"When we got off the ship at Ellis Island, [it was] just a big open area. We had to wait, and we were processed through and given coffee or milk. There were red-cross people hovering around trying to make people comfortable. I remember…

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan... The people of the United States have already formed their…

"I was getting, as some of you know, radio messages from the State Department and from Europe, that made it pretty clear that there was going to be another World War, in fact I felt so even before I came on board for that cruise... I know all of…

"We finally made it to San Francisco. They pulled us into the harbor...For over two years I’d seen nothing but Marine green in the Pacific. The most beautiful colors I’d ever seen in my life. We went under the Golden Gate. It was hanging with…

"You go in by waves and you land. Bear in mind, this is the first landing with your friends. Ten of us were from Georgia, okay? One did not hardly make it out of the water. When the ramp came down on the landing craft and the machine guns opened…

"We were picked up the next day by a Greek destroyer. And they took me into Algiers to the hospital. And of course the only thing they know to do in these army hospitals is cut your leg off if something’s wrong with you...They were gonna take my…

"We sailed out of Virginia on December the 1st, I believe it was. Norfolk, Virginia on the Mariposa. And that was a beautiful luxury liner. Very fast. 21 knots. And we went over without an escort ‘cause we had submarines all over the place, you…

"It was about close to October...Well it was crowded, about 5,000 soldiers. And Mickey Rooney was there. He was an entertainer...I was on the 6th level bunks. On the bottom of the ship and I was at the top and had to climb over everybody...They…

"Well, we started off in Bremerhaven, and I remember we were on the S.S. Marine Flasher... As we approached the Harbor of New York, and we saw the Statue of Liberty, it was really a feeling of a new life beginning-- perhaps a life of…

"On August 7, 1951, we boarded a very small former troop ship, which used to bring troops from the United States to Europe, the S.S. General Sturgis. When we boarded the ship, at eleven years old I was a pretty big kid, and they decided that I…