Fred L. Keller Jr. was born Algiers, Louisiana in January 1924. After he graduated high school, he got a job working at Todd Shipyard in Algiers. Keller remembered hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] in school. Keller was drafted into the Navy and went to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. He recalled boot camp being grueling. He had to go through obstacle courses, marching, and run 20 miles. After basic training he went to San Pedro [Annotator's Note: San Pedro, California] and boarded the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40) heading for Pearl Harbor. In October 1943, he was assigned to the USS Yorktown (CV-10) and left Pearl Harbor to go on a raid on Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands] and returned to Pearl Harbor after month to replenish their supplies. His ship shot a Japanese plane down into the ocean. Keller's job during his time on Yorktown was to work on the flight deck, and he expressed that he hated pulling the wooden chocks around the wheels from underneath the planes before take off because he was scared he would get hit by the propellers. He recalled that his airedale [Annotator's Note: Navy slang for a naval aviator] uniform was blue, or he was in his dungarees. His crew was the first up in the morning and last to go to bed at night. After a while, instead of returning to Pearl Harbor, they had a tanker that would meet them out at sea to replenish their supplies. They headed to Truk Lagoon [Annotator's Note: now Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia] and wiped out the Japanese airplanes on the airstrip there. By this time, Keller had moved from an airedale to ordnance. He would load various types of bombs on the plane.

Fred L. Keller, Jr. helped load bombs on torpedo planes, TBMs [Annotator's Note: Keller served as an ordnanceman aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-10) and was responsible for loading ordnance on Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers]. During his service, his ship went to Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands], Truk Lagoon [Annotator's Note: now known as Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia], Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Peleliu, Palau], Eniwetok [Annotator's Notes: Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands] which they turned into a base, and Ulithi Atoll [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands]. They would have R and R [Annotator's Note: Rest and Relaxation] on Mogmog on the Ulithi Atoll. They would have their ship replenished in the meantime. He remembered having Japanese prisoners come aboard and they were sent to the brig [Annotator's Note: naval term for jail]. His ship continued with raids on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands], and Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. After the islands were captured, Keller's ship would come into the harbor and they would see flies covering the dead bodies on the beaches. The bugs would surround the ship as well. They would stay in the harbor for a few days then leave. His ship then headed for Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Keller recalled his ship shot down 12 or 13 kamikazes. There were many close calls. On 15 March [Annotator's Note: 15 March 1945], a kamikaze dropped a bomb and blew a hole in the ship and killed seven people. Keller witnessed the USS Franklin (CV-13) being hit by bombs and kamikazes. Keller recalled being caught in a typhoon twice. The waves were 60 or 70 feet high and his ship lost a few airplanes off the flight deck.

Fred L. Keller, Jr. says that most of the kamikazes they experiences off the coast of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] were Kates [Annotator's Note: Nakajima B5N carrier based torpedo bomber, known as the Kate] but all types of Japanese planes were used. They had a close call where a Kate was flying at his ship when the pilot was shot, and then the plane went over crashed into the ocean. Keller recalled that during the raids, his crew would stand on the flight deck and watch everything happen. If there was a fire, he would help the firemen extinguish it. Keller thought the Japanese were tough to beat because they did not hold anything back. Keller was off Okinawa until the end of the war and then headed to Tokyo Bay [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. They could go ashore for R and R [Annotator's Note: Rest and Relaxation]. He commented that many of the Japanese people would turn their backs to them when they saw Americans on the street. He got some Japanese souvenirs while he was there. He left Tokyo Bay about a week later and his ship stopped at various islands to pick up men to bring them back to Oakland, California. Keller was discharged at the Naval Air Station in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He had a great experience but would not want to do it again. He recalled one bad accident on his ship when a plane was trying to land and hit the other planes parked on the flight deck and killed seven men. After World War 2, Keller stayed close with one guy that he served with on the USS Yorktown (CV-10).

Fred L. Keller, Jr. thought Captain Joseph J. "Jocko" Clark [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Admiral Joseph J. "Jocko" Clark] was very strict, but a nice guy. Everyone listened to him when he spoke. Keller explained that he did not really see much of the people in charge. He stayed in the areas that he was assigned to most of the time. During downtime he would play sports on the flight deck. They would also have a dance band sometimes. He saw a couple of shows on Mogmog [Annotator's Note: Mogmog Island, Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands, Federated States of Micronesia]. He would also go swimming when they were at the islands. He developed a fungus on his feet that took a while to heal. Keller hated the Japanese people during World War 2 because of the atrocities they did. He thinks that the Japanese are different people today. Keller said that he wrote home a lot and on his 30 day leave he married his wife.