Interview With Arthur Neriani 8th ID Vet 2007

8/13/2019 Interview With Arthur Neriani 8th ID Vet 2007

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INTERVIEW WITH ARTHUR C. NERIANI OF THE 8 TH INFANTRY DIVISION(2007)

Source: http://blip.tv/ccsuvhp/oral-history-interview-with-arthur-c-neriani-for-veterans-history-project-3215856

Transcribed oral history interview. 1 hour 16 minutes 23 seconds.INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION: (words like Uh , um and yeah have beenomitted)

KWAPIEN: It is the year 2007, and we are doing an interview at the house of Arthur Neriani, 10 Towpath ln, Avon Connecticut. What is your birth date?

NERIANI: Birthdate? 10-2-1919.

KWAPIEN: There are only two people at the interview: the Interviewee Arthur Nerianiand the interviewer, CCSU Student Undergraduate Matthew Kwapien. Alrightwereyou drafted or did you enlist?

NERIANI: I enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard. It was December 19, 1940.But we were federalized in February 7, 1941. And then we went to the Florida camplanding and we did two maneuvers. We did the Louisiana Maneuvers and the CarolinaManeuvers. When the Division came back to Camp Landing I was sent to OfficerCandidate School. Now that happened after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. InSeptember of 1941excuse me that was September 1942, I went to Officer CandidateSchool Infantry Candidate School in Georgia. I graduated December 9, 1942 and wasassigned to the 8 th Infantry Division in Fort Leavenwood Missouri.

KWAPIEN: Where were you living at the time?

NERIANI: In the Army. My home was always Avon.KWAPIEN: Why did you join?

NERIANI: I joined because I was listed as number 2 in my draft board. I was gettingwaves from everybody being the number 2 in my draft board 2B from Unionville, CT.

KWAPIEN: Why did you pick the service branch you joined?

(4:00)

NERIANI: I didnt. We just found the nearest National Guard unit and it was company Nof the 169 th infantry, 43 rd Division in New Burton.

KWAPIEN: Do you recall your first days in service?

NERIANI: Of course. KWAPIEN: What did it feel like?


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NERIANI: It was cold (laughs) It didnt bother me too much cause I always obeyedorders from the parents. In other words I always did what I was supposed to do.

KWAPIEN: Tell me a bit about your bootcamp training experiences.

NERIANI: Boot camp. All I know is in Camp Landing FL, it was the sandiest place andin the summer it was the hottest place and there were times when we had only onecanteen of water on a 20-mile march in the summertime. Now that was difficult. Therewere times when people did on all kind of roads in Florida, in order to make a roadtheyd dig the side and put it in the center, and theyd use the trenches on the side of theroad, theyd fill up with dirty water, and some of the fellas went in there and drank thatwater. And fortunately on that particular march we found an african american who hadsome watermelons, and we bought the watermelons. That saved us. It was very, very hot.And we marched with full field pack carrying all our equipment. And guys were passingout that couldnt take it. Some, some, very few.

KWAPIEN: So it was very difficult. NERIANI: Yes, it was. KWAPIEN: Do you remember your instructors?

NERIANI: Yes I do. The officers youre talking about? KWAPIEN: Yes, sir.

NERIANI: Yes, Captain RankyCaptain Rankin. The Sergeants were the ones who ranthe Company. Sgt. Buronowski was the First Sergeant. He was from Newburton(NewBritain?)

KWAPIEN: And how did you get through it? The entire boot camp training experience?

NERIANI: Well, just do what you have to do. Thats it.

KWAPIEN: On the record, which war did you serve in?

NERIANI: World War 2.

KWAPIEN: Where exactly did you go?

NERIANI: From the United States we went to Northern Ireland. And we trained in Northern Ireland. Then D +28 we went to Normandy, and we landed at Omaha Beachand the actual fighting was at Le Huy du Puis which was ten miles from the beach. Andwe replaced the 82 nd Airborne Division which had dropped down on Normandy. Werelieved them. And then we went all the way. We broke out of Normandy and went upthe Brittany Peninsula to the city of Brest. And involved in that was the 2 nd InfantryDivision, 29 th Infantry Division those two divisions landed on D-Day in Normandy.And the 8 th Infantry which is my division. And after the city of Brest was captured, thereason why we went to Brest was the Army needed a port, where they can bring ships andsupplies to a port. The other way it was all being carried in by small boats and theIm


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trying to think of the, the Boston red Sox used them on the parade. They can go in thewater and they can go on land. And thats what we did. We finished up at the Brest andthen we went all the way to Luxembourg. We stopped at Rheims, France and then rightto Luxembourg.

