Title
Harold Geisinger interview with Zoey Reisdorf and Lindsey Peterson
Subject
World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories
Description
Geisinger served in the European theater, specifically Holland, Germany, and Austria in the Army. He was a mortarman in a weapons platoon. He got sick that winter and postponed going to sick call, but when he did, he realized it saved his life in more ways than one.
Publisher
Buena Vista University
Date
3/17/2011
Rights
These oral histories are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that a credit line reads: "Courtesy of Buena Vista University Archives, Storm Lake, IA." Prior permission from the BVU Archives is required for any commercial use.
Format
video/mp4
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
Interviewer
Zoey Reisdorf, Lindsey Peterson
Interviewee
Harold Geisinger
Transcription
HAROLD GEISINGER
Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:00] March 17th, 2011. And we are interviewing Harold Geisinger here at the communications center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Geisinger was born on December 24th, 1925. My name is Zoey Reisdorf, and I'll be interviewing along with Lindsey Peterson. What were you doing before you entered the service?
Harold Geisinger [00:00:23] At that time was a draft and everybody wanted to go.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:33] What year were you drafted?
Harold Geisinger [00:00:36] 1945-- er-- '44.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:42] Were you in school before you got drafted?
Harold Geisinger [00:00:46] I was in high school. The teachers knew I'd been drafted and they-- three of 'em got me deferred, which I did before I knew it, so I could finish high school.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:01] Where were you when you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:07] Where?
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:07] Where were you when you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:12] Well, we had just moved into a house-- well, we just moved into a-- we built a house. My folks did. I was climbing upstairs where the radio was, and I heard the report on the radio.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:29] How did you react towards it?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:32] Well, I'll probably be there someday. [chuckles] I think I was probably a-- I was a freshman in high school at that time.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:51] What do you remember after Pearl Harbor?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:55] Where I was.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:56] What do you remember after Pearl Harbor? How-- like the [unintelligible] war and--
Harold Geisinger [00:02:02] Well, we followed it very closely, but everybody got to work. I mean, we were working anyway. I'd go to school and go home to work.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:15] When you were drafted, how did you feel? Did you want to be drafted or not?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:19] At that time, yes.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:23] What branch of service were you in?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:25] Army.
Lindsey Peterson [00:02:29] Where did you have your boot camp or your training experiences at?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:35] I took the basic training in Little Rock, Arkansas. Joseph T. Robinson.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:44] Do you remember anything specific about training?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:49] Well, basic training, they-- they beat you down, so you were a nobody. And then you get built up.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:58] How long did your training last?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:59] 17 weeks.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:07] How did you feel about your training? Did you think it was hard?
Harold Geisinger [00:03:13] I didn't. Before I left for service I would-- I shocked oats for three days, so I was ready to go, anyway. But a lot of the people from, oh, the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee-- we had a bunch of them there. A lot of them from the East Coast and it-- they-- they took the heat pretty bad in Arkansas in August. But it was kind of like being home. [chuckles]
Zoey Reisdorf [00:03:49] Where did you go after training or what happened after training?
Harold Geisinger [00:03:53] I came home. I was home on Christmas Day. Well, I mean, first part of December. I left Christmas Day on the train and went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I can't remember what camp it was. Reported there. We were supposed to be there for two weeks. I was there overnight, and they shipped us through-- it was New Year's Eve. We went with [a] troop train to Miles Standish, which is outside Boston. There-- we were supposed to be there for two weeks. We got off the train, onto the boat directly. So, January 2nd, I was at sea.
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:46] What was being on the boat like?
Harold Geisinger [00:04:49] Cramped. It was a converted cargo boat. You want-- you wanted the top shelf of bunks. That way nobody could sit on it and nobody got seasick above you.
Lindsey Peterson [00:05:05] What did you do to pass your time on the boat?
Harold Geisinger [00:05:09] Oh, they had exercises, and they had you wait in line to go eat. You didn't do much. You just sat there, and they'd have physicals, and they'd have-- you could take a shower with salt water soap, which was fine as long as you were wet. When dried off, you were crusty.
Lindsey Peterson [00:05:32] Where were you heading?
Harold Geisinger [00:05:35] Le Havre, France.
Lindsey Peterson [00:05:42] Do you remember much about France?
Harold Geisinger [00:05:46] Well, we were supposed to stop in that camp for two weeks. We got off the boat onto boxcars, and headed east. In the middle of January, it was cold. A lot of-- a lot of feet were frozen. So you just lived in that boxcar until you got-- you might be sitting on siding or you might be traveling. I don't know-- we stopped somewhere in Belgian [sic] or Holland, I don't know where.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:06:26] Did you hear about the events of D-Day?
