Forrest Villarrubia was born in 1925 in Lacombe, Louisiana. Lacombe is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, just north of the city of New Orleans. He was the youngest of ten children. The family moved from Lacombe to New Orleans when Villarrubia was nine years of age. Growing up in the Depression was wonderful because Villarrubia was always busy. There was always something to do. There was a bayou in his back yard, and he spent quite a bit of time in it. He always had a pirogue [Annotator's Note: a pirogue is a flat-bottomed Cajun canoe used in the shallow waters of swamps and bayous of Louisiana] and BB gun or a .22 rifle and a dog. Villarrubia and his siblings had a tree house to play in and a bayou to swim in. He enjoyed the pirogue. He had a good life. His father worked in New Orleans so they relocated there. The family home in Lacombe was maintained at the same time. The family would spend the summers at their home in Lacombe. Villarrubia would collect moss and sell it to an individual who used it in mattress manufacture. His education leading up to high school was very good, but he did not apply himself during high school. As a consequence, after high school, he entered Tulane University and had difficulties because he did not know how to study. He graduated from high school in 1943. He had a group of friends known as the Drug Store Cowboys. He probably heard about Pearl Harbor at the drug store while hanging out with those friends. The course of the wars in Asia and Europe was of little interest to Villarrubia except his brother had left for the Marine Corps in March 1942. His brother was attached to a Marine Raider battalion. They were like the special forces of today. His brother's commander was James Roosevelt, the son of the President [Annotator's Note: James Roosevelt was the eldest son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt]. His brother never spoke about his service. He was in three different battles. For Villarrubia, the dress blues that the Marines wore made a big impact on him. He was issued a green uniform upon his entry into the service. During World War 2, a Marine had to purchase dress blues. They were not issued to every man. In recent years, he has been given a set of dress blues as a gift. They hang in his closet. The appearance of the dress blues made Villarrubia fall in love with the Marine Corps. The infatuation started when he was six years old. His older brother came home on leave and did the manual of arms in his dress blue uniform. Villarrubia was very impressed. From that point, he had to become a Marine.

Forrest Villarrubia volunteered for the Marines the day after his high school graduation. His mother would not sign for him because she did not want him to enter the Marine Corps. In July [Annotator's Note: July 1943], his brother was shot by a sniper and that gave his mother even more reason not to sign for Villarrubia. He had to wait until he was 18 years old to sign up. He went to San Diego boot camp. Boot camp was six weeks at that time. He learned how to listen to orders, love the Marine Corps, and shoot a rifle, which he already knew. After that he was sent to Camp Pendleton for more training before shipping out for overseas. He was deployed overseas in early 1944. He stayed in Honolulu for a few days and then he shipped to the island of Hawaii where he was with the 1st Marine Division. After a few months, he shipped to Maui where he was attached to the 4th Marine Division. He remained with that division. From Maui, he boarded the USS Monitor (LSV-5) which was a fairly new and beautiful ship complete with doctor and dentist and ice cream machine. The troops were loaded aboard to help the 4th Marine Division on Saipan. It was decided that the help of his outfit was not needed on Saipan. The ship circled around the Pacific for six to seven weeks. The ship even crossed the Equator. At that crossing, the pollywogs changed into shell backs. There was an initiation ceremony when they passed through the Equator. Villarrubia has his certificate of the event.

Forrest Villarrubia and the Marines on his ship [Annotator's Note: the USS Monitor (LSV-5)] were loaned to General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur]. That was when Villarrubia finally went into combat. That occurred on Leyte in the Philippines on 20 October 1944. He was in combat for six weeks with MacArthur. Afterward he went to Guam. While on Leyte, he laid telephone lines and worked the switchboard. One night, he climbed a tree to repair a telephone line. This was not safe because the American troops would fire into the trees at night to discourage sniper attacks. Villarrubia was fired upon by his own troops. It was a case of friendly fire. He dropped out of the tree and took off running. [Annotator's Note: Villarrubia chuckles at the recollection.] That was the first close call that he survived. A second incident happened when he entered a stream that he had been told to stay clear of because it was polluted. He had gotten tired of taking a bath in his helmet. He spotted a four foot stream that had clear water. He decided to take a quick bath, but he was careful not to allow his head under water. He later went to Guam and subsequently had a bad sensation in his throat. He threw up a foot long round white worm. He learned that the type of worm he contracted tended to work its way up the esophagus. That was the point where Villarrubia retched, and the worm was regurgitated. He was treated for any residual worms and had no further problems with them. Villarrubia was on Guam waiting to invade Japan when the war ended and he came home. He married his childhood sweetheart. He used the G.I. Bill to obtain his degree from Tulane University. He opened a toy store which he eventually sold and then retired. Before going to Hawaii with the Marines, he had never been more than 40 miles from home except for his training in San Diego. He reached Honolulu in early 1944. He stayed only a brief time there. The war in Europe was not of interest to him as a PFC. He wrote letters to his mother and his girlfriend, Audrey. The Battle of Saipan had reached a point where Villarrubia and his outfit on the Monitor were not needed to help the Marines. They were sent to assist MacArthur in the Philippines. There was good food on the ship. The troops had no duties to perform. The main course was SOS, or Shit on a Shingle, which was ground meat in gravy on top of toasted bread. After having it too frequently, it was not appetizing. The men landed in the Philippines and pitched tents to made camp. They were told that they were behind Japanese lines, but Villarrubia thought that was an exaggeration. The first duties for his outfit involved laying telephone lines for communications. They would unspool wire off a reel as they walked between one location and the next. That was when he climbed a tree and was nearly shot.

