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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 34th Infantry Division, 135th Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Headquarters Company
  • Location of Service: Anzio, Rome, Florence and Po Valley, Italy; Alps Mountains
  • Highest Rank: Private First Class

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“[At Anzio] once in awhile some new recruit would come in and we would tell him, don’t be so particular; wait until dark. Don’t throw your urine or defecation away in the day, but you put your arm out there or stick your head up, you’re going to get killed.” (Audio Interview, 20:59)

Harold Hammil’s experience of Anzio was much like that of other soldiers there: he spent almost four months in a foxhole, never coming out during daylight hours. However, Hammil’s depiction of the feelings and actions of the ordinary combat soldier offer some surprising insights into the mental state of men at war. Hammil tells of the inhumanity of living in a foxhole, where even bowel movements must be postponed, if possible, until after dark; and he tells of the gruesomeness of the euphemistically named “clean up” detail. A story notably lacking in tales of heroics, Hammil instead tells us of deserters, suicides, and men who attempt to wound themselves in the hopes of escaping combat. This is war as it was experienced by an observant and sensitive twenty-year old man who recognizes that people are not natural born killers.

Harold Conan Hammil Collection
Interview / Recording

Transcript: XML

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About this Item

Title

  • Harold Conan Hammil Collection

Names

  • Hammil, Harold Conan
  • U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar
  • Lugar, Richard
  • Ordner, Larry
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Peggy Christensen

State of Birth

  • IN

Home State

  • IN

Headings

  • -  Hammil, Harold Conan
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 34th Infantry Division, 135th Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Headquarters Company
    • Location of Service: Anzio, Rome, Florence and Po Valley, Italy; Alps Mountains
    • Highest Rank: Private First Class
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Drafted
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: Hammil declined to accept the Silver Star.

Materials

  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 06/28/2002)
  • Photograph: Copy photographic print [1 item] -- (collected 07/03/2002)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 04/12/2004)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 06/27/2006)
  • Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 06/27/2006)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/2714

Cite as

  • Harold Conan Hammil Collection (AFC/2001/001/2714), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hammil, Harold Conan, U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar, Richard Lugar, Larry Ordner, National Court Reporters Association, and Peggy Christensen. Harold Conan Hammil Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.02714/.

APA citation style:

Hammil, H. C., U.S. Senate/Richard Lugar, Lugar, R., Ordner, L., National Court Reporters Association & Peggy Christensen. (1943) Harold Conan Hammil Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.02714/.

MLA citation style:

Hammil, Harold Conan, et al. Harold Conan Hammil Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.02714/>.