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Second World War · 1939–1945 · 24 files

Western Front

Researched stories and films about the people who served on the Western Front in the Second World War, with the sources behind every account.

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Written stories

Case files from the Western Front

Eleanor Butler Roosevelt receives the Medal of Honor awarded posthumously to her husband, 1944 File 038Article Utah Beach, Normandy · 1917–1944 “We’ll Start the War from Right Here” At fifty-six, with a bad heart and arthritis that made him walk with a cane, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the eldest son of a president, talked his way into the first wave at Utah Beach. When the landing craft came in a mile off course, he made the decision that saved the day. Five weeks later he was dead. The Neuf-Brisach area of Alsace after American artillery fire, 8 February 1945 File 032Article Houssen, Alsace, France · 1942–1945 “Blanket My Position” In a frozen ditch in Alsace in January 1945, Lieutenant Garlin Conner called American artillery down on his own position to stop six hundred Germans and six tanks. He went home to a Kentucky farm and never talked about it. It took his widow, a stranger and a twenty-two-year campaign to get him the Medal of Honor, seventy-three years later. Joseph Medicine Crow with President Obama after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 12 August 2009 File 031Article Germany · 1943–1946 The Last War Chief of the Crow Joseph Medicine Crow went to war in 1944 with red paint on his arms under his uniform and an eagle feather in his helmet. In Germany he completed the four deeds a Crow warrior needed to become a war chief, ending with fifty horses taken from the SS. He lived to be 102, the tribe’s historian and its last war chief. Castle Itter on its hill in the Tyrol, Austria File 030Article Itter, Tyrol, Austria · 4–5 May 1945 The Battle for Castle Itter Five days after Hitler’s death, in a castle in the Austrian Alps, American tank crews, German Army soldiers, a converted SS officer and a group of famous French prisoners, including two former prime ministers and a tennis champion, fought side by side against the Waffen-SS. Audie Murphy in uniform File 010Article Holtzwihr, France · 1943–1945 The Burning Tank at Holtzwihr Audie Murphy was turned away by the Marines for being too small. On 26 January 1945, standing on a burning tank destroyer in eastern France, he held off a German attack for an hour. The One-Eyed Ghost of Zwolle File 015Article Netherlands · Korea · 1944–1951 The One-Eyed Ghost of Zwolle Léo Major lost an eye days after D-Day and refused to go home. In April 1945 he walked into the occupied Dutch city of Zwolle alone. By morning the Germans had gone. How much of that was his doing is still argued about. Troops of the 1st Infantry Division wade ashore at Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944 File 001Article Normandy · June 1944 The Medic of Omaha Beach Wounded before he reached the sand, Corporal Waverly Woodson Jr. treated more than two hundred men over thirty hours. The Medal of Honor recommended for him never came.
Films

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Garlin Conner ▸ Film Western Front Garlin Conner The second-most decorated U.S. soldier of WWII — and it took 73 years to honor him Llewellyn Chilson ▸ Film Western Front Llewellyn Chilson Truman gave him seven medals and said they should be a Medal of Honor Vito Bertoldo ▸ Film Western Front Vito Bertoldo The half-blind cook who held off two panzer divisions alone Teddy Roosevelt Jr. ▸ Film Western Front Teddy Roosevelt Jr. The oldest man on D-Day — "We'll start the war from right here" Francis Currey ▸ Film Western Front Francis Currey Six teenagers trapped by German tanks — the 19-year-old destroyed them all Bazooka Charlie ▸ Film Western Front Bazooka Charlie He strapped six bazookas to a flight-school trainer and dove at Tiger tanks Charles Coolidge ▸ Film Western Front Charles Coolidge A tank asked if he wanted to surrender — "I'm sorry Mac, you gotta come and get me" Joe Medicine Crow ▸ Film Western Front Joe Medicine Crow He stole 50 horses from the SS and sang as he rode away — the last war chief The Battle for Castle Itter ▸ Film Western Front The Battle for Castle Itter Americans and Germans fought on the same side — against the SS Leonard Funk ▸ Film Western Front Leonard Funk 80 Germans broke free and captured his men — he laughed, then killed 21 in 60 seconds Audie Murphy ▸ Film Western Front Audie Murphy One soldier held off an entire German army Léo Major ▸ Film Western Front Léo Major A Nazi-occupied city liberated by a single Canadian soldier