Joseph Burrell was born in Toledo, Ohio in February 1922. His family moved to Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan] when he was six months old. He always lived in integrated neighborhoods. There were not many Blacks in Detroit at that time. He went to integrated schools. In the fifth grade, his class was singing Old Black Joe [Annotator's Note: Old Black Joe is a parlor song by Stephen Foster, 1860] and he walked out of the room. It was his first experience being embarrassed about being Black. In middle school, he had some Polish friends and very good teachers. He wrote to one teacher while in Hawaii, about the German prisoners of war. He got in trouble for that. In Detroit, he had odd jobs to contribute to the household. At 15 or 16, he learned to drive and worked for a trucking company. He was at the theater with his girlfriend when he heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He told her he would be in the service within two years and he went in about a year and a half later. Pearl Harbor did not hit him hard. He knew he would have to go to war and would be drafted. He heard that the Marine Corps was opening to Blacks. He had tried to join them earlier, but they refused him. When Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] made it open [Annotator's Note: Executive Order 8802, 25 June 1941, prohibited ethnic or racial discrimination in the national defense industry], he went to enlist in June [Annotator's Note: June 1942]. He sat for three hours before being told to come back in three weeks. Every three weeks he did that until October. They asked him, "what do you want boy?" He said he wanted to join the Marines. This time they said to raise his right hand. He had not known a camp was being built for them [Annotator's Note: Black men]. He has noticed on his Marine papers, that the word "Colored" is stamped on them, but everything else is typed. He finally got orders to be in camp [Annotator's Note: Camp Montford Point, Jacksonville, North Carolina] 22 December [Annotator’s Note: 22 December 1942].

[Annotator's Note: Joseph Burrell received his orders to basic training on 22 December 1942]. Joseph Burrell had his papers for his train car and meals. He left late due to staying until after Christmas. In Cincinnati [Annotator's Note: Cincinnati, Ohio], he was thrown off the train. He did not know about the segregation of the South. That happened two days in a row. The third day he was not thrown off, but he did not eat. He had meal tickets and got in line. When he got to the dining car, he was told he had to go to the end of the line. He did not eat for a day and a half. When he got to Richmond [Annotator's Note: Richmond, Virginia], he was in a hateful mood and was going to go back home. A reverend talked him into going into the camp. He was ten days late. They had White personnel over them. They would come to the camp in the morning and put the flag up. The Black soldiers were not allowed to put the flag up or take it down. The Whites would return to Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina] at night. Most of the Whites felt that they had been assigned to the Blacks as punishment. Burrell had to go see the Adjutant General who asked him where he had been. He was not court-martialed. He had a sergeant and a PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class] over him in the camp [Annotator's Note: Camp Montford Point, Jacksonville, North Carolina]. At one point, Sherman tanks [Annotator's Note: M4 Sherman medium tank] were brought on base. They asked for volunteers for the tank corps. Burrell volunteered. A General found out about the tanks and ended that. He did not want Blacks working on tanks or to fight. Instead of going back to boot camp, Burrell stayed in the motor pool. He volunteered for the Military Police force and became a Corporal. He went to the rifle range not assigned to any unit. He went to Wilmington [Annotator's Note: Wilmington, North Carolina] for Thanksgiving [Annotator's Note: 25 November 1943]. At the camp, he was arrested for missing muster [Annotator's Note: muster is the process or event of accounting for members of a military unit; also called falling in]. He told the Colonel he was not on a muster. The Colonel did not court martial him. He was sent overseas the next day.

