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Austin Brown

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As a student in the ROTC program at GA tech, Austin Brown explains how the war intervened with his studies. Since the war broke out, Austin Brown did not undergo the regular path to becoming an officer in the ROTC program. (4:09)

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Stationed in New Guinea, 2LT Austin Brown met a national guard unit which was from his hometown of Calhoun, GA. He also talks about sneaking in ice for his men, the threat of Malaria, and the multiple reassignments of his unit. (6:04)

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In a convoy full of cooks, medical units, quartermasters, and other troops, 2LT Austin Brown was following the infantry heading towards Davao. Along the way, the Japanese had been blowing up bridges to impede their progress. Around 11 o'clock in the evening, they came to a small stream where the bridge had been blown out. As soon as the construction engineers finished repairing the bridge, the Japanese opened fired. (6:26)

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During his time stationed in Japan, 2LT Brown and his friends had the urge to go to Hiroshima. To their amazement, they saw how one small bomb could do so much damage. (6:51)

Axel McGraw

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North Dakota farmers knew Japan was up to something. They were buying up all the scrap metal. Farm boy Axel McGraw thought he wanted to join the Army, but a camping trip in the summer heat put him off that idea. The Navy saw him through engineering school and then he headed for Annapolis. (4:13)

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It was the simple act of easily scaling the obstacle wall that caught the eye of his superiors. First he was excused from drill and interviewed for three days. Then he was pulled from breakfast by a Petty Officer, who already had his belongings packed, and sent to Damage Control School. (5:07)

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The brand new USS Dade, was nearly ready and some of its crew were at Damage Control school in training. Officers there weren't supposed to drive the salvage tractor but Ensign Axel McGraw jumped right on it. Then, when he pitched in on a mechanical rebuild and the Captain acknowledged his talent, he said, "Farmers have to know a lot about a lot!" (6:56)

B.E. Vaughan

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While plowing behind a horse one day, on his family farm in South Carolina, B.E. Vaughan decided he didn't want to be stuck behind that plow forever. "I want to be somebody." So he enlisted alongside three friends who were drafted. (3:28)

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B.E. Vaughan already knew how to drill. In a Home Guard group he'd done well but when he got to boot camp, they executed the "Halt" command a little differently and this led to a little tension with the Drill Instructor. (3:17)

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Shipping out on a newly commissioned destroyer, B.E. Vaughan went straight into the chaos of the Normandy invasion. All around him was "a slaughterhouse," but the crew performed a valuable role as soldiers struggled to get a foothold, knocking out pillboxes on the bluffs. (5:46)