WWII Veteran Shares Stories Of War & Concentration Camps

photo credit: Facebook / Ballard-Carlisle Historical and Genealogical Society

Drafted in 1942, 98-year-old Roy Duncan is one of the oldest living veterans to have experienced World War II first-hand and he tells stories about where he’s been and what he saw.

Stories Told By WWII Veteran Roy Duncan

Living in Paducah, Kentucky, Roy was interviewed by WPSD Local 6 News about his long extensive career in the military. He served as a radio operator after he lost the tips of two of his fingers while working on a vehicle.

“They had the hood up on the jeep, and the driver got in and started up the motor, and I lost the end of my two fingers,” Roy told WPSD Local 6 News.

That didn’t stop him though. Roy was put into the 11th Armored Division and sent off to fight the Nazis in Europe making about 24 stops. He traveled with his division carrying a large radio on his back and one time he said he was in battle and got hit by shrapnel that knocked him out.

Roy told the story to WPSD Local 6 News,“We were on an attack with a radio on my back, and a piece of shrapnel hit the radio and knocked me to the ground on Jan. 4, 1945,” he recalled. “And I woke up in an ambulance, and they said, ‘Well, your radio saved your life.”

Taking Over A Concentration Camp

One of the craziest stories he told was when his division captured a German airport and liberated prisoners from a concentration camp. He mentioned as he walked into the camp and saw bodies lying outside the walls and when he got inside he also found more bodies in a gas chamber full of victims that had recently been killed.

Fast forward to last year, Roy received the Paducah/McCracken County Distinguished Veterans award to honor him of his service in the military. According to WPSD Local 6 News he will be honored again this year at the Veterans Day parade located at Doly McNutt Plaza.

Other WWII Veteran Stories In The Video Below