Erico J. Catalano was born in Brooklyn, New York in June 1920. Catalano was the fourth of ten children. His father worked as a delivery driver for a coal company. When Catalano's father was injured in a work-related accident, Catalano and his older brothers had to work to help support the family. His family struggled for about 15 years. In December 1941, Catalano was 21 years old and working full time to help his family. On Sunday, 7 December 1941 he heard about the Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] and heard the President [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] give his famous speech [Annotator's Note: Infamy Speech; President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the United States Congress on 8 December 1941]. Catalano was drafted and inducted into the Army Air Force in April 1942. He took his basic training in Miami, Florida. Military training was very strict. They would bounce a quarter on his bed to make sure it was made properly. Every day after training they could go to the bar and have a couple of beers and eat peanuts. The training lasted about a month after which they were trucked up to Lakeland, Florida. Catalano did not enjoy Lakeland as much as Miami. They slept in tents and had to worry about snakes and gnats. Catalano and another person were assigned as MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] and walked up and down the streets. Sometimes when no one was around, they would go to the bar and movies. Three or four weeks later they were put on trucks again to take them to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Erico J. Catalano was sent to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for training. The new recruits were immediately put on guard duty. At first, he, and others, ignored the orders, but then he was awakened at midnight to carry out his detail. Catalano, and the recruits, were then put on KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] the second week. The third week they were responsible for cleaning up the mess area, and then when they received guard duty again on the fourth week. By this time, they had enough and complained to a doctor who helped them get relieved from the various details. Catalano and three other guys volunteered to work in the sheet metal shop. They were then assigned as machinists in the machine shop. Catalano's job was to make parts for the planes, like bolts. They would have to wake up early in the morning, eat breakfast and go straight to the shop. Since he was assigned to this position, Catalano did not get much other training done, including shooting rifles. On their time off, they would play football or watch fights. Catalano and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 53rd Service Squadron, 901st Air Engineering Group] made his way to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] to set sail overseas. They stopped in Myrtle Beach [Annotator's Note: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina]. Catalano and a few friends decided to go to town. When they returned a couple of days later, their outfit had already moved out. They caught up with them by taking a plane. Catalano volunteered for guard duty at night and enjoyed relaxing during the day. The crowds gave them send offs and threw them flowers. Catalano had a quick visit with his family before he left for England. Two of his brothers were also drafted in World War 2.

Erico J. Catalano left the United States for Europe in July 1943 on a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] in a convoy. Going overseas was very crowded at the bottom of the ship. Sometimes there was not enough food during food service. Catalano volunteered to guard the deck so he could stay above on the ship. He never missed a meal again. People had problems with sea sickness, but he never did. Catalano had training on B-26s [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber]. When they landed in England, his group set up the machine shop and were assigned to barracks. [Annotator's Note: Catalano cannot recall where he was stationed in England.] While he was training in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he saw two B-26s crash in the air. He was standing with two pilots at the time, and he could tell they were a little taken back by what they just witnessed. The B-26 had a lot of design flaws which caused many crashes throughout the war. The guys nicknamed the B-26 "the Prostitute" because of the amount of action that happened to it. The machine shop in England was tented because they needed cover from the rainy weather. The sheet metal shop was busy because the planes would come back from bombing all shot up from bullets. As a machinist, Catalano created various parts that planes needed for repair. He befriended his tech sergeant [Annotator's Note: Technical Sergeant; E7], and therefore was assigned to special duties.

