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Alex Nuckles

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There were some women prisoners on Saipan, recalls Alex Nuckles, but you better not go messing with them. Some guys did, anyway. They also made up bad hooch with bad results. He was the cook and he tried to make the powdered eggs taste like something, but that was a tall order. (3:34)

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Most of the soldiers got along, regardless of race, but there were always some who couldn't get over it. Alex Nuckles recalls some incidents, including the soldier who refused a blood transfusion. (2:58)

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When he returned from the Pacific, Alex Nuckles was unfairly fired from his first job, but he got a little satisfaction, later, when he saw the man responsible on the street. Using lessons taught to him by his father, he made his mark in his community after the war. (4:46)

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Thinking back on his time on Saipan, Alex Nuckles remembers the awful smell of dead bodies and the sight of Japanese bullets from a plane churning up the ground. He was disturbed that a fellow soldier was court-martialed unfairly, but what could he do about it? On the trip home, he was still a cook, which was good on the ship and bad on the train. (3:39)

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He got homesick sometimes, but Alex Nuckles was encouraged by the letters from his wife while he was deployed in the Pacific. Returning home required some transition time, getting used to the food and talking to people who weren't engaged in a war. He made it through with help from his faith. (3:53)

Alex Ortolano

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Alex Ortolano talks about his interesting early life growing up in New Orleans as the son of a grocer. Despite his parents both being against the idea of flying in an aircraft, he decided that upon his enlistment into the Army that he was going to apply for flight school. (4:06)

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Alex Ortolano flew as part of a helicopter medical evacuation team known as Dust Off, which he gives a little introduction to. Of all the medical evacuation units, Dust Off came in contact with the most casualties during its missions. (7:30)

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In the distant past, medical evacuation wasn't always there to aid the wounded after a battle had gone down. Lt. Ortolano elaborates on the history of medical evacuation units and how they got to be as they are today. (2:37)

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Lt. Ortolano recalls many memorable Dust Off pilots during and before his time, some of which include Patrick Brady and Charles Kelly. He believes it's worth taking the time to talk about these individuals because of the sacrifices they made for the unit and for the people they saved. (9:54)

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Lt. Ortolano remembers a man by the name of Michael Novosel, who was able to accomplish a lot in his time with Dust Off despite the odds of even getting into flight school going against him. (5:52)