<Begin Segment 14>
TI: So which awards did you get?
LP: There's a list of 'em, eight of 'em.
TI: So tell me which ones you --
LP: I can't tell you, I don't know. I could have brought it with me, I have a list of it.
TI: What's the highest one?
LP: The highest one is the Gold Star. It's the fourth highest that they gave out during World War II. In other words, there's three stars that are higher than the one I got.
TI: So you had, what, the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross...
LP: We had those, but this one is because of the battle.
TI: Okay. And for what action did you, what did you do to get that star?
LP: Actually, we were both, I was in the 105 Howitzer and I was also in a rifle company up there. We were fighting for our lives up there. It wasn't like normally you'd be in the 105 and that's all you'd do is be right behind the guys that were on the ground. But we had to do both because we were fighting for our life. We were trying to keep those guys off of us. So it was a little different than what we were trained for.
TI: Good. Any other...
Off camera: Yeah, there was one more thing. When you came back when you were pulling guard duty, didn't one of the German soldiers make you an airplane, you've got at the house?
TI: So this in Vanderberg?
LP: Yeah, right.
TI: Okay, so let's go to Vanderberg, you're guard duty, German prisoners of war...
LP: They've gone in and out, we used to talk to each other all the time. Most of 'em spoke English, and they were about the same age as I was, about twenty. And this one gave me this plane that he had made. He started making it in Colorado and then he finished it in California, and I still have it at home. I have it in a plastic, fiberglass cage that it's in, a box. And I still have it, and I wish I somehow could have had that guy's name, I'd like to take a picture of it today and mail it to him.
TI: So why did he give it to you?
LP: I don't know.
TI: It sounds like it was a lot of work...
LP: I don't know. I was the sergeant on the main gate there. And I don't know, just talked to him. We got along fine. They were, they liked the United States, they didn't want to go back. They said, "Our homes are destroyed, our families are dead back there, and we don't really have anything to go back for." And they liked it here because it was easy. It was easy for them. I don't know how he did this; it's a Stuka, dive bomber, German dive bomber he made. And he decided that he wanted to give it to me, and so I took it. I still have it.
TI: That's a good story, too. Anything else? Well, so Larry, thank you so much for the interview.
LP: You're welcome.
<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.