Bonzelet, a Madison, Wisconsin resident, discusses his service as a Squadron Ordnance Sergeant with the 33rd Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Corps in Iceland and Europe during World War II. Bonzelet grew up on a farm in South Dakota near the Minnesota border. He illustrates the difficulties of growing up in the Great Depression and explains that dust storms, drought, and grasshoppers plagued South Dakota farmers. Bonzelet states he worked for Badger Ordnance before World War II broke out. He was inducted into the Army Air Corps at Fort Snelling (Minnesota). He touches upon his boot camp and training, which took him to the Mojave Desert (California), Oregon, and Massachusetts. Bonzelet humorously relates how he was promoted to corporal and attached to an Aircraft Ordnance unit, despite having no prior experience in munitions. Also, he speaks fondly of a Sergeant Taylor who took him under his wing and taught him about small arms aircraft weaponry. Bonzelet describes his deployment to Iceland with the 33rd Fighter Squadron. The seas were choppy and the convoy had to evade German submarines. Six of the 350 ships in the convoy were lost. Once in Iceland, Bonzelet's duties included transporting supplies and manning the store. He briefly describes interactions with the Stukas, a group of ethnic Norwegians living in Iceland. Bonzelet mentions the Stukas bought things from the Army store on credit and ate very small potatoes. Next, Bonzelet recalls how Sergeant Taylor was killed in a jeep accident in the mountains of Iceland while they were both on a mission to transport aircraft weaponry. When the team returned to base, Bonzelet was promoted to Sergeant and became the ranking Ordnance man. As Sergeant, he was present on the ground when the 33rd Fighter Squadron shot down a German aircraft. After Iceland, Bonzelet was transferred to England and assigned to an infantry unit where he underwent more training. He mentions ironically that he was recruited into the Medical Corps, despite a lack of medical training, because the Army needed more medics. Bonzelet describes how he was shot in the leg while transporting a stretcher on the frontlines in France. He was sent back to a hospital in England to recover. Bonzelet spends much time describing the wounds and behavior of the other patients. He reveals soldiers snuck out of the hospital and went to the bar with borrowed passes. Bonzelet addresses race relations, describing how a racist White soldier serving under him at the Ordnance store refused to serve alongside a Black soldier. He also addresses regional differences and recalls a Southern soldier telling him that his views on Northerners had softened since joining the Army. The Southerner told Bonzelet it was "too bad we [had] to go through something like this" to become friends. Following his discharge from the hospital and a brief stay in a replacement depot, Bonzelet was put in charge of an Ordnance shop in Germany where he supervised German prisoners. Bonzelet states he spoke German and often served as an interpreter when his commanding officers needed to read maps and get directions in Germany. He touches upon interactions between the German POWs working in the Ordnance store and the Americans. After a total of three years in the Army without any leave or visits home, Bonzelet was discharged on points and mustered out at Fort Sheridan (Wisconsin). Following the war, he worked as a carpenter, construction worker, bartender, and employee in an atomic plant in Washington. He states he joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion but never paraded with them because: "I paraded while I was still over in France... I was sick of that parading business." Bonzelet received a ten percent disability benefit from the V.A. and earned a Purple Heart for his leg wound. Throughout the interview, he describes relations between Noncommissioned Officers and Commissioned Officers, and he tells several stories of men who were unfit for service being drafted to fill Army quotas. He also speaks somewhat dismissively about the record-keeping he was required to do of munitions storage stocks in the Ordnance store. Finally, Bonzelet reflects upon the benefits and dangers of his time in the Army, stating he is "almost disappointed when people go to join the Army so they can get an education. I think they would be better off if they would borrow the money and earn that back instead of spending three years in the Army."