KWAPIEN: Do you remember arriving in Ireland and in Normandy, and what was itlike?

NERIANI: Well there was a lot of confusion. We landed in Ireland and it was nighttime.And they put us on these little small trains. We didnt know where we were going andyou couldnt put a light on to see anything. Remember it was a different world when youhad no lights. And we finally landed, the train stopped and we got off at Oma in NorthernIreland.

KWAPIEN: And what was your job, your first assignment?

NERIANI: I was a 1st

Lieutenant at the time. Excuse me, I was a 2nd

Lieutenant at thetime and I was in charge of a platoon that defended in case of an attack on theHeadquarters Company. I had three antitank guns 57mm and three bazookas and threemachineguns and some of the guys with rifles also.

KWAPIEN: Did you see combat?

NERIANI: Yes, in Normandy. Got my first prisoner in Normandy.

KWAPIEN: And were there many casualties in your unit?(12:30)

NERIANI: No. No, we were kind of fortunate they were very very limited. They werelimited because I dont know why. Other Headquarters Companies took an awfulshellacking from different divisions. We were spared, I dont know why but I rememberone thing in Normandy which should be there and I would like to explain which place itis. In July in 1944 there was a bombing. Our bombers bombed the line in Normandy andI was about 500 yards from where the bombs were landing. And the thing was that it wasJuly and very dry. And when the bombs were landing it created a huge dust cloud. Andthere was a gentle wind from the German side to our side. The bombers that came overlast didnt have the target. All they had was the dust. So they bombed in the dust and thatcost us over a thousand men. The lives of a thousand men according to what I readrecently and I know it cost three antitank men from our antitank company and it causedGeneral Mcnairs death. General McNair was in charge of this whole thing. He waskilled that way. And itw as all due because of the gentle wind blowing the dust over the

battlefield and the last bombers came over and just bombed in the dust. And it was ahuge, huge mistake by our people not knowing that this could happen. Now, you dontsee anything on there about how many people were killed but recently I read that in aninvestigative forum newsletter, there was over a thousand. A thousand of our men werekilled.


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KWAPIEN: Tell me about a couple other of your most memorable experiences.

NERIANI: Oh, well my first prisoner. (KWAPIEN) Your first prisoner?

NERIANI: Yeah. My first prisonerwe broke out of Normandy and the Germans

scattered. And Ill never forget there was a shot and I could hear the crack of the bulletright near my head and itw as in a hedgerow. Now we didnt face the hedgerow directly.It was down the length of the hedgerow. I put a Sergeant on my left side and a Corporalon my right side and I went down the middle. And fortunately the German didnt shootme because he could have killed me very easily. But of course he would have been shot

by my two men. So he was smart and he didnt shoot me and I didnt shoot him. He became a prisoner.

KWAPIEN: And what happened to that prisoner?

NERIANI: Well we put into a prisoners cage and hes in with all the other German

prisoners. And he was an officer. And Ill never forget this. We carried him back to thecage, I put him on my Jeep on the front of my Jeep and he was holding on to the cow-catcher, which was a strip of metal with a hook on top in case there were some wiresacross because the Germans would do that. This catcher would catch it and break thewire. But he was holding on to that when I brought him back to the prisoners of war cageand that was it.

KWAPIEN: Were you yourself a prisoner of war?

NERIANI: No.

KWAPIEN: Did you catch a lot of prisoners?

NERIANI: No I wouldnt say that many. Cause I was in a Headquarters Company.Headquarters Company had not shown much combat. If I was in a rifle company as aLieutenant in the rifle company, like in Normandy or in Hurtgen Forest I wouldnt behere talkin to ya. If I was a Lieutenant in a rifle company. But they assigned me to adefense company for the Headquarters.

KWAPIEN: Were you awarded any medals or citations?

NERIANI: Oh yes. They wanted to give me a Bronze Star and I refused it. I refused it because there were about 12 or 13 officers that graduated from our school that went to 8 th Division. The only one that wasnt wounded or killed was me. I was the only one. And Itold them I didnt do enough. And they took the Bronze Star back. And I also got a

battlefield promotion in Hurtgen Forest.

KWAPIEN: Tell me a little bit about battle planning.


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NERIANI: There wasthere were different things that were happening and now, I dontknow if you know about Hurtgen Forest. It was a tragedy to go into Hurtgen Forest andwe did that and I blamed the Generals that were in charge. In Bradleys book theresonly one paragraph about Hurtgen Forest. One. But there were 33,000 casualties inHurtgen Forest, and just one paragraph in Bradleys book. Thirty-three thousand

casualties. Something like six or seven thousand killed and the rest were wounded.

