2007.500.242

Address: 1314 Bristol Ridge Pl. #1, Crownsville, MD 21032
Date of Birth: September 27, 1924
Occupation: Civil Engineer
Ethnic Background: Irish/French Canadian
Interviewer: Robert Castricone
Summary: Hughes tried to enlist in each of the branches of the service, but couldn't make it because of eye problems. He was eventually drafted into the Army. He was trained for infantry duty in an artillery company. When crossing from England to France on board the troop ship Leopoldville, they were torpedoed with a loss of 850 men - division no longer effective and was split up and the men assigned to various other units.
Branch: Army
Rank:
Theatre: European
He describes German troops made up of a blend of Army, Navy, and Air Force men fighting to protect submarine bases in Southern France. French partisan forces did the bulk of the fighting at this time - American forces backed them up. End of war came while he was at Lorenz. He describes the celebration.

https://lawrencehistory.org/files/audio/oh/2007.500.242-shughes.mp3