Interview with Winthrop Sanderson

This interview took place between James St. Peter and Mr. Winthrop Sanderson on Friday of May 24, 2002. The interview was conducted at Mr. Sanderson’s home in Avon, Connecticut. The interview was conducted to learn about Mr. Sanderson’s experiences during World War II in the Corps of Engineers. I was very nervous before the interview because I didn’t really know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if I would get a funny story or a war story filled with terror and violence. I was also nervous because I didn’t know how Mr. Sanderson would feel about talking about his experiences, especially if he was wounded.

Question: What is your full name?

Winthrop: Winthrop, w-i-n-t-h-r-o-p, Whitney, w-h-i-t-n-e-y Sanderson, s-a-n-d-e-r-s-o-n.

Question: And when did you enlist?

Winthrop: When did I enlist? I enlisted on the next day after we were attacked. Yeah, December 1941.

Question: How old were you at that time?

Winthrop: At that time I was twenty-six.

Question: What kind of training did you receive?

Winthrop: Well, I, I was lucky. I had, I had gone to a citizen’s military training camp in 1932, and they taught me how to fire the 03 Springfield, which was standard rifle in the army at that time. And so I, I had good training and what happened was this, the, when I enlisted and since I am of Pearl Harbor, I took what they called the familiarization course.

Question: What’s that?

Winthrop: Well, they gave you three rounds, a round is one single shot and they took us up on the range 200 yards and gave us these three rounds and told us to fire at target 3, 2, 25, whatever with it. And the word came back that my that my target, “Who’s on target 22?” I think that was the number.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: And I said, “I am” “Well where in the world did you learn to shoot like that?” I had three rounds centered in the bull’s eye, that’s a six-inch bull, three rounds, in the center, interlaced. They never saw a shooter like that. And I said you guys taught me. Well, what I meant by that was the regular army, personnel, spent some time with me and understood but I didn’t use it for ten years. Never. Never saw a rifle. Well when I went up I knew, what a good site fixture was and I knew how to, fire properly, squeezing the trigger and all that. And, they were amazed.

Question: How far away were the targets?

Winthrop: 200 yards.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: Yeah.

Question: Which branch did you end up serving in, during the war?

Winthrop: I was in the corps of engineers. We were combat engineers. We built bridges and built roads and did that kind of thing. And they needed us.

Question: O.K. Is there any particular reason why you chose to be in that branch?

Winthrop: Sure, it was the most dangerous branch there was.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: And I figured I could do something in this branch. I had some background. I was a trained, I was trained to observe carefully and, that’s what I did.

Question: What was your rank?

Winthrop: I was a captain. I went into the Officers Candidate School at Fort Knox in July of 41. And I listened to what they had to say and I followed instructions.

Question: Where did you end up serving?

Winthrop: I served in Europe. I was in Germany. And I fortunately was in at the tail end of the war so I didn’t, I didn’t see a lot of combat. But I, I knew how to handle weapons and, so I was, I was given a lot of privileges.

Question: Yeah.

Winthrop: Umhum.

Question: What were your responsibilities?

Winthrop: Well my responsibilities were training men, teaching them how to handle weapons. And, and teaching them how to take care of themselves and how to live in the open. And how to properly protect my feet, my arms, my hands from freezing and so on.

Question: O.K. Did you ever see any fighting?

Winthrop: Sure.

Question: Um, what did you do in it?

Winthrop: Well I, (chuckles), what I did, I, we were engaged we getting, going down into a village and the village was, small place. But my outfit was to go in there, and, secure certain positions, take some prisoners and then fall back and I did that successfully.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: Yup.

Question: O.K. What was your environment?

Winthrop: Well it was a lot of mud and there was a lot of rough territory, but it was, it wasn’t too difficult.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: I’d had enough training so I could take care of my unit properly, and I, I did that.

Question: Who served with you?

Winthrop: Who served with me? I had men from the Midwest, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and they were good men, good soldiers and good fighters, tough, and, they were, oh there were, people with a farming background primarily.

Question: Are there any significant dates that come to mind?

Winthrop: Well, yeah. Dates, with respect to the, the most wonderful news I heard was the, (chuckles), end of the war, (chuckles).

Question: Yeah. I’m sure.

Winthrop: And then I, I was good enough to have been selected to a special course, on several occasions. Take instruction, and I could remember the instructions, and then I could teach it to others.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: Yeah.

Question: When did you leave the service?

Winthrop: Well lets see. It was in, February of, forty-six.

Question: If you had to do that all over again is there anything that you would to differently?

Winthrop: No sir. I was, I was, well, pleased with the men I had, and there was, I was able to do the things they wanted me to do. I, I was a very fortunate guy. I was a happy guy in the army. Not to many of those, (chuckles).

Question: Yeah.

Winthrop: (Chuckles). Is there anything else I can help you with?

Question: Ah, not unless there is anything else you would like to add.

Winthrop: Oh, well, yeah. I met a Russian boy, I was made the military governor of an area in Germany which was called Triunstein, t-r-i-u-n-s-t-e-i-n. Triunstein. Near Saltzburg, it’s up in the western section. And I was named the military governor. I was named by Colonel John Kerosan, who was a West Pointer. And he, he named me the military governor to take care of ah the problems of, who were with our group. I had 32,000 displaced people to take care of, and that’s a batch of people.

Question: Yeah.

Winthrop: They were, you know the Latvians and Estonians, oh Polish, they were, French, German, Belgian, and, a little bit of everything. But fortunately I can speak, a little Polish.

Question: Oh.

Winthrop: Do you speak Polish?

Question: No.

Winthrop: No.

Question: How did you get that position?

Winthrop: How did I get that position?

Question: Yeah.

Winthrop: Well, I got it because I, I learned how to take care of my people and the, my superiors appreciated that.

Question: Yes. I bet.

Winthrop: Yes.

Question: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Winthrop: No.

Question: Well, thank you.