| Title |
William H. Thompson, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Winston P. Erickson, January 19, 2001: Saving the Legacy tape nos. 137 & 138 |
| Alternative Title |
William H. Thompson, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Thompson, William H., 1918-2001 |
| Contributor |
Erickson, Winston P., 1943-; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2001-01-19 |
| 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 |
Denmark; Hawaii; England; France; Germany |
| Subject |
Thompson, William H., 1918-2001--Interviews; Veterans--Utah--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Military operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Artillery operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American; Latter Day Saint missionaries--Denmark; Dachau (Concentration camp); Germany--History--1945-1955 |
| Keywords |
Great Depression; National Guard; Island defense; Honolulu; 515th Field Artillery Battalion; Dachau; Allied occupation of Germany; Military engineers; Hill Field |
| Description |
Transcript (75 pages) of an interview by Winston Erickson with William H. Thompson on January 19, 2001. From tape numbers 137 and 138 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Thompson (b. 1918) discusses his family, the Depression and schooling. He joined the National Guard at age sixteen. He recalls experiences in Europe before being evacuated back to the US. Thompson was reactivated in the Guard as a supply sergeant with the 145th Field Artillery, the 40th Infantry Division, in January 1941. He was shipped to Hawaii after Pearl Harbor for island defense. He was later returned to Camp Roberts to lead training and was then reassigned to the 515th Field Artillery Battalion and shipped to England and later crossed the channel, landing on Utah Beach in September 1944. He entered battle near the French/German border. He describes his activities and occupation duty in Dachau before discharge in 1945. He joined the National Guard in Utah and was called up for active duty during the Korean War, where he served stateside and in Germany in the 115th Engineering Battalion. Discharged in 1954, he was called up again during the Cuban Missile Crisis for one year. Mr. Thompson continued active in the National Guard and served as Assistant Adjutant General of the Guard for Utah. He worked in civilian positions at Hill Field for eighteen years before retiring. Interviewed by Winston Erickson. 75 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
75 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/s6t74khn |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945); Military operations, Artillery--American; Dachau (Concentration camp); Mormon missionaries--Denmark |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1035110 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6t74khn |
| Title |
Page 40 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1035074 |
| OCR Text |
Show WILLIAM H. THOMP 0 J R 19 20 1 mile an hour fa ter than the fa te tAllied production fighter and what few 1 ere available before the end of the war took a deadly toll on the Allied bomber fleet . If Hitler had Me 262s in quantity a year earlier, he could easily have swept the Allied Air Forces from the skies. Allied jet planes, then in development, were years behind. The Russian MIG-15 and American F-86 Saber jets of the Korean War were both direct descendents of captured Me 262s.] BILL: Or whatever that was. It was the next day when we heard a couple of these fly. The sound-we didn't realize what the sound was-it sounded like a freight train in the distance. Then we saw these two aircraft streaking by. Well, we came up to the City of Wurttemburg and we crossed on panel bridges into a burning city. They had bombed it with the incendiary bombs. We passed through the city with buildings burning on either side of the roadway. Then we got on the long roadway that went directly to Nuremberg. We were pulled off the highway just on some open fields where we didn't have any cover at all. We had trucks and men and guns and tractors everywhere just out in the open. All of a sudden, here came two ME-l 09's down this little narrow valley. Our batteries were in a line. Instead of being spread out, we were in a line, batteries A, B, C. I was in Battery B, in the center. Well, these two aircraft came whizzing by and they were firing their machine guns as they went by. I could see the slugs hitting the dirt around us. We all shouted "take cover." We just did the best we could with whatever little depression we could find. Nobody was hit. We saw them coming on, again and yelled, "Oh, they're coming for another pass!" 40 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6t74khn/1035074 |
