Austin H. Kiplinger was born in 1918 and raised in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding regions in Virginia and Maryland. His family was from Ohio, and he spent many summers there. He also spent years in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois], San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California], and Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] at Harvard [Annotator's Note: Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts] in graduate school. He had one sister. His parents separated and she moved with his mother. He was with one part of his family in the summer and the other part in the winter. He lived with his father but stayed close to his mother. His mother was a housewife who graduated from Ohio State University [Annotator's Note: in Columbus, Ohio] as did his father. She worked with Kiplinger's grandfather as a clerk in court. His grandfather was a member of the Court of Human Relations and Court of Domestic Relations in Toledo, Ohio. His father was a journalist in Washington for the Associated Press and covered the Treasury [Annotator's Note: United States Department of the Treasury]. He wrote through the Hoover [Annotator's Note: Herbert Clark Hoover, 31st President of the United States] and Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] years and what came after. Both families were affected by the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. Washington became a boomtown with the Roosevelt New Deal [Annotator's Note: a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States from 1933 until 1939], while the rest of the country suffered. Washington always does better whenever things are in trouble elsewhere. It grew during the Depression and has been doing the same thing in recent years. Kiplinger graduated from high school in Georgetown [Annotator's Note: a neighborhood in Washington, D.C.]. His father had found that Western High School [Annotator's Note: now the site of Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Northwest, Washington, D.C.] was the best on the East Coast. Kiplinger then went to Cornell [Annotator's Note: Cornell University in Ithaca, New York] followed by Harvard.

World War 2 began in 1931 when Japan invaded north China [Annotator's Note: Manchuria region of China]. Austin H. Kiplinger has written about this. Mussolini [Annotator's Note: Italian fascist dictator Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini; also known as il Duce] invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was making his violent and explosive moves in Europe. War was coming along for ten years before it broke out. In many respects, it was a holdover from World War 1's issues that had not been fully resolved. His father was writing about it every week [Annotator's Note: in "The Kiplinger Letter", a weekly periodical] and it was discussed in their household. [Annotator's Note: Kiplinger stops to read from The Kiplinger Letter of the week of 7 December 1941]. The letter read, "War with Japan? Officials late as this afternoon simply did not know, but their cautious, private observation indicates that they are prepared for the worst." Kiplinger wrote they expected any attack to come in the Philippines. The surprise was it coming at Pearl Harbor. The Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] was at sea. That was accidental but thank goodness it was. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Kiplinger if he remembers the attack.] He went to his father's house and said that they had to go to work. Reporters and editors work all the time. They knew they had to get to work on a special letter for the following week. Editors of weekly publications respond to conditions as they are. He was also working on a book about Washington, called "Washington is Like That" [Annotator's Note: published 1 January 1942] and knew that large sections of the book would have to be rewritten. He enlisted but they were clogged with applications. He wanted to go into aircraft training and was not called until April [Annotator's Note: April 1942]. He was a fan of Charles A. Lindbergh [Annotator's Note: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, American aviator] in 1927 when Lucky Lindy flew the Atlantic [Annotator's Note: first nonstop flight from New York, New York to Paris, France, 20 to 21 May 1927]. Kiplinger made model aircraft and it was the center of his life outside of school. While waiting to be called up, he finished his book and got it off to the publisher. Then he went into the Navy.

Austin H. Kiplinger went to Anacostia Naval Air Station [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Anacostia, Washington, D.C.] after enlistment for training. He soloed there. They would come down a valley near Saint Elizabeth's Hospital which is an insane asylum. They would say that if they crashed there, they would have been in the place they should have been all along. Kiplinger had flown with his father before. His first flight was about 1927 with Bernt Balchen [Annotator's Note: Norwegian pioneer polar aviator] who had been the pilot for Admiral Richard Byrd [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Junior]. He took them up on a sightseeing flight over the Capitol. This was around the time of the Lindbergh flight across the Atlantic. Kiplinger made models of airplanes. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Kiplinger if he liked aviation school.] You just did it. You got up at five o'clock in the morning and exercised, went for breakfast, flew for a couple of hours, and then had classroom study. He thought then that a lot of the Air Force pilots, who went through their training and into combat in nine months, were not thoroughly trained. The Navy graduated them from basic in nine months and then went to advanced training. After that, they went into the type of training like in the TBF [Annotator's Note: Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber aircraft]. He went from Anacostia to Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida], to Naval Air Station Miami [Annotator's Note: in Opa-Locka, Florida] and advanced training in preparation for landing aboard a ship and back off again. It is not a simple matter. Getting back aboard ship was one of hardest parts. Today it is a lot safer. Kiplinger went out on the shakedown of either the Vinson [Annotator's Note: USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)] or the Theodore Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)] that has two decks so that if you do not get a wire [Annotator's Note: also called arresting cables; flexible steel cables to catch and rapidly decelerate landing aircraft], you just push the throttle, take-off, and go around again. On his ship, you could not do that. There was a barrier because there were planes beyond it. Nothing is safe in aviation. Questioning your training does not even enter your mind. It is up to you to make good on it. Training accidents were more prevalent than any other accidents. In military aviation in World War 2, more accidents and deaths occurred through pilot error or mistakes or problems in flight operations than were brought about by enemy action. Pilots do not talk about it. Kiplinger knows of case after case of men who lost their lives who did not have to. It is understood by most pilots. He does not know if that is still true. He will not talk about them out of respect for the families of the victims of ones he witnessed. Flying for the first time by himself was not a big deal. Even with an instructor, you fly the plane. They were flying the most elemental kind of airplane in 1941 and 1942. The planes were almost like toys by comparison to the real, honest-to-goodness airplane. You do not feel like Snoopy [Annotator's Note: anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip "Peanuts" by American cartoonist Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz]. Then you advance on.

