A star athlete first at Aspinwall High School then at Waynesburg College in Pennsylvania, Richard V. Morgan felt the call to duty when his country was attacked at Pearl Harbor and joined the Marines. Morgan fought in some of the Pacific’s bloodiest battles at Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian Islands. AT Tarawa he fought alongside Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Alexander Bonnyman Jr. supplying him with demolition charges as they took a large Japanese bunker filled with 200-300 Imperial soldiers. At Saipan Morgan narrowly survived a 15 hour last ditch Banzai charge of 3,000 Japanese soldiers. At Tinian Island Morgan spent weeks trying to clear out Japanese resistance from the island’s high caves. Selected for officer school, Morgan’s days were brightened by his morning encounters with one of the most celebrated figures of the 20th century. This is Richard V. Morgan’s WW 2 story.

Richard V. Morgan at the train station

Young Richard V. Morgan

Richard V. Morgan in his later years

Tarawa

Saipan

Tinian Island

Hattie Brantley never stopped tending to wounded GIs whether in the jungles of the Bataan peninsula, in the tunnels of Corregidor, or during her long imprisonment at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. As a POW for nearly three years, she didn’t let starvation, disease, lack of medical supplies, or the brutal treatment she received from Japanese guards stop her in caring for the young GI casualties under her care. Today’s podcast tells the story of Hattie Brantley, better known as the Angel of Bataan. Special thanks to my wife, Christina Diane Ulferts, who will give voice to Hattie’s quotes in this episode.

Young Hattie Brantley

Hattie Brantley speaking to veterans

Hattie Brantley's grave

Hattie had a great sense of humor

Sick with malaria, on a 150-200 mile, three week forced march from one German POW camp to another, Edgar Kuhlow heard one German guard talking about him to another guard - Daah blibt heea in Deutschland leigen (He is going to stay laying here in Germany). Having already survived brutal combat at Anzio and in southern France, as well as seven months of incarceration as a POW, Edgar Kuhlow was determined to survive and prove the German guard wrong. This podcast tells Edgar Kuhlow’s harrowing story.

Edgar Kuhlow and John Ulferts

Battle of Anzio - Trench warfare

Battle of Anzio - Wounded GI

The Battle of Anzio claimed 43,000 Allied and 40,000 German casualties

Stalag II-D Stargard

Memorial to 65,000 prisoners of war who died at Stalag II B at Hammerstein

Sick American prisoner of war at Stalag XIIA Limburg

GIs sharing a blanket