Early Life and Entry into the Military

Becoming a Soldier

North Africa to Italy

Naples and Anzio

Anzio

Anzio and North Italy Campaign

Redeployment to the Philippines

First Sergeant's Responsibilities

Postwar

Reflections

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Allen Pedersen was born in Valley City, North Dakota in May 1916. His grandfather immigrated from Denmark. He grew up on a small grain farm near the Cheyenne River. It was a tough but good life during the Depression. He started hunting early in life. After graduating high school, he attended Valley City State College, graduating in 1940 with a degree in education. He then took a job teaching and coaching at a small school. Within a few years he had become an administrator for his local school system. In the early part of 1941, Pedersen and his wife moved to Idaho. He went to work for the US Forestry Service while his wife completed her master's degree. That work got him in very good physical condition. That made his subsequent basic training easier. He was still working for the Forestry Service when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. He heard the announcement of the attack while eating ice cream after watching a movie on that Sunday. Pedersen knew he would be drafted so he continued working and waited for the call. It came in the summer of 1942. He was not selected for OCS [Annotator's Note: Officer Candidate School] but was offered a battlefield commission during his service. He chose instead to remain as company First Sergeant. He entered service on 20 August 1942 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Allen Pedersen was inducted into the Army [Annotator's Note: on 20 August 1942 at a facility in Salt Lake City, Utah]. After induction he was sent to Spokane, Washington and from there to Camp Polk, Louisiana for basic training. Pedersen thought his time in the service would be short, but it turned into four years. Basic was not particularly rough, but it was a culture shock. He spent the majority of his time doing calisthenics, target practicing with the M1 Garand rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand], and participating in night bivouac exercises. After basic training, Pedersen and many of the new soldiers were formed into the 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company on 14 November 1942. It was formed because of the superiority of German tanks in North Africa and the inability of American armor to standup to the enemy 88mm guns. Losses had been heavy so it was decided to set up a process for recovery of damaged tanks for refit or deposal. There were 198 enlisted and eight officers in the OEC [Annotator's Note: Ordnance Evacuation Company]. There was some friction between draftees and career troops when the outfit was formed. Nevertheless, some of the old timers had difficulties when the firing started. Of the 19 men who formed the core of the new company, four were left at the end of the war. There were few leaves while he was stateside. Pedersen was promoted to corporal and company clerk. Eventually, Pedersen would be promoted to First Sergeant of the company. Pedersen was close to the commanding officer. The 476th OEC were sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for training. As an ordnance evacuation company, the mission of the 476th OEC was to recover damaged or broken-down vehicles and effect repairs to those with only light damage or transport them to a more suitable facility for those requiring more extensive service. It was an elite outfit with ten heavy transports which could each haul multiple tanks. There were wreckers to pull damaged tanks out of their abandoned positions. The German 88mm guns easily penetrated the American tanks. Often times, there were charred GIs [Annotator's Note: nickname for American soldiers] inside the recovered tanks. As the war proceeded and Pedersen was deployed, he reached Italy and had a close encounter with the Pope. From the time he entered service to his return, he never had the opportunity to see his wife. He sailed overseas on the SS Hope on 29 April 1943.

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Allen Pedersen landed in Oran, North Africa on 11 May [Annotator's Note: 11 May 1943]. It was supposedly the largest armada to land there. There were attacks against the convoy during the voyage. Pedersen witnessed one ship being hit by what was likely a torpedo. During the trip, the food was average. His duties were few and mostly administrative. Some troops were seasick. The bunks were four high. He was billeted five decks down. There were 3,000 or 4,000 GIs [Annotator's Note: nickname for American soldiers] aboard the ship. Landing in Oran was a culture shock. Desert surrounds the coast. Many French are there but also Arabian people. Sanitary conditions were poor which caused disease and illness among the GIs. The locals were basically ignored. Americans had been there six months ahead of this convoy so the locals knew stateside slang which surprised the new arrivals. Pedersen's outfit [Annotator's Note: 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company] trained in North Africa until it shipped out and then landed in Italy on 3 October. The Germans bombed the Americans while they were in North Africa. There was no other combat for the outfit in North Africa. The OEC [Annotator's Note: Ordnance Evacuation Company] were trained in preparation for the landings in Italy. They used the equipment brought from the United States. The company was moved to Tunis and then shipped out for Italy. They voyaged on the HMS Duchess of Bedford. The food was not appetizing. The Americans were happy to disembark.

