WWII: In their own words

The stories of World War II told by the veterans who lived it.

Winner of 2017 USA TODAY Network Journalism Awards, 4th quarter, consumer engagement, 1st place
Winner of 2017 USA TODAY Network Journalism Awards, 4th quarter, digital storytelling, 1st place
Winner of 2016 USA Today Network journalism awards 4th quarter, div. III, digital storytelling, finalist
Winner of 2015 Associated Press Managing Editors awards, div. I, best video “Charles Holcomb, WWII POW”
Winner of 2015 Media Network of Central Ohio, Nov. Picasso MVP Awards

World War II veterans living in Sandusky and Ottawa counties tell their war stories, in their own words, through photojournalist Molly Corfman. Stories include surviving the D-Day invasion, B-24 crew shot down to become prisoners of war, a soldier witnessing the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, and a Navy nurse treating soldiers severely burned by oil in the salty sea.

WWII: In their own words film – 57 minutes

FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY World War II veterans of Sandusky and Ottawa counties tell their war stories, including surviving D-Day, prisoners of war shot down, horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, and treating burn victims on a hospital ship.

S/Sgt. Leo Bundschuh (Oct. 30, 1925 – June 22, 2023)

WWII, Army Air Corps, 2nd Bomb squadron, 22nd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force

Enlisted, service dates: Jan 1943 – Dec. 1945

Service number: 15128130

Leo Bundschuh, 92, of Fremont fired double .50 caliber machine guns at Japanese fighters, bombed airfields and ships while serving in WWII. He flew 37 missions in the Pacific as a gunner on a B-24.

Leo Bundschuh (Oct. 30, 1925 – ) enlisted into WWII, serving in the Army Air Corps, 2nd Bomb squadron, 22nd Bomb Group, 5th Air Force from Jan 1943 – Dec. 1945. He reached the rank of staff sergeant.

Leo Bundschuh was 17 years old when he enlisted into WWII. He was 20 years old when he was honorably discharged.

Leo Bundschuh holds a photo he took during World War II. "Sometimes we would fly what I call lose formation," he said. "We wouldn't be tight up until we got to the target."

Leo Bundschuh kept track of his 37 missions by writing them down in an address book during the war.

Leo Bundschuh served in 37 bombing missions in the Pacific over 14 months during WWII.

Leo Bundschuh holds a photo he took out of the back end in a waist gun of a B-24 in the Ballesteros, Philippines.

Leo Bundschuh said most bombing missions lasted at least 10 hours. Some lasted 24 hours, he said.

Leo Bundschuh holds a map of Southeast China he carried inside his uniform in case he was shot down.

Leo Bundschuh holds a map of Takao Harbor, Formosa, what is present day Taiwan, where Japan kept planes and ships. "We used to bomb this it seems like every week," he said.

Leo Bundschuh hold a silk map of New Guinea he kept inside his uniform in case he was shot down or crashed. "Hopefully you would know where you were," he joked. "That's the trouble with the Pacific being so big."

Leo traveled throughout the Pacific during his service in WWII. He developed jungle rot on his hands, a term used to describe conditions that resulted from an inability to stay dry. Treatment included wrapping his fingers. The condition lasted several years after his service ended.

Leo Bundschuh, 92, of Fremont ended the war as a librarian.

Sgt. Robert Parman (May 12, 1924 – Nov. 10, 2021)

WWII, 15th Army, 868th Field Artillery Battalion, 65th Infantry Division

Drafted, service dates: March 2, 1943 – April 11, 1946

Service number: 35548336

Robert Parman, 93, of Fremont witnessed the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp while serving as a truck driver in the U.S. Army’s 868th Field Artillery Battalion for 15 months in Europe.

Robert Parman (May 12, 1924 – ) was drafted into WWII, serving in the 15th Army, 868th Field Artillery Battalion, 65th Infantry Division from March 2, 1943 – April 11, 1946. He reached the rank of sergeant.

Robert Parman, far right, was 18 years old when he was drafted into WWII. He was 21 years old when he was honorably discharged.

Robert Parman shows keepsakes from his service in WWII.

After WWII, a German woman wrote Robert Parman's family, asking if he survived the war. Parman had stayed in herehouse in while serving in Treffurt, Germany.

Robert Parman holds a 75 caliber for anti-aircraft shell he kept from his service in World War II.

Robert Parman witnessed the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp during his service in WWII.

Robert Parman witnessed the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp during his service in WWII. He said a deputy clerk took photos and gave him a set. He said he was not allowed to take a camera.

Robert Parman served in the 65th Infantry Division during WWII.

Robert Parman took a Nazi armbands from a German home he stayed in during World War II.

Robert Parman, bottom row middle, was 18 years old when he was drafted into WWII. He was 21 years old when he was discharged.