Now that is the other part I wanted to express. We never should have gone into HurtgenForest. You try going through a forest and the enemy is sitting right there lookin at yaall the time. You dont see them. They see you. And they get to shoot firstthey shootfirst. And they have machineguns, one machinegun covers the other machinegun. And ifyou knock out one machinegun youre under fire from this one. We had many, manycasualties in Hurtgen Forest. And as a matter of fact, Im gonna tell you something that

people dont talk about too much.

It was winter time, there was maybe about six or eight inches of snow, temperature was

about five below zero. We relieved the 28th

Division which was really beaten up badly by the Germans. We relieved them and I think it was something like late November orthe first part of December. And then the snows came and we first went out there. Wehadit was so cold that we had two pair of pants, two of everything we wore. And wenever changed the pants until we got a shower, it was something like the end of March.Always had the same clothes on. The only thing we took off was our shoes. And youtook your socks and you wash your socks and in order to let them dry youd put them onyour body. Thats the only way you could dry em to some extent. The other part thatshould be remembered in Hurtgen Forest is that the ground was frozen. You couldnt diga hole. If you were fortunate to get a German hole you were lucky. The thing was thatsome of the fellas in the rifle platoons did this. They would take the M-1 (Thompsonsubmachine gun) and shoot a clip, a round hole, and then with the bayonet go in and digout the hole. When they got it deep enough they would put in a concussion grenade.Concussion grenades would open up the soil. Thatsome of the fellas did that.

They had to do that. If you didnt, it was a (pained expression) a terrible, terrible thingand I blame the Generals for going in there. We didnt have to go in there. We couldhave gone around it. The German General who defended the area said he could havegone around it. We had the tanks, we had everybody available and we lost a lot of peoplein there. A lot of people. A couple years ago I read that people were going through theHurtgen Forest and they found two dead Germans and one American. Just walkinthrough the woods, they were still there. That was two years ago. Dense woods

KWAPIEN: Where exactly is Hurtgen Forest?

NERIANI: Where was Hurtgen Forest? (KWAPIEN: Yes)

It was East of Rott and Ruttgen and Southeast of Aachen. And it was before the RoerRiver, not the R-U-H-R river, it was the R-O-E-R River. Which was in front of the townof trying to thinkDuren. D-U-R-E-N. And there was a big dam that supplied the


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water to Cologne, it supplied the water to Duren, and our object was to capture that damand lake, er, reservoir. The reason why we had to capture it was that the First Army of theAmerican Army was here, and the British Army was further up from the Roer. And if wedidnt capture that reservoir they could have blown up the dam and all this water wouldcome in and stop all our forces from crossing the Roer River. Cause wed be flooded.

And that was a big, big problem. But you never read about that Roer, about the HurtgenForest until we started talking about it. Hurtgen Forest, the Generals never wanted you toknow what happened in there. If they did, it would have been the number one ranking.We lost more men there than the Marines lost in Iwo Jima. You never heard of HurtgenForest. That is true. That is true. Never heard of Hurtgen Forest. But we finallymanaged to get through it. We, our Division captured the town of Hurtgen. And therewere pillboxes there. In the woods, they had em in the front of the elevation and theycovered the elevations of the frontage with different branches and see you couldnt tell.And the only way that you could tell was when they fired. And then you were too late.You were all exposed. It was a bad, bad situation. Then, they had me with my antitank

guns, I had three of em, fifty-seven millimeters. There was a pillbox that was holding upthe whole Regiment.

And they had the pillbox was like a cement mound that had slits in it so that they couldshoot out. They wanted to see if I could get my antitank guns to shoot into the slits. Wellthe minute we got there, mortars come in, artillery came in, and there was a big hole inthe roof that I was observing from. And the mortar rounds were hitting the top of the roofand if one came through that big opening in the roof, I would never be here talking to ya.So I dove down the cellar stairwayit wasnt a cellar it was a second-story stairwayand that was where part of my disability came from. The one right there.

And we never got to shoot into those slits. We never did. They had us cold. And thereason why, there was a spur of woods, they were reaching a road that goes into Hurtgen,and in that spur of woods, the Germans had a guy up in a tree with a phone. Anytime wegot onto the road, it was mortars and artillery and everything going on there. I saw a tankLieutenant who refused to move his tanks because most of the companys tanks wereknocked out because they had us all zeroed in. I saw the Colonel giving him direct ordersand he refused. He was arrested, right away. He was arrested. He should have been. Heshould have been arrested. Because many guys were dying and the only way we couldget there was if we could get the tanks out.

