James Maggie Megellas

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1 James Maggie Megellas Interview Transcript Tony Kedzierski 3/26/2012 This is the March 26th, 2012 HistoryRoots transcript of an interview with James Maggie Megellas. Mr. Megellas is a World War II Veteran of Company "H", 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

2 From my research, I know that you talk a lot about the common soldier and what it was like to fight. What do you want history to learn from your experience and the experience of your comrades in arms about war and fighting from the soldier s perspective? I will answer that by telling you why I wrote my book. When I came home from the war I was surprised that the movies glamorized war. War is not glamorous. War is the most brutal form of human endeavor. It s not to be glorified. There was always a leading man, John Wayne or somebody, they were big heroes That was one thing. In history, as it was recorded, through the eyes of the generals and the top leaders, left the impression that they were the ones who were responsible for the war or they had won the war. They contributed, to be sure, because they had jobs to do. But the actual fighting and the dying and the killing and the sacrificing was in the front lines. And it was fought by young men just out of high school - many of them teenagers still who had never known violence, came from peaceful, loving families and all of the sudden found themselves in this situation where they either had to kill the enemy or they would be killed. History did not really focus on those young men who did the fighting and dying. Seventy-five percent or more of the people that were killed were just young men out of high school, and history never revealed that. But my experience was in the front lines with those men, and I knew who they were. I knew what they believed in. I knew how they felt. I knew how they missed their families. I knew how they missed their loved ones. I knew at Christmas time what it meant for them to be away from home. But the history doesn t record that as it was felt by the men that did the fighting. So for that reason, I wrote my book. And that is why I emphasize on the men who do the fighting and the dying. Now war has always been like that. It isn t just World War II. Even now, Marines and others who are doing the fighting over there don t get a lot of attention or notice. History does not record it that way, but that s the way the wars are fought. And the purpose of my book and my lectures is to point out who these young men were, just as you asked me, and what they fought for. They were fighting for what they believed was a cause greater than themselves and that was to eliminate a monstrosity that was being created around the world, depriving people of their freedom. That if it was not checked it would affect freedom loving people, including us. And so that is kind of a long answer to your question. That was the purpose I wrote the book, actually, was to talk about those men, and I do. James Maggie Megellas Page 2

3 I also read that you were the most-decorated officer in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division. That is correct. I have, all together, over 30 awards. I have all of the highest decorations, most of them twice, except for the Congressional Medal. I have been recommended for that as well, but that is still pending. If you read the book, I wrote about it and said that it is still being considered. What are you most proud of accomplishing during this time? I think the fact that I was able to go over early in the War, into Africa, and then come up through Italy and fight all through the War, and survive and come home, it is in itself an accomplishment because I was in a rifle company the whole time. I was a combat leader. I was in combat the whole time. And most of the men who fought with me didn t make it back. In my rifle company, the normal complement was 135 men. During the better-than-two-years that I was in the War, we had over 1,000 men come into the Company. A lot of them, obviously, didn t make it back. Even now, when I go overseas, I go to the cemeteries, and I visit the gravesites of many of my buddies who were killed. So I would think my greatest accomplishment was that I survived this terrible war and I made it back. There were so many who didn t. Beyond that, the Lord has let me live to be 95 years of age so I can write all about it. I think that is my greatest accomplishment is surviving. How did you find the courage you needed to fight? First of all, you had to believe in what you were fighting for and what the alternatives were. For our country, it was either we stopped the Japanese from dominating and taking over the Pacific and the Nazis from taking over Europe or we would be engulfed ourselves. It was something that we had to do to defend ourselves and to protect our interests and those things that we hold dear. This has been the case in all wars from the first days of our great country, from the founding days, and the days of the Revolution. Men died and fought for their freedom. They had a cause, and the courage that you get is from fighting for a cause that you believe is correct, and you are fighting against an enemy that has to be defeated. That gives you the strength and the purpose of doing it. You have to have a reason to do it. You just don t go to war because, like now you get a war game and you play the game, and it s a game. War is not a game. It s a terrible thing, and to fight in it and have the courage, you have to have a reason and a cause. I thinks that s what gave me my courage is the fact that I lived in a country that was peaceful-loving, and people enjoyed their freedom. We had freedom to do all the things we wanted to do, and we wanted to make sure that it continued that way for our children and for our grandchildren and for young men like James Maggie Megellas Page 3

4 you in the 6th grade that you still have those same freedoms. That s where we got our courage. What can you tell me about your documentary? The documentary will be out this summer, and it will be on TV. The producer called me, and he had produced other documentaries, and he had won two Emmys. He called me and said, I read your book, and I want to do a documentary. I said, Sure. That s fine. Since that time, in the last two years, they have been photographing in fact, it was less than a year ago, my wife and I accompanied them, and we went to Europe. We went to all the battlefields, and they took pictures. They took pictures where I fought in all the battles. Now they are producing it. Maybe you have seen on TV there is a trailer. The producer shows pictures of the documentary they are putting on TV, so you can see what it is going to be like. That is where it stands now, and it should be ready by this summer and be on TV. Is there anything else history should know? Yes. There are other things I would like for you to know; then you can speak on my behalf if you like. I speak a lot of schools, when we have Memorial Day or Veterans Day, they bring the veterans in and they honor them. Your school has done that too, I assume in the 6th grade. I speak at the high school where I live here in Grapevine and they have the auditorium full of students, and they line up the day with flags, and they sing patriotic songs to honor veterans. I think that is fine. But when I get up on stage and I m talking to the students, and I tell them about my experience and what a terrible thing war was and how our young men just out of high school fought and died and how brutal it is I say if you really want to honor veterans you will lead your life along those principles for which we fought. What did we fight for? What do soldiers fight for? They fight to protect the freedoms that we have the freedom of the press, the freedom of speech, the freedom of choice, the freedom to go to school where you want We ll protect our country that is based on laws and not based on men and is not run by dictators. And we abide by laws. We are a law-abiding country, and the countries we fought didn t abide by laws. They were ruled by dictators, and so I said, If you really want to honor me, and you want to honor the veterans, you will lead your lives along those principles for which we fought. Obey the laws. When I hear that students, for example, bring drugs to school, they are violating the law. Not only are they violating the law, but they are an enemy of this country because they are on the side of the bad guys in the war on drugs. Any kid who takes drugs, violates the law and is an enemy of this country. I say if you really want to honor veterans, lead those lives along those principles we fought for to give you the right to go to this beautiful school James Maggie Megellas Page 4

5 where you are at in 6th grade and where you re going to go to high school and on to college. To have those rights that s what we fought for. Don t violate those principles for which we fought. Don t let me and others who fought think we really didn t fight for any good cause because what do our students do with this great opportunity? They cause problems. They don t, in many cases, respect their teachers. They bring drugs to school. They bully other kids. Those are not what we fought for for you to do that. If you really want to honor us, you ll lead your life along those principles for which we and other soldiers have fought and for so many that died. That s my message to all school children. Don t bring drugs to school. Don t violate the law. Respect your teachers. Respect your parents. Respect your pastor. Respect everything you ve got that we fought for to preserve for you. Thank you for your time, and thank you for serving our country. James Maggie Megellas Page 5

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