They trapped all of us in there. That was the worst of all of the fighting;
was there that was the worst. The Second World War was a massive event,
and hardly a soul living at the time would go unaffected by it. This is the story of Harry Shaw Jr., nicknamed
“Pete” by those who know him best. Like millions of other Americans, Pete’s
motivation for volunteering his service would be the very thing that finally engaged
the United States into the war: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But for Pete, the sting of destruction and defeat would hit a little closer to home. One of my best friends, Carlo was a great
friend of mine. his brother was in the Navy, he was at Pearl Harbor, and never came
back. I enlisted when I was seventeen, because they
couldn’t get them fast enough. As the United States delved deeper into war,
more and more servicemen were needed. Not only had Pete long been ready to serve,
but he knew exactly where he wanted to be. So, we decided Carlos said Peter, we went
all though high school and grade school together, he was my bestest friend. and he said, "we are going in the navy." But Pete knew his hopes of joining the Navy
could be crushed by one unfortunate fact. He was colorblind. And the physical inspection he would need
to pass depended on his ability to see a series of faded numbers
hidden within various colors. But as the boys stood in line for their inspection,
Pete’s friend Carlo came up with a plan. He went first and he said, "now when I shout
those numbers out, you listen." So, he went up there and he went like 99,
44, 70...."and I was like what’s this?" So anyhow they said, "next" so I went in and
he says, "now there's a folder here, and I’m going to turn this folder over page
by page, and you will see all them dots with different colors, and there will be a
number appear so you tell me what number you see." Now I know what he said, and I did I went
"99.. 34 .." when he picked the next one I said whatever
the number was, "47.." but it slipped and didn't turn over and he
said, "how did you know it was that?" I said, "I’m in the Army." They took a tray out and dumped it out on
the desk and he said pick out the red, and I said, "I’m in the Army." We took our basic training in what they call
Tar Paper City in Dothan Alabama. They didn't have barracks or nothing. They had 4 by 4's in the ground with tar paper wrapped around them, and cots
on the sand. That was our bunks. As the need for fresh combat recruits increased,
Pete was sent to the United Kingdom to finish his training, now part of the 283rd
Field Artillery Battalion. Only months later, he would have his initial
introduction into combat by means of the largest seaborne invasion
in history, the event that would turn the tide of the
war in Europe: D-Day. On June 6th, 1944, Pete would make his landing
on Utah Beach at Normandy. As the American infantry cleared the beach
of German opposition, Pete brought the heavy artillery onto the
shore. They cleared the shore, we went on the LST's
that had a barge, the fret went down then we pulled right out and pulled the trailers
with it. We took all that stuff with us. As part of a convoy carrying supplies and
heavy weapons, Pete traveled primarily at night, under the
cover of darkness, while the German Luftwaffe patrolled the skies
above. And there were no lights, you couldn't use
a light. They had what they called a cat eyes, they had a little light that big one inch
by half an inch light, that's what you went by. But where that jeep or command car went, we
followed them, but all we followed was them two little cat eyes. But that's how they traveled. So that we didn't get shelled at night; because they were up there. we had pretty good success, but we had a couple
experiences that weren't too good. But that's kind of hard. Next, Pete and the 283rd moved on to St Lo. The French city had been under German occupation
for four years and was now a strategic objective in the battle
for Normandy. But the enemy opposition there was stronger
and more relentless than what Pete had seen on Utah beach. That was something like a twenty-two-day battle. It was terrible, we lost a lot a lot. I lost our general, he couldn't wear a steel helmet he wore a liner. but if they ever caught us without our steel
helmet on, they would court marshall you. They'd say, "that's your life." Well they found him with half of his head
off. It's devastating. But it was rough all over for everybody. And about the fifth day, sixth day, seventh
day, eight day, tenth up to the we had them on the run. and we really didn't have time to think about
anything. The British and American forces continued
from town to town in an effort to drive the Germans back towards Berlin. Some towns were taken, lost, and taken again. And wherever there was fighting, there was