Harold Geisinger [00:06:30] Well, D-Day I was-- no, I was still at home D-Day. But all through training, we had up-to-date reports of it.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:06:41] What was your reaction towards that?
Harold Geisinger [00:06:46] Really not much reaction. We-- we were in training. We were going to be there, and we were all ready to go, we thought.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:07:03] Where exactly did you serve during the war?
Harold Geisinger [00:07:07] Pardon?
Zoey Reisdorf [00:07:07] Where did you serve during the war? Was it Germany?
Harold Geisinger [00:07:11] Well, it was in Holland, Germany, Austria.
Lindsey Peterson [00:07:25] Did you ever have any, like, special jobs or special duties?
Harold Geisinger [00:07:31] Well, what little I was with-- I was assigned to the 83rd Division, and they asked for volunteers. That's an Army no-no. You do not volunteer. So they asked again. I said, "What do I have to carry?" They said, "A carbine." "I'll take it." So I got in the weapons platoon. So I was a mortarman.
Lindsey Peterson [00:08:04] Did you have, like, a-- like, a mortar team? Like you and a few other guys?
Harold Geisinger [00:08:09] Yeah. Yeah. You're always in a-- in a-- a squad. The army set-up is each company has three infantry platoons and a weapons platoon, which is divided between half machine guns and half mortars. And that's what I was assigned to. But the day I joined the division, they were just coming off of a line in-- in Luxembourg. So they were trying to get more cannon fodder. And I was-- that was-- that was me, and-- and then they did some training in the-- in the Ardennes and in all that snow that they had that winter, and I was coughing constantly. So I finally put off 'til the middle of February going to the sick call. And at that point, I did go in-- they turned out February 15th-- 14th, excuse me. And they put me in an ambulance, took me to Liege, Belgium, which was-- I don't know whether I slept or what, but-- put me on an airplane and flew me to Paris overnight, then to London and on a troop hospital train through southwest England. It's a good thing I was out of there because they-- they could not have-- I would have been coughing when they were trying to be quiet. So that I'd have given their position away no matter what I tried to do or not do. So I was there for two months. Coming back on the ferry, back to Le Havre-- I did-- I got to the original outfit and met up with the guys that-- they had come back out of eastern Germany or [unintelligible] they got across the Elbe River. Nobody told them not to go any farther, so they kept on going. So they got about 30, 35 kilometers beyond the Elbe before they had to back up and get out of that area, which actually was the Russian zone.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:43] Were you on the front lines before you left in February?
Harold Geisinger [00:10:48] No, we were back in-- in recuperating. The division was recuperating. So I actually never got to the-- to the lines at all.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:58] Did you ever see combat at all?
Harold Geisinger [00:11:01] I didn't see it. I could hear it. I was that close. But finally, when I was in sick call, I didn't want to. I put it off for a month. So they got me out of there.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:11:20] Can you tell us about any of your memorable memories or experiences?
Harold Geisinger [00:11:28] Well, at that time I was only 19, and I didn't know anything about the country anyway, so I didn't know enough about it. I just enjoyed being where I was. Well, enjoyed is-- is kind of questionable. But-- but we were there, and we ended up in-- in Austria, or no-- first we were in southern-- southern Bavaria, which was the US zone. The northeast being Russian-- northeast was British, in the southwest was French. So then I was-- I was on the-- the German-Czechoslovakian border, little town of Eisenstein. Markt Eisenstein is on the German side-- excuse me, Bayerisch Eisenstein is on the German side, and Markt Eisenstein is on the Czech side. So we worked with the Czech soldiers who didn't like us. They were in training all the time during the war and then came back after the war was over, and they said they could-- they could have won it anyway. Just give 'em time. So they didn't like us being there. Actually, if you're in the Army, you have to stand inspection, so they wanted pressed uniforms. I tried an iron with a-- built a fire in it. I didn't have charcoal. So I made a deal with the Czech soldiers to borrow their iron one day a week. They got-- I don't remember-- was it a pack of cigarettes or a carton? [chuckles] So I pressed that uniform one day and did everything else we had to do the rest of the time.
Lindsey Peterson [00:13:32] How were your relations with the locals-- how were your relations with the locals in the different places that you've been to?
Harold Geisinger [00:13:43] I think very good. They-- they were glad to have a change of government. They-- I don't remember any trouble with any locals. The biggest trouble was new recruits that came over after the war was over. And one young fellow from Massachusetts, I think, saw a German walking across a field, and he shot him. I don't know yet how I got the job of hauling him to the-- to the jail. And I don't remember now where it really-- where I was, but I took him. Asked him why he did it. He didn't know. I dumped him off where I was supposed to and went back, and I have no idea whatever happened to him. But that-- that was the only trouble we ever had.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:14:44] How did you stay in touch with your family and friends back home?
