Harold S. Madsen, Pleasant Grove, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, September 6, 2002: Saving the Legacy tape nos. 530-532

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H ROLD .MADE PT MB R6 2002 BB: Not that you really saw them. HSM: And I think maybe if you had become isolated there might be a reason for om heroics. But my experience was that the war that I fought in didn't make for much heroism. I suppose the closest thing to heroism was moving forward toward an enemy that wanted to kill you. And you just keep going. And you know that it's a dangerous thing to do. Of course, you don't think ... the label hero or heroism doesn't seem the point. BB: Yes, I think you described it quite well. You had quite a list there. Are there other specific instances that you wanted to bring up? Is there any other certain firefights that you got in? HSM: There were amusing things that happened here. The Gis would go out of their way to find amusing things. Like I told you onboard ship when the steps were so slippery and so forth, they would find that delightful. And there would be in combat, we were being shelled when a guy had to relieve himself and we all dropped into what we had as a hole there and I looked over and his rear end was sticking out, bare as can be, and it was just sort of amusing. And I thought-it was dangerous because it could have got shot off-but any rate he was right in the midst of his responsibility. And so there were times like that that were kind of humorous. I was one time-this isn't for publication, of course-I was relieving myself, this was early on, probably when we were either in Luxembourg or Belgium, and an older man-he seemed ancient to me; he could have been my age that I am now-came rushing over to me and there I was seated the best way I could out behind the bushes and he was shaking my hand, patting me on the back, jabbering away in French or something. I thought, I may laugh at this at some time in the future, but this is ridiculous. Even the 71