William E. (Bill) Warde joined the Army Reserve program when he turned 18, the day he graduated from high school in January 1944. He was sent into infantry training at Camp Gruber, OK, where he was assigned to the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division as they were preparing to go overseas. By December of 1944, Warde’s division was at the front in the European Theater. The three infantry regiments of the 42nd Rainbow Division were ordered to relieve the 36th Infantry Division and given the title Task Force Linden. Thrown into battle on the front lines of the European Theater, Warde describes his experiences in the various battles across Germany, including a battle in Sessenheim, which he describes as the “worst night of his life.”

Warde belonged to the 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Company A, 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Rainbow Division. The 42nd Infantry Division was activated for World War II, a unique unit formed as a reconstitution of the Rainbow Division from World War I. There are multiple explanations as to how the Division received its nickname, but one of the most well-known comes from General Douglas MacArthur, who stated the “The 42nd Infantry Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to another,” because it was made up of National Guard members from across the states. Following training at Camp Gruber, OK, the three divisions that made up the Rainbow Division deployed to Europe and a detachment of the 42ID Headquarters arrived in France at Marseille, 8–9 December 1944, and were formed into Task Force Linden, under Henning Linden, the Assistant Division Commander. It was during the 42nd Division's rapid advance through Germany in April 1945 that they, along with the Guard's 45th Infantry Division, liberated the Dachau concentration camp.