T/5 Donald Banks, U.S. Army, WWII, 82nd Airborne

Donald Banks enlisted through the Draft Board to join the U.S. Army and then jumped at the chance to serve in the 82nd Airborne Division. After very difficult paratrooper training, Banks soon found himself jumping into Normandy on D-Day and later fighting in the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden and at the Battle of the Bulge.

In this edition, Banks shares some of his memories of serving in Normandy but confesses he cannot discuss much of what he did there because "it's too gruesome." But he also takes with him into intensity of combat in Nijmegen and how he was wounded there. Banks also describes being rushed to the front lines in response to the surprise German offensive known at the Battle of the Bulge, and what it was like to battle the enemy and the bitter cold there.