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Roy Earle, Norway “Being a Marine”
He wasted no time in volunteering for the Marines. He signed up when he was 18 and he couldn’t wait to join the fight. Roy took part in four major offensives storming islands with assault troops and setting up communications. He turned 21 sitting in a foxhole on the island of Iwo Jima.
(Duration: 1:03)
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Roy Earle, Norway “Iwo Jima ”
He had already taken part in three other invasions by the time Earle was on his way to Iwo Jima. Superiors told his Marine battalion that this would be an easy battle. But they encountered heavy fire as soon as they arrived and, two weeks later, the fighting was still fierce.
(Duration: 1:59)
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Harold Grundy, Bath “Dredging the Kennebec”
He was one of thousands of workers who came to Bath during the 1940s as the shipyards were shifting from building yachts to constructing destroyers for the war. His job was blast out rock ledges in the Kennebec River so that the destroyers could get out and into service. At 19 years of age he didn’t understand the full extent of the war, but he knew he wanted to help his country.
(Duration: 1:11)
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Harold Grundy, Bath “Convoy”
He liked water and adventure, and Grundy saw plenty of both when he joined the Merchant Marines. He was put on a Liberty Ship convoy in the North Atlantic. His ship was one of those that carried ammunition and was called the “coffin corner” of the convoy
(Duration: 2:07)
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Harold Grundy, Bath “Hospital Ship ”
As a merchant marine, he served on a number of ships that carried supplies for U.S. invasions. One of his more dangerous missions was just as General MacArthur was invading the Philippines. Grundy’s ship carried a pre-fab Army field hospital that could house 3,000 beds. His job was to help unload it all in a harbor in the middle of all the fighting.
(Duration: 2:00)
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Fred Kelly, Bath: “Crash”
Fred Kelly was a nineteen year old who had flown on a few airplane rides before he became a pilot flying supply missions in Europe. On his fifth mission, Kelly nearly died when his plane was hit and crashed in the French countryside. But the ordeal was not over. Kelly and his crewmates had to make their way across the Pyrenees in France and into Spain. (Duration: 2:00)
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Jean Dubois Robbins, South Portland: “Welder”
She went from being a 22-year-old working at a dry cleaner to a welder in the Liberty shipyards of South Portland. She quickly learned how to weld, but not how to get used to staging area heights, so she was moved down to the “flats” to weld metal before it was used in the ships. Besides making good money, she also was proud to have done something to support the war effort. (Duration: 2:00)
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Adelaide Ray, Norway: “Pearl Harbor”
She married Conrad Ray several weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was in the Army Air Corps. He was away for 15 months flying missions in the Pacific Theatre. While he was gone, Adelaide marveled at the incredible cooperative spirit on the homefront, and in this segment she reads from the diary she kept during that period. (Duration: 2:02)
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Adelaide Ray, Norway:“Letters”
She and her husband Conrad had been married just a few weeks before he was sent off to be a bomber pilot in the Pacific. Adelaide still has the letters he sent her more than 60 years ago. Her favorite one was when he joked about giving her plenty of notice about him coming home so she could get used to the idea. (Duration: 1:00)
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Sam Hamilton, Orono: “Internment”
Sam’s father was a banker in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded. He and his family were taken to a crowded internment camp for more than three years. Their Japanese captors were brutal and conditions at the camp worsened with each American victory. (Duration 1:52)
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Sam Hamilton, Orono: “Liberation”
After more than three long years in an internment camp in the Philippines with conditions getting increasingly deplorable, help was on its way. Sam was a young teenager when American troops liberated the camp. Amidst all the joy, Sam also witnessed some fellow internees violently retaliating against their Japanese captors. He offers his recollections of the day they were liberated by American forces.(Duration: 1:56)
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E. Northwood Kenway, Bass Harbor “The Bomb”
He was at a R & R camp in northern India when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. Even though it meant the end of a long horrendous war, at the time he felt he was the only one who was not happy about the bombings.
(Duration: 1:03)
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