Blaine Kern was born in Algiers, a suburb of New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. During the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s], people were hungry. They gave cheese and milk away for free. The teachers and nurses could not teach or nurse if they were married. [Annotator’s Note: Kern discusses his time as the “Mardi Gras King”.] His father painted floats for Mardi Gras and Kern painted signs. Kern was working on tug boats at 13 years old. He was 14 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Kern was a sickly child. He wanted to be in the Army Air Corps, but he could not get in. On his 18th birthday, he was drafted into the infantry. He was sent to Little Rock, Arkansas. He painted signs and murals. He wanted to go kill Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. He was sent to Seattle, Washington. As they loaded the ship, the war ended. His ship took him to Korea. He met prisoners of war from Corregidor [Annotator’s Note: Corregidor, the Philippines]. They told him the horrible things the Japanese had done to them.

Blaine Kern was sent to Korea. People were taking the children and throwing them into the snow. The soldiers gave the children their coats. Kern lived on a Japanese airbase for seaplanes. They would eat in the mess hall and then dump the leftover food into the water. The people were starving to death. The Korean people hated the Japanese. Kern was stationed there for over a year. He learned the language. He sponsors a parade there now. Korea had hills and mountains. It was beautiful. As they shipped into Korea, they could smell human feces. The food was bad, but Kern ate everything. He boxed, and never lost a fight. He was a machine gun sergeant. He hated to salute the officers and he hated to take orders. He painted the others' helmets. He charged money for it and he started washing boots and belt buckles. He wrote a letter every day to his mother. He drew the Korean people and the common attractions, the ocean, and the mountains. In 1945, Kern painted a sign in Korea, and in 1951 when the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] started, he saw the sign he painted. He hated being in the service.

Blaine Kern’s father was an artist. Kern was a bad soldier. He did not want to follow orders or pass inspections. He was a soldier who was supposed to be in charge of a machine gun. The communists were giving them trouble as they tried to get prisoners out of a compound. There were hundreds of people with torches who came to get the people. They did not want to fire on the people. When the Chinese people came over, he thought they should drop a bomb on them. [Annotator’s Note: Kern talks about his feelings on drugs coming into the country.] A man he knew who was a prisoner in Corregidor [Annotator’s Note: Corregidor, the Philippines], and he would tell Kern stories of being a prisoner. He would hear the other men crying and screaming. During bivouac [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite], Kern would march 20 to 25 miles with a 40-pound pack on his back, and a browning machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun]. It was an accurate weapon, but it was heavy. They were in the 4th platoon. He drew cartoons on the ship as they were going overseas. There were 2,800 of them on the liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship]. Almost all the men were seasick. Kern slept on the deck to stay away from the others who were sick.

Blaine Kern remembers listening to a boxing match when he came home on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. In Korea, there were signs that said the American troops were rapists. They hid the girls from them. Kern was a sergeant. He was put in charge of a Geisha house to keep the men out. The people started to farm again. The people were nice and he tried to learn the language. [Annotator’s Note: Kern talks about Mardi Gras and traveling.] He was with the 6th Infantry and 20th Battalion. When he got to Korea, they went to a factory and he thought they were advanced. The Koreans wore strange clothes, and they had slippers made of reeds. They were very friendly people. Some of the kids lived with them and worked in the mess hall. The communists would not let people go to church. They had signs showing American soldiers as rapists with the silhouette of a soldier ripping the blouse off women. Kern took pictures. The people wanted to know how the cameras worked. When the Russians came over, he tried to take their pictures. They were worried Russia and China would become allies.

Blaine Kern went to Czechoslovakia to tour the glass industry. The secret police were following him. He has a factory in Spain. Franklin Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] took heavy carriers and made them into light carriers because the Navy was almost decimated at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. One of the carriers was hit by kamikazes [Annotator's Note: Japanese suicide bombers], and they gave it to Spain after the war. Kern bought the carrier for two million dollars. He was going to make the carrier into a casino. [Annotator’s Note: Kern talks about creating Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, Louisiana]. His friend said that on the Bataan Death March [Annotator’s Note: the Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000 to 80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war in the Philippines in April 1942. They were made to march until many of them died.], if they straggled behind the Japanese would bayonet them.

Blaine Kern served in the Army for about two years. When he returned home, he was in a camp in California. In 1947, he went to San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] and went to listen to music. He wanted to get home. He boarded a train to St. Louis [Annotator’s Note: St. Louis, Missouri]. Then he had to hitchhike his way down to New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He got home around five in the morning. His parents were so happy to see him. He would never give up his military experience. He thinks the kids today should have to be in the military to learn discipline and respect. America became the dominant force. Some of Europe was still in ruins a few years after the war, but some cities were rebuilt. He thinks America used to be a good influence, but today it no longer is. America became richer and stronger.

Blaine Kern thinks that kids today do not have good educations. They are not learning enough about history. America became internationalist. They were patriotic. Everyone was involved in the war effort. Kern remembers seeing the glow from torpedoes blowing up German u-boats [Annotator's Note: German submarine]. This was the last war that was not political. [Annotator’s Note: Kern shows a cartoon he drew when he was in Korea in 1946].