Austin H. Kiplinger took trips to Germany in 1932 and 1938. Allusions to the war effort were everywhere. In 1938, he went with a college classmate and Germany had a frightening atmosphere. Storm troopers were everywhere goosestepping [Annotator's Note: special marching step performed in formal military parades, now associated with Nazi Germany] and making the Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] salute [Annotator's Note: Nazi salute, or Sieg Heil salute, gesture used as a greeting in Nazi Germany]. War broke out in the Fall of 1939. Kiplinger was there the summer of 1938. He was not an isolationist. He knew that war was in the prospect, and we would be in it and had to be in it. The Nazis were not all of Germany. Kiplinger's family came from Germany. The war mongers were on a war time course, and it was just a matter of time. After his training, Kiplinger was assigned to a squadron and went to squadron training with VC-66 [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] in Seattle, Washington. The squadron then moved around. They went to the desert of southern California. That training is long and very detailed. They started in summer 1942 and then they were assigned to a carrier for transport. That took them to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. There he was assigned to the USS Nassau [Annotator's Note: USS Nassau (CVE-16)]. It was clear they were going to the Pacific. Their first assignment was to go to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska where it was cold. If you go into the water, you might as well say goodbye. They were issued heavy winter flight gear that was leather and lined with sheep skin. It would have been wonderful for bear hunting, but for flying, it meant that if they went down in the water, it was all over for them. They got a change of orders from the Aleutians to Hawaii. That made them happy campers [Annotator's Note: slang for very happy people].

Austin H. Kiplinger and his unit [Annotator's Note: Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66) flying from USS Nassau (CVE-16)] went in and out of Hawaii. His first action was in the Marshall Islands [Annotator's Note: Marshall Islands Campaign, 29 January 1944]. They returned and then went on an anti-submarine operation. Then they went onto the Fanshaw Bay [Annotator's Note: USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70)] and went to the Admiralty Islands and New Guinea. Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] got together with General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] and recognized that in the approach to the Philippines there were no airfields for the Air Force. Nimitz assigned the 7th Fleet to General MacArthur. They operated in advance of and with MacArthur's landings. Then he could get airfields and the Air Corps could take over. The 7th Fleet, VC-66, Nassau, and the Fanshaw Bay were part of MacArthur's advance. His first action in the Marshall Islands started out peacefully. The Marshall Islands are like little pearls from 12,000 feet. They were trying to push the Japanese out who had fortified the Marshall Islands. The larger carriers were attacking Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Battle of Kwajalein, 31 January to 3 February 1944, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands]. Kiplinger went into Taroa [Annotator's Note: Taroa Airfield on Maloelap Atoll, Marshall Islands] with four, 500-pound bombs. As he approached, he felt antiaircraft shells hitting his plane, but they did not get him or his crew. He called the skipper [Annotator's Note: captain, or commander of a naval ship or aviation unit], Jerry Trap [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify], and said he had been hit but could still fly. He went into his dive, hit the bomb release, and got back up to altitude and came home. He was coming up the groove and took the cut and landed. The ship was vacant on top. Off to the side, an ordnance man rushed out and told him not to move. His hydraulic system had been hit and the bombs had fallen armed but had not come out of the bomb bay. The ordnance man detached the fuses, and they could get out. That was his introduction to combat.

