Episode Details

In this episode of the Urban Valor Podcast, we sit down with a World War II Army veteran who survived one of the deadliest moments of the European campaign...the Rhine River crossing! And later walked through a liberated Nazi death camp! 

At just 19 years old, Paul A. Groves was drafted into the U.S. Army and assigned as an infantry messenger with E Company, 89th Infantry Division under General Patton. In January 1945, he landed in France before pushing toward the Rhine River — one of the final and most dangerous barriers into Nazi Germany.

At 2:00 AM, his unit loaded into boats under darkness.

Halfway across, German machine guns opened fire.

His company commander was killed.
His first sergeant was killed.
Then the boat exploded.

Thrown into the freezing river under direct fire, Paul became the only Soldier from his boat to survive.

As American forces advanced into Germany, he helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp — describing the smell of death before they ever saw it.

After surviving the Rhine and witnessing the camps, Paul was told he would likely be sent to invade Japan. Then the atomic bomb was dropped.

Now over 100 years old, he reflects on combat, fear, survival, and what General Patton meant when he said a Soldier must learn to hate the enemy.

This is a firsthand WWII testimony from one of the last living soldiers of that generation.

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Chapters: 
00:00 – Landing in France at 10 Below Zero
02:00 – Drafted Into the Army in 1943
05:15 – Military Police Training & Infantry Assignment
15:20 – Shipping Out to Europe
17:49 – Frozen Boots at Camp Lucky Strike
21:50 – Preparing to Cross the Rhine River
23:12 – Boat Explosion & Becoming the Only Survivor
25:25 – Drifting Alone Under German Fire
31:03 – Liberating Ordorf Concentration Camp
33:37 – Facing the Russians in Vienna
46:54 – Coming Home After the War
50:31 – Nightmares & Life After Combat
53:24 – Politics, War & Truth
59:05 – Advice for Young Soldiers
1:00:59 – “You Have to Hate the Enemy” – Patton’s Words
1:01:29 – Secret to Living to 100

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