William "Bill" Radke World War II Interview

William "Bill" Radke World War II Interview

World War, 1939-1945 -- United States.

United States -- History, Military.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans -- Interviews.

United States. Army.

Lawrence (Kan.) -- Oral history.

William “Bill” P. Radke served in the United States Army (Infantry), 88th Division, Fifth Special Forces Airborne. Interviewed by Deborah Pye on November 8, 2006, Radke talked about his military experiences after the Second World War. Radke was born in Ohio in 1928. He enlisted in the Army in 1945 and went to basic training in New Jersey. Radke has an extensive 30-year military career. From 1947 to 1948, he was in the TRUST Troopers in Trieste, Italy. After Officer Candidate School (OCS), he went to jump and Ranger school in the 1950s. During the 1960s, he served as the commander of Special Forces Thailand (46th Special Forces Company). Radke passed away on August 16, 2017.

Radke, William "Bill"

Kansas Veterans of World War II Oral History Project / Lawrence Remembers: The World War II Years Project

Lawrence Public Library (Lawrence, Kan.)

2006-11-08

Pye, Deborah

Kansas State Historical Society

The original copy of this video is available through the Lawrence Public Library. The Watkins Museum of History and the Kansas State Historical Society also have interviews associated with this project, which was funded through a grant program passed by the Kansas State Legislature in 2005. Researchers are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions for uses other than educational or scholarly research. Contact the Watkins Museum of History for additional information: https://www.watkinsmuseum.org/

To access the video recording of this oral history, go to: https://archive.org/details/radke-bill-wwii-interview

Obituary: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=william-p-radtke-bill&pid=186445575&fhid=24990

The Watkins Museum of History also holds items related to this collection.

Transcripts for this project are available through the Kansas Memory Digital Collection: https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/211748

Other resources for interviews with World War II veterans are available through the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project: https://www.loc.gov/vets/vets-home.htm

MP4

eng

Oral History

Radke_Bill WWII Interview

Italy

1945 - 1964

Pye, Deborah

Radke, William "Bill" P.

Lawrence (Kan.)

VHS

1:02:50

127 kbit/s (audio)

1625 kbit/s (video)