Joe Defransisco served
in the army as a MP (Military Police) in the area of Australia for four
years. He spent alot of time hopping from island to island as the
American forces advanced. Escorted General MacArthur out of
Brisbane up to Leyte, he also escorted MacArthur's wife and maid.
Heard the speach..."Old soldiers don't die, they just fade away..."
This was MacArthur's final speach for world war II.
Don Bran Served in the
US Army Singal Corps, was a code interceptor in the Pacific. In other
words he always knew first where the enemy was. He came in on the
tail end of the war, after recieving his degree. Assisted in the
occupation of Japan until April of 1946. Only served one year before
the war was actually over. Traveled most of the Pacific and even
saw action on the "tail end" of the war.
Gene Allen US Army Air
Corps pilot for the the B-24 Liberator. Graduated from Navigator's
School in Hondo, Texas. Flew on missions bombing Japanese from New
Guinea to China to Formosa (Taiwan) and finally to Japan itself.
Flew his last mission August 10, 1945 the day after the second atomic bomb.
It was a mapping mission in case an invasion was nescessary.
Took part in the "Island Hopping" strategy of taking out only strategic
Japanese strongholds rather than wasting forces against each and every
Japanese island.
Al Wood was only 16 when
he joined up to fight in the war. He was assigned to the Army Air
Corps, working to help establish airbases and other work on the ground.
Helped secure Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinowa. It was in Okinowa that Al Wood
was helping convert B-24's into troop transports for an invasion when Japan
surrendered.
Kyoto, the Shrine
City of Japan was spared the extensive bomibing that other major Japanese
cities were decimated by. This was no accident. The Army Air
Corps were given explicit instructions, if you can't hit your primary objective;
i.e. Tokyo, then hit Osaka, but never dump on Kyoto.
The Occupation- although
the war was over the Japanese soldiers still had trouble relinquishing
their island to American forces. On one such occasion Don and his
comrades were moving radio equimpent in when Japanese began firing on them,
and a few of the Americans were killed.
These summations don't really do the entire interview justice, nor
do the sound clips that we were able to fit. These veterans shared
a wealth of knowledge, here is a little more that we could not include
in the sound bites.
The war was a young man's war. The average age in the Pacific was 18,
anyone in their forties was an "old fogy". In fact in the Christmas
of 1944 anyone 40 or older was sent back home.
After the war G.I.'s could return home to their jobs under the 'restoration
of benefits', Don returned to a $21 a month job.
Back to the Interview Page.