- Collection:
- Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
- Title:
- Oral history interview of Karl Edwin Gemes
- Creator:
- Lowance, David
Gemes, Karl Edwin, 1915-2010 - Date of Original:
- 2005-08-15
- Subject:
- Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945
Victory ships
Landing craft
Artillery
World War, 1939-1945--personal narratives, American
Gemes, Clatie Clifton Jolly, 1879-1920
Gemes, Christopher Jackson, 1877-1945
Gemes, Christopher Marvin, 1907-1963
Gemes, Charles, 1912-1971
Georgia Institute of Technology
United States Naval Academy
United States. Army. Field Artillery Battalion, 802nd
Quincy (Cruiser : CA-39) - Location:
- France, Grand Est, Haut-Rihn, Colmar-Ribeauville, Colmar, 48.0777517, 7.3579641
France, Nancy, 48.6937223, 6.1834097
Netherlands, Rhine River, 51.97198, 5.91545
United States, Alabama, Calhoun County, Fort McClellan, 33.71076, -85.73733
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Bartow County, Kingston, 34.23704, -84.94411
United States, Georgia, Chattahoochee County, Fort Benning, 32.35237, -84.96882
United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Fort Gordon, 33.42097, -82.16206
United States, North Carolina, Cumberland County, Fort Bragg, 35.139, -79.00603
United States, Oklahoma, Comanche County, Lawton, Fort Sill, 34.6809319, -98.5708846797856 - Medium:
- video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/quicktime
- Description:
- In this interview, Karl Gemes describes his history in the U.S. Army during World War II. At college, he had been in the Navy reserves and earned an appointment to the Naval Academy, but due to poor eyesight, he could not pass the Navy physical. He returned home, registered for and was called up by the draft. After basic training, he attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned an officer. He recalls his training and remembers that some maneuvers in which he participated in Tennessee may have been worse than the actual war. He crossed the Atlantic on a French ship, the SS Columbia, and recalls the weather conditions, with long hours of daylight in the summer and a terrible winter of 1944. He describes the effort of pulling their howitzers with 2.5 ton trucks and how glad they were to see American fighters in the sky when the weather cleared. They arrived in the Ardennes from southern France and had to be issued winter clothing. Gemes describes the snowy conditions and how they learned later that bumps in the road over which they had driven were dead soldiers from both sides. He describes Christmas of 1944. His unit traveled as far as Leipzig and then the Russians took over. He returned to Norfolk aboard the USS Tusculum Victory. He discusses the low rate of casualties in his unit compared to miles traveled, and describes the German people.
Karl Gemes was in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. - Metadata URL:
- http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/171
- Additional Rights Information:
- This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
- Extent:
- 49:08
- Original Collection:
- Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center - Holding Institution:
- Atlanta History Center
- Rights:
-
