| Title |
Melvin S. Larsen, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, May 7, 2005: Saving the legacy tape no. 724 |
| Alternative Title |
Melvin S. Larsen, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Larsen, Melvin S., 1922-2013 |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2005-05-07 |
| Date Digital |
2015-09-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
Denmark; Belgium; France; Germany; Czechoslovakia; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States |
| Subject |
Larsen, Melvin S., 1922-2013--Interviews; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Military operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
ROTC; D-Day |
| Description |
Transcript (29 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Melvin S. Larsen on May 7, 2005. This is from tape number 724 in the "Saving the Legacy Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Melvin S. Larsen (b. 1922) details his genealogy and family history. His father served as a Mission President in Denmark for the LDS Church and Larsen received his primary education in Danish schools. He attended West High in Salt Lake City and was in ROTC before being drafted into the army. He was assigned to the 87th Infantry Division and was part of the D-Day invasion. He fought in Belgium, France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. He received five Purple Hearts and returned to the United States in 1945. 29 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
29 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s63797x8 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1018438 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s63797x8 |
| Title |
Page 17 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1018424 |
| OCR Text |
Show MEL VI .LAR EN MA 7 200 Ea t Coast or West Coast?" "Well closer to the East Coast but it s in between. What' on the West Coast? What's on the East Coast?" These are questions I'm firing to him to find out whether he's a general or do I pull the trigger. "Are you familiar with baseball?' "Yes, baseball." "Who's on the Yankee team? Who's pitching?" All these are questions and some of them he answered and some of them he didn't. He didn't know. "Well, I guess you passed the test so I guess you're a general. How did you get up here from the rear echelon?" "Well, my jeep's about a mile behind me and my orderly because if I don't show up pretty quick he's supposed to come looking for me." So the orderly showed up on the jeep with four stars on it. I says, "Okay, you're going back that way. You're not going this way. You'll probably get stopped another two or three miles back." "You mean you're the first one to stop me and I'm going to have the same thing?" I says, "You're going to have it all the way back until you get back to regimental headquarters. They'll know you and I don't. I'm not taking any chances." After two hours of shelling, they finally let up and his orderly came up and got him. I didn't see him anymore until about a year later. I was in a hospital in Paris, France with an injury and he came through passing out purple hearts. He says to his colonels, there was an orderly on either side of him, "Here's that SOB that put a machine gun to my stomach and flipped off the safety and threatened to kill me." I says, "Yeah, you remember me." He says, "Sarge, how many purple hearts have you got?" I said, "I've got five. I don't need another one." So he put it down. "You know, you get five points for every one of those purple hearts. You've been in combat for over a year. You've got enough points to get out. I'll give you two options; one, I'll give you a full colonel battlefield commission or I'll fly you back to New York and you'll walk in the victory parade that they've got 16 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s63797x8/1018424 |
