Roy "Red" Campbell was the only man from his company to serve from beginning to end of World War II. He survived years of infantry combat in New Guinea and the Philippines, disease, starvation, wounds, and conditions almost impossible to imagine.

In this episode of More Than Capable, I sit down with Roy's son, Allen Campbell, to explore the man behind that extraordinary life.

Roy documented his experience in Kindling for the Devil's Fires: Journals of an Infantryman, written deliberately from the perspective of what he called a "plain ole mudslingin' infantryman." But this conversation goes beyond what made it onto the page.

Allen shares what it was like to grow up as Roy Campbell's son—from watching grown veterans break down when they saw his father, to hearing the stories that only emerged around the fire at deer camp. We talk about the mental toughness that carried Roy through war, the moment in a slit trench that transformed his faith, the humor he retained through darkness, and the ways war continued to shape his relationship with food, family, work, the outdoors, and the generations that followed him.

Roy never set out to become a hero. He enlisted before Pearl Harbor, fought through the end of the war, and eventually returned home to Wisconsin after nearly five years away.

This is not simply a story about World War II. It is a conversation about the man who came home—and what a son learned by having him as a father.

Topics include: World War II infantry combat, the Pacific Theater, New Guinea, the Philippines, the Greatest Generation, faith under fire, mental toughness, PTSD and the aftermath of war, fatherhood, family legacy, and the stories veterans carried home.

Kindling for the Devil's Fires: Journals of an Infantryman by Roy Campbell is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Kindling-Devils-Fires-Journals-Infantryman/dp/1412052653