Japan

 

Samuel C. Cravens joined the Army Air Corps in 1940 and flew dozens of combat missions over the South Pacific during WWII. His wife, Betty P. Cravens, wrote in with his story.
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Rosemary Casey Winter, an Army nurse in training during World War II, read these entries and wrote in to express her thanks for 'the excellent, truthful, realistic portrayal of WWII.' She recounts her loved ones' experiences during World War II in her letter.
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Enlisting in the Marine Corps when he was only seventeen, native Coloradan Warren Jack O'Brien saw much action in the Second Marine Division. He took part in several dangerous frontal assaults on Pacific islands, including Betio Island and Saipan. Receiving murderous enemy fire, he was lucky to survive when many of his fellow Marines did not leave the beach. A Purple Heart recipient, Warren landed at Nagasaki after the Japanese surrender and witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by the atomic bomb.
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Inducted into the army at the age of 19, Staff Sergeant Schack saw action in the Pacific, battling the Japanese and even malaria. He was training for an invasion of Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped; the bomb made the invasion, which was predicted to decimate American troops, fortunately unnecessary.
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A native Coloradan, Marvin Lederman entered naval service at the age of eighteen. Stationed in the Pacific on the U.S.S. Wilson, his destroyer fought off kamikaze attacks while also protecting American convoys. When his division captured a Japanese pilot, he was assigned to be the guard and, in the process, found himself making an unlikely friend.
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Gimeno shares stories about joining the Navy, serving aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown, meeting journalist Ernie Pyle, shooting down kamikazes and more.
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The Honorable Rt. Judge Roger Cisneros and former Colorado State Senator is a WWII vet. He served with the Army Air Corps from 1943-1946 with the 333rd Bomb Group. Though he fought honorably for his country, he faced discrimination both while serving and when returning home.
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