[Annotator’s Note: During this segment, interviewee asks a woman off camera questions. She sometimes comes into the picture.] Chuck Bednarik recalled that his family was on welfare during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He grew up with five siblings in Bethlehem [Annotator’s Note: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania] and was raised by his Slovakian parents. He attended Catholic grammar school and then attended public high school. His father worked at the Bethlehem Steel industry [Annotator’s Note: Bethlehem Steel Corporation]. While he was in high school, Bednarik played various sports such as baseball, basketball, and football. He was drafted into the military when he was 18 years old. He tested well and was asked to join the Army Air Corps. He went to basic training and was then assigned to a crew. He learned formation flying with his crew. They received orders to fly over to England. His first mission was to Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany] in June 1944. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee holds a book up to his face at 0:06:28.000.] All of his missions were tough. The bigger the city, the more difficult the mission was. He was assigned as the waist gunner. He never slept the night before he had a mission. They would be awaken at four in the morning. Bednarik would get dressed, eat breakfast, and then go to debriefing. On his thirtieth and last mission he was so relieved to never have to fly again. He started in the turret, but because he kept growing, he was moved to the waist gunner position. On a mission, he had to wear a special suit and an oxygen mask. His missions were usually seven hours long. During his Berlin missions, the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was nasty. He stayed with the same crew for all of his missions. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee gets up to find a photo at 0:12:35-0:12:52. Interviewee reads off the names of the men in his crew. He get up because he wants to call one of his former crew members at 0:14:24.000.] The plane Bednarik and his crew flew was called “Bold Venture.” However, they did not fly the same plane all the time.

[Annotator’s Note: During this segment, interviewee asks a woman off camera questions, and she sometimes comes into the frame.] Chuck Bednarik served as a waist gunner in the 8th Air Force in Europe. Sometimes he received four-day passes [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to London [Annotator’s Note: London, England]. Attending mass helped him get through the stress of flying missions. He was a devout Catholic and still is today. Being in war was tough, and he did not like being in combat. He felt lucky that he was not in the infantry because he slept in a bed in a Quonset hut [Annotator's Note: prefabricated metal building]. While he was in London, he often went to bars and drank. Going to Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany] was a tough trip because it was long, and the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was horrible. He believes that God was with him because he could have been hit by the flak. When they landed back at base, Bednarik would count the shrapnel holes in the plane. He never shot down a plane, it was difficult. His 25th mission was to Dresden [Annotator’s Note: Dresden, Germany] in January 1945. The weather would alter their missions. Sometimes it was difficult to see the target because the weather was so bad. He felt close with all his crew mates. Bednarik wrote to his family often while he was overseas.

[Annotator’s Note: During this segment, there is talking audible in the background] Chuck Bednarik served as a waist gunner in the 8th Air Force in Europe. He said the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was the worst when flying over cities to drop bombs on the targets. He thought that there was a chance he would not make it home. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee gets up from interview to call his co-pilot at 0:32:52. Video break at 0:32:57.] He believes his upbringing helped him get through the war. He attended Catholic school and was used to discipline. When he completed his 30th mission, he looked up at the sky and said, “I never want to fly again.” When Bednarik returned home, he used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to attend the University of Pennsylvania [Annotator’s Note: in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. He played college football. He went on to play for the Eagles professional football team for 14 years. He played on the offensive and defensive side of the game. He believes that America had to fight and defeat Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. Growing up in the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] was very difficult because his family was on welfare. [Annotator’s Note: Video goes black from 0:44:45.000 until the end of the segment.]