| Title |
John H. Dinkelman, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Benjamin J. Bahlmann, October 10, 2002: Saving the Legacy tape no. 604 |
| Alternative Title |
John H. Dinkelman, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Dinkelman, John H., 1924-2011 |
| Contributor |
Bahlmann, Benjamin J.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2002-10-10 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| 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 |
England, United Kingdom; France; Belgium; Czechoslovakia; Japan; Turkey; Vietnam |
| Subject |
Dinkelman, John H., 1924-2011--Interviews; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; 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; Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945--Personal narratives, American; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American |
| Keywords |
Tanks (Military science); D-Day; Battle of the Bulge |
| Description |
Transcript (83 pages) of an interview by Benjamin J. Bahlmann with John H. Dinkelman on October 10, 2002. From tape number 604 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Dinkelman (b. 1924) was born in Den Helder, Netherlands. He discusses his family, immigration to the U.S., the Depression, working and school. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and received basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, prior to being assigned to the 741st Tank Battalion, A Company, at Fort Meade, Maryland. Dinkelman was sent to the Desert Training Center near Indio, California, then received more training in Louisiana at Camp Pope. Although he traveled to England prior to the invasion, he was detained and missed the actual D-Day invasion, but rejoined his unit on the Continent. He describes his combat activity and duties. During the Bulge, he was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and was lhis return to the U. S. following the war. He was separated at Fort Douglas, Utah, then reenlisted in the Army and served in Japan, skippering army boats on MP patrols. Dinkelman Stayed in Reserves until he applied for active duty again as a warrant officer in Vietnam, where he delivered materiel by boats. He continued in active duty several more years before retiring. In civilian life he worked as a machinist. Interviewed by Benjamin Bahlmann. 83 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
83 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/s6v42x85 |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Ardennes, Battle of the (1944-1945); Vietnam War (1961-1975) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1028447 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6v42x85 |
| Title |
Page 69 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1028431 |
| OCR Text |
Show JOH H. DI K LMA 10 B R 2002 JHD: Op n up.' The German come down petrified with his family. W d lin th m up in the kitchen put one of them kids with the grease gun, 45 submachine gun. And th y' d go into the basement and they'd have these sausages hanging from the [ceiling] ... and barrels of sauerkraut. I'm sure there were other foods in there. And bottles of schnapps. One drink called spiritus, which has about twice the potent value of schnapps, very strong. Oh, and eggs, they had eggs in there. So we'd take as much as we could carry back to where that quarry with the people and give the kids. We only had ten-in-one rations on the tank and we wanted to save them for us because we had no idea how long we would be. So those poor people got to eat raw eggs, break off pieces of that sausage. We never did shoot the Germans, but we did take their food. We did that several nights. BJB: Did you go to several farmhouses a night? JHD: Well, either that or one farmhouse a night, I forget now. But I know we would take food from their basement and take it back to that quarry. It was just the five of us, you know, and one of us had to stay back with the tank. Sometimes two would stay back with the remainder. We'd take some of these young boys. BJB: Were they in bad shape? Did they look like they'd been there a while? JHD: Yes, they worked them hard. They worked them in that quarry. I guess you put women trying to move boxes of granite, or whatever the stone was. BJB: So you were there for a couple of days? JHD: Yes, finally one of those tank dragons come, pulled us up with a cable, put us on the trailer, you know, and then away we went. We followed in our Opels till we burned them up. BJB: Now the Opels came from the guys who were fleeing? 68 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6v42x85/1028431 |