Well anyway, it goes on further. And Ill never forget that there was a Hill 101[named forits elevation] and our 13 th Infantry Regiment tried to take the hill. They had casualties,casualties, casualties. Finally they pulled back. And then the Generals decided to get aRanger company, the same Ranger company that landed in Normandy on D-Day, gotthem to help us. Well, they didnt want artillery fire to warn the Germans. So theyattacked without the artillery fire. For four solid days they kept trying to get to the top ofthat hillthat hill covered, from the top of the hill you could see all down below on theother side and the German area. They finally, after losing Im trying to remember.There was 700 men in that Regiment, or Ranger Battalion, there was 700 men, and they


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lost almost somethin like two thirds. Either killed or wounded. But they finally heldthere and they waited for our 13 th Infantry to come back and relieve them. That poorColonel, he was in trouble until we relieved them. If there was a counterattack, he wouldhave been taken. But we got the 13 th Infantry up there, and that was fortunate becausefrom then on The Roenegen bridge came along and Cologne was captured, anda lot of

crazy things. A lot of crazy things. But the heavy fighting was over. Hurtgen Forest wasthe heavy fighting. After that if you surrounded a German group, they would surrender.Thats why I believe in that Pattons way of fighting a war, thats what he would do. Andhe did that. And thats what helped a lot.

Well we crossed and we went to Bohn (sp?) thats were the Roenegen bridge is. AtRoenegen bridge they set up a pontoon bridge also. We crossed on the pontoon bridge.Everybody coming over off the pontoon bridge had to go through a tunnel, because it wasa railroad bridge. And the trains would go through this tunnel. There was a hill there.They had to go through this tunnel. And we did that. And then in the Ruhr

pocketRuhr pocket was created because some of our tank forces had surrounded a

group of Germans that were getting near Essen and Dusseldorf, in that area. And theyhad our Division and they had us go right up through the middle, through the Division.And we reached Essen and Dusseldorf. And then it was a lot easier from then on. A loteasier.

Different things happened, Ill never forget. At Hurtgen Forest there was one that that Igotta tell ya. I was on the road and heres the town of Hurtgen and I was on the left sideof the road, the right side of Hurtgen and the Germans had us in their view all the time,all the time All the time. They were excellent soldiers and they had the camouflage,they had the right equipment, there was no shortage there. I walked out on the road andthere was a dusting of snow on the road, Ill never forget this. And when the Germanssaw me on that road, they fired mortars. Well I ran a mortar spot for awhile, and I knowhow long it takes, when you see someone to get your mortars ready and set up to shoot.So when I stood there for awhile, then I got out quick cause then I knew that they weregonna fire, and they did. One mortar round came when there was a dusting of snow andmy feet were on the snow, one mortar round came right between the two footprints. And Ilooked at em afterwards and I looked at the Germans, he was viewing me again, and Isaid, thats it. I left there. Thats just some of the incidents that happened. Some.

KWAPIEN: How did you stay in touch with your family?

NERIANI: I just wrote letters to my wife. And sent them. They had these V-mail things.And they had to censor mail, of course being an officer I had to censor mail all the time.But I didnt care to do that. The fellas were good and we were all on the same team,sothats the way it worked.

KWAPIEN: What was the food like?

NERIANI: Do you know what K-Rations are? (KWAPIEN: No I do not)


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NERIANI: K-Rations are in a box. I had a K-Ration here for a long time. They have alittle can of bacon or Spam or something, you got some crackers, and you got somecigarettes. And if you had to eat that for a long time, you were gonna get tired of K-rations, believe me. In Normandy when we landed we had three days supply of K-rations. Becausein order to feed a company of men, you have to have a kitchen. And

the kitchens gotta be producing food, and then they bring it to you. Well, in HurtgenForest where the temperature is five below zero, if they made something by the time theygot it to us it was nothing. So they stopped that and all we had was K-rations. The K-rations, thats what we ate.

KWAPIEN: Did you have plenty of supplies?

NERIANI: Plenty of ammunition, yes. And in the antitank guns, the French had a shellthat was better than our guns. They had a shell called a Sabot. S-A-B-O-Tshell. Ithad a very hard metal center, maybe about an inch and a half, and around it was a softmetal. And what would happen if you shoot that at a tank, the soft metal would break

around the small metal, and the small metal would punch a hole into the tank. It was thesmall metal that did it. And that was called a sabot. And they used that in theI knew a pilot of the A-20s they have here at Bradley field, they have sabot ammunition in their planes to shoot at tanks.

KWAPIEN: Did you feel pressured or stressed throughout the entire experience or did it just become routine?

