Dossie East was born in February 1921 in Odon, Indiana. He was raised in Bedford, Indiana the third of four siblings. He was the only member of the family to serve in World War 2. His father worked in the limestone mills, on the railroad, and for the WPA [Annotator's Note: the Works Progress Administration]; his mother was a homemaker. East was content with what he had, and enjoyed his childhood in the mining town. At the age of 17, East persuaded his father to sign for him and, on 7 March 1939, he enlisted, but he wasn't called into service until he was 18. For the six months before he went into the armed forces, he drove a coal truck. He joined the Navy to see the world.

Dossie East went to boot camp in Newport, Rhode Island, and upon graduation went directly to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and boarded the Ellet [Annotator's Note: USS Ellet (DD398)]. It was East's first time out to sea, and his first exposure to a destroyer. At the time, the Ellet was armed with four five inch 38s and four .50 caliber machine guns. East's initial duties were topside, keeping the decks clean and painted; his watch station in the daytime was in the crow's nest, and during nighttime he watched on the bridge. He said that once he knew the difference, he appreciated being on the smaller destroyers, because everyone knew each other and how to man every position. East described the 1939 Navy as being "everything forward." His first patrol was in Nova Scotia, looking for German submarines, and then the Ellet went to the Gulf of Mexico, to guard the shores off Texas. In the summer of 1941 the Ellet changed its home port, by way of San Diego, to Pearl Harbor. East liked the weather and the liberty on the west coast.

Aboard ship in Hawaii before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dossie East did not suspect the war was imminent. Pearl Harbor was not unusually active when the Ellet [Annotator's Note: USS Ellet (DD-398)] left the Hawaiian Island to escort the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] and transport airplanes to Wake and Guam islands, and East's ship was on its way back on the Sunday the attack occurred. The return of the Ellet's convoy was delayed three hours by bad weather, and they barely escaped the Japanese attack on the American fleet. An announcement over the loud speakers alerted the Ellet's crew, and East comments that the Japanese got the destroyers, but they didn't get the carriers. Some of Enterprise's aircraft were sent to intercept the Japanese planes. When the Ellet sounded the general alarm, East said, it was dog down, and everyone was in battle stations in nothing flat. The Ellet went into the harbor, and East was horrified by what he saw: battleships laying on their sides and the shore and dry docks blown. It was a mess. The Ellet passed the Nevada [Annotator's Note: USS Nevada (BB-36)] on its way into harbor, and East praised its skipper for backing his ship onto the beach to keep the channel clear. The Ellet refueled and went right back out of the harbor to sound for submarines, but detected none. East was called back to the United States for new construction in May 1942, just before the Battle of Midway.

Dossie East saw the planes take off the deck of the Hornet [Annotator's Note: USS Hornet (CV-8)] for the Doolittle Raid. [Annotator's Note: The Doolittle Raid, so named for the raid's commander then Colonel James Doolittle, was an air raid on the Japanese capital of Tokyo and other places on Honshu on 18 April 1942.] East said the 16 aircraft strapped to the Hornet's deck was an impressive sight, and when the first plane, Doolittle's plane, took off, he thought she was going to go into the sea; the planes that were further back in line got off the carrier more easily. The hard tailwind helped, East said. After the Doolittle experience, and when the Ellet was headed for Midway, East was sent back to the United States on 30 days' delayed orders, then reported to Brooklyn for duty aboard the Radford [Annotator's Note: USS Radford (DD-446)]. It was a bigger ship, 1750 tons compared to the Ellet's [Annotator's Note: USS Ellet (DD-398)] 1500 tons, and a two-stacker, but East's duties remained the same. When the Radford took off out of Norfolk, it ran over a barge, tore up its propellers, and had to be dry docked. East returned to Brooklyn to board the Philip [Annotator's Note: USS Philip (DD-498)] and traveled on that ship through the Panama Canal back to the west coast.

Dossie East's first encounter with the Japanese was in the Battle of the Coral Sea. During that battle, East's ship [Annotator's Note: the USS Philip (DD-498)] was continually attacked by Japanese aircraft. He was the powder man on a five inch, 38 caliber gun, and was later decorated for his actions. After the Coral Sea, he was working up the islands on the Philip when he was sent back to the United States for another new construction, but while in transit through Treasure Island, East claims he was Shanghaied. An officer he knew from the Ellet wanted him to serve on the Keith [Annotator's Note: the USS Willard Keith (DD-775)]. However, after the Keith's shakedown cruise, East was sidelined because of a medical condition and placed on limited duty at the Crain Naval Depot in Burns City, Indiana.

Dossie East traveled east by land, ending up at Crain Naval Depot in Burns City, Indiana. When he heard of the end of the war in Europe, he was glad that the United States only had one enemy left to contend with. He mentioned that he felt the United States' treatment of the American citizens of Japanese extraction was unfair. He recalled hearing that the United States had dropped the atomic bomb, and said that although the bombs took a lot, they saved a lot. He still feels it was a necessary action. In July 1945 he was discharged at Great Lakes, 12 days before the war ended, at the rank of Second Class Boson's Mate [Annotator's Note: Boatswain's mate 2nd Class (BM2c)]. He elaborated that he had been a Second Class before the war started, that rates were frozen for his slot right after war was declared, and he stayed Second Class for four years. [Annotator's Note: East appears annoyed as he talks about his rank.] East added that his father died the same day the war ended. His children remark that he never talks about his experience in World War 2, and East's answer is that the majority of those who served want to forget it.

Dossie East's most memorable experience was picking up a Japanese pilot just outside the harbor after the attack [Annotator's Note: the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941]. Despite the skipper's orders to handle the prisoner with ease because he was hurt pretty bad, East's crewmates roughly threw him onto the truck, likely killing him. East said he fought in World War 2 in order to live on in freedom and peace. He feels it important to teach future generation about the war.