Harold Geisinger [00:14:51] How'd I--
Zoey Reisdorf [00:14:52] Stay in touch with your family.
Harold Geisinger [00:14:54] I mean, the first three months, I was-- they sent me off to the hospital so quick, I never got mail for between three and four months. I got £4 of-- from the Red Cross, which is $12. So that's-- they took that out of my paycheck. So they got paid back. But other than that-- then the mail started catching up to where I was. Then eventually I got back to the outfit, and then everything came. Better late than never.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:15:36] How were you able to entertain yourself? You-- buddies in your unit-- your division?
Harold Geisinger [00:15:45] I don't-- as I remember, there was no problem at all. We just-- you're cleaning your weapons for one thing. Even after the war was over with. And eventually they sent the division to Nurnberg training ground, which was a German army training ground. And there we were in training to the ship to China-Burma-India theater. One ship had already gone, and we were scheduled to be the next shipment. They left out of Marseilles and went, I think-- they probably went through the Suez. And the war in Japan was over with when, well, we were out on that training area. We got the news, and we just sat down. No shouting, no jumping up and down or anything. Just thank God, it's over.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:17:00] Do you recall any humorous or unusual events that happened while you were [unintelligible]
Harold Geisinger [00:17:09] Oh, I can't think of anything unusual. I was close to Salzburg for a while. And in fact, when I-- the Salzburg music festival was coming on just before I left of January or June of [19]45. Before that, some of us had borrowed a vehicle. We toured a little bit of Austria, the Tyrol area. It's pretty country, but it was winter. Of course, we got up to the-- Hitler's home at-- now I can't think of the town. Just south of Salzburg anyway. So that was above it-- put the three quarter ton truck in low gear to get up the hill. And of course, the Eagle's Nest was off limits. Of course, it was blocked in with snow anyway, so--
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:10] What else can you tell us about seeing Hitler's home?
Harold Geisinger [00:18:14] When I saw it, it was all bombed out, he had a beautiful view of the valley. Berchtesgaden was the town but-- but it-- now I was back there several years later, and it's a big resort area, you know. I had-- had quite a job there to remember where the SS barracks were and his home was 'cuz it's all part of this new complex. But I could pick it out.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:18:52] You mentioned that you were in Holland and Germany and Austria. What was your favorite place to visit?
Harold Geisinger [00:19:01] I don't know that I had a-- a special place 'cuz that-- we were doing something different. Belgium, I just went through. Holland, we had just gotten off the boat, and the division had just come back from Luxembourg, and we all got to go to Maastricht and take showers. Get that salt off from us. That's probably the best-- best times. But they were-- they were all interesting. And the people basically were like we are. They were glad to have it over with, too.
Lindsey Peterson [00:19:47] You said you went back and visited Germany and Austria. Where did you go? How was-- how was it being back?
Harold Geisinger [00:19:57] Well, I got in a traffic jam at Passau, so I didn't get the road I wanted. But in Passau, up on a hill, there was a castle, which was a division-- either a division or a regimental rest area after the war. And so I had been up to there. And when you walk around behind it and look down, and here you have the three rivers, the Innz [sic], and the Ilz, and the Danube. And that's-- that's quite a sight, you know, cuz they're all different colors. And so I was going to try and get back there then. But the traffic was jammed, I couldn't cross it. So I ended up going through the Russian section, which I'd never been through before because I was on the other side of the river. But to back up a little bit, after the war, the-- we were in a little-- little town of Ashok (sp), the Russians on one side of the river, and we were on the other side. You didn't dare go across that bridge in the daytime without fear of being held up for a few days or a month. You didn't know, but the-- I was on guard one night with another fella way out of town. We had rifles; they had taken the ammunition away from us. So here is a little rowboat which is tied to a cable, which is tied with a roller on a cable going across the Danube River. And we knew the Russians were on the other side, see. And we went over to see what's going on. Well, here was a little Russian on that side. He was just a little fella, and I guess we'd all picked up enough German, we could communicate. He was 19, same as I was, but he was real small. But the sergeant took us up. We drank beer with him. We asked him what he needed. We had-- the other fellow and I, neither one of us smoked, so we had cigarettes, not with us, but if he wanted any-- no, he didn't want cigarettes. He wanted American uniforms. We didn't have any. So we talked back and forth, and finally we went back to the river, the little canoe, and guided ourselves back across. And they didn't try and hold us or anything, but they didn't want to be where people could see you.
Lindsey Peterson [00:22:50] Did you say you had a rifle without ammunition? Ammunition?
Harold Geisinger [00:22:53] Hmm-mmm.
Lindsey Peterson [00:22:54] Why?
Harold Geisinger [00:22:56] Somebody must have got trigger happy somewhere. I don't know. The war was over supposedly, so.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:23:06] What else do you remember about your days over in Germany?