NERIANI: Theres nothing routine about being up where somebody can kill you 24hours a day. Its not routine. Its not routine. I was fortunate like I said before, like Isaid I was in a Headquarters Company. If I was in a rifle company you would haveanother person to talk to, not me.

KWAPIEN: Was there something special you did for good luck, like did you have a goodluck charm or

NERIANI: I always put my left shoe on first. Always. And the left sock. That had to goon first. Never changed. I figured that was my lucky charm.KWAPIEN: How did people entertain themselves?

NERIANI: There was no entertaining. There was no entertainment until towards the endof the war. When we crossed the Ruhr River, then the Captain told me in Hurtgen ForestI got my battlefield promotion there. The Captain told me you gotta go on leave. I said Idont wanna go on leave, well why would I wanna go on leave? He says we have tosubmit so many men on leave, and I picked you because you havent gone anywheres. SoI had to get in the train in France that went all the way around to the Riveira. And

believe me, it was worth it. It was worth it. Cause we were in a Miramar Hotel on theRiviera and at dinner you had to get dressed up, and they had violins playin for us atdinner. Well for five days I ate and slept very well. And it was good that I went all theway back.


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KWAPIEN: Were there any entertainers?

NERIANI: Well we had the USO. Ill never forget it was near Bohne somewhere. A lady by the name of Lily Pons was a singer, opera singer. And her husband was Andre

Kostelanetz. And we got an invitation to go to the USO and they were gonna put on ashow for us. Well, next to this building where they put the show on, was our artillery battery. And when the show was goin on, and Lily Pons was singing, the artillerystarted firing. Poor Lily Pons, I feel sorry for her and her husband, but they managed togo through cause the musicians were rooting dont stop, and we were far from thefront lines. When the artillery starts shootin, theyre four miles back or somethin likethat.

KWAPIEN: Did you travel anywhere else in the service besides the Riviera, or was thatit?

NERIANI: That was it. We went all the way to the Elbe River, as a unit. And at the ElbeRiver, the Germans were on one side and we were on this side. And the British came andhad boats for us. And the boats would carry the men over the Elbe River. But it wasnothing like combat or anything like that. They did plant some bombs. When we crossedthe Elbe River they in turn, in the dirt road they would set these bombs. And they wouldset these bombs so that they would go off after three or four metal objects went overthese bombs. And it blew up one of the things.

But the same thing happened in Normandy, Ill never forget that. I went to look for a place to put the headquarters and it was in Normandy and there was a small road, achurch here, a small road and a fence here. So you had to go through this into this road.And in it was an apple orchard right in here and that was where the Germans were usingtheir field artillery, shootin us. Well, I went in with my Jeep through the apple orchard,came out with my Jeep, and the two kitchen trucks started to go in, and when the kitchentruck come out it got blown up. They set that mine so it would go off after four metalobjects passed over it. So, I was pretty lucky on that one. Good thing I wasnt numberfour.

KWAPIEN: Do you recall any particularly humorous or unusual events?

NERIANI: Yeah, I can tell ya. After we crossed into Germany past the Ruhr River, Ihad my antitank guns in back of a battalion of the 101 st Infantry Division. And wewentthis battalion of the 101 st went down this small dirt road and I was behind them,and we came to a concentration camp, a small concentration camp. And they said theycouldnt stop so I had stopped.

And in there, there were two pits, about maybe seven, eight yards wide, maybe about 35yards long, they were all filled with dead people. I had pictures of it at one time. I dunnowhatever I did with them butthat camp was in what we called Ludwigslust. [Wobbelinwas a smaller camp of Ludwugslust] It was on the History Channel also. But my platoon


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was the first one there, to go into the camp. When I got into the camp I saw the bigditches, all dead bodies, but in this brick house was a dirt floor. There was a row of guyssittin down along the wall, on the sides, the back and this side. They were all sittindown. And theyre all there with their eyes open. And I says to myselfI says Hi to oneguy, no answer. I said it again, no answer. So then I moved him and he fell over. They

were all dead. Every one of em was dead. There was one man who was on his bunk.They had two levels of bunks I think, two levels. And he was up on his bunk. And hewas lying there and we always carried something for food. We had this chocolate, whenwe didnt have anything to eat we had this chocolate. So I brought out a piece ofchocolate and I gave it to him. And he smiled. Now heres a guy that smiled. And hestarted to chew on this chocolate. By the time I walked around that building, on theinside, which is maybe 25 feet by 30 feet by 25 or whatever, I came back to him again, hewas dead. And you could see the chocolate on his lip. And my Sergeant came over tome, he said...