destruction. a lot of destruction, St. Lo, Colmar, Cologne,
some beautiful; in Germany especially some beautiful, beautiful buildings. And Newburgh
and Frankfort. Those cities were annihilated. We had to get the Germans out. Progress continued until December. Only a few days before Christmas 1944, Adolf Hitler launched a surprise attack, throwing
every available man and machine at the advancing Ally forces. The surprise had worked. The American lines were broken, creating a rift seventy miles wide and fifty
miles deep. The Battle of the Bulge had begun That was there last big push, and it was big. We were dumbfounded, you know, it was that
quick. And how we never even had an idea about
it. And where they got all of them. We didn’t know. I mean the soldiers that they pulled in there. they trapped all of us in there. That was the worst of all of the fighting. Was there that was the worst. some of my friends weren’t as lucky as me. And five feet from you, five feet from you. And you say, "how could they and not me?" They decided that we wouldn’t give up. And the support that we had to come up immediately, especially I think was the 42nd division. there were one of the divisions that really got us out of there. But that was the end of it, after that,
it was all over. no more. After 40 days, the Battle of the Bulge was
finally over. For the Allies, the end of the war seemed closer than ever. There was a notable a change in their German
enemies. While some were still dedicated to fight on,
most seemed to have resolved within themselves that their Fuhrer
was a madman, and for them, the war was all but lost. They wanted to be so peaceful the Germans
you know because they know that was it. and they realized it was over. and everybody
was evacuating Berlin. to go to London there. The fly over, Bale out. The surrendering Germans would much rather
be captured by their British and American opponents to the west, rather than
their Soviet foes to the east. The conflict between Germany and the Soviet
Union had been much more personal and severe. They knew they would receive no mercy from
the Red Army for the atrocities the Nazi regime had carried out. Pete saw the effects of these atrocities firsthand
when he took part in the liberation of Dachau, the original concentration
camp, where prisoners were tortured, starved, and murdered. Many of those who survived to see their liberation were sick and dying. When the 283rd arrived, smoke still billowed
from the crematoriums. More than seventy years later, these images
- still vivid in Pete’s memory - were too difficult for him to talk about on
camera. But he and the 283rd had done their part, and soon it would be time to come home. We went to the Channel then in January of
1946 to get on the boat to come home. We pulled in there and the docks were nothing
but people, I said "there's no room to walk." They were all waving flags, it was cold but
hell half of them didn’t even have a cover on For Pete, the welcome to his home country
had been warm and well deserved. But his own family had no idea he had even
made it back to the States, until they received a phone call in the middle
of the night. It was 1:45 in the morning, my dad answered
in the phone and I said, "Dad, I’m at the bus station." he said, "Well who is this?" I said, "well it's Pete! your son!" He said, "You're where!" and I said, "I’m
at the bus station." He said, "your brother is working midnight's and he doesn't get off
until 7:30 in the morning. So I don't know who I could get." I said, "that's alright, I’ll take a cab." In the meantime, my dad called Timken where
my brother worked and told them, "You get in touch with Hobert
Shaw and tell him that his brother's down at the bus depot. Go get him." When I got in the door my brother was going
by in the car and he was going to turn around and he said, "I'll bet you that's Pete." And I was. I got there at 2:00 in the morning on February
the 9th. It was a long spell. To this day, Pete is a highly celebrated veteran
of the Second World War. In November of 2016, he was awarded with the
French Legion of Honor, a prestigious award given by the government
of France to those who served in combat on French soil. Over seven decades later, Pete’s service
in the war still has a profound effect on his life. You got to be friendly to people and try to
understand them. I know a lot of them people over there, even
the English, you know they were so sorry to see you over here. You know that you had to leave your home to
come over here. and the same with France. And Poland especially. You know that they thought so much of us. For doing what we’re doing. I said "well we had to." So, you see that dwells on you, that they
were so concerned about something like that. It kind of made me feel, you know you got
to understand, like people.