Robert Parman, middle, was 18 years old when he was drafted into WWII. He was 21 years old when he was discharged.

Sgt. Robert Parman (May 12, 1924 – ) was drafted into WWII, serving in the 15th Army, 868th Field Artillery Battalion, 65th Infantry Division from March 2, 1943 – April 11, 1946.

S/Sgt. Mervin Rose (Jan. 1, 1922 – Jan. 17, 2019)

WWII, U.S. Army, 394th Signal Company Aviation

Drafted, service dates: Nov. 3, 1942 – Dec. 15, 1944

Mervin Rose, 95, of Port Clinton survived the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. He and 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beach at Normandy, France, in what was considered a turning point of World War II in Europe. Rose served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, maintaining radios, transmitting and receiving code.

Mervin Rose (Jan. 1, 1922 – Jan. 17, 2019) was drafted into WWII, serving in the U.S. Army, 394th Signal Company Aviation from Nov. 3, 1942 – Dec. 15, 1944. He reached the rank of staff sergeant.

Mervin Rose was 20 years old when he drafted into WWII, and 22 years old when he was honorably discharged. He is pictured with his friend, Howard Kirian, and both lived in Fostoria at the time.

Cpl. Richard Willer (Jan. 21, 1925 – June 12, 2021)

WWII, 15th Marines, 11th Defense Battalion, 6th Marine Division

Drafted, service dates: Oct. 23, 1945 – Nov. 11, 1946

Richard Willer, 91, of Lindsey served in the U.S. Marine Corps 6th Division during World War II. Willer fired a 105 howitzer, his gun section the first in a battery of four guns trained to move together.

Willer, left, fired a 105 howitzer in Okinawa during World War II. The 6th Marine Division fired all through the night, and each night hundreds of shells piled up.

"I was awful lucky," Willer said. He said he was standing in front of a wall and bent over to pick something up. "Just as I did the machine gun hit where I was standing. They had me lined up," he said.

Willer fired a 105 howitzer, at the end of the night saw hundreds of shells pile up from constant shooting.

Willer said he would curl up and sleep next to shells which were warm after being fired.

Willer holds bullets from a .50 Caliber Machine Gun, which he fired before assigned to the howitzer.

Willer kept his eating utensils he carried throughout World War II.

Willer's initials are carved in the handle of the knife he carried during the war.

Willer kept a letter he wrote and sent home during World War II.

Willer fired up surrender pamphlets with the artillery, encouraging military and civilians to surrender.

Willer, second from left, was not allowed a camera during World War II. He had his parents send him a camera after the war ended.

Willer was told to keep his clothes clean, so if he shot and wounded, the dirt and sweat from the clothing wouldn't infect the wound.

Willer served in the 6th Marine Division, a division most people don't know existed. The division was formed in Guadalcanal and disbanded in China.

Willer's medals awarded for serving in World War II, from left, China and the Pacific.

Willer crossed the equator and 180th meridian on a ship during his service in World War II.

Willer shows his dress helmet he kept from World War II.

Standing on a sandbag near the edge of the howitzer gun, an airburst exploded above him and a piece of shrapnel cut his pants and a slash into his leg.

PFC Carl Cooley (Jan. 7, 1925 – Nov. 2, 2018)

WWII, 26th Infantry, Div. 101st Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion Co. K

Drafted, service dates: Jun. 7, 1943 – Feb 11, 1946

Carl Cooley, 91, of Fremont served in the U.S. Army 26th Infantry Division during World War II. He got a deferment to finish high school, and less than a week after receiving his diploma, he was in the army. During the day, Cooley hid in foxholes from constant enemy fire. He served as a rifleman and carried an M1 gun, following General George Patton’s 4th Armored Division.

Cooley served as a rifleman and carried an M1 gun.

Cooley describes the trenches he served in as cold and wet from rain. Without change of shoes for weeks, he had what was known as "trench foot." Soldiers during World War II wore high top shoes, in a time before combat boots.

The first day of attacks, Cooley's division lost several men.

Cooley's division followed General Patton's 4th Armored Division.

A close call came for Cooley when a sniper hidden in a church steeple put a bullet through his helmet. He was shot at but not injured.

After recovering from injury at a hospital in France for two weeks, Cooley served working on a mimeograph machine in England.

Lt. Alice Miller (NC) USN (Jan. 20, 1921 – )

WWII, U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, USS Solace (AH-5)

Enlisted, service dates: Jan. 1943 – July 1947

Service number: 232340

Alice Miller, 95, of Old Fort tells her experience serving in the Navy Nurse Corps during World War II on the USS Solace. Miller made seven trips on the Navy hospital ship from Okinawa to Guam on a ship transported over 400 patients. “These were just kids,” Miller says to describe her patients aged mostly 18-20 years old. Miller treated patients in the burn unit. Men were injured after kamikaze planes dove into ships that exploded, tossing them into the sea and burning oil.