Next to the concentration camp was a camp for Polish women who worked the fields, for

vegetables or whatever they were doin. My Sergeant came to me and he says Thewomen want that big Nazi flag that they got over there. And I said now why would youwant a big Nazi flag? They tell him they wanna make brassieres. I thought I washumorless. They wanna make brassieres and they were gonna use that big Nazi flag todo it. Well that was just some of the things that happened.

KWAPIEN: What were some of the pranks that you would pull on some of the soldiers?(NERIANI: What?) KWAPIEN: PranksJokes. Were there any jokes.

NERIANI: No jokes. No jokesit was too serious. I got along good with my men because I was fair with em. And if there was a troublemaker, he was not a troublemakerlong.

KWAPIEN: Do you have any photographs with you?

NERIANI: I had a photograph of a Tiger tank with one of my platoons on it, and Idestroyed it. All the maps of Hurtgen Forest, I destroyed those. Why? Second thinking, Iwould never do it again, but unfortunately theyre gone. But this Tiger Tank was in Rott,Germany, it was just before we were going to Hurtgen Forest. And that Tiger Tank washuge. Really huge. We didnt knock it out, the tankers knocked it out. And what theydid was, the Tiger tank was in back of a building, and he would come out, swing his gunsover, and fire at our tanks. Well he did that once too much and our tankers hit histread...they have a tread that makes it go. When he hit the tread, the Tiger Tank couldntmove, so they had to leave it there. But our tankers did the job. And in the field just

before that house, there was a German Panzer tank, I think it was a 4, they call it. Ourtankers had fired at that guy and never penetrated the tank. It would gouge the front.Four or five gouges out of the front of the tank, cause they were like this, with a V.[makes pointed wedge shape with hands] And when you hit this the shell would go over.And that was the beginning of Hurtgen Forest.


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KWAPIEN: What did you think of officers or fellow soldiers?

NERIANI: The National Guard Officers were terrible that we had when we first were inthe service. They were not good at all. Captain Rankin was good. He was the only one.He had guts. The othersno. In the 8 th Division, they were all good. If they werent

good, they were relieved. We had a General relievedwe had two Generals relieved.Cause if you didnt perform, you were gone.

KWAPIEN: And how about soldiers?

NERIANI: I didnt have much trouble with my platoon cause I had all good men. I gavean order, they did it. Ill never forget in Hurtgen Forest, I had to do some patrollingaround the Headquarters. One day, we saw this German out there in the woods. And myscout went out there and there was a huge Christmas tree and I could see that he didnthave a weapon the German didnt have a weapon. And he came around the tree, ourguy was right behind him with a rifle. They went around twice and I says thats the end

of this. I took my gun and I fired it and the German put his hands up. And he came over.That German in Hurtgen Forest was an engineer. He was living off the food of deadAmericans cause we always carried extra food. He lived off of that. He wasinterrogated and that report made the Division intelligence report in Hurtgen Forest. Helived off our food.

And at that same spot we were on a knoll. I had a fifty caliber machine gun on a knolland I had my best gunner on it. And this

(52:53 Footage missing- break in video until 58:23)

KWAPIEN: Did you keep a personal diary?

NERIANI: No. No, you couldnt carry anything. You see, every now and then you gotfired at. You had dropped down, you couldnt carry things with you. Youre limited.

[Soldiers were given a lot of extra gear and this was shed and left behind early on to saveweight]

KWAPIEN: So none of the soldiers carried a personal diary?

NERIANI: No.

KWAPIEN: Now this is coming to the end of the service. Do you recall the day yourservice ended?

NERIANI: When the fighting ended, when the Division ended, or when I wasdischarged?

KWAPIEN: All three. Do you remember the day the fighting ended?


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NERIANI: Oh yes. The last few weeks there was really not any fighting. It was just amatter of capturing Germans. I went down a road with my antitank gun one time and Ihad a call from Drexler. Corporal Drexler could speak German very well. And on theroad were these two Germans with white flags. We stopped, and I asked the truck driver

to ask them what they want. They told me in the woods there was a whole regiment thatwanted to surrender. And so I left Drexler there. I told him to leave all their weapons inthe woods, come on out and march down the road and they just walked right into ourunit. If you didnt have a weapon, you were fine. And as a matter of fact, they all had

pistols. And in one area, where we had a bunch of people coming in, I had them throwthe pistols onto this trailer that we used to hook behind a Jeep. The trailer was full of

pistols. They all had a pistol. It was interesting but they had very little motorizedvehicles. It was usually a lot of horses and wagons pulling the things, a lot. Thanks toour Air Force and everybody else that got involved, you could see why they [had so fewvehicles]And I met the Russians there too.

