With the Veterans Day Parade approaching and the recent return of the 69 veterans from the Central Valley Honor Flight, FC hosted World War II veteran, Rudy Giannoni, during Thursday chapel, Nov. 7.

Giannoni told his story to the student body while being interviewed by Paul Loeffler. He spoke on his experience in the war as well as his trip on the Honor Flight to the National WWII Memorial.

When Giannoni first returned home from war, he never spoke about his experience overseas. For fifty years he kept silent, and it was not until his granddaughter asked him about his past for a school report that he finally told his story. Since then, Giannoni has visited 57 different schools to share the memories he has on the war.

Giannoni chose to participate in the draft, even though he was exempt for his work at the South Pacific RR company.

On D-Day, Giannoni and the other men were woken up at 2 a.m. to get briefed for the unknown mission. Some soldiers were already in the bay, ready to attack. Giannoni was involved in a two-day attack in the D-Day mission.

“It was fantastic to be up there on D-Day,” Giannoni said. “We were all really tired. The next day we took off for another mission.”

Later, less than two weeks after D-Day, Giannoni was part of a 10-man crew that was shot down by the Germans while over Misburg, Germany, June 18.

“On June 18 we were told to bomb an oil refinery in Germany,” Giannoni said. “They {Germans} started firing at us from the ground up. We dropped our bombs, then we got hit. Our engine caught on fire. Then our pilot said to bail out, so we started bailing out.”

Bailing out of his plane, Giannoni jumped out the plane, falling 17,500 feet to the ground. He reflects that jumping was the first time he felt fear throughout his whole time in WWII.

“I opened the door and they tell you to count to 10 before you open parachute,” Giannoni said. “I jumped out, I said 10 and I pulled the ripcord. That was the first time I had fear in me. I landed on the top of a pine tree, and hid under a bridge for four hours.”

That same day, Giannoni was captured by the Germans and became a prisoner of war (POW). He was moved from Frankfurt, Germany, to Dulag Luft where he was interrogated and kept in solitary confinement for four days.

“When I was going throughout the town {nearby} that’s when I got captured,” Giannoni said. “They took me to an airfield, marching me down a hallway. They start slapping the heck out of me. I never knew one day to the next what they were going to do to me.”

Giannoni remembers just how intimidating the German interrogators were, even having information about him.

“The German soldier spoke English as well as I or better,” Giannoni said. “All I could give him was my rank, number and serial number. But he said ‘I?ll give you some information.? Then, he grabbed a book and turned to the ?G? section. He had info on me, like where I graduated from. They had all the info they needed.”

On February 2, 1945, the Russian army was advancing from the East, so Adolph Hitler ordered that the prisoners be moved West. Starting in Poland, 8,000 prisoners were marched from Poland to West Germany, walking about 600 miles over three and a half months. This march is known as the German Death March.

“We were the lucky ones because they marched us {prisoners} off,” Giannoni said. “The first night we slept in an open field. We had to scrape for food wherever you could find it. Some guys found a chicken on a farm, stripped all the feathers off and ate them raw. Some guys even ate raw rats. We were loaded with lice.”

Despite being a POW and marching over 600 miles without food or water, Giannoni remained positive. Not one day went by that he didn?t know he would return back home, he said.

“I always thought positive,” Giannoni said. “I never had a negative thought in my head, and I knew I was coming back. We all knew that God helped us all. I knew God was with me; we prayed everyday. But we didn’t talk about it at all for 50 years.”

The interview of WWII veteran Rudy Giannoni continues in a series of short videos that are housed in the video section of The Feather Online. The series is called Stories from War, with six installments. Those interested in the series should begin with Stories from War: Ep. 2.

This author can be reached via Twitter: @tyninfries. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

For more features, read the Nov. 5 article, International students break language barrier, americanize.