Oral History Interview with Richard R. McTaggart, October 17, 2004

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard R. McTaggart. McTaggart had finished two and a-half years at Texas A&M when he was drafted into the Army on 2 February 1943 and had basic training at Camp Wolters. He also attended the NCO academy and the basic parachute course. After that he attended the German language program at Berkeley, graduating in the spring of 1944. From there his group went to Camp Bowie, Texas where they joined the 13th Armored Division which had just finished its preparation for overseas. Most of the private soldiers suddenly got orders to go overseas as replacements (D-Day was approaching). He landed a La Havre which was just being developed. McTaggart served with B Company of the 59th Armored Infantry Battalion, attached to the French 2nd Armored Division. When the Germans began their offensive in Belgium, his unit was assigned to the 9th Armored Division to bolster the defenses. They went through Luxembourg and then Bastogne and ended up northeast of there. Interview includes discussion of the fighting in this area and his unit's moves. Crossed the Rhine at St. Goar. Assigned to the 513th Counter Intelligence Corps detachment and finished the war in Braunau, Hitler's birthplace. Went into Czechoslovakia but was pulled back. Shipped back to the States to get ready to go to the Pacific. Ended up on Okinawa. Went into China at the end of the war to disarm the Japanese. Came down wih amoebic dysentery, hepatitis and malaria and was shipped back to the States; met his future wife at Ft Meade, Maryland where he was treated and discharged. McTaggart came back into the service in 1948, finished OCS in April 1949 and retired as a colonel