Cause we went all the way to Schwerin in Germany. Theres a lake there. SchwerinLake and there was a small brook. The Russians were on one side of the brook, and wewere on the other. One thing I decided to do was go talk to the Russians. Well when I gotthere, they didnt look like much but they must have been very good fighters, they had to

be. No smiles, no nothin. They called the Lieutenant over and I gave him a cigarette.We asked him if he spoke German, I asked him if he spoke Italian or if he spoke French,nothing. I didnt speak Polish or Russian so we didnt have a conversation. I gave himthe rest of the pack of cigarettes and I left him. But the point was, at Schwerintherewas no one there. I had to drive my Jeep up the steps of the railroad housing and we wenton a platform. On the tracks was a whole German group of people in different cars.They were all there, wounded Germans, they were in there in about maybe four or fivecars and each of them was running. One of the Germans that spoke English came over tome. And I saysI asked, where are you going. He says Well, were gonna go up to... Ithink Lubeck or something. They were harmless to me and to my men so I saysbecareful. And they did go because we were right by the Baltic Sea. We went as far asthe Baltic Sea. Now we just couldnt go any further. And the train went into Lubeck andI called the officer that spoke to me on the platform. I said Get your train West of theElbe River. Because I knew the Elbe River was gonna be our dividing line. And hethanked me for it. Well, they were fighting. They were just a bunch of wounded menand there is nothing worse than trying to get well from a serious wound.

KWAPIEN: What did you do in the days and weeks after the war was over?

NERIANI: Well, the war was over in Europe. And they got us all together, and went toFrance. They had us all set to go home, and from there we were gonna go to SeattleWashington and be a followup division to the invasion of Japan. I had something like 145

points but they still wanted me to go there. Matter of fact, when I left the service, therewere two Colonels who wanted me to stay. Evidently, I dont know, Ive never seen thereport. But evidently they must have had a good report all the time. Otherwise theywouldnt ask me.


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KWAPIEN: And do you know of many men that when the war in the European theaterwas over who went to the Japanese theater?

NERIANI: No, no. Our Division didnt go, we came back to Missouri and we all got

discharged. And they asked me again to stay in, they wanted me to stay. I decided myfamily was more important.

KWAPIEN: Did you work or go back to school when you came home?

NERIANI: That was a good question. I couldnt because we had no place to live. Mywife just had a baby and we needed money. The other thing was we had to go to workand find a job. And so thats what I did. I had all these chances to go to school. We hadat that time what they called a 52-20. Do you know what a 52-20 is?

KWAPIEN: is that part of the GI Bill?

NERIANI: Yeah. You get 20$ a week for 52 weeks. And I didnt even apply for that because I got a job right away. I couldnt see getting 20$ when I could probably get more by working. And that was the way it went.

KWAPIEN: Did you make any close friendships while you were in the service?

NERIANI: Oh yes, but theyre all dead now. They all died before me. From BostonThe company commander was from California, as a matter of fact he stopped after thewar and visited with me with a couple of Sergeants that he had with him and they justtoured the country. We played golf one day. After the war, of course. It was fun to seethem. I never saw them again but we corresponded with each other. All of them are nolonger here.

KWAPIEN: Did you join a veterans organization?

NERIANI: Oh yes. The District of Foreign Wars was started in Avon by two World WarI vets and we all got together. They were the ones who got it started. I was the firstCcommander of the post. They voted for me. I did the best job I could, arranged all the

parades and stuff like that.

KWAPIEN: What did you go on to do as a career after the war?

NERIANI: Insurance. I became an insurance agent.

KWAPIEN: Did your military experience influence your thinking about war? Or aboutthe military in general?

NERIANI: Absolutely. In my opinion, the war in Afghanistan could have been takencare of but I think they did the right thing there. But they did NOT do the right thing


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in Iraq. NO ONE should start a war unless hes been in a battle or in a war, or hischildren been in a war. Then he gets the real story. General Sherman said War is Helland believe me, when I say war is Hell. And in combat, the sounds. Explosions. Its justthe worst things there are.

KWAPIEN: If in a veterans organization, what kinds of activities does your post orassociation have?

NERIANI: Well, we needed money. So we started like a in the center of town, we hada, I dunno, where these kids have all these instruments where they ride, like a fair ofsome kind. We tried to get money that way. I did that for so many years and then I letsomebody else take over.

KWAPIEN: Do you still attend reunions?

NERIANI: I went to the last Division Reunion which was maybe 12 years ago. It was in

Virginia. My son had a business in New York and had an airplane. He got me into the plane one day we flew right down to Pittsburgh. The first thing we do when we get up inthe air, was he let me take the controls. Oh, I thought that was the best thing I ever did inmy life. Im watching the compass and he says stay on that compass reading. And Imoh boyit was fun.

