William Guarnere

"Camp Toccoa was only about one thing: weeding out the weaklings. Our training schedule was brutal, and the training was brutal- all physical conditioning, led by Captain Sobel. Sobel didnt look like an officer. He was kind of awkward, and all he did was scream. He was high-strung, ranted and raved, criticized everything, a mean son of a bitch. Hed punish you for the hell of it. He was a chickenshit. Any GI knows what chickenshit is. A tyrant, takes authority to an extreme, the type that would get their ass kicked if the situation was reversed!"

"People ask if your first kill is hard. It was easy as squashing a bug. I released a lot of anger."

"My leadership abilities came through right away. You can tell the leaders, theyre at the front, theyre observers, theyre always looking out for the guys. The kids who are leaders make good choices, think quickly, have good instincts, figure things out for themselves; they dont wait to be told. They can read people and situations. If you lived on the streets, you done these things to survive. I got promoted to corporal pretty quick. It was just a promotion in stripes. I had two: one for private first class, and then corporal. The stripes went on both arms and showed your rank. Later at Camp Mackall, I was promoted to squad sergeant, leading the mortar squad. I never wanted to become a sergeant, it was just the way I was. Most of the men did not want to accept that kind of responsibility. Theyre smart. They know what it entails and they dont want no part of it."

"I kept my eyes and ears open and my mouth shut. Thats what I learned growing up in South Philly. You want to get educated? You observe, but you dont say a word."

"In June, we got attached to the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. They were formed August 1942. They had the 502nd as their only parachute regiment. Then they added the 506th and the 501st. We didnt know what the 101st was about. We were hoping to go to the 82nd because they were going overseas real fast. The 82nd Airborne was well established. They were a damn good outfit. They were in Africa, and they fought on D-Day and up in Holland and Bastogne, too. When we became part of the Screaming Eagles, we put on our eagle patches, and we were so proud. Our division general was Maj. Gen. Bill Lee. Hes the one who said, "We have no history, but we have a rendezvous with destiny." He never made it into combat. He had a heart attack before we left."