Harold Geisinger [00:23:13] I really don't-- specifically it's kinda' hard to pick out anything. It's-- it was interesting. I had a German truck. I went to Linz to-- I was getting PX for their-- PX supplies for the-- for the battalion. So I go there and pick up beer and American liquor for the officers and a barrel of vermouth for everybody else. Take it-- take it back and put the barrel of contents into bottles. And that German truck, nobody would work on it. You know, it-- it was a six cylinder but only about four-and-a-half cylinders worked. But that was a pretty good run.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:24:12] How was your interactions with the others in your division?
Harold Geisinger [00:24:17] Pardon?
Zoey Reisdorf [00:24:17] How was your interactions with the others in your division?
Harold Geisinger [00:24:23] Well, [unintelligible] this job after the war. I had to have a generator and take movies out to the rest of the battalion. And it-- their-- reaction-- reaction was fine. I mean, we got-- everybody got along fine. They had their spot, and of course, every one of them was the best outfit. [chuckles] All ya had to do was ask 'em. Here it turned out this Ralph Neppel was a Medal of Honor winner. He's in the hall of the Forum. It turned out he was in the same battalion I was. I knew him after, when he was going to school. I never asked him where he-- where he was in service. I didn't know he'd lost both legs. Until he asked-- well, I was-- I had chickens, and I was selling him eggs for the American Legion club he was running. He went through a lot of hard-boiled eggs and beer, I know. [laughs] So, but anyway, I-- when he asked me to put these eggs in his truck, that's the first I knew he had two artificial legs. But he was in the same-- the-- I was in Third Battalion, which is IJK and one of those-- KL and M, I think. He was at M, which is a heavy weapons company, and that's why he was in water-cooled machine guns. So I really never got to visit with him where we were. I didn't know it. He didn't ask. We were all glad to be home. We knew everybody had been in service. Everybody went somewhere different. So why worry about it.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:26:21] When did you you get released to come home?
Harold Geisinger [00:26:29] About the middle of July of [19]4-- 46.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:26:38] What was your reaction when you found out that you were going home?
Harold Geisinger [00:26:42] Well, glad to go. A lot of our buddies along the way had been shipped out. They would ship you as you got enough points to go. I was kind of low on the totem pole, so the ones I knew had gone-- were already gone. I was shipped to another outfit, just a place to park me, was what it was. So I was company clerk on that-- in that outfit. So I made a few mistakes. I had a list. Anybody comes-- letters come through with this address, send them back, KIA. Turned out they weren't all K-- KIA, but I had no way of knowing.
Lindsey Peterson [00:27:39] What's the first thing you did when you got back?
Harold Geisinger [00:27:41] Went to work. Combining. It was work at home, though. I went home and my brother went to Iowa State, so--
Lindsey Peterson [00:28:00] Did you farm after the war? What did you do after the war?
Harold Geisinger [00:28:03] Yeah. I'm farming all my life.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:28:13] How did you feel when you heard about Germany surrendering?
Harold Geisinger [00:28:17] About Germany's surrender? Well, I was on the ferry before-- I hadn't-- we had landed in Le Havre, but I was on the ferry when we got the word. We knew it was coming. They were beat before they quit. But Adm-- Admiral Doenitz, I believe it was that took over, and the Germans that I knew, they were glad to quit too. Incidentally, that winter, they had forgot to order overshoes. So we had leather boots. It got cold.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:29:00] Of all that things you or your unit did during the war, what are you most proud of?
Harold Geisinger [00:29:07] I missed it. [meaning he didn't hear the question]
Zoey Reisdorf [00:29:08] Of all the things that you and your unit has done during the war, what were you most proud of?
Harold Geisinger [00:29:16] I think we're all proud of being there and doing what we can to get it over with. Of course, that came in later. The Battle of the Bulge was over with. And then [unintelligible] shortly after that, they went across the Rhine. I think the division went across the Remagen Bridge. And in-- in the process, one of the fellas that I took basic with was hit with a shell, and it blew him up. So that-- but that happens everywhere. You get real fatalistic when you go to service. If you get through it, fine if you don't, too bad. So, but-- so they raced the-- every division raced the Second Army to cross Germany, and the infantry division beat them. They took trucks or motorcycles, anything that would go. That's what they rode in. And the kitchen had the fastest vehicle. So they always had hot coffee, and they'd pull up beside you and throw K-rations. Usually, K, as opposed to the C-rations, but they were easier to handle. Anyway, but when it was over with-- well, an interesting feature that my squad leader-- of course, I wasn't there, but he told me about it. He opened the door to a cellar in Zerbst, which is on the east side of the Elbe. And here was a fellow down there, a big beard, a rifle pointing at him, so he fired. What he saw was a mirror and didn't recognize himself. [Laughter] And I have kept in touch-- in touch with a lot of those fellows. The last reunion I went to, there was two of us, and I picked him up in Indiana. So there's only three of us that I know about that are left.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:31:53] I think that's all that we have for you. Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Harold Geisinger [00:32:01] I'm a firm believer that I wish we had the draft back. Not for war, but for the tra--
Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:00] March 17th, 2011. And we are interviewing Harold Geisinger here at the communications center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Geisinger was born on December 24th, 1925. My name is Zoey Reisdorf, and I'll be interviewing along with Lindsey Peterson. What were you doing before you entered the service?
