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Ralph Way

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Ralph Way was an aircraft mechanic in India, maintaining cargo planes. He recalls one incident in which a pilot couldn't tell if the landing gear was up or down. That was resolved successfully, but there was another incident regarding propellers which did not end so well. (5:29)

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Ralph Way recalls two things from his service in India which made him laugh. One of them left an aircraft dangling from utility pole wires, another left him in water up to his knees. (3:45)

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Aircraft mechanic Ralph Way would hitch rides to keep enough time in the air to get his flight pay. On one of these flights, he noticed that there were two more planes taking off at the same time and he began to get a little worried, but it was too late to back out. (4:21)

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He had just arrived in India. Aircraft mechanic Ralph Way got the unenviable task of guarding a crashed plane that was burning with a dead pilot visible in the cockpit. What he witnessed really got to him. (2:42)

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When he was issued his first winter dress uniform, Ralph Way was very dissatisfied with the slacks. He improved the situation, but it left him nearly broke. (2:04)

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It took four days to send him to war by plane, but when the time came to return from India, Ralph Way spent a month on a ship. At home, he got married and went to college, thanks to the educational benefits from Uncle Sam. (7:27)

Curtis James

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He wanted to choose his service instead of getting drafted, so Curtis James went for the Marine Corps in 1943. As part of the V-12 program, he attended college for a year, then had his training and got his commission. Assigned to the occupation forces in Japan, the friendliness of the Japanese was a big surprise to him. (3:52)

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Stationed in Japan after the war, Curtis James had the opportunity to see the devastation at both atomic bomb sites. It was hard to believe. Marines went into occupation duty with a lot of animosity for the Japanese people, but were surprised to find out how friendly they were. (4:29)

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He was working as a staff officer at Camp Lejeune when he got a surprise assignment. Curtis James was to be one of two officers on a shipboard Marine detachment. The ship was the USS Princeton, an aircraft carrier supporting troops in the Korean War. (5:02)

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Working as a Marine staff officer at Quantico, Curtis James was in attendance at some pretty high level meetings. During one of these, he was the lunch guest of the most powerful man in the world. (2:19)