Mr. James Kiser
[Born 09/08/1918)
Interviewed by Drew Grein and Grace Tuttle
Recorded on 05/17/2006 by Drew Grein and Grace Tuttle
Transcribed on 07/22/2006-07/23/2006 by Ben Stovall
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Drew Grine: Today is May 17th, 2006. My name is Drew Grein and along with Grace Tuttle, we are interviewing Mr. James Kiser. We are at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, IN. Mr. Kiser was born on September 8th, 1918. He is currently living at 1403 Wilson Ave. in Ames, Iowa.
Grace Tuttle: Mr. Kiser, what war did you serve in?
James Kiser: I served in World War Two.
GT: And what was your branch of service?
JK: I was in the _________ in the United States Army.
GT: And your rank?
JK: I started out as a second lieutenant and I moved to first lieutenant, then captain during World War Two.
GT: And where did you serve?
JK: I served in the United States in training for the combat, which I participated in Europe in Eastern France and Southwestern Germany and Austria.
DG: Were you drafted, or did you enlist?
JK: No, I wasn’t drafted. I attended Iowa State University, it was then called Iowa State College, and took the ROTC program. Everybody who, at that time, was physically able had to take two years of ROTC, and then I elected to take two additional years and upon completion, I received a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army and this happened during my senior year at Iowa State and the United States had declared war in December of 1941, and I received my commission on June 1st, 1942, and graduated Ohio state, then I went right into the service at that time.
DG: Do you recall your first days in the service?
JK: Well, to begin with, I went from Ames, Iowa to Forkapoint Island for just a few days, and then I went to California, to Camp Rubbish, California, then went to a school, then I went to Fort Lewis, Washington, which was near Tacoma and Limpiar, Washington, and there I joined the unit that, eventually, I went to combat with, which was the 156th field troop of tanks of the 44th infantry division.
GC: Can you tell us a little bit about your boot camp or training experiences?
JK: Well, training experiences amounted to a lot of thing. I told you I went to a school in California, and then at Fort Lewis, Washington, we were in a training program, and then I personally went to additional artillery school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then came back to Fort Lewis and was made the battery commander of Battery A of the 156th field artillery battalion and went through a regular training program with them out in the field- firing missions with the houses, and, by the way, the 156th Artillery Battalion had 105 mm howitzers, so we went through a training program out in the field area of Fort Lewis and then, eventually, we went to what they call the manure area in Louisiana and eastern Texas and there we, basically, were getting ready to get in to combat as a kind of a sideline there, and our first problem that we had, which lasted, about, as I recall, three or four days, we had a lot of rain, and it rained, and it rained, and it rained so much that a lot of vehicles got, not submerged, but got stuck in the mud, so when this problem was over and they were having a critique of the problem, one of the comments was made that we need to practice water discipline- that seemed kind of ridiculous with all the rain that we had at that time. Then after our experience in the manure area, we moved to Camp Phillips, Kansas, which is out in the central part of Kansas, and stayed there for a few months and sort of fine-tuned our unit to go into combat, and then from Camp Phillips, Kansas, we moved to the Boston area- Camp Miles Standish, as I remember, and waited to get on a troop ship to go overseas.
GT: What was it first like when you arrived overseas?
JK: Going overseas was kind of interesting too, because we had an, approximately, 100-ship convoy and the 44th Division were the only service troops in that convoy and we were on two what they call “troop ships��, about, incidentally, a troop had approximately 14,000 people, 14,000 men, and so, we were on troop ships, about 7,000 on each one, and there were a lot of tankers, destroyers, other ships in that convoy- big convoy, and on of the interesting things going overseas was the ship that our unit was on had a problem with a propeller and so, out in the middle of the ocean, they had to stop with that one ship and get the propeller repaired, and we were just left out there by ourselves. The rest of the convoy went on, except that they kept a few Navy ships- destroyers- that kept circling around us to keep us safe from any possible submarine attack, and then after they repaired the problem with one of the propellers on the ship, why, then, we caught up with the convoy the next morning and got right in the middle of it and finished our journey over to Chadbourn, France, and this particular harbor had been damaged during the start of the invasion in Europe by the American forces, and it was cleared out so that we were able to land there in Chadbourn, France, and unload the troops at that point. There was quite an experience as far as that part of the journey was concerned, and we were really glad to see land. We’d been on the Atlantic Ocean for several days.
