"When the Storm Troopers came to our house, knock on the door, standing next to my mother. When she opened the door, I can see him with his Nazi uniform on: swastika on his arm, leather boots, leather belt, leather shoulder straps…And he came…

“Every public place, theater, restaurant, had the same signs on them. Jews were segregated completely, cause after I was kicked out of school later on, a year later, about six months later, I went to a segregated school. There were—they…

“Life became more difficult. It was a period, actually involved four different periods, the Holocaust. It lasted from 1933 to 1945. The first period was Discrimination, and then it turned into Segregation, and it came on when the laws passed…

“The next morning, I was standing by my gate and waited for the group to came by, and sure enough the group came by, and the leader of the group was my best friend who I played ball with in the empty lot every day. And he saw me standing at the…

“And that particular day we walked to school together two miles. We got to school, got in our seats, and remember I was six years old. The teacher said “Are there any Jews in this class?...Raise your hand.” I raised my hand proudly, and looked…

“I have a family tree that goes back to 1490, so we lived in Germany a—500 years my family, over 500 years. We were steeped in German culture, European culture: music, art, literature, Goethe, Schiller. Both of my grandparents and my father fought…

“He went to Harper High School in Atlanta, and then, they tried to give him a scholarship to Morehouse – four years paid scholarship to Morehouse-- but he didn't want to go there. He wanted to go to Yale, so he went to Yale…It made me feel…

“This medal was authorized by President Obama in 2012. And they had a big deal where it was presented by some general in Washington, and I think Obama was supposed to be present, but something else came up and he didn't make it, but anyway, it…

“We found that most of the palm trees had been cut off where the Navy had, with their big guns, had just blown everything on the island down. And I didn't see any live Japanese except, we saw a few dead ones. You could, every now and then, you…

Editor's note: Lorenzo Wallace shipped out of San Diego with the 51st Defense Battalion.