May, Donald J., 1919-2002. Oral history interview with Donald J. May, [sound recording], 1994.
Title:
Oral history interview with Donald J. May, [sound recording], 1994.
Donald May, a Fond du Lac, Wisconsin native, discusses his service with the 421st Military Police Escort Guard Company during World War II. He was born in North Saint Paul (Minnesota) but grew up in Fond du Lac (Wisconsin), graduating from high school there in 1941. May recalls hearing about the Pearl Harbor attack while working at Retlaw Hotel in Fond du Lac. People at the hotel were outraged that a "little pipsqueak country like Japan" would attack the USA, and they thought the war would be over in a weekend. May explains he took a better-paying job as a lumberjack at a Badger Ordnance Plant in Baraboo (Wisconsin) that made ammunition. In fall 1942, May started college at the University of Wisconsin but was drafted into the Army after one semester. At his induction in 1943 at Fort Sheridan (Illinois), he describes Army officers testing his German language skills. May is modest about his abilities but mentions his grandmother spoke German. He explains a large group of German-Americans from Fond du Lac, West Bend, and Milwaukee (Wisconsin) were assigned to the 421st Military Police Escort Guard Company to escort German prisoners of war. May remarks his childhood best friend, George, remained in this company with him throughout the war. May brags that the 421st Military Police Company "could speak every language in every dialect on the European continent" and mentions there were Italian-Americans in his outfit as well. May touches upon his basic training at Fort Custer (Michigan) and Camp Campbell (Tennessee) where he encountered General Patton's tank crew. May discusses his first mission: he took a train to Canada and escorted German POWs from Rommel's Africa Corps back to Camp Campbell. Next, May describes at length travelling on a ship called the "Louis Pasteur" from Nova Scotia (Canada) to Liverpool (England) in January 1944. He calls the ride "the scariest time of my thirty-three months in the service." The "Pasteur" was a French luxury liner that Hitler wanted to keep for himself after the French lost a naval battle in North Africa. But to spite Hitler, the French ran the ship to England and later Canada. According to May, Hitler sent U-boats after the "Pasteur" in the North Atlantic. The ship had been stripped of its guns and had no destroyer escort, which caused May to fear submarine attacks. Once in England, May describes Americans interacting with the British: they drank in British pubs and got into fights. He states a unit of African American troops had arrived in Liverpool before his company. May frankly discusses racial tensions between white Southern soldiers and African Americans and implies the Southerners were jealous and angry that the Black soldiers dated White English women. May comments that he witnessed "riots" between Black and White soldiers. After landing in Liverpool, May's unit went to the Midlands (England), staying in Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon. On June 2, 1944, May was moved to Portland Bill (England). He recalls watching planes take off for the D-Day attack, covering the sky "just like locusts." May describes the first and second wave of wounded soldiers returning to England after the D-Day invasion. He reveals his mission was to transport German prisoners of war across the English Channel from Normandy to England. He jokes that he volunteered for extra missions because the Navy and the Coast Guard cooked better food than the Army. May mentions his MP Company followed the 29th Infantry Division from Utah and Omaha beaches to Brest (Brittany), in search of POWs. He describes at length interactions with German prisoners of war. May portrays the captured S.S. officers as arrogant and intimidating. He tells how they accused the German-American MPs of being "traitors to the fatherland." May contrasts the "die hard" S.S. troops who were indoctrinated in Nazism from a young age with the "regular" German troops, farmers and machinists, who wanted "to get rid of this dumb war and go back home." He reveals the POWs communicated with the German Army from camp, using radios. By day, they divided the radio into several parts so the Americans could not find them, then reassembled the radio at night. May spends time discussing food: he states the German-Americans in his company disliked French and English food and mentions they replaced the American cooks in their mess hall with German POWs who made potato pancakes like their grandmothers back in Wisconsin. May also comments he went to Catholic mass with the German POWs. May frequently discusses military life and alcohol consumption among the troops. He tells a story of getting drunk one night near Caen (Normandy), which was still occupied by the Germans. His jeep got lost behind enemy lines, and May and the other MPs yelled in German as they sped through Caen, fooling the Nazis. He tells another humorous anecdote of crossing the English Channel for the first time on an escort mission; May and his buddies were nervous until, to cut the tension, troops on another ship in the convoy blew up their Army-issue condoms like balloons and floated them in the water. Next May describes guarding prisoners at a camp in Brest (France). He reports there were 38,000 POWs in Brest and only 135 MPs to guard them. May reports escape was a problem, but often prisoners would escape for a day, go to a pub in town, and return at night. May mentions a group of French Underground fighters, the Maquis, helped the MPs guard the POWs. He depicts the Maquis as "17-year-olds with burp guns" who did not conduct themselves "in a military fashion." They hid in hedgerows around the camp and jumped out at POWs who tried to enter the woods. May also reveals there were Russian prisoners of war in Brest who the Germans had used as slave labor. May portrays the Russians unfavorably, stating they were "dirty" compared to the "clean" German POWs. He claims the Russians sent boys to the fence to taunt the German prisoners, knowing "American soldiers would not stand for any brutality [towards children]." Next, May discusses sending V-mail to his family and taking leave with his friend George in Saint-Brieuc (France). He also describes traveling through Saint Malo, Le Havre, and Cherbourg and witnessing destruction in Saint-Lô and the Brittany Peninsula. In December 1944, May was sent to the Marshal Foch Barracks in Rennes (France) during the Battle of the Bulge. He recalls listening to Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas" on the radio and feeling homesick. May reports he and George were sent to a replacement depot in the Compiegne Forest (France) where they underwent more infantry training to prepare them for the Pacific Front. He explains General Ben Lear made them simulate war games, which May characterizes as dangerous; he tells of being wounded in the eye when a live hand-grenade exploded during training. May spent a month in the hospital and suffered lifelong problems and increasing loss of vision in his eye. May touches upon the psychological effects of being alone in the hospital without his buddy George and of learning he would be sent to the Pacific. In 1945, May was sent home on a thirty-day furlough. He describes arriving in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) on V-J Day, not knowing the Japanese had surrendered, and finding people dancing in the streets. Although May was not sent to the Pacific, he had to finish the last few months of his contract at Camp McCoy (Wisconsin); he was discharged in December 1945. After the war, May states he took a year off and worked part-time before returning to UW-Madison in 1946. His freshman year, May roomed with George on Langdon Street; he describes eating at Memorial Union and avoiding the rowdiness of a campus full of G.I.s. May got married in 1947 and moved to an apartment on Williamson Street. He considered himself lucky to find an apartment because most of his G.I. friends lived in the Badger trailer park by the University. May states he graduated in 1949 with a degree in sociology and criminology. He mentions using the G.I. Bill for his education, a veteran's loan to buy his first home, and VA Hospital benefits to treat his wounded eye. Finally, May says of his experience: "I was a student and carrying a gun, and I probably wouldn't know what the hell to do with it if I got caught in a tight spot."
ArchivalResource:
Sound recording : 2 sound cassettes (ca. 88 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Master sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 88 min.); analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript : 36 p.Military papers : 0.1 linear ft. (1 folder)
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