DG: Did you see combat while you were in Europe?
JK: Yes. We were in combat about eight months. We landed in France in late September of 1944, and after we got all of our equipment together, we went towards the eastern part of France to catch up with the so-called “fighting” and, as I recall, we actually went into combat in October and then we stayed in a fighting situation until the cessation of the part of the war in Europe in May of 1945. So, we were in about eight months in combat.
DG: Were there many casualties in your unit during this time?
JK: In the battery that I commanded, and incidentally, a battery has 100 men- 5 officers and 95 enlisted personnel, at that time. We had one man that was killed at one of the howitzer sections from enemy fire and then we had one of the officers was captured, but we were quite fortunate as far as casualties were concerned.
GT: Could you tell me a couple of your most memorable experiences?
JK: Most memorable experiences. Well, there are quite a few of them, and one of them was, I think, New Year’s Eve of 1945, the last day of December, 1944, and then New Year’s 1945, and things seemed quite quiet, and then, all of a sudden, we heard a lot of firing and just before midnight there was quite an outburst of enemy fire, and each day the artillery is situated back of the so-called “front lines”, in the back of the infantry, oh, approximately, one to two miles, something like that. Sometimes you’re a little bit closer to it than that, but on the average, it’s something like that. But, anyhow, we heard quite a lot of firing up in the front lines, then we got an order to move back, so during that particular night, we celebrated New Year’s Eve moving our artillery unit back a little bit so that we wouldn’t be overrun by the enemy. That was one of them. Another interesting thing that happened during the fall of 1944, our unit was pulled out of action and sent back a few miles into a so-called “safer area” to fire a demonstration for the 7th Army, which was to show them the results of a new fuse that they had developed for the artillery shells and this particular fuse was quite an instrument and firing on personnel and what not because when that particular projectile would get so close to something solid, why, the radio mechanism in it had these little waves and it would cause it to explode as it made real close contact with something that was very solid, so we were asked to fire a demonstration of that, because that was brand new in the European theatre at that time. So those were a couple of interesting things. And, of course, every day was interesting.
GT: Were you awarded any medals or citations?
JK: One of the ones that I prize is that I was awarded the bronze star, and this award came from, really, from the fact that my superiors thought that I was doing an outstanding job with my unit.
DG: Was there a specific event that enabled you to earn this award, or was it just a culmination of your entire service?
JK: This, I would say, is just a culmination of things. No one specific event that happened that I got the award.
DG: How did you stay in touch with your family during this time period.
JK: How did I stay in touch with my family? Well, the only way that I stayed in touch with my family back home was by letter. By mail.
DG: How often did you get a chance to write?
JK: Oh, that varied. About, maybe, I probably wrote a letter once a week or so. Sometimes more often than that.
GT: What was the food like?
JK: Well, I would say pretty good. Probably about as good as what we have here at Park Tudor. No, in the artillery, you have a mobile situation and you’re on wheels and so we had a real nice mess hitch, and when we were moving, they had their kitchen right on that truck and sometimes they would cook while we were moving, if we were moving, but usually, we’d stop, and if we were only going to be at a certain position for a few hours, why, they’d leave the stoves and all the supplies right on their truck and trailer, but if we thought maybe we might be in a spot for a few days, or, sometimes, we stayed quite a while in one spot, then they���d get their kitchen off of that truck and either into a vacant house if that was available, or set up a tent, but in any event, we had some real good cooks, and with the rations that were issued to us, they did a marvelous job, I think, in providing us good food, and I was fortunate, I think, in that my mess sergeant had operated a restaurant in New York City and so he did his best to give us the best kind of food possible.
DG: Did you ever feel stressed for supplies during your service- whether it was food or anything else that you would need?
JK: I don’t think so. I think generally our supply people did an excellent job in getting supplies to us. Well, I’ll say one thing, though, in regards to supplies. In the fall of 1944, I told you that we had a lot of rain in Europe and we had problems with getting wet feet. We just had the leather shoes and we were wanting to get what they call a shoe pack, which was a kind of a boot that had a rubberized foot, and that was a little slow getting to us, but eventually it did and that really helped a lot, just as far as that was concerned, but as far as other supplies, ammunition was plentiful for us, and, as I said, the food was plentiful, and all the other supplies, as I recall, came when we would need it.
