Video Log
Joseph A. Hatala
WWII
U. S. Army
Born: April 23, 1921
Interview Date: January 23, 2010
Interviewed By: Eileen Hurst
Part I
00: 00: 04 introduction
00: 00: 58 drafted in 1942 while living in Burlington, CT
00: 01: 46 basic training in Camp Edwards, MA; describes his experience
00: 02: 53 went to Camp Myles Standish, MA, next for about a week; then, went to Staten Island, NY; took a ship to North Africa
00: 03: 53 trip to Africa took fourteen days; describes the experience; seasickness
00: 04: 45 came through the Strait of Gibraltar; arriving in Africa as part of the 406th anti- aircraft unit; porpoises; air raid
00: 06: 02 was trained as a heavy machine- gunner; explains the composition of a company, the weapons with which they were equipped, and his job within his company
00: 07: 37 shipped out from North Africa, big weapons on landing ship tanks ( LSTs); another air raid, which he describes
00: 09: 24 went on LSTs to Sicily next; landed outside Agrigento and set up anti- aircraft guns; describes a typical day
00: 12: 00 enemy aircraft were always out of range; describes layout of anti- aircraft weapons; Hatala’s job was to protect his gun; never shot down any aircraft
00: 13: 58 no casualties in Hatala’s unit
00: 14: 05 went to Bizerte, North Africa next ( instead of Salerno, Italy), after being switched from the 7th to the 5th Army division * of which his brother was a part); was switched because the war in Italy was over
00: 15: 13 went to Algiers, Algeria by train next, which took about a week; flew from Maison Blanche Airport to Corsica; other battalions went by ship, docking into Bastia, Corsica; sent up anti- aircraft equipment again, as Germans were flying from southern France into Salerno, Italy
00: 16: 53 Hatala was made into a combat engineer. He got two and a half months of training. He describes the job. He also talks about building the Bailey bridge across the Rhine river, in Germany. Work was done under smoke- screen, which he explains.
00: 20: 04 living conditions and food in Sicily
00: 21: 45 stayed in touch with family via letters; mail was fairly regular; read a lot
00: 22: 05 never ran out of supplies
00: 22: 16 as a combat engineer, went by a French boat from Corsica to southern France; story about an Arab man who would start the crew in getting seasick; story about French people hijacking trucks that held U. S. equipment
00: 25: 09 headed for Germany, fixing or building roads as they went; after General Patton was killed, Hatala helped to fix the highway in Germany from Ohm to Munich. 00: 26: 02 German POWs were used as laborers on roads or bridges, as well.
00: 26: 20 describes guarding a prisoner of war camp during the invasion of Normandy
00: 27: 58 didn’t have problems with prisoners; no escape attempts
00: 28: 17 lists medals received
00: 28: 35 Hatala’s brother also served in the Army during WWII; tells the story of meeting up with him on the French- German border; met up with him a second time
Part II
00: 30: 32 met up with his brother again in Germany, after the war had ended, staying with him overnight; his brother was diagnosed with post- traumatic stress disorder
00: 33: 19 describes the smell of the Dachau concentration camp, and the way burned people looked
00: 34: 16 lists things done for entertainment; often went “ on pass” into nearby towns; describes feud between Italians and French marines over the island of Corsica
00: 36: 06 saw no USO shows
00: 36: 36 did nothing special for good luck; said his prayers
00: 36: 53 Hatala tells the story of his machine gunner drowning in front of him, when they were putting up a bridge at the Rhine River
00: 39: 39 humorous story from when Hatala was in Le Havre, France: in a line for coffee, he saw someone with whom he had gone to high school
00: 41: 11 came home from the war around September 30th
00: 42: 05 Hatala felt his officers and fellow soldiers were all right; he did not like the busy work he had to do when the war had ended, or during training, which he describes.
00: 43: 33 has not stayed in touch with people he met in the service; stopped in Ohio to see one of them, but he wasn’t around
00: 44: 07 in Boston, MA, had to turn in equipment and got a two week pass; went home to Burlington, then back to Fort Devens; story about being given a steak to eat, but having too small a stomach to eat it all
00: 45: 35 after being discharged, visited Pennsylvania, Ohio, and an old girlfriend on Staten Island, NY, over a three month period; then went back to work with Pratt & Whitney, where he worked for 42 years; married and has two daughters
00: 46: 45 did not go back to school on the G. I. Bill
00: 46: 53 did not join any veterans’ organizations
00: 47: 10 Hatala thinks that serving in the military makes one smarter, but did not affect him otherwise.
00: 47: 50 When the war ended, Hatala’s entire unit had enough points to go right home.
00: 48: 15 talks again about spotting airplanes in Corsica; difference in technology between then and now, in Iraq; story about watching a French ship hit a mine
00: 50: 49 details on being an airplane spotter, training
00: 51: 49 French riots
00: 52: 46 weather in Africa; story about drinking water from a brook
00: 53: 28 story about gasoline containers on train tracks being lit on fire while working on a nearby bridge; Patton needed all of the extra gasoline tanks and had them taken to the front line
00: 55: 44 there were long pipes installed to carry gasoline across France as an alternative to having trucks transport cans; describes using a crane to move pipes, getting cocky and dropping some
00: 59: 10 talks about Patton’s death, the road on which he died being the one Hatala had helped to build
Part III
00: 00: 00 continues talking about Patton
00: 00: 23 story about taking a truck into town in Sicily, hitting a donkey; the sergeant driving did not know how to drive a truck 00: 01: 57 story about doing guard duty outside of Palermo when a brook caught fire for all of the gasoline in it, dumped there by the Air Corps; animals were being burned, so soldiers were instructed to shoot them
