This episode, I speak with Vince Speranza.

Speranza was drafted into the United States Army on October 25, 1943, and officially entered the service on November 15, 1943. He was sent to Camp Upton in New York where he stayed until he was sent to Fort Benning in Georgia where he trained for the Infantry with the 87th Infantry Division. He volunteered for the Parachute Infantry and was sent back to Fort Benning for training. He was sent overseas with Company H, 3rd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from Camp Shanks on board the Queen Mary. His unit arrived in France and would later fight in the Battle of the Bulge.

Speranza spent 144 days in combat. For his service, and other medals of distinction, He received two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. After the war, Vince became a teacher at Curtis High School — most recently, he recounted the events attached to his years in the military in his books, “Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne,”.