Erico J. Catalano enjoyed being in England and meeting the local people. It was very pleasant. When the infantry troops were wounded, they would put them up in hotels. Catalano worked as a machinist and created parts for the planes. He woke up early in the morning and watch the planes go out. There were German air raids when he visited London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. When he was in London during the night, he could hear a buzz noise and then silence. Then all a sudden there would be an explosion. A girl that he was with one night, told him to hurry and get down for cover before they heard the bomb go off. They could always hear the buzz bomb [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug] go over the airfield on their way to London. During the D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Catalano watched the planes take off and then waited for their return. Sometimes on cloudy days, the planes would come back with a bomb load which was very dangerous. Soon after the D-Day invasion, Catalano was sent to France with his squadron. He was stationed at old German airfield. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer changes tapes at 0:54:30.000.] He continued to service the planes as they returned from a bomb run. One day after seeing planes off, he went on a mail run, and as he returned to the airfield, he heard a huge explosion. A bomb left on a plane had exploded killing several men. Catalano felt very fortunate he was not on the runway that day or else he would be dead. After that incident, planes were ordered to dump any remaining bombs in the Channel [Annotator's Note: English Channel] or the sea after bombing in France. When the planes went to Germany, they would release the bombs anywhere.

Erico J. Catalano witnessed several plane crashes in mid-air or as they tried to land. There were close calls where the planes almost crashed into the tents. The troops would open the tent flaps and put lights on, so the pilots would avoid hitting them. During the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], they packed planes with bombs that could not be repaired and blew them up in case the Germans invaded their airfield. Catalano was issued a weapon during the Battle of the Bulge. He was required to clean his weapon. They had code words to get in and out of camp in case Germans tried to infiltrate. He was able to go to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] a couple of times during his service in France. Several guys returned from Paris drunk and with the Clap [Annotator's Note: slang name for Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease]. The captain of his group had to designate a separate tent supplied with truckloads of wine to keep the troops from going to Paris and getting into trouble. Catalano was sent on a supply run to Paris to get a load of wine and champagne for the troops back at the camp. They would charge the troops a couple of Francs for the wine. When the war ended, they gave the wine away to the locals and played a Bingo game with the troops to get their money back. While he was in France, he dated an Irish woman who worked in a ball bearing factory. After the Germans surrendered, his unit began preparing for the invasion of Japan. They were set to go when they found out the Japanese surrendered.

After the surrender of Japan, Erico J. Catalano became a buck sergeant [Annotator's Note: the lowest rank of sergeant in the military; E5] and was responsible for four German prisoners of war that helped him dispose or destroy equipment. Catalano dated a woman while he was stationed in France, and she helped him get around the country. His girlfriend asked him if he could supply her with condoms for her friends, and after asking around, he was able to provide her with a gross [Annotator's Note: term for a group of 12 dozen or 144 items]. He would go to her house almost every night and eat supper with her family. Catalano set up a friend with his girlfriend's friend. When his friend met the girl, he was taken aback by how good looking she was. The next day the four of them had breakfast. Catalano did not mind going to Japan because he would be assigned to an airfield, but the Japanese surrendered before he was sent out. The Army Air Force wanted Catalano to remain in Europe and offered to bump him up a rank, but he decided to go home instead. Catalano was on guard duty in Europe when he found out President Roosevelt died [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. He was discharged in December 1945 at Fort Dix, New Jersey as a sergeant. He had to return all the equipment that was issued to him.

Erico J. Catalano did not take advantage of the G.I. Bill. He went to work in a slipper factory in Florida with his brother after he returned to the United States. There were times when Catalano left his station to do other things and it would mess up the bundles. He was transferred to help with loading the bundles on the truck. He met his future wife while in the factory. Catalano was eventually transferred to the machine shop but had problems with the foreman and eventually left the factory. His brother quit too when he found out a new employee was chosen for a higher position over Catalano. He eventually started a business with rebuilding generators and starters with his brothers. He also worked for airports and serviced planes and the city subway in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. Catalano had no problem transferring from soldier life to civilian life.

Erico J. Catalano's most memorable experience of World War 2 was when he was assigned to the machine shop. He served for the war because he was drafted, and he was fortunate because he was assigned to the Air Force. When he was on kitchen duty during training, he had to put chickens in the oven and mix pancake batter. He did such a good job that his corporal wanted him to go to cooking school, but Catalano declined. Before joining the military, his work was for his family. While he served, he had money sent home to support them. He appreciates the knowledge he gained from going into service. After the war, he worked for the subway system [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and then worked for his brothers. He feels he is very fortunate to have survived World War 2. He enjoyed going to the reunions later in the years.