Volume 12 , Issue 37

Witness To War

Witness To War is preserving the oral histories of combat veterans along with photos and memoirs. Do you have an oral combat veteran story that you would like to Contribute to Witness To War?

Roy says, "For those who don't know, Pug was my boss at the Ritz Theatre of Britton, Oklahoma while I was a teen-ager. I was a projectionist at both of the theatres there, and assistant manager of the "B" house, which was open only on Fridays and Saturdays. The admission price there was 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for children 12 and younger. It always played black & white double features; a western and a comedy, plus a serial (to bring-em-back each week). That is where I learned to edit film by leaving out portions of a reel during the last show of the evening in order to get out early.

"During WWII, Pug had been a member of a tank crew that traveled all over chasing the German Tiger tanks. He once told me that the Germans were short of fuel and that sometimes the Tigers would run out of gas. That when the American crews came upon an abandoned Tiger, they would refuel it, jump in and go Tiger hunting in earnest because those Tigers were built so strong and had bigger guns and the only way you could really destroy one was by using another Tiger.

"When Pug first came to Britton to manage the theatres there, one of the owners told us that his nickname (Pug) was an abreviation for pugilist because he had been a boxer in his outfit and was a scrappy little fighter. It is possible that the anecdote was told to keep the local toughs from trying to pick a fight with him.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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