George Norman Febinger

Birth date	December 15, 1921
Age they entered the service	21
Hometown	Denver, Colorado
Branch of the service	Medical
Rank	T5 (Technician 5th grade)
Name of their unit	610th Clearing Company
When they served	October 1942-November 1945
Where did you serve?	England, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg; trained in California, Texas, Louisiana
Did you enlist or were you drafted?	Drafted
How did you feel about going to war?	I wasn’t excited; it wasn’t something I wanted to avoid, but wasn’t excited. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if I wasn’t taken, but I felt it was my duty. I didn’t think they would take me because I have hearing problem.
Did you have any family members that went to war. If so, did they survive?	Brother, Loyal; yes
Were you ever wounded? How and where?	No
Did you receive any medals? Which ones?	No

Do you have a war story you would like to tell?	Can’t think of one
What was your reaction when you found out the war was over?	I was very, very happy to be going home again and to get back to college and continue my education and the career I had in mind, which was teaching. I really missed Denver, my home.
What was the most frightening event of the war for you?	When the German planes would fly over England, not knowing where they were going to drop their bombs. Sometimes, my unit, behind the lines, could hear the crossfire just a few miles in front of us. Hearing the guns and cannons was very frightening. After the war was over, I was assigned to what had been a German concentration camp, Mauthausen. I saw many people that were just skin and bones. That memory will stick with me forever. The Germans were using submarines wherever they could that were bringing troops over seas. There was always the chance that our ship could have been bombed.
What was the most cherished memory of the war for you?	Realizing some of the places in Europe where we stayed were beautiful and hoping to come back there some day.
Do you have regrets about your service in World War II?	No
How do you feel about America today?	It’s a great place to live. We enjoy a freedom that other people around the world don’t experience. The freedom to experience the good life and having some choice about who we are and what we’ll be. It’s a beautiful country, especially Colorado.
How do you feel about the war with Iraq?	I feel that it was started without a necessary basis, that is, we were only told that they had WMDs. We haven’t found any, yet are still fighting. We have no purpose being there, other than the possible link between Iraq and terrorism. We’re losing a lot of lives we don’t need to be. It doesn’t make any sense. In WWII, we had purpose to defeat a man that thought it was okay to kill Jews and essentially, take over the world. There is no apparent threat like this in Iraq.
Is there anything else you would like to add?	It was interesting to learn about European culture and their way of life. I went in the service with a man that I went to college with, named Don Wickham. We developed a very close, rewarding relationship. I also developed very good relationships with other guys in my company that were strangers to me before. When I was first drafted, I got homesick and realized how much I loved my hometown of Denver. Being in the service gave my brother and I a basis for forming a real friendship, Previous to that, he was just my big brother. But after being in the service and seeing each other a lot, we developed a real friendship. I also realized how much I loved my whole family.