Harold Geisinger [00:00:23] At that time was a draft and everybody wanted to go.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:33] What year were you drafted?
Harold Geisinger [00:00:36] 1945-- er-- '44.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:42] Were you in school before you got drafted?
Harold Geisinger [00:00:46] I was in high school. The teachers knew I'd been drafted and they-- three of 'em got me deferred, which I did before I knew it, so I could finish high school.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:01] Where were you when you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:07] Where?
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:07] Where were you when you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:12] Well, we had just moved into a house-- well, we just moved into a-- we built a house. My folks did. I was climbing upstairs where the radio was, and I heard the report on the radio.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:29] How did you react towards it?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:32] Well, I'll probably be there someday. [chuckles] I think I was probably a-- I was a freshman in high school at that time.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:51] What do you remember after Pearl Harbor?
Harold Geisinger [00:01:55] Where I was.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:56] What do you remember after Pearl Harbor? How-- like the [unintelligible] war and--
Harold Geisinger [00:02:02] Well, we followed it very closely, but everybody got to work. I mean, we were working anyway. I'd go to school and go home to work.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:15] When you were drafted, how did you feel? Did you want to be drafted or not?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:19] At that time, yes.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:23] What branch of service were you in?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:25] Army.
Lindsey Peterson [00:02:29] Where did you have your boot camp or your training experiences at?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:35] I took the basic training in Little Rock, Arkansas. Joseph T. Robinson.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:44] Do you remember anything specific about training?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:49] Well, basic training, they-- they beat you down, so you were a nobody. And then you get built up.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:58] How long did your training last?
Harold Geisinger [00:02:59] 17 weeks.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:07] How did you feel about your training? Did you think it was hard?
Harold Geisinger [00:03:13] I didn't. Before I left for service I would-- I shocked oats for three days, so I was ready to go, anyway. But a lot of the people from, oh, the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee-- we had a bunch of them there. A lot of them from the East Coast and it-- they-- they took the heat pretty bad in Arkansas in August. But it was kind of like being home. [chuckles]
Zoey Reisdorf [00:03:49] Where did you go after training or what happened after training?
Harold Geisinger [00:03:53] I came home. I was home on Christmas Day. Well, I mean, first part of December. I left Christmas Day on the train and went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I can't remember what camp it was. Reported there. We were supposed to be there for two weeks. I was there overnight, and they shipped us through-- it was New Year's Eve. We went with [a] troop train to Miles Standish, which is outside Boston. There-- we were supposed to be there for two weeks. We got off the train, onto the boat directly. So, January 2nd, I was at sea.
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:46] What was being on the boat like?
Harold Geisinger [00:04:49] Cramped. It was a converted cargo boat. You want-- you wanted the top shelf of bunks. That way nobody could sit on it and nobody got seasick above you.
Lindsey Peterson [00:05:05] What did you do to pass your time on the boat?
Harold Geisinger [00:05:09] Oh, they had exercises, and they had you wait in line to go eat. You didn't do much. You just sat there, and they'd have physicals, and they'd have-- you could take a shower with salt water soap, which was fine as long as you were wet. When dried off, you were crusty.
Lindsey Peterson [00:05:32] Where were you heading?
Harold Geisinger [00:05:35] Le Havre, France.
Lindsey Peterson [00:05:42] Do you remember much about France?
Harold Geisinger [00:05:46] Well, we were supposed to stop in that camp for two weeks. We got off the boat onto boxcars, and headed east. In the middle of January, it was cold. A lot of-- a lot of feet were frozen. So you just lived in that boxcar until you got-- you might be sitting on siding or you might be traveling. I don't know-- we stopped somewhere in Belgian [sic] or Holland, I don't know where.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:06:26] Did you hear about the events of D-Day?
Harold Geisinger [00:06:30] Well, D-Day I was-- no, I was still at home D-Day. But all through training, we had up-to-date reports of it.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:06:41] What was your reaction towards that?
Harold Geisinger [00:06:46] Really not much reaction. We-- we were in training. We were going to be there, and we were all ready to go, we thought.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:07:03] Where exactly did you serve during the war?
Harold Geisinger [00:07:07] Pardon?
