Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Kenny Bell

WWII | 871st Field Artillery Battalion, 66th Infantry Division

He was a young country kid trying to make his way in an Army full of more sophisticated people. Kenny Bell got the manual for the artillery pieces and read it at night until he knew the guns inside and out. He volunteered to go overseas when he was sent to a stateside post. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.) (5:09)
His division was devastated by the sinking of the SS Leopoldville, so Kenny Bell was not sent to Battle of the Bulge. The 66th Infantry Division was instead given the assignment of containing German troops around submarine bases on the French coast. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.) (4:39)
Kenny Bell relates the story of a man on his gun crew who went into the nearby French town and came back with five gallons of wine. That night, while he was having a little party, a fire mission came in. Not good for accuracy. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.) (1:54)
The end of the war was a big moment for Kenny Bell. For the first time in a long time, he went into town and celebrated. That was in Brittany, but before he went home, he had occupation duty in several places. In Austria, he had a big German command car for his personal transportation. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.) (4:25)
After World War II, Kenny Bell wound up an Army lifer. He became known as a fixer, a sergeant who could come into a dysfunctional unit and straighten it out. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.) (3:48)
The war was over and the guy wanted a souvenir. Kenny Bell told him that that his idea was a bad one, burning out the load from an artillery projectile so he could keep the shell. In Bell's pocket was what everyone thought was a pack of cigarettes, but was actually the secret to his success. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.) (2:33)
Kevin Hathaway

Vietnam | 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)

Raised in the projects of South Boston, Kevin Hathaway was so impressed with John F. Kennedy's speech about what you can do for your country that he quit high school and joined the Army. At basic training, he met a man who changed his life, his drill sergeant. (4:37)
Kevin Hathaway was only seventeen but he was serving with the mechanized infantry in Germany. He knew he would be going to Vietnam once he turned eighteen, but he figured out a way to get reclassified as a door gunner on a helicopter. He would fly over rice paddies instead of slogging through them. (4:27)
Kevin Hathaway already knew the M60 machine gun very well when he arrived in Vietnam. Now he had to learn about the helicopters. He was a new door gunner, which means he had to help the crew chief maintain the choppers. (4:26)
After a while, door gunner Kevin Hathaway got in a groove and the helicopter assaults became routine. He recalls one troop insertion which required the troops to jump as the chopper hovered over water. He knew the water was deep and he tried in vain to warn a very short soldier. (4:52)