Central Illinois World War II Stories; Clarence Berbaum
- Title
- Clarence Berbaum
- Contributing Organization
- WILL Illinois Public Media (Urbana, Illinois)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/16-64gmsmgg
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- Description
- Description
- Video Recording Log Veteran Clarence Berbaum 1. Name and address of collector of interviewer. Name of Donor/Interviewer: Jesse Phillippe Address: 181 Paddock Drive City: Savoy State: Illinois Zip: 61874 Telephone: 217-621-9455 Email: japhillippe@gmail.com Partner organization affiliation (if any): WILL AM-FM-TV 2. Name and birth date of the veteran or civilian being interviewed at is appears on the Biographical Data Form: Name of Veteran/Civilian: Clarence Berbaum Birth Date: 11/05/1919 3. Recording format VIDEO type: Mini DVD 4. Estimated length of recording (in minutes): 53 minutes Date of recording: 09/15/2007 5. Location of recording: WILL AM-FM-TV, 300 N. Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801 6. Please log the topics discussed in the interview in sequence. 00:08 Intro 00:39 War before Pearl Harbor, awareness of 01:06 Radio news on War 01:26 Pearl Harbor 01:40 Family farm, school 01:58 Radio repair at Robesons 02:10 Drafted in February, 1942 02:35 Communitys feelings on war, anti-war sentiment 02:58 Ideas changed after Pearl Harbor 03:15 Inducted February 11, 1942 03:25 First drafted in Fall 03:32 Working at Robesons 03:38 Dad needed help after his farm hand was drafted, got his draft postponed 04:04 Drafted 04:12 Camp Grant, Illinois 04:30 Sent to Fort Knox to armored basic training Video Recording Log Veteran Clarence Berbaum 04:50 Pine Camp, NY: Fourth Armored Division 04:55 Drove tanks for a year 05:08 Radio school in Fort Knox 05:15 Joined Fourth Armored Division in desert in CA 05:37 The desert, weather, wildlife, driving tanks 06:00 Driving tanks up and down hills 06:22 Division Signal Company 06:36 Division moved to Camp Buoy, TX 06:48 Army Air Force were looking for airmen 07:06 Air Force Cadets, Mount Pleasant, IA, 5 months of college 07:30 Graduation 07:45 School closing: either to outfit or infantry 07:55 Joined One Hundredth Infantry before going overseas 08:08 Radio repair shop in Robesons department store 09:40 Learning radio saved his life, got into repairs overseas 10:05 Left battalion for regimental area, all radio repair men in one unit 10:30 At least a mile behind front lines 10:43 After war occupied May-January 2nd, then took a boat home 11:38 First things you learn in Army 11:50 Obedience 12:00 Fort Knox 12:06 Pay Wages: $21/mo, $50/mo, $78/mo overseas pay, P.F.C. 13:00 End of war, family farm, repairing radios, wiring houses 13:38 American Television technical school from 1947-1948 13:52 Broadcast engineers had to have First Class ticket 14:12 WKID radio in Urbana: worked as engineer, chief engineer 14:40 WILL radio in Urbana: worked as recording service 14:49 Went to television at WILL, worked as assistant chief engineer for 29 years 15:05 War was a good experience, but didnt like Army 15:12 Shot a lot of movies during war 15:25 Made documentary of his footage 15:39 Depressed for 4 years during service 15:59 A.T.O. in European Theatre 16:03 Battle lines in Vosges Mountains 16:24 Vosges Mountains had never been captured before in military history, first Division to capture 16:52 Captured Citadel of Biche, France 17:03 Loyal Sons of Biche 17:15 Broke through Maginot lines, fortifications 17:26 Crossed into Germany, into Manheim 17:34 Heilbarnd, Germany: many casualties in Division 17:54 Circling Stuttgart, Germany, War ended in Europe Video Recording Log Veteran Clarence Berbaum 18:15 Occupation in Leonberg, Stuttgart, Constadt, Germany 18:40 Training to go to Asia 18:49 Japan surrenders 18:52 Took leave to French Riviera, London 19:05 Lucky, foreign services congenial, travel 19:35 First learned about concentration camps after war in Europe ended 20:18 Transferred to Kierch Helm Ounter Tech by Ohm, Munich 21:07 Day trip to Dachau, weeks after clean-up, crematoriums, depressing 22:50 Chaos of war affecting soldiers 23:57 Often didnt know where they were 24:50 Radio repair, radios from front lines, battle and weather damage 25:40 Hand radios 25:56 Pack radios with heavy batteries 26:11 Officers tried to have radio men 26:23 Confusion, chaos 26:56 Defined lines between German and Allied Forces 27:10 Linemen: running wire around front lines, telephone lines, getting lost, confused, small towns 28:39 Reel up wire to reuse when battle moved 28:54 Wire communication: radio not reliable on front lines 29:05 Behind front lines, radio reliable 29:25 Morse code, voice communication 30:15 Thoughts at the time on what was at stake 31:15 Later learning about concentration camps, mistreatment of French by Germans 32:27 After war, just wanted to forget 32:40 Resisting Hitler, Italy, Japan 33:00 Hitler, mistreatment of English people 34:08 Concentration Camps 34:40 Fanatical German leaders 35:45 German soldiers 36:22 Didnt expect to come home when drafted 36:38 Feelings with family before induction 37:01 No idea where hed be the next day 37:13 Not told where he would be after Fort Knox, or what outfit 37:31 No information to the media, tight control of information, even to soldiers 38:37 Personal videos: could not videotape military when overseas, small towns, landscapes 41:00 Good memories: leave to Los Angeles, tour of movie studios, filmed rehearsal 43:26 Vacation to Riviera, didnt have to salute officers 44:30 Vacation to London, randomly reunited with first cousin 45:40 Reflections on travel 46:05 French struggling to survive, hard times for French people 48:16 Some French hid in mountains Video Recording Log Veteran Clarence Berbaum 48:40 French resistance groups, intelligence groups 49:12 Mountains: difficult country 49:30 Maginot line between France and Germany 49:46 German army in chaos 50:00 Hidelbraun, Germany held it there to face Allies: a lot of casualties in Division, Germans had high ground 51:02 Reflections now: War necessary, has changed global politics of Europe, China, Japan 52:14 Wrap-up
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
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Illinois Public Media (WILL)
Identifier: will_special_070905_wwii_berbaum_avi (Illinois Public Media)
Format: MiniDV
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:53:22
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Central Illinois World War II Stories; Clarence Berbaum,” WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 2, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-16-64gmsmgg.
- MLA: “Central Illinois World War II Stories; Clarence Berbaum.” WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 2, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-16-64gmsmgg>.
- APA: Central Illinois World War II Stories; Clarence Berbaum. Boston, MA: WILL Illinois Public Media, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-16-64gmsmgg