Zoey Reisdorf [00:07:07] Where did you serve during the war? Was it Germany?
Harold Geisinger [00:07:11] Well, it was in Holland, Germany, Austria.
Lindsey Peterson [00:07:25] Did you ever have any, like, special jobs or special duties?
Harold Geisinger [00:07:31] Well, what little I was with-- I was assigned to the 83rd Division, and they asked for volunteers. That's an Army no-no. You do not volunteer. So they asked again. I said, "What do I have to carry?" They said, "A carbine." "I'll take it." So I got in the weapons platoon. So I was a mortarman.
Lindsey Peterson [00:08:04] Did you have, like, a-- like, a mortar team? Like you and a few other guys?
Harold Geisinger [00:08:09] Yeah. Yeah. You're always in a-- in a-- a squad. The army set-up is each company has three infantry platoons and a weapons platoon, which is divided between half machine guns and half mortars. And that's what I was assigned to. But the day I joined the division, they were just coming off of a line in-- in Luxembourg. So they were trying to get more cannon fodder. And I was-- that was-- that was me, and-- and then they did some training in the-- in the Ardennes and in all that snow that they had that winter, and I was coughing constantly. So I finally put off 'til the middle of February going to the sick call. And at that point, I did go in-- they turned out February 15th-- 14th, excuse me. And they put me in an ambulance, took me to Liege, Belgium, which was-- I don't know whether I slept or what, but-- put me on an airplane and flew me to Paris overnight, then to London and on a troop hospital train through southwest England. It's a good thing I was out of there because they-- they could not have-- I would have been coughing when they were trying to be quiet. So that I'd have given their position away no matter what I tried to do or not do. So I was there for two months. Coming back on the ferry, back to Le Havre-- I did-- I got to the original outfit and met up with the guys that-- they had come back out of eastern Germany or [unintelligible] they got across the Elbe River. Nobody told them not to go any farther, so they kept on going. So they got about 30, 35 kilometers beyond the Elbe before they had to back up and get out of that area, which actually was the Russian zone.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:43] Were you on the front lines before you left in February?
Harold Geisinger [00:10:48] No, we were back in-- in recuperating. The division was recuperating. So I actually never got to the-- to the lines at all.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:58] Did you ever see combat at all?
Harold Geisinger [00:11:01] I didn't see it. I could hear it. I was that close. But finally, when I was in sick call, I didn't want to. I put it off for a month. So they got me out of there.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:11:20] Can you tell us about any of your memorable memories or experiences?
Harold Geisinger [00:11:28] Well, at that time I was only 19, and I didn't know anything about the country anyway, so I didn't know enough about it. I just enjoyed being where I was. Well, enjoyed is-- is kind of questionable. But-- but we were there, and we ended up in-- in Austria, or no-- first we were in southern-- southern Bavaria, which was the US zone. The northeast being Russian-- northeast was British, in the southwest was French. So then I was-- I was on the-- the German-Czechoslovakian border, little town of Eisenstein. Markt Eisenstein is on the German side-- excuse me, Bayerisch Eisenstein is on the German side, and Markt Eisenstein is on the Czech side. So we worked with the Czech soldiers who didn't like us. They were in training all the time during the war and then came back after the war was over, and they said they could-- they could have won it anyway. Just give 'em time. So they didn't like us being there. Actually, if you're in the Army, you have to stand inspection, so they wanted pressed uniforms. I tried an iron with a-- built a fire in it. I didn't have charcoal. So I made a deal with the Czech soldiers to borrow their iron one day a week. They got-- I don't remember-- was it a pack of cigarettes or a carton? [chuckles] So I pressed that uniform one day and did everything else we had to do the rest of the time.
Lindsey Peterson [00:13:32] How were your relations with the locals-- how were your relations with the locals in the different places that you've been to?
Harold Geisinger [00:13:43] I think very good. They-- they were glad to have a change of government. They-- I don't remember any trouble with any locals. The biggest trouble was new recruits that came over after the war was over. And one young fellow from Massachusetts, I think, saw a German walking across a field, and he shot him. I don't know yet how I got the job of hauling him to the-- to the jail. And I don't remember now where it really-- where I was, but I took him. Asked him why he did it. He didn't know. I dumped him off where I was supposed to and went back, and I have no idea whatever happened to him. But that-- that was the only trouble we ever had.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:14:44] How did you stay in touch with your family and friends back home?
Harold Geisinger [00:14:51] How'd I--
Zoey Reisdorf [00:14:52] Stay in touch with your family.
Harold Geisinger [00:14:54] I mean, the first three months, I was-- they sent me off to the hospital so quick, I never got mail for between three and four months. I got £4 of-- from the Red Cross, which is $12. So that's-- they took that out of my paycheck. So they got paid back. But other than that-- then the mail started catching up to where I was. Then eventually I got back to the outfit, and then everything came. Better late than never.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:15:36] How were you able to entertain yourself? You-- buddies in your unit-- your division?