After action in the Marshall Islands [Annotator's Note: Marshall Islands Campaign, 29 January to 22 February 1944, aboard the USS Nassau (CVE-16)], Austin H. Kiplinger [Annotator's Note: a pilot in the Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)] returned to Hawaii. On Maui [Annotator's Note: Maui, Hawaii], they had an alert to man airplanes and be prepared to take-off. This was in the middle of the war in 1944 and it was puzzling. They turned on their engines but did not get instructions. They thought the Japanese might be making a second Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. The engines kept getting hotter and Kiplinger told the skipper [Annotator's Note: captain or commander of a naval vessel or aviation unit] they either had to kill the engines or take-off. He said to wait, and they then got a call to cut engines and return to quarters. A long time later, he got word that there had been a meeting in the mid-Pacific of President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States], Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet], and General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area]. It was a secret meeting and word had not gotten out to all of the monitors in Hawaii. They raised an alarm when they realized ships were meeting out in the ocean. That was the crucial meeting between Nimitz and MacArthur. As a result of that, the 7th Fleet was assigned to MacArthur to provide advanced aerial protection in his advance to the Philippines. Kiplinger was assigned to the 7th Fleet and then went to the South Pacific to New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, and the Malacca Straits [Annotator's Note: Strait of Malacca, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Indonesia] almost to Indonesia. They were now pushing the Japanese out of their last holdings in the Solomon Islands, the Coral Sea, New Guinea, and into the Philippines.

Austin H. Kiplinger was aboard the USS Altamaha [Annotator's Note: USS Altamaha (CVE-18) and did anti-submarine scouting [Annotator's Note: as a Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber pilot with Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66)]. That was his duty on the TBFs [Annotator's Note: Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber aircraft]. Several squadron mates had contacts and one had a kill that was confirmed after the war. The purpose of the TBF was attack on airfields, protection against submarines, and attacking airplanes as scouts. In today's terminology, what they called a torpedo-bomber is now called an attack plane. They are general purpose aircraft. Kiplinger had words with Admiral Ziggy Sprague [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague] who was commanding officer of the 7th Fleet. Kiplinger was on a scouting mission in the New Guinea area and his plane developed some engine peculiarities. He got to the end of his first corner of the flight and the engine did not sound right. He opted to come home directly. The fleet was not ready to receive planes and he spoke to the commander about his plane and asked to come aboard. That meant the whole fleet had to be turned into the wind. He landed. Nothing was wrong with his plane. Admiral Sprague told him to report to the Admiral's command post. Captain Johnson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was Kiplinger's skipper [Annotator's Note: captain or commander of a naval vessel or aviation unit] and he pointed to the Admiral. Kiplinger apologized for causing the inconvenience and said that he had only asked for permission to come aboard and would have dumped the plane if ordered too. He was dismissed from the Admiral but thought he was going to be dismissed from the fleet. Kiplinger got to know him after the war and paid great honor to him when he died.

Austin H. Kiplinger experienced friendly fire in the Fall of 1944 [Annotator's Note: as a pilot with Composite Squadron 66 (VC-66) flying from the USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70)]. They were pressing the Japanese pretty hard. MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] was taking island by island. The 7th Fleet was giving him support. They were near Morotai [Annotator's Note: Morotai, Maluku Islands, Indonesia], north of New Guinea. The two most vulnerable times for air attack form the Japanese were at sunrise and sunset. He was detailed to go out before sunrise for air support for the landing on Morotai. In the harbor, there was a large collection of American ships. Kiplinger and his squad were receiving fire from below and it was their own antiaircraft fire. He realized the gunners on the Army ships thought they were under attack, and they were in trouble, so he gave an order to get out of there. They did not get damaged. He reported to Admiral Kincaid [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Thomas Cassin Kincaid] who smiled a little bit. Kincaid called the General. It all turned out fine.

When Austin H. Kiplinger returned to civilian life, he had no secondary effects. He was fortunate it being a little older and having more knowledge of the world. Naval aviation was more a case of this or that. If you came down at high speed from 12,000 feet, you did not survive. You did not come back from war with injuries. You either came back or you did not. That is probably why he did not have that. If you went to the bottom of the ocean, that was that. He does not want to try to classify what his most memorable experience of World War 2 is over the course of four and a half years. He always expected to serve if called and needed. He did not debate it. Kiplinger was trained as a reporter, writer, semi-historian, and understood the world fairly well went he went in. He had classmates and squadron mates who had been raised on farms and for some it was their first experience away from him. He had been away from home, been in graduate school, and covered the early stages of the war himself. He feels that softened the impact and the war did not come as a surprise to him. He was prepared in his mind for it, which is quite different from young men today. Kiplinger thinks we are in a long series of conflicts in the human race. The population will be 14 billion by the end of the century. The wars say that we are in a new era and have to approach problems in a different way. He does not know what that is. This is a global era. World War 2 was a stage where the world was divided into two huge areas. We have to look at each era, itself. Wars are not fought in terms of the last war; they are fought in terms of today, not yesterday. The moral of the story is to look ahead and not backward. He believes in history, and it should be recorded and studied. Not just World War 2 should be studied.