Jack Linscott was born in December 1924 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He had two sisters and one brother. He was 16 years old and working in a meat market [Annotator's Note: when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was making 15 cents an hour. His father had a pumping station and a barber shop that catered to children. In 1929, the Great Crash happened [Annotator's Note: This led to the Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. They had a nanny. People were jumping out of buildings. His father lost everything. They had to go to warmer weather for his mother’s health. They moved to the west coast of California. They were penniless and lived in a shack. They had a cow, chickens, and rabbits. Linscott had chores to do every day. He grew up loving animals. His father started drinking and his mother leaned on the church. He hung out with other kids all day long. He did not have a great family life growing up. His friends were not invited over.

Jack Linscott was 16 years old when the war broke out. He did not know there was something going on in the Pacific. The Japanese decided to attack Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and Linscott rode his bike to work. They were broadcasting the Giants and Dodgers game. In the middle of the game, there was the breaking news where President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] announced the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He had never heard of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Day of Infamy Speech; President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the United States Congress, 8 December 1941]. Everyone closed their stores. They were told when night fell that they had to put blankets on their windows and keep the lights outside off. Everyone painted their headlights. They would sit outside at night and listen to the military vehicles going by. Linscott was excited by the prospect of war. He had never traveled anywhere. He wanted to join the Navy, but his parents would not let him. He got into a fight and the judge said he should leave town. This prompted his parents to let him join the Navy. He was put on a train to Idaho from Los Angeles [Annotator’s Note: Los Angeles, California]. The snow was piled up as high as the train. Twenty men died from fever before they finished boot camp. Linscott was asked if he wanted to volunteer for special forces work. They went to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] for gunnery training.

Jack Linscott was stationed in San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California]. They left for Australia in the war zone and picked up Tokyo Rose [Annotator's Note: nickname given by Allied servicemen to any English-speaking female radio personality broadcasting Japanese propaganda in the Pacific Theater] on the radio. Submarines could not hit them because they traveled too fast. When they reached Australia, they unloaded all the troops. Tokyo Rose would antagonize the men by saying their girls were not faithful. When they returned to San Francisco, Linscott was on shore patrol. The Pacific was an amphibious war. [Annotator’s Note: Linscott talks about his time in San Francisco, California.] He remembers one night watching men unload and get on the ships. War is about people. People operate all the machines.

Jack Linscott remembers that the Liberty ships [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ships] were not well made. They were for carrying weapons and people overseas. His ship carried 1,600 troops. They were not allowed to abandon the ship until the last man was left. [Annotator’s Note: Linscott describes what enemy submarines do.] The crew had to man their battle stations. Most of the men never made it to their battle stations. Their sister ship was sunk off San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California]. Half of those guys did not get to fight in the war. The government covered it up, and the Armed Guard was buried in the archives. Linscott was on the USS Finch [Annotator’s Note: USS Finch (DE-328)] in the northern Atlantic. They sunk an enemy submarine. He did duty in China and in Alaska. He went to New Guinea and Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines]. He was in the Saipan campaign.