GT: Was there something special you did for good luck?
JK: Something special for good luck. Thought about it a lot. I suppose I prayed a little bit, quite a little bit at times. I didn’t have any good luck charms or anything like that, but you wondered what would happen next. You anticipate what can happen, and you’re just grateful and thankful, as far as I was concerned, that nothing really serious did happen, except for the time that I told you when we had one of our men in that howitzer section that got killed.
DG: Did you feel a great deal of pressure or stress, and if you did, how did you alleviate it?
JK: Yes. Yeah, you do because, I mean, I think that I was pretty up-tight, so to speak, most of the time. I mean, you’re not only worrying about yourself, but you’re worrying about these other men that you have with you, and you hope that whatever decision you make in regards to the activities in the area, and you hope whatever decision you make will be beneficial to everybody, and so you think about that constantly and sometimes, I think that I was stressed to the point, you were talking about food? Probably I didn’t eat very much, and, yes, I’d say you do have stress and pressure from that standpoint.
GT: How did most people entertain themselves?
JK: Well, during combat, there wasn’t much time to entertain yourself, but one thing that we did in Battery A was to, for the gun sections, and in a battery, there are four of these howitzer sections, and there are about ten to twelve people, ten to twelve men, in each section, and one thing we did in that battery was to, when possible, divide them up so that half of them were back in the howitzer section at one time and half were back in a house, if it was available, and we did take over some houses in the area that had been vacated, and, in a couple places, we asked people if they would move out or if they could move into a couple of rooms, and then we would share the rest of their house. To give them a chance to rest a little bit more and to write letters or relax, and so sometimes, it we’re going to be in an area for a period of days, why, then. These sections would divide up and part of them would do six hour shifts. There were six hours at the howitzers and then they were allowed to relax for six hours- still in the area. But if they were needed, of course, they were called to come right back to the howitzer section. So we did that. And then there were times when they had, in certain areas, they had portable field showers and so we would try, if we were going to be there for a little bit, to let them get back and get a shower, get some clean clothes and rest a little bit.
DG: Where did you travel while you were in the service?
JK: Where did I travel while I was in the service? While I was in the United States, I traveled from Iowa to California to Washington, state of Washington, to Fort Lewis, and then I traveled to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, then back to Washington, and then with the unit, and then traveled to the manure area in Louisiana and in eastern Texas and then with the unit to Kansas, and then with the unit to Boston, and then from Boston overseas on the troop ships to Cherbourg, France, and then from France, we were going through to eastern France with the unit, and then into combat, and then we went through north-eastern France and south-western Germany and down to Imps, Austria. And that’s where we ended up in our combat in Europe in World War Two. And then we traveled with the unit back into France and to the heart of France and then we went by ship over to England- to South Hampton, England, and then by train from there to Scotland and then we got on the Queen Elizabeth ship and came back to New York on our way home.
GT: I know you brought photographs, but would you like to tell us who they are and do you remember having them taken and just about who it is?
JK: Ok. This is a picture of Battery A. This was taken at Fort Lewis, Washington, and here are the officers right there, sitting in front. That’s yours truly. This was the rest of our men, and there’s about 100 total in that particular picture. Now, this was taken at Fort Lewis, Washington, while we were still in training, and, of course, personnel changed a little bit by the time we got overseas. Now, this is just a closer picture of these men that are seated right there. These officers that are seated right there. There’s yours truly right there. I was a lieutenant at that time, when the picture was taken. Ok.
GD: Did you keep a diary during your service?
JK: Unfortunately, I didn’t. I didn’t keep a diary, and so there’s a lot of things I did in the service that I don’t have any recollection of at this point because, as you know, that was a long time ago. Incidentally, when I went into the service, it was in June of 1942. I was 23 years old, and when we got into combat, I was 26 years old and most of the men in the battery- not all of them- but most of them were younger than I was, except for a couple of the older sergeants. The mess sergeant that I talked about a while ago- I think he was one of the older ones. He was about 35 at that time, but many of these men were 19 and 20 years old, and, of course, they were energetic and they made good soldiers- no question about that.
GT: Do you recall the day your service ended?