After graduating from the Toledo School of Nursing, Alice Miller enlisted in the Navy.

Miller served aboard USS Solace, a ship that transported over 400 patients from Okinawa and Guam to the base hospital.

"These were just kids," Miller says to describe her patients mostly 18-20 years old.

Miller treated patients in the burn unit. Men were injured after kamikaze planes dove into ships that exploded, tossing the men into the sea and burning oil.

Initially at night, the lighted hospital ship would sail out to sea, as hospitals were not supposed to be attacked. But, after Miller's ship was attacked it stayed with the fleet.

Sgt. Jim McGrady (June 28, 1918 – Oct. 27, 2016)

WWII, U.S. Army Air Forces, 425th Base Unit at Santa Ana, Calif.

Ohio National Guard, Company B, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division

Enlisted, Army National Guard, service dates: 1936 – 1940
Drafted, WWII, service dates: Feb. 25, 1942 – Nov. 27, 1945

WWII service number: 35286756

Jim McGrady, 97, of Fremont tells his experience in the World War II Air Force, having near-death experiences and meeting famous people. He trained hundreds of aerial gunners and earned his Silver Wings as an armament specialist and nose gunner on a Liberator B-24 bomber crew. He saved lives on two separate training flights, and met a famous athlete and a famous actress.

WWII veteran Jim McGrady, 97, of Fremont, shown in a photo from 1944, flew a B-24 Bomber during WWII.

Jim McGrady shown in a photo from 1938, when he served in the infantry from 1936 to 1939.

Jim McGrady holds a picture of himself from 1938, when he served in the infantry from 1936 to 1939.

Jim McGrady holds a picture of himself from 1942 when he served in field artillery during WWII.

Jim McGrady holds a picture of himself from 1944 when he used to fly a B-24 Bomber.

Jim McGrady stands in front of the Old Armory where he trained for his service.

Jim McGrady trained hundreds of aerial gunners and earned his Silver Wings as an armament specialist and nose gunner on a Liberator B-24 bomber crew.

Jim McGrady stands in front of the Old Armory in Fremont where he trained for his service.

S/Sgt. Charles Holcomb (Oct. 14, 1923 – July 20, 2019)

WWII, 8th Air Force, 2nd Air Division, 389th Bomb Group, 566th Squadron

Enlisted, service dates: 1942 – 1945

Charles Holcomb, 92, of Helena spent 11-and-a-half months as a POW in German prison camp during WWII, after his B-24 bomber was shot down. As a prisoner of WWII, he was taken in the forced “Death March Across Germany” which many did not make it through. He barely survived starvation and frostbite through the harsh conditions of winter in Germany. He slept in the snow, enduring dysentery and illness, at times so sick he couldn’t walk, losing 50 pounds and weighing just over 100, barely alive at the end.

Charles Holcomb, 92, World War II Air Force veteran and prisoner of war, holds a picture of himself at 19 years old.

Charles Holcomb displays his metals in his home next to a photograph of himself during his service in WWII.

Charles Holcomb kept the silverware he used in prison camp during WWII.

A Russian prisoner made Charles Holcomb this cigarette case from aircraft aluminum in exchange for food. Earlier, the photo of his future wife of 70 years and niece was confiscated inside a matchbook by an interrogator, who returned only the photo.

A prisoner from Iowa taught Charles Holcomb how to knit this cap he made in prison camp from an unraveled sweater.

The purple heart awarded to Charles Holcomb for his service during WWII.

Charles Holcomb's metals from his service during WWII.

Charles Holcomb's WWII 8th Air Force patch.

Charles Holcomb served three years in the U.S. Air Force during WWII.

Charles Holcomb, bottom row far right, with his crew in front of a B-24 bomber in a photo from 1944.

T/5 Walter Auxter (Dec. 15, 1919 – March 17, 2020)

WWII, Army 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Division

Drafted, service dates: Feb. 25, 1942 – Oct. 29, 1945

Service number: 35286715

Walter Auxter, 95, of Clyde tells his experience in the U.S. Army during World War II, driving ammunition to troops at night and rations during the day, serving as an infantryman in the Army’s 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Division.

Walter Auxter's metals and honors, ribbon bars with stars, combat infantry badge and 44th division patch.

The USS General W. H. Gordon, the troop transport ship that took Walter Auxter to Cherbourg, France, next to his ribbon bars with stars from WWII.

Walter Auxter in his early 20s, shortly after he was drafted, at home before left for basic training in Washington state.

Walter Auxter holds a copy of his honorable discharge certificate.

