Collection:LPB

Genre: Interview

Place Covered: Belgium, Germany

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2007-09-06

Duration: 00:30:38

Subjects: ARST, PAUL | World War II | Military | Veterans | United States. Army | World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Europe | Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945 | Rhine River | V-J Day, 1945 | Statue of Liberty National Monument (N.Y. and N.J.) | Posner, Gerald E. | World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives

Contributors:

• Lefebvre, Marian Interviewer
• Arst, Paul Interviewee

An oral history interview conducted on September 6, 2007, with Paul Arst, a 2nd Lieutenant in the 120th Infantry Regiment of the 30th Infantry Division of the United States Army during World War II. Arst received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service. He discusses: his deployment to the European Theater as a replacement officer; being wounded and crawling to safety during the Battle of the Bulge; the mishaps that occurred when his men crossed the Rhine River into Germany; reaching the Elbe River in Germany; celebrating V-J Day in London; seeing the Statue of Liberty upon his return to the United States; and serving alongside his college roommate, Dr. Gerald E. Posner, throughout the war. He also recounts his 1995 visit to the Belgian farmhouse where he took refuge after the Battle of the Bulge, including his meeting with a woman whom his men had saved from the Germans when she was 3 years old. Arst also shares his photographs from World War II.