KWAPIEN: How did your service experiences affect your life?

NERIANI: I think disciplinediscipline. Every person has to have discipline. Why doyou get up at a certain time in the morning. Why do you go to work. Why do you stop atlights. Discipline. You are supposed to do things that are right. And to me, that helpedme. Because if I had to be in the service at 5 oclock in the morning in a certain spot, Iwas there. I was there.

KWAPIEN: On the flip side: how do you feel towards the German soldiers?

NERIANI: Towards the Germans? I dont know if I should tell you this story. They weregood and they were not so good. The bad ones were the SS troops. The SSandespecially during the Battle of the Bulge. Ill tell you a little story on that one too

This Belgian family, the SS troops came, and they killed everyone in the family exceptthis young boywell, he was a young man. This Belgian wasoh, he hated the SStroops because thats the division that killed his family. The 13 th infantry, one of ourregiments, put an American uniform on him. Cause he was very noticeable in theDivision. He got his food from us, and they gave him a uniform. All the SS prisonerswent to him. They all went to him. I didnt see any of that, but this was what the bookwas.

KWAPIEN: Final question. Is there anything youd like to add that we have not coveredin this interview?


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NERIANI: I cant think of anything more. Im a big mouth, I probably gave you morethan I should.

KWAPIEN: Thank you very much. And if you could just repeat your name?

NERIANI: Arthur C. Neriani.

EPILOGUE

I found this mans interview today, November 20, 2011 while trying to research thehistory of the 8 th Infantry Division in World War II, to try and trace my owngrandfathers service record. The 13 th Infantry and the 28 th Infantry, 8 th Division, weregiven the same task of clearing up after the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Arthur C

Neriani was born the same year as my grandfather, in 1919. As described in the

interview, Neriani was shipped to Northern Ireland with the rest of the Division andunderwent the same training my Grandfather did. He landed ashore on Normandyalongside the 28 th Infantry and drove through France and Germany with tanks, cleaningup after the initial invasion and rounding up prisoners. He crossed the Elbe into the heartof Germany and his unit discovered the concentration camp at Wobbelin that mygrandfather has pictures of. He also went to Schwerin and met the Russians. So theywere both there and saw it with their own eyes. He went into great detail about thetactical mess that was Hurtgen Forest, something mine never talked about. (If he wasinvolved I can see why)

From what I gather, my grandpa, St. Sgt. Melville J. Batt of the 28 th Infantry, 2 nd Battalion, Headquarters Company of the 8 th infantry Division, US Army, had a careervery similar to this man. Both were about the same age when they joined, though he wasdrafted and Neriani enlisted. They both took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers trainingexercises in the western United States, and hopped from one camp to another until beingshipped to Europe at the same time. Like Neriani, Melville Batt was in the Officertraining program, and his high marks made him fit for early promotion before active duty.Like Neriani, Melville Batt was a ranking officer who was likely in charge of a platoon ofsoldiers. Like Neriani, Melville was not on the front lines, but rather tasked with defenseof regimental headquarters. Like Neriani, Melville was awarded a Bronze Star for hisactions in conrtibuting to the war effort in the European Theater of operations. Nerianirefused this medal, saying he knew so many others who made the ultimate sacrifice fortheir country and received no honors. He believed that no man should be rewarded fordoing whats expected of him. Melville Batt kept his medal. While he never talkedabout his military service, he must have been a fine soldier and a respectable officer.Like Neriani, he was involved in the German campaign right until its very end and washonorably discharged after he returned home.

Both men were obviously great soldiers who deserved recognition for their achievements.I wish I could have talked to either of them, but they are both gone. Arthur Neriani died


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this July in 2011 of old age. My own grandpa died in 1999 of a heart condition thattroubled him in his later years. I looked up to him as a child, but was too young tounderstand his heroism or show any interest. This transcribed interview is the onlyeyewitness record I can find of what the 8 th Infantry Pathfinders did during the war.Through the eyes of Mr. Neriani, my hope is that I can reconstruct enough details of my

own grandfathers life to write a believable story about him, and give him the credit hedeserved.

Veterans of the Second Great War are disappearing; they die by the hundreds every day,every week, every month. If we dont start to do things like this and preserve theirmemories, then they will be gone forever and their stories will die with them. In thewords of Abraham Lincoln, it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government ofthe people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

We must never forget.

Interview With Arthur Neriani 8th ID Vet 2007

Documents

Transcript of Interview With Arthur Neriani 8th ID Vet 2007