[Annotator's Note: Joseph Burrell was sent overseas after nearly being court-martialed in boot camp.] Joseph Burrell was assigned to an outfit [Annotator's Note: 17th Marine Depot Company] made up of men from the brigs [Annotator's Note: military prison aboard a Naval vessel or base; slang for jail] and misfits. One sergeant was the only one who volunteered to go. They went to Hawaii. There were not enough Blacks to segregate them so they ate and slept with the Whites. This was the only time. On the ship, they were very good. In Hawaii, they were with the depot companies. He thought he was going into combat. Things started going bad in the camp and they had the worst record of any depot company. They were on the verge of collapsing. The son [Annotator's Note: Spessard Lindsey Holland, Jr.] of the Governor of Florida [Annotator's Note: Spessard Lindsey Holland, World War 1 veteran, Governor of Florida 1941 to 1945] was over them. His father had been a hero of World War 1 and he wanted to be a hero of World War 2, but he was assigned this company of men. He was determined to make them Marines, so he trained them for combat at night. They had a mutiny about it. The General came to the base. Burrell and three others were put on one side of the room and berated. He said he was going to see to it that they were on every invasion after that. They smiled at him and he stormed out. They never left Hawaii. As part of their punishment, their captain and White officers were transferred out. They got a good captain, Dix [Annotator's Note: unable to identify], after that who treated them like people. He got rid of the White sergeants and made them sergeants. A soldier named Carter [Annotator's Note: James "Rudy" Carter] was made First Sergeant, Burrell was made Gunnery Sergeant and helped run the company. He and the First Sergeant bought gabardine uniforms to wear on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. There were three lieutenants who had jeeps. The captain would give Burrell and the First Sergeant a jeep every third day. Sergeant Carter knew how to fight the prejudice better than Burrell did. Carter fought the segregation using their rules. He got them a sound system in their barracks. After Dix took over, they only had one man go to the brig.

Sergeant Carter [Annotator's Note: UNited States Marine Corps Sergeant James "Rudy" Carter] was a stickler for the rules. He played the bad cop to Joseph Burrell's good cop. Carter was gung-ho but fair. Burrell had become filled with hate. He was at the University [Annotator's Note: University of Hawaii] one Sunday and met a guy who was gardening. He was a professor there. He and his family adopted Burrell and that saved him. He realized that back in Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan] all of his friends were White, all of the people he had worked for and were good to him were White, and he had forgotten all about that. The hate was destroying him. This professor made him realize that most people are good. The war had ended by then. When Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] died [Annotator’s Note: 12 April 1945], it was a shock to them. He meant a lot. It was not until later that Burrell learned that it was Eleanor Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] that made all of these things possible for Blacks. She got the Tuskegee Airmen [Annotator's Note: African American airmen; members of the 332nd Fighter Group and 477th Bombardment Group, US Army Air Forces; name applies to all associated personnel] going. When she had gone to visit them, she insisted on a Black flyer to take her for a ride over a White pilot. She was ahead of her time. He went to the University in Hawaii for about a year, but he did not do well. The professor tried to teach him to play chess. He also learned to eat with chopsticks for his birthday dinner with them. When companies came in from the battlefield, they would look Burrell up due to his reputation. He had access to the company truck. Prostitution was legal in Hawaii. They would take their men to town in the truck early, so they were first in line. MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] kept order. He wrote his girlfriend almost every day for three years. He chased her for ten years and then they were married for 62 years.

Joseph Burrell could see all of the damage from Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. They had their own truck and they would go get pineapples. They were able to go to the airfield and would hitchhike with the pilots on the airplanes. He was only taking five dollars of his pay and saving the rest. He had a laundry business and would shine shoes for extra money. He bought his girlfriend an engagement ring with the money he made. He was able to buy a truck when he got home. He had a good time when he got home. The company he had worked for prior to the service, hired him to haul gravel to a brick company. He was treated like everybody else. His boss was German, and his wife was upset that a Jew had bought a house behind them. [Annotator's Note: Offscreen his daughter asks him to talk about coming home from Hawaii.] It was unbelievable to see his family again. He took a train from Texas. During the war, there had been trouble with Blacks getting off the trains in Southern cities. After the war, the troop trains were integrated. The Marine Corps made him hate and then made him realize how stupid it was to hate. After that, any adversity he had, he dealt with in a positive way. He had a trucking and fire salvage company. He bought five stores and a warehouse. [Annotator's Note: Burrell tells a detailed story about buying salvaged carpet and scrap metal.] There was a big warehouse fire that he was hired to clean up after and salvage. Burrell thinks it is definitely important for children to learn about World War 2 and that museums are important. He wants future people to know that if we had not won the war, minorities in America would not be here. What happened to the Jews in Europe, would have happened to minorities across the world. The sacrifices made for this country is unbelievable. Without that sacrifice, he would not be here. He wants his family to keep smiling and be happy.