(gentle music) (plane engine roaring) - Well, I joined the Navy to see the world and I ended up in the third Marine Division packing my pack.

Yeah, because the Marines are just part of the Navy.

They don't wanna admit that, but that's what they are.

They're just part of the Navy.

So, uh, yeah.

So I was a pharmacist mate, second class.

Served on a mop-up operation on Guam.

I was in the South Pacific, I was also on the beach at Iwa Jima, and after the war, occupancy, I was in the hospital for a month recovering from a jungle disease, and I missed the main draft going to... ... to China.

So they handed me my papers and said, here you find your way to Tianjin, China.

That's where you'd due to go.

So I went down to the airport on Guam took a plane to Shanghai.

Since I was in charge of everything myself I stayed there two days.

- [Interviewer] (laughing) Good for you.

- [Bill] Yeah, so I, I wasn't late or had a, you know had nothing else to do.

So then we end, I ended up in Tsingtao where they make the beer.

Maybe you've had some of their beer.

It served in various restaurants.

We got out, got there, and then I took another plane to to Tianjin, which is the port city of P King.

And of course that was quite a nice time.

I didn't do any work there at all.

Just, I, I, they, they gave me my money and I went out eating at the various places on the, in Tianjin.

And after a month or so of riding rickshaws and stuff like that, I was transported.

I, I was transferred to Japan, so I hadn't seen Japan before so that was kind of nice.

Yeah.

So I, I saw the fleet that they'd no longer had pretty well rotted out in Sasebo.

And I walked through Nagasaki and then we were picked up by the military police because we weren't supposed to be there, but the captain of the ship didn't tell us we couldn't be there.

So naturally we were, I I saw it all.

Well, the captain of the ship had to come down and uh, transfer us out of the jail.

We didn't wanna stay there too long.

- [Interviewer] Yeah, I don't think so.

- [Bill] (laughs) So we got the, so that's the story then Homeward Bound.

I was an enlisted man, you know, I didn't wear any of the brass or the stuff, you know, up here metals here and all that stuff.

So, and the chaplain of our regiment and I were good buddies and he says I'll take you down to Admiral Nimitz's headquarters for a drink.

So here I am going down to the Admiral's headquarters.

People were saluting in, I was saluting back.

He'd put Captain bars on me.

I think that's illegal.

(both laugh) That was very memorable, I thought, hope nobody finds out.

- [Interviewer] Don't wanna end up in the brig.

- Yeah.

I'm telling it on air now for the first time.

I don't think that I could be prosecuted for this, can I?

- [Interviewer] No.

- No, I don't think so.

I think I'm safe.

- [Interviewer] You're safe.

- You're, I'm safe with you guys?

Good.

What else would you like to know?

(interviewer laughs) Well, you gotta have humor also in the service.

And don't let it all be work.

A lot of it can be humorous.

For instance, I, fresh fruit was at at a premium where some got it, you know so when we got a crate of oranges in for breakfast or something and they'd give us each an orange.

And I went back and then I did my morning evolutions I think that's the word.

And, and I put the orange on a, on a cot there.

And then I did my thing.

When I came back, the orange was gone.

Somebody picked it up.

So, I went back the next day and I got my orange and I went to the dispensary and I got a Hypodermics syringe and I put cascara sagrada, which is a lovely laxative.

I put that in that orange.

I squirted it in.

And then I got back to my tent.

I threw the orange on my, I thought we'll see if he, sure enough, the orange left.

So now we go out on our daily five mile hike.

This is after the war was over.

But they kept us physically fit.

They go on my five, and one of the Marines ahead of me.

All of a sudden he left the ranks of the walking, of us walking and marching.

Pulled his pants down.

(claps hands) Boy, he had a go.

(laughs) As I walked by him, I said, how was the orange?

I wanted to know where it came from.

- [Interviewer] So what was your life like before the war?

And is there anything in the war that changed you when you left the war?

- Well... Well, I lived at home with Mama and Papa.

(laughs) Played cards every night.

- [Interviewer] I bet you didn't play any cards in the military though.

- I really didn't.

- [Interviewer] Really?

- And I didn't gamble.

I didn't smoke and I didn't drink.

I can say this.

I continued with those practices when I got home.

(both laugh) I began to enjoy life after I got back from the service.

(laughs) Oh, I enjoy, I enjoyed it in the service too.

I can't say that I didn't.

I had good friends.

An interesting sidebar is that one of my very best friends we served on Iwa Jima together.

He was in the ninth Marine South, near the third Marines.

But he had it really tough.

All of the noncoms all the enlisted men, the officers were dead.

He led the group out of the trap they were in.

He got the silver star for that.

When he got home, his sister called me up, Bob.

She said, you gotta tell what's your feelings are about Andy, her brother.

And I says, well, I says, he was a nervous wreck when I, after the war, when I visited him before we were discharged tried to get help from the government if he can.

That's what I'm working on.

She said, and I, I needed you as a witness.

And I said, that'll be fine.

About two weeks later, I get a letter from her.

He took his own life.

So... you know... let's remember those that not only died in the war, but those that die every day because they can't put along in the civilian life now.

They have nightmares.

Those are the people we need to help today.

- [Interviewer] So with all the experiences you've had is there advice you would give to anyone who is entering the military today?

- Well, it's, I think it's a good training ground for a lot of people.

I think it's a good physical exercise for a lot of people.

And... it's what you make of it.

If you wanna make a career of it, it's a good career.

You know, it's a good career.

The pay is good, the benefits are good.

I mean, you know, what do you get on the outside world sometimes?

Unless you have a goal.

If you have a goal that you want to reach.

When I came back from the service, I decided I wanted to go to the College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota and become a pharmacist, which I did.

You know, I was not a brilliant scholar, I'll tell you that.

But I was a pretty good businessman cuz I had built the store that I had up into $50 a day up to where we were taking in a thousand dollars a day.

And then I sold the store.

(laughs) - [Interviewer] Smart.

(both laugh) Is there any advice you would give to young people today?

- Get your education in a field that's going to be a good job for you.

What do you like to do?

Do you like to do welding and that type of thing?

I wasn't talented in a lot of electrical or welding or carpentry or, I, I had no talents in those areas.

So why would I even consider it?

The same way, don't waste your money on going to school in a field that you don't want.

You know, some people do that.

Yeah.

Where your interests are and you go to school for getting yourself ahead, that's, that's where you go.

This is really something else.

Really.

Finding out that the people that I've visited with they've flown the P-38, the plane, they've flown the PBY's.

I, I can only read about 'em, you know.

(uplifting orchestral music)