Harold Geisinger [00:15:45] I don't-- as I remember, there was no problem at all. We just-- you're cleaning your weapons for one thing. Even after the war was over with. And eventually they sent the division to Nurnberg training ground, which was a German army training ground. And there we were in training to the ship to China-Burma-India theater. One ship had already gone, and we were scheduled to be the next shipment. They left out of Marseilles and went, I think-- they probably went through the Suez. And the war in Japan was over with when, well, we were out on that training area. We got the news, and we just sat down. No shouting, no jumping up and down or anything. Just thank God, it's over.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:17:00] Do you recall any humorous or unusual events that happened while you were [unintelligible]
Harold Geisinger [00:17:09] Oh, I can't think of anything unusual. I was close to Salzburg for a while. And in fact, when I-- the Salzburg music festival was coming on just before I left of January or June of [19]45. Before that, some of us had borrowed a vehicle. We toured a little bit of Austria, the Tyrol area. It's pretty country, but it was winter. Of course, we got up to the-- Hitler's home at-- now I can't think of the town. Just south of Salzburg anyway. So that was above it-- put the three quarter ton truck in low gear to get up the hill. And of course, the Eagle's Nest was off limits. Of course, it was blocked in with snow anyway, so--
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:10] What else can you tell us about seeing Hitler's home?
Harold Geisinger [00:18:14] When I saw it, it was all bombed out, he had a beautiful view of the valley. Berchtesgaden was the town but-- but it-- now I was back there several years later, and it's a big resort area, you know. I had-- had quite a job there to remember where the SS barracks were and his home was 'cuz it's all part of this new complex. But I could pick it out.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:18:52] You mentioned that you were in Holland and Germany and Austria. What was your favorite place to visit?
Harold Geisinger [00:19:01] I don't know that I had a-- a special place 'cuz that-- we were doing something different. Belgium, I just went through. Holland, we had just gotten off the boat, and the division had just come back from Luxembourg, and we all got to go to Maastricht and take showers. Get that salt off from us. That's probably the best-- best times. But they were-- they were all interesting. And the people basically were like we are. They were glad to have it over with, too.
Lindsey Peterson [00:19:47] You said you went back and visited Germany and Austria. Where did you go? How was-- how was it being back?
Harold Geisinger [00:19:57] Well, I got in a traffic jam at Passau, so I didn't get the road I wanted. But in Passau, up on a hill, there was a castle, which was a division-- either a division or a regimental rest area after the war. And so I had been up to there. And when you walk around behind it and look down, and here you have the three rivers, the Innz [sic], and the Ilz, and the Danube. And that's-- that's quite a sight, you know, cuz they're all different colors. And so I was going to try and get back there then. But the traffic was jammed, I couldn't cross it. So I ended up going through the Russian section, which I'd never been through before because I was on the other side of the river. But to back up a little bit, after the war, the-- we were in a little-- little town of Ashok (sp), the Russians on one side of the river, and we were on the other side. You didn't dare go across that bridge in the daytime without fear of being held up for a few days or a month. You didn't know, but the-- I was on guard one night with another fella way out of town. We had rifles; they had taken the ammunition away from us. So here is a little rowboat which is tied to a cable, which is tied with a roller on a cable going across the Danube River. And we knew the Russians were on the other side, see. And we went over to see what's going on. Well, here was a little Russian on that side. He was just a little fella, and I guess we'd all picked up enough German, we could communicate. He was 19, same as I was, but he was real small. But the sergeant took us up. We drank beer with him. We asked him what he needed. We had-- the other fellow and I, neither one of us smoked, so we had cigarettes, not with us, but if he wanted any-- no, he didn't want cigarettes. He wanted American uniforms. We didn't have any. So we talked back and forth, and finally we went back to the river, the little canoe, and guided ourselves back across. And they didn't try and hold us or anything, but they didn't want to be where people could see you.
Lindsey Peterson [00:22:50] Did you say you had a rifle without ammunition? Ammunition?
Harold Geisinger [00:22:53] Hmm-mmm.
Lindsey Peterson [00:22:54] Why?
Harold Geisinger [00:22:56] Somebody must have got trigger happy somewhere. I don't know. The war was over supposedly, so.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:23:06] What else do you remember about your days over in Germany?
Harold Geisinger [00:23:13] I really don't-- specifically it's kinda' hard to pick out anything. It's-- it was interesting. I had a German truck. I went to Linz to-- I was getting PX for their-- PX supplies for the-- for the battalion. So I go there and pick up beer and American liquor for the officers and a barrel of vermouth for everybody else. Take it-- take it back and put the barrel of contents into bottles. And that German truck, nobody would work on it. You know, it-- it was a six cylinder but only about four-and-a-half cylinders worked. But that was a pretty good run.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:24:12] How was your interactions with the others in your division?