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Allen Pedersen and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company] landed near Naples, Italy on 3 October 1943 against little resistance. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] was fighting the battle for Sicily at the time. Salerno was assaulted at this time on the mainland of Italy. Pedersen waded to shore from his ship, the HMS Duchess of Bedford. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. The locals were welcoming because they had been treated cruelly by the Germans. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and Mussolini [Annotator's Note: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini] had tried to be friends but that did not translate to the troops. Pedersen had little trust in the Italians. He found that there were two different types of people in Italy, those south and north of the Po Valley. He did enjoy being welcomed by the Italians when they liberated a town. The OEC [Annotator's Note: Ordnance Evacuation Company] originally set up about two miles north of Naples. While near Naples, he saw Mount Vesuvius erupt. He visited Pompeii and was surprised at the depravity displaced on the walls of the ruins there. His main function at the time with the company was administrative. The Germans had an intense aerial bombardment of the camp while company was near Naples. Some men made for the local bomb shelter while a few could not make it. They jumped into a latrine slit trench. It became a joke around the unit. For Pedersen and the other support troops he was with, being under fire was just a matter of taking cover when the enemy fired on them. No company casualties were suffered during that bombing attack. At Anzio, some of the troops from the front would not even take cover with Pedersen's unit in the rear. They felt it was safer in their foxholes up forward. Pedersen and his wife communicated by mail frequently. He did not write as often as she did. He looked forward to receiving mail. The men he distributed mail to during mail call usually got a lift. Several of the men in the outfit received Dear John letters which indicated their objects of their affection back home had abandoned their relationship. Pedersen was guarded about comments he made concerning the females the men left back home.

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Allen Pedersen and his company [Annotator's Note: 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company] were recovering American tanks and vehicles that had been damaged in the area of Naples prior to the Anzio landings. They were based in Capua, Italy during this time. Repairs were divided into echelons by level of complexity. Pedersen was part of the echelon handling simple repair work like tank track replacement. He would go on in the Philippines later to handle the medium complexity repairs. If there were bodies in the damaged tank, the vehicle would be turned over to the quartermaster who would be responsible for recovery of remains and clean-up of the interior. It was not a pretty sight. During the Anzio operation, half the company was sent to new beachhead on 23 January 1944. The other half stayed at Capua until March when things had quieted down at Anzio. Pedersen and his half moved north to join the other half of the company based from Capua. Anzio was a tough beachhead. Germans constantly bombarded the tight foothold. Areas in the rear were just as vulnerable as the front lines. Foxholes and caves were used for protection. He wrote letters to his wife from the caves. The Germans could see the Americans all the time. Pedersen had little to do with Italian civilians. When Pedersen and his driver, Cliff Jones, got lost and ended up in a British armor position, an English officer chewed out Pedersen badly. When Pedersen examined a radar set in a damaged tank, a German airplane strafed him. He abandoned the tank but had an accident and hit his throat as he did. Some of his mates gave him a bad time about that. The Germans had a large artillery piece that fired a huge round that took two flat cars to transport. The shell was 280mm in size and was called "Anzio Annie" [Annotator's Note: Anzio Annie and Anzio Express were the Allied nicknames for two massive Krupp K5 280mm railway guns which the Germans called Robert and Leopold]. Three shells would be fired each night. One of the shells hit the top of a building that Pedersen was in. There was a false floor that served as a buffer that saved him. Ammunition dumps would explode when they were hit. Anzio was difficult particularly in finding a place to be protected against enemy fire. Stress was heavy there. The day Pederson and his company left Anzio, two captured P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] flown by Germans flew into the no-fly zone of the beachhead. One of the planes was shot down. The pilot committed suicide before he could be captured. The Americans were inclined to hold their position at Anzio instead of attempting a breakout. They were simply a distraction. Top military people made mistakes. General Mark Clark [Annotator's Note: US Army General Mark W. Clark] was a victim of Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] and Monty [Annotator's Note: British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery].

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Allen Pedersen [Annotator's Note: as a member of the 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company] left the Anzio Beachhead and participated in the Rapido River engagement and the capture of Monte Cassino. That river was tough to cross. Clark [Annotator's Note: US Army General Mark W. Clark] had orders to do so. Casualties were heavy as French nurses hurriedly sped around in jeeps picking up the wounded. The men were so busy taking care of themselves that they paid little attention to the females. Pedersen encountered two Germans at Anzio when he ventured from the beach and got lost. A British soldier wanted Pedersen to take two POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] off his hands but Pedersen refused. The Englishman took the two Germans away and two shots were heard shortly. When the British soldier returned, he glared at Pedersen. At the end of the war, a German soldier surrendered to Pedersen near Mantua, Italy. What Pedersen remembered most about Anzio was "Anzio Annie" [Annotator's Note: Anzio Annie and Anzio Express were the Allied nicknames for two massive Krupp K5 280mm railway guns which the Germans called Robert and Leopold] and 88mm guns zeroing in on him when he attempted to use the bathroom. When Pedersen left Anzio, he returned to Capua which is about 90 miles south of Anzio. He went to the Rapido River from there as the Anzio beachhead broke ou was taking placet. The Germans retreated to the Apennines Mountains while offering little resistance. Their transports and horses were destroyed and troops lost along that route. American advances were 50 to 80 miles a day with light resistance. Pedersen respected the German enlisted men but the officers were arrogant. After the war, German POWs worked for Pedersen. He could trust them to do their work and not steal. That was not the case with the Italians he encountered and, later, the Filipino workers. The war ended the first week of May 1945. On 22 May, Pedersen was ordered to take the company to the Philippines. He left Italy on 6 June 1945. Before the end of the war, Pedersen witnessed female Yugoslav partisans killing German POWs. Mussolini was hung that same day. Pedersen heard about the German surrender while he was near the Austrian border. Returning enemy soldiers took three days to march past the Americans. Pedersen respected the German soldiers but not their arrogant officers. There were two former World War 1 German soldiers in the 476th. Pedersen would see one of them at reunions after the war. The reunions were held in Arkansas for 50 years.