Forrest Villarrubia was in combat with General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur] on Leyte for six weeks. At one point, he was on mess duty. A shipment of butter, milk and flour came in from New Zealand. The cooks could prepare pancakes. Being on mess duty, he ate 16 pancakes, but another fellow beat him in the contest when he ate 24 pancakes. [Annotator's Note: Villarrubia gestures to indicate that the pancakes were very large.] On mess duty, he had to get rid of the garbage. It was in a 50 gallon drum which the two men transported using a pole they shared. As they walked across a stream, the drum started shaking. Villarrubia dropped his end of the pole, and the other man fell into the stream with the garbage. Villarrubia made it to the bank of the stream and looked for his buddy. His buddy rose out of the water surrounded by garbage. He was blowing a piccolo as he rose up out of the water. It was a funny circumstance that was hard to forget. Cleanliness was an issue during his six weeks with MacArthur on Leyte. He never changed clothes or washed clothes. Villarrubia had no recollection of the time it took before he got into a clean change of clothes during that month and a half. He carried a carbine rifle but never saw a Japanese soldier except for one he saw in an observation airplane. He never used his rifle. He did not fire on the plane even though he could have hit it because it was so close. He has never bought a Japanese car or spoken to a Japanese individual in the Museum. He had a low opinion of the Japanese because of the attack on Pearl Harbor, his brother being wounded, and the fact that they were mean. He never saw any instances of Marines being abused by the enemy, but he heard about plenty of examples. When Villarrubia was on Leyte, the weather was wonderful. One night there was a flash flood and he had to climb a tree to continue his sleeping.

Forrest Villarrubia found the weather on Guam to be beautiful while he was stationed there after his tour in Leyte. The food was good on Guam. There was little for the Marines to do. They did not do any further training or even fire their rifles while they were on Guam. Villarrubia did enjoy the weight lifting exercise he did there. Weightlifting had been one of his favorite hobbies prior to his Marine Corps entry. Even today, Villarrubia enjoys going to the gym multiple days each week. Even though the Marines were being prepared for the invasion of Japan, as a PFC, Villarrubia knew very little about the larger strategic plans for the Allies to advance across the Pacific. He had heard about Iwo Jima and Okinawa, but he did not know that the next step was the invasion of Japan. The troops were prepared to go forward with the Japanese homeland invasion. Villarrubia felt that he and the other Marines were ready to go, but the chance of his survival would be extremely limited. They were being prepared for an October invasion of Japan, but the war ended beforehand. While on Guam, Villarrubia played poker and bridge. He would manage his ration of beer until he had saved enough to get loaded. When the war ended, he gave his teetotaler buddy all of his saved beer so the buddy could experience what it felt like to get drunk. The buddy was his best friend so Villarrubia wanted him to celebrate the occasion. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan thrilled the men to death. They jumped for joy and slept very well that night. The return home would be based on a point system so they did not return immediately. Villarrubia returned a bit later after the surrender. The men smoked on the deck of their ship during the two week voyage back to the United States. They observed the moon and the stars at night. It was an enjoyable voyage.

Forrest Villarrubia was home from the Pacific by December 1945, but he had to continue in the service because he did not have enough points for immediate discharge. Villarrubia was assigned to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was discharged in March 1945 [Annotator's Note: March 1946] on points. There was little to do at Camp Lejeune except guard duty and mopping the floor. He had no lasting effect from the war except for chronic drinking, especially on weekends. He remembers the 52-20 Club where discharged troops were allocated 20 dollars per week for a year or 52 weeks. It was part of the Veterans Adjustment Act that President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt] had the Congress pass before he died. The Act intended to help veterans adjust themselves back to society. In those days, 20 dollars would buy 200 beers at ten cents each. Villarrubia received one 20 dollar bill, but then he went to Tulane University on the G.I. Bill. The two benefits were mutually exclusive.

Forrest Villarrubia recollects climbing up a tree and being shot at as his most memorable occurrence of World War 2. [Annotator's Note: This occurred while Villarrubia was on Leyte stringing communication wire at night and was an instance of friendly fire.] The next event was when he crossed the Mississippi River Bridge into New Orleans on a train. He could thank God that he had finally returned home. He really did not think that he would be able to make it home. World War 2 changed his life by allowing him to obtain a degree in business and having a good life as a result. He would not have been able to attend college without the G.I. Bill. His siblings did not attend college as he did. There was no discussion of the war for decades after because it was not important to them. He decided to serve during the war because all his male friends and relatives were serving in the military. Villarrubia did not feel like staying behind. He could not wait to go to war so he volunteered. The country was united behind the effort. His service is something he feels proud of today. World War 2 history is distorted today. People do not remember that the dropping of the atomic bombs saved lives on both sides. Children were being trained to attack the Allied troops after they landed on the home islands. Young people would have come after the invading troops with hammers to try to kill them. The National WWII Museum continues to grow. The Museum has an important contribution to make. Future generations should be taught about the war so they understand why they are not speaking Japanese or German. Villarrubia discusses the contribution of his three year older brother to the war. His brother became a Marine Raider. The Raiders were equivalent to the United States Navy Seals of today. His brother was in three battles in the Pacific and was wounded. His arm wound was operated on multiple times but never fully recovered. He was disabled as a result. Through Villarrubia has his brother's Purple Heart, he never heard the details of his brother's combat. In ending the interview, Villarrubia confirms that he never had M&M candies during the war and that he enjoyed both vanilla and chocolate ice cream on his voyage home after the war.