Oral History Interview with Edward Nielsen, August 23, 2001 Page: Title Page

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Oral History Interview with Edward Nielsen, August 23, 2001 (Sound)

Oral History Interview with Edward Nielsen, August 23, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Edward Nielsen from Medaryville, Indiana. He discusses undergoing Amry training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, before being assigned as B Company of the 69th Army Regiment at Fort Knox as a private. Afterwards he got lucky and was assigned to drive a truck from Louisiana to North Carolina, Mr. Nielsen describes this as the best job he ever had in the Army. After Pearl Harbor he is transferred to the 1st Armored Division and Regiment, 2nd Battalion. He was then transported from fort Knox to Ireland then to England for a short time before being shipped out to Oran in North Africa. On the way to Oran, the ship he was on was almost hit by a missile shot by a German U-boat, but it instead hit another ship that was nearby. By the time Mr. Nielsen reached Oran he was a segreant Tank Commander. He also relays a time he warned his Company Commander about German Tiger Tanks being in their area and being ignored only for them to show up a few days later resulting in one captain deserting and being captured by German soldiers. Mr. Nielsen also discusses getting captured by the Germans on February 14th of 1943 and being brought to Tunis for a few weeks before being flown to Naples, Italy, and eventually ending up in a camp near Munich. Mr. Nielsen had made escape plans but was ultimately in the camp until it was liberated by the Russians. After being liberated he was flown to France before being brought back to Boston Massachusetts. Mr. Nielsen then got a train to Indianapolis before finally going home to Medaryville and was discharged in either September or October of 1945.

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Nielsen, Edward. Oral History Interview with Edward Nielsen, August 23, 2001, text, August 23, 2001; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1613102/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.

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