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Stanley Cross

Elderly Stanley Cross wearing glasses, a navy blue shirt and his uniform jacket

Stanley Cross

Stanley Cross, 2007 

  • Branch of Service: United States Army
  • Military Service: Drafted, 1941

Listen to the following sections by scrolling forward to the timecode.

0:00 - Depression and drought; crop failure; WPA: CCC
1:55 - Drafted; Listened to Hitler's speeches on the radio
5:39 - Pearl Harbor; many ships sank
9:10 - Left for Africa; seasick; submarine attacks
11:52 - Trained for six months; invasion of Italy; lost 8,000 troops
18:27 - Battle of Anzio
24:50 - Dig in guns for battle; foxholes; frontline; dirty-deloused often
28:35 - No time to think, protect self; shot thousands of shells
29:43 - Many close calls; close friend killed
31:37 - Many battles; saved by infantry; found German Nazi flag; many civilians killed by German soldiers; found kids in the cellar; starving kids
37:52 - German people were friendly; SS Soldiers were not
39:03 - Had Italian friends; enjoyed beautiful churches; many placed destroyed; war terrible
41:58 - Return Home; hard to adjust
46:13 - Close to one German family
48:53 - Brought back memorabilia from the war

Independent Submission

Images Provided by Stanley Cross
Stanley Cross in uniform
torn seat cushion
Stanley Cross standing in front of a red flag with a swastika in the center.
Stanley Cross standing with a microphone in front of audience, and in front of a red flag with a swastika in the center.
Close up of Stanley Cross's dog tags
Stanley Cross group photo
Silver ID bracelet engraved with Stanley Cross and ID number
Newspaper story entitled "6th Corps Drives Through France"

Army uniform jacket laying on the table
medal pin with bird over two crossed swords
Swastika on red sash
Various uniform medals and pins
Foreign coins and bills displayed on photo album pages
Swastika patch

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