Walter Auxter was awarded The Bronze Star Medal for his service in a combat zone.

Walter Auxter, 95, was drafted 10 days after registering, and served in the U.S. Army delivering rations and supplies to troops in Europe.

Lt. Col. Harold H. Brown (Aug. 19, 1924 – Jan. 12, 2023)

WWII, U.S. Army Air Corps, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force

Enlisted, service dates: Dec. 26, 1942 – May 31, 1965

Service number: AO-830783

Harold H. Brown, 91, of Catawba Island shares his experience in the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American military pilots fighting in World War II. After his plane was shot down, he nearly escaped death when taken as a prisoner of war and threatened by a group of angry villagers.

Harold H. Brown holds a model of the P-51 C Mustang, the plane he flew as a WWII combat fighter in Europe.

Harold H. Brown received the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2007 for their service during WWII.

Harold H. Brown looks at the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen he received at the United States Capitol in 2007.

Harold H. Brown stands next to honors he received for his service as a Tuskegee Airman combat fighter in WWII.

Harold H. Brown shows a model of the P-51 C Mustang, the plane he flew as a combat fighter in Europe.

Harold H. Brown displays honors he received for his service as a Tuskegee Airman combat fighter in WWII.

SK1c James Reardon V-6 USNR (Sept. 21, 1925 – Jan. 4, 2021 )

WWII, U.S. Navy, USS Mellette (APA-156)

Enlisted, service dates Sept. 1943 – May 1946

Service number: 7234963

James Reardon, 90, of Fremont shares his experience as a store keeper first class on a U.S. Navy troop transport ship serving in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. He served as a Navy storekeeper aboard the USS Mellette, a 450-foot-long troop attack transport ship. He witnessed the aftermath in Nagasaki, where the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb and hastened the end of the war, and he watched from his ship as the Japanese formally surrendered in Tokyo Bay.

Hanging in James Reardon's home is a photo of the USS Mellette APA-156, the attack transport ship he brought back to the states after the surrender. “Our ship was in pretty bad shape,” Reardon said.

James Reardon displays certificates for crossing the equator and the international dateline along with other naval awards.

James Reardon holds the card he was issued after honorably discharged. “You used to have to carry those,” Reardon said.

James Reardon holds his dog tags from WWII with a piece of shrapnel he found on the deck of his ship.

James Reardon keeps his dog tags from WWII, a piece of shrapnel he found on the deck of his ship, and money from WWII in a box.

James Reardon’s identification for the Mare Island Naval Shipyard next to Japanese money.

James Reradon holds his Selective Service System registration certificate.

James Reardon's navy rank insignia from WWII.

James Reardon, 90, served in World War II on a U.S. Navy troop transport ship in the Pacific Ocean.

Promo video

From a Navy hospital ship nurse, to an infantry solider deep in the trenches and a Marine showing relics from the war, the stories of World War II come to life told by the veterans who lived it.

Promo video

From surviving the D-Day invasion, to witnessing the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, and a gunner’s recounting of 37 bombing missions, the stories of World War II come to life as told by the veterans who lived it.

Judges comments

“You hear it every year: Someone should record the stories of World War II survivors before they are gone. Photojournalist Molly Corfman did just that. And while that alone is a worthwhile endeavor, Corfman and The News-Messenger at Fremont took that a step further and used it as a chance engage with the community they serve, elevating The News-Messenger’s brand in the process. Documentaries and film screenings aren’t what you expect from a local newspaper of this size. That didn’t stop them from pushing forward and executing a marketing strategy around the event. They did everything from a social media push across multiple platforms to handing out physical posters at local schools. The result was a 57-minute documentary screening and Q&A session with some of the film’s subjects at the Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont. Events such as these are no easy undertaking, and Fremont proves that a news outlet of any size can successfully pull off this type of event in their community.”
-2017 USA TODAY Network Journalism Awards, 4th quarter, consumer engagement, 1st place

“An impressive look at the thoughts of war – and life – with the addition of three new veterans to a series that’s carried by its video interviews. The centerpiece is a 57-minute documentary that was shown as part of a community event that included six of the veterans featured in the film. An excellent example of connecting great journalism with the community it serves.”
-2017 USA TODAY Network Journalism Awards, 4th quarter, digital storytelling, 1st place

“The reporter and photojournalist were wise enough to know when to back off and let the stories flow naturally from the vets’ mouths themselves in this three-part series. It was emotional, poignant and made these stories from a dying generation accesible to everyone. Compelling, powerful work.”
-Winner of 2016 USA Today Network journalism awards 4th quarter, div. III, digital storytelling, finalist

“Great video to go along with an amazing story. Well done, featuring raw emotion and detail.”
-2015 Associated Press Managing Editors awards, div. I, best video “Charles Holcomb, WWII POW”