Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II: Interview with John J. Hinchliff

Titles: Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II: Interview with John J. Hinchliff (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: John J. Hinchliff was born in Park Rapids, Minnesota. He enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard in 1942 and decided to join an airborne division. He eventually ended up with the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division and participated in D-Day, fighting in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. Upon returning home he received a certificate equivalent to a high school education and worked jobs at Ford and Delano Dairy, supporting his wife and five children. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Being raised by his poor grandparents during the Great Depression: shooting deer for food, making homemade wine, being bullied at school; being taught to box by local boxers; electricity being installed into his home and dirt roads being paved; joining the National Guard as a quest for excitement; deciding to join an airborne division; airborne training: preliminary, jump school, night jumping, desert jumping; the horrendous conditions on a military ship from New York to Liverpool; running low on ammunition and out of food in France; being dropped behind enemy lines; abandoning friendships during the war; impact of war on civilians; reorientation into civilian life: finding work, supporting a family, going to movie theaters.

Dates

• 11/08/2005 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Hinchliff, John J.
• interviewer: Bekke, Douglas

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 115
• Accession Number: AV2008.26.14

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II' <OH 115>

Quantity: 3 hours sound cassettes 74 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 150 minutes length

Subjects

How can we help?

• Help / About Collections Online
• Learn about the Collections
• Contact the Gale Family Library for help with research, orders, and use/licensing
• Have feedback or comments on the new Collections Online system? Please fill in the Collections Online Feedback Form.