JK: I recall the day that we quit fighting in Europe and then we were fortunate to go back and come back to the United States before a lot of the other troops did because our unit was one of the latter ones to go into the fighting in Europe, and so we were to come back to the United States, re-schedule, and then go to the Pacific to fight. Well, fortunately, when we got back to the United States, in the summer of 1945, they gave us what they call a 30-day’s leave, and so everybody got to go home for a little bit, but during that time, well, the big bomb was dropped in Japan and so that changed the whole situation as far as sending our unit to the Pacific, so we re-assembled in Fort Chaffey, Arkansas, and basically a lot of the men then were allowed to get out of the unit. I stayed in, actually, until the next summer after this unit was sent back home and deactivated, why, I went to another unit and then I went to the Cavalry school at Fort Riley, Kansas, and spent some time riding horses there because they still had some horses there, and their program, I enjoyed it because, as I told you, I was ROTC when I was in Iowa State, and at that time we had horse-drawn artillery as part of our ROTC program, and as a sideline we had a polo team, and so I’d play polo at home in northwestern Iowa and so I enjoyed that as far as my college activity and I got to do a little bit of that at Fort Riley, Kansas out there in 1946. About this time in 1946, I got out of the service, as far as the service was concerned then and I went home, but I did stay in the reserves for quite a number of time. Actually, I stayed in the Army reserves until 1978, which I retired then when I had the rank of colonel. Have I answered your question on that? Maybe I gave you more than you needed.
GT: No, no. That was perfect. Did you make any close friendships in the service and are they still lasting today, or did they last for a long time?
JK: Yes, you’re bound to make some close friends when you’re in the service because you’re in contact…
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GT: Did you make any close friendships while in the service and did they last for a long time?
JK: Yes, you’re bound to make close friends when you are in contact with individuals day and night. If you are in combat, particularly, and we’ve had some very good long-term relationships. Unfortunately, a lot of these fellows have passed on now and we lost a very good friend just this last Christmas time, but we still have some close contact and we have the 156 fielder, the battalion has a reunion every year, and they started this, oh, several years ago, and they have this annually and they have it about Labor Day time in the fall. Last September, they had a group picked together to lead to Ohio, and there were about 25 men there, plus most of them had their wives with them, and we enjoyed being together for two or three days at that particular time, but this is not only Battery A, but this is also the whole 156 fielder artillery battalion, but that’s a pretty small number considering the fact that originally there were about 600 in that particular group when they were in the fighting unit.
DG: After you finished your service, did you go back to school, or did you start working?
JK: No, I went back home and stayed for just a few months, then I went to South Dakota State University and got a master’s degree there and was in the animal science department on the teaching staff. One of the good things they’ve got there, and I say it’s very good, I met my wife Betty there, and then we were married there, and then we moved to Ames, Iowa in 1951 and we’ve lived there ever since.
GT: Did your military experience influence your thinking about war or about the military in general?
JK: Yes. I would say that it did. I think that my military experience, I appreciated the experience that I had in the military. Some things happened that you hope never happen and I would say that I certainly am not a person that wants to see war, but if it comes, why, then, I was glad to have the opportunity to help out where I could in the military. And, as I told you earlier, I stayed in the Army reserves until 1974 because I thought that maybe I could help a little bit in the training of people who are thinking about being in the military.
DG: After you finished in the Army reserves, what did you go on to do as a career?
JK: While I was in the Army reserves, I was working at Iowa State University, and I was in the Animal Science Department as an instructor and a professor, so I just stayed doing what I was doing actually, and the reserve was just extra, and the reserve program, initially, when I started in the reserve program, you spent one night a week in training. This would be a two hour period, and then you’d go to summer camp for a couple of weeks, and then they changed the time when they had their drills, but it was an extra thing, really.
GT: Is there anything you would like to add that we have not covered in this interview?
JK: Yes. I’d like to thank you, both of you, and I appreciated the opportunity to come here, to Park Tudor, on this special day. Has a very excellent program that they had in the auditorium this morning. An excellent program. Actually, my granddaughter, Ebbie Frank, is in the sixth grade and she wanted me to come to this particular program, invited me to come, and I certainly appreciate it and I appreciate Park Tudor for doing this particular thing, and I appreciate your group for taking part in having this interview and I hope I haven’t confused you, and you’ve been very nice. I enjoyed it very much. It’s really been a wonderful day.
DG: This concludes our interview on May 17th, 2006, with Mr. James Kiser and that’s it.
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