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Allen Pedersen transferred to a new company, the 386th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company, after the war ended in Europe. Only four men from his former company [Annotator's Note: 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company] joined him. They shipped out from Pisa, Italy through the Panama Canal to the Philippines and the island of Luzon. They arrived 17 July 1945. His company mates who remained in Italy had little to do where Pedersen would be busy in the new assignment. Killing time is not easy after working hard for three or four years. Pedersen had been a First Sergeant for a couple years before shipping out for the Philippines. While he was in the Philippines, America was preparing to enter Japan. The dropping of the bombs [Annotator's Note: the atomic bombs] caused the quick surrender of the Japanese. Pedersen did not like much about the Philippines. It was disorganized and there were rumors about the MacArthurs [Annotator's Note: US Army General and Mrs. Douglas MacArthur] and their holdings in the Walled City. The word was that shelling should be avoided where their belongings were located. Pedersen did not like the lack of morals of the local Filipino workers. It was similar to his encounter with Italians but the opposite of his feelings toward the German POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war]. He heard Japanese were good workers also. He did not spend much time in Japan to find out. Pedersen went from Manila on Luzon to the Lingayen Gulf to do maintenance. After the end of the war, he was shipped to Japan for a short time. Prior to the atomic bombs being dropped, Pedersen had only heard rumors of something big about to happen. MacArthur had fun when the Japanese officers had to surrender to him. While in the Philippines, Pedersen saw where the invasion of Japan was planned. When he reached the coast of Japan, he could observe the sheer cliffs where the landings were to occur. He never did like the idea of having to invade Japan so he was happy the atomic bombs were used. Pedersen had seen B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] like the ones that had dropped the bombs while he was near Clark Field in the Philippines. Upon hearing of the Japanese surrender, there was quite a celebration. Pedersen talked his men into not firing weapons into the air. On Okinawa, men were killed by friendly fire celebrating the surrender. Arriving in Japan, the 386th was attached to the 25th Infantry Division for only a short time before returning home. The command and experience were different compared to his time in Italy.

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Allen Pedersen, as First Sergeant, was responsible for running the company [Annotator's Note: Pedersen served in the 476th Ordnance Evacuation Company in Italy then in the 386th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company in the Philippines] in the absence of his commanding officer. He was tasked with taking care of sundry issues that arose. He had no problems with any of his men except one individual who sold cigarettes on the black market. The man later became a friend despite Pedersen punishing him. Officers were supposed to perform censorship on the company's outgoing mail but Pedersen had to do so on occasion. He did not like the duty. Pedersen was among the few veterans of Europe who ended up in the Philippines and Japan. On 24 November 1945, he was put on a ship to return home. His ship was the SS General Buckner. There was plenty of food but little was distributed to the returning veterans. Weapons were dumped overboard. Old uniforms were thrown over the side and new clothing was issued. Pedersen brought both a German and Japanese rifle home with him. He was separated from service at Fort Lewis, Washington on 24 November 1945 as a First Sergeant.

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Allen Pedersen used the G.I. Bill briefly. He quickly obtained a job. It was a little difficult at first but things improved. He had been away for four years. Adjustment with his wife provided some issues. His transition back to civilian life did not seem difficult to him. He was used to giving orders. He had some problems with PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. When someone shot firecrackers, he had very bad problems with the noise. He had to remove himself from the explosions.

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Allen Pedersen remembers 23 January [Annotator's Note: 23 January 1944] and the landing at Anzio Beach as his most memorable event of World War 2. The explosion of "Anzio Annie" [Annotator's Note: Anzio Annie and Anzio Express were the Allied nicknames for two massive Krupp K5 280mm railway guns which the Germans called Robert and Leopold] was horrible. The huge shell detonating two floors above Pedersen almost caused his death. He learned to get in a foxhole quickly. Pedersen felt an urgent need to get into the service to fight in World War 2. It was his duty. He did his part in the war. Pedersen used his first aid training to treat some of his fellow soldiers and save lives. That was particularly the case when German aircraft attacked some of the men near him. He personally experienced near misses that might have killed him. World War 2 made him decide to go into business in lieu of education. He is active in various veteran and civic organizations. History books do not cover the war very much anymore. The National WWII Museum is very important to keep the story of the war alive. The Honor Flights are also important. Pedersen seeks no publicity. He only desires that the story be real.

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