans except to kill them for what they did. He paid little attention to the war in the Pacific. They were destined for the Pacific fight after war's end. He thought the atomic bombs dropped on Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] were great. Seeing Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] was hideous. It was terrible what Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] brought on. Kracov has little belief in God. He knew of no other Jews in his company. He fought in the war because it was a natural thing to do for the country. His friends were all in the Army. His brother joined the Army after the war. The war made him a man. Kracov was there when the country needed him. He is sickened by the fact that six million Jews were killed in the war. If God gave the Torah to the Jews, where was He when those people were being killed. Institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum is in New Orleans, Louisiana] are wonderful. It is important to continue to teach about World War 2, but other wars should be part of the discussion also. The World War 2 veterans are becoming fewer and fewer. The war is so long ago. Some people Kracov knows can talk in minute detail of what happened 50 years ago but cannot remember what happened yesterday.

William Kracov [Annotator's Note: as a scout for heavy weapons Company M, 3rd Battalion, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division] spoke Yiddish to liberated inmates at Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany was liberated in late April 1945]. The survivors were at the end of their trail. Kracov tried to cheer them up but his time there was limited to only five hours. He gave an unclothed inmate a jacket from a German. The 45th Infantry Division was also there during Kracov's time in Dachau. He did not see any of the German killings that the 45th perpetrated. He thought the killings were good particularly after seeing that soldier's picture [Annotator's Note: Kracov describes this in Segment 03-Liberating Dachau of this interview series]. Kracov had previously been through Munich [Annotator's Note: Munich, Germany]. He went to Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] house which was very nice. Kracov took mementos that have since been given to relatives through the years. He also brought home a German pistol which was very good. He gave it to the police department after a younger brother played with it. Kracov was a participant in getting the money for the development for MREs [Annotator's Note: meals ready to eat]. He worked with a software specialist in developing a NATO [Annotator's Note: North Atlantic Treaty Organization] standard on software development. Kracov received the Secretary of the Army Award for Valor [Annotator's Note: awarded for an act of heroism or sacrifice with voluntary risk of personal safety in the face of danger either on or off the job]. He worked as a consultant for the Department of Defense and received an award for the many projects he worked on with that organization. He also worked with small businesses as a consultant after his tenure in the Army. He enjoyed his career because of the people he worked with.