Donald C. Pechacek, a Trimbell, Wisconsin native, discusses his service in the 2nd Ranger Battalion in Europe during World War II. Pechacek speaks of growing up on a farm during the Great Depression and recalls hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor. He tells of registering and volunteering for the draft, passing through Fort Sheridan (Illinois), basic training at Camp Livingston (Louisiana), and assignment to the 109th Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. He explains he was a good shot. Pechacek comments on other people from his area who enlisted at the same time and enjoying the adventure of serving in the Army. He recalls the men he trained with being from all over the country but generally from poorer, less-educated families. Sent to Carrabelle (Florida), he talks about some men who drowned in a storm during amphibious training. Pechacek discusses hitting rough weather while crossing the Atlantic aboard a troop ship, landing in Cardiff (Wales), and marching to Island Farm Camp. He speaks about volunteering for the Rangers, the roughness of the training, and the high drop out rate. Pechacek mentions he wanted to join the Rangers because, since the 28th Division was run by the Pennsylvania National Guard, if you weren't a Pennsylvania boy you weren't in the clique. He discusses socializing with the British and meeting his future wife. Pechacek touches on returning to Europe in the 1960s and having forgotten most of the place names he'd been to. He details training on cliffs in Dover, boarding the H.M.S. Ben Machree for the invasion of France, being told the D-Day invasion was cancelled indefinitely, and the morale aboard ship when they were told the next day to prepare for landing. Pechacek states the D-Day landing was the only time he was ever scared. After going ashore in landing craft, he talks about being one of the first people to reach the top of the cliff at Pointe du Hoc, advancing alone to his assigned target, and backtracking to rejoin his unit. He tells of firing over the heads of an American patrol, having a sprained ankle, and making slower progress than planned for. After passing through Grandcamp and Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Pechacek speaks of hauling German prisoners by truck to the beaches. He discusses fighting at Brest for twenty-one days. Pechacek explains having difficulties working with the French Forces of the Interior, tells of working with them to capture Bayonne (France), and gives examples of the strike-and-run tactics his unit used. At Castle Hill 400 in Bergstein (Germany), he talks about being wounded by shrapnel, getting help from a buddy to an aid station, being in a French hospital for five weeks, and missing the Battle of the Bulge. Returned to his unit, Pechacek discusses crossing the Rhine with the 102nd Cavalry, encountering little resistance after three weeks, and witnessing Buchenwald concentration camp. He portrays the destruction he saw of Germany's cities and infrastructure, being in Pilsen (Czechoslovakia) on V-E Day, bringing in German civilians for interrogation, and the general attitude of the German people. Pechacek comments on his unit's refusal to accept surrendering Germans, partly out of retaliation for the Malmedy massacre. On April 27th, near the end of the war, he tells of his unit being led into a German ambush from which they were lucky to escape. After V-E Day, he talks about staying in apartments in Pilsen until an incident caused his unit to get kicked out, and afterwards spending the summer in pup tents in Dobřany, training for the invasion of Japan. After the war in Japan ended, Pechacek tells of being shipped back to the States, being discharged, and getting a job right away. He tells of asking his wife to marry him by letter, working with immigration employees to have her qualified as a war bride and admitted to the country, and getting married the day after she flew in. He talks about being unable to get a high-enough GI Bill loan for farmland, being encouraged by a veterans service officer to make a health claim, getting a ten percent disability pension, and using the VA hospital in Minneapolis. Pechacek mentions being an inactive member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Disabled American Veterans, and he discusses attending Ranger Battalion Association reunions.
