Chirhart, William D. (1922-2008)

https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/stc:8642#/kaltura_audio

Biographical Information: William “Bill” Chirhart was born on October 15, 1922 and raised in Waite Park, Minnesota. Chirhart was in the Minnesota National Guard from 1939 to 1963 and the Army from 1941 to 1952, participating both in World War II and the Korean Conflict. In 1949, he married his wife, Alice Pierkskalla, the couple had four children. Chirhart was a police officer for the City of St. Cloud, Minnesota from 1955 until his retirement in 1982. Chirhart died on September 11, 2008, at the age of 85.

Transcript Summary: William “Bill” Chirhart described his experiences as an infantryman in Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. In 1939, Chirhart joined the National Guard of Minnesota, but would be called into active duty by the United States Army in 1941. In this interview, Chirhart discussed his training in anti-aircraft defense, searchlight, and automatic tracking. Once deployed to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, he spent time on and near the islands of the Philippines, New Guinea, Bougainville, and Cebu. Chirhart’s division often spent time on ships, doing patrols while on sea duty. He detailed difficulties of living in a tropical climate, the water restrictions, food shortages, body rashes, and interactions with scorpions and beetles. Shortly after returning from World War II, Chirhart was deployed as a reconnaissance platoon sergeant during the Korean Conflict. Chirhart concluded that his military experience as a positive one, it gave him discipline that made him the man he needed to be, and allowed him an easy transition into police work in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Interview by David Overy

Includes archival material