William (Bill) Dibble was born October 7, 1921 in Buffalo, New York.  His father was a veteran of the Great War who was wounded several times and who was gassed – it disabled him significantly and he died young.  An only child, Bill grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression and attended Boys’ Vocational High School.  Bill had his doubts about Pearl Harbor, but it was the singular event that would impact his generation.  Bill received his notice and was inducted into the military, and he went to Fort Bragg for training.  Not long after he boarded a troop ship bound for north Africa, and following that campaign he took part in the invasion of Sicily.  During that fight Bill was taken prisoner by the Germans, and he ended up being a POW for 31/2 years.  He was moved into Germany, and sent to Dulag 2B: for most of his time in custody he was charged with doing agricultural duty, working on a potato farm. Bill remembers the work as being tedious and difficult – and not without its dangers:  he once in fact injured his back badly.   The conditions were difficult during that long incarceration:  hard work, cold, illness and limited food/malnutrition.  When the Russians began to close BIll and the rest of the men were forced on the infamous Long March, and they ended up in a prison camp in Germany, where they were liberated by the American 9th Army.  During this time one of the German guards took a photograph of Bill and fellow POWs – a unique memento of this difficult time.  Soon Bill was in Camp Lucky Strike on the French coast and on his way home.  On his return to Buffalo, Bill worked at Chevrolet and the Post Office; he also met Loretta, and the two of them wed in 1950, going on to raise a family and find their way in postwar America.  Bill Dibble was interviewed by Scott Masters at his home in Tonawanda, New York in May 2025.