Harold Geisinger [00:24:17] Pardon?
Zoey Reisdorf [00:24:17] How was your interactions with the others in your division?
Harold Geisinger [00:24:23] Well, [unintelligible] this job after the war. I had to have a generator and take movies out to the rest of the battalion. And it-- their-- reaction-- reaction was fine. I mean, we got-- everybody got along fine. They had their spot, and of course, every one of them was the best outfit. [chuckles] All ya had to do was ask 'em. Here it turned out this Ralph Neppel was a Medal of Honor winner. He's in the hall of the Forum. It turned out he was in the same battalion I was. I knew him after, when he was going to school. I never asked him where he-- where he was in service. I didn't know he'd lost both legs. Until he asked-- well, I was-- I had chickens, and I was selling him eggs for the American Legion club he was running. He went through a lot of hard-boiled eggs and beer, I know. [laughs] So, but anyway, I-- when he asked me to put these eggs in his truck, that's the first I knew he had two artificial legs. But he was in the same-- the-- I was in Third Battalion, which is IJK and one of those-- KL and M, I think. He was at M, which is a heavy weapons company, and that's why he was in water-cooled machine guns. So I really never got to visit with him where we were. I didn't know it. He didn't ask. We were all glad to be home. We knew everybody had been in service. Everybody went somewhere different. So why worry about it.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:26:21] When did you you get released to come home?
Harold Geisinger [00:26:29] About the middle of July of [19]4-- 46.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:26:38] What was your reaction when you found out that you were going home?
Harold Geisinger [00:26:42] Well, glad to go. A lot of our buddies along the way had been shipped out. They would ship you as you got enough points to go. I was kind of low on the totem pole, so the ones I knew had gone-- were already gone. I was shipped to another outfit, just a place to park me, was what it was. So I was company clerk on that-- in that outfit. So I made a few mistakes. I had a list. Anybody comes-- letters come through with this address, send them back, KIA. Turned out they weren't all K-- KIA, but I had no way of knowing.
Lindsey Peterson [00:27:39] What's the first thing you did when you got back?
Harold Geisinger [00:27:41] Went to work. Combining. It was work at home, though. I went home and my brother went to Iowa State, so--
Lindsey Peterson [00:28:00] Did you farm after the war? What did you do after the war?
Harold Geisinger [00:28:03] Yeah. I'm farming all my life.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:28:13] How did you feel when you heard about Germany surrendering?
Harold Geisinger [00:28:17] About Germany's surrender? Well, I was on the ferry before-- I hadn't-- we had landed in Le Havre, but I was on the ferry when we got the word. We knew it was coming. They were beat before they quit. But Adm-- Admiral Doenitz, I believe it was that took over, and the Germans that I knew, they were glad to quit too. Incidentally, that winter, they had forgot to order overshoes. So we had leather boots. It got cold.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:29:00] Of all that things you or your unit did during the war, what are you most proud of?
Harold Geisinger [00:29:07] I missed it. [meaning he didn't hear the question]
Zoey Reisdorf [00:29:08] Of all the things that you and your unit has done during the war, what were you most proud of?
Harold Geisinger [00:29:16] I think we're all proud of being there and doing what we can to get it over with. Of course, that came in later. The Battle of the Bulge was over with. And then [unintelligible] shortly after that, they went across the Rhine. I think the division went across the Remagen Bridge. And in-- in the process, one of the fellas that I took basic with was hit with a shell, and it blew him up. So that-- but that happens everywhere. You get real fatalistic when you go to service. If you get through it, fine if you don't, too bad. So, but-- so they raced the-- every division raced the Second Army to cross Germany, and the infantry division beat them. They took trucks or motorcycles, anything that would go. That's what they rode in. And the kitchen had the fastest vehicle. So they always had hot coffee, and they'd pull up beside you and throw K-rations. Usually, K, as opposed to the C-rations, but they were easier to handle. Anyway, but when it was over with-- well, an interesting feature that my squad leader-- of course, I wasn't there, but he told me about it. He opened the door to a cellar in Zerbst, which is on the east side of the Elbe. And here was a fellow down there, a big beard, a rifle pointing at him, so he fired. What he saw was a mirror and didn't recognize himself. [Laughter] And I have kept in touch-- in touch with a lot of those fellows. The last reunion I went to, there was two of us, and I picked him up in Indiana. So there's only three of us that I know about that are left.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:31:53] I think that's all that we have for you. Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Harold Geisinger [00:32:01] I'm a firm believer that I wish we had the draft back. Not for war, but for the tra--
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