[Annotator's Note: Sound and video are choppy at times during this segment.] Joseph H. Sasser Junior was born in Scott County, Mississippi in September 1922. He grew up in Walnut Grove, Mississippi where his father organized a bank. When he was 15 years old his family moved to Carthage, Mississippi to reopen a bank after the Stock Market Crash [Annotator's Note: Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, September to October 1929]. He finished high school in Carthage. He was very athletic, playing basketball, baseball, and football for his school teams. He then attended college for two years before being drafted into the army in November 1942 at Camp Shelby [Annotator's Note: in Hattiesburg, Mississippi]. After 10 days, he was sent to Sausalito, California by train and then bussed out to Fort Cronkhite [Annotator's Note: now part of California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County, California], which was a coastal artillery army base. He remained there until January 1943 and was then transferred to Fort Ord [Annotator's Note: now Fort Ord National Monument in Monterey Bay, California] to form the 7th Infantry Provisional Scout Company. He was commanded under Captain William H. Willoughby, whom he respected, and thought was a great leader. Sasser trained with his company through April 1943, and then was transferred to the 50th Combat Engineers outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 50th Engineer Combat Battalion]. He had no training in engineering and knew nothing about it, or the instruments that they used. He was well trained in infantry tactics. His training with the 7th Infantry Provisional Scout Company was very rigid and tough. His group was trained by sergeants who had participated in the Dieppe raid across the English Channel [Annotator's Note: Operation Jubilee, also called the Dieppe Raid in Dieppe, France, 18 August 1942]. The sergeants had been trained by British Commandos. After a rough day of training, he would often hear men crying in their barracks. Sasser was in good physical shape and could handle the training better than most. Most of the company was made up of men from Mississippi. Towards the end of his time at Camp Ord, Sasser worked in the dayroom as the company clerk and mailman. Since he had this position, he missed the last couple of weeks of training, and he believes that is why he was transferred to the 50th Combat Engineers outfit, along with another soldier that also worked in the dayroom. His company was then sent to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] to board a ship and head to Attu [Annotator's Note: Attu Island, Alaska]. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] had been difficult. He knew that spending was very limited. As a young boy, he wanted a pair of trousers that cost six dollars, but his parents opted to buy the trousers that cost three dollars. He lived in a neighborhood where everyone was in the same financial situation, and everyone shared everything with their neighbors. They were all poor, but happy. The kids made their own toys and found ways to entertain themselves. They foraged for food in the woods and wore second-hand clothes. His father was on the board of trustees at the Black schools in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His father was very instrumental in getting the schools money. His father also had a relationship with the Choctaw Indians [Annotator's Note: Native people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands in what is now Alabama and Mississippi]. His father was a well-respected man among many. Everyone took care of each other and made sure all the neighbors had enough to eat, including the pastor. The community could not pay him, so they would stock his pantry full of canned food.

Joseph H. Sasser Junior was riding in his friend's father's car when he heard over the car radio about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Sasser did not know where Pearl Harbor was located, but soon learned more about it. Sasser did have some military training because he went to Civilian Military Training camp as a boy in Anniston, Alabama. After he was drafted and sent to Fort Ord [Annotator's Note: now Fort Ord National Monument in Monterey Bay, California] for military training, he eventually became responsible for drilling some of the men because of his experience. After months of training, he shipped out of San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] to head to the Aleutian Islands [Annotator's Note: in Alaska] with the Headquarter Company, 50th Combat Engineers [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 50th Engineer Combat Regiment]. His ship passed Alcatraz [Annotator's Note: Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay] and the Golden Gate Bridge [Annotator's Note: suspension bridge in San Francisco, California] trying to soak up the views. His company was not issued winter gear but was given rain gear. He learned quickly how to change his clothes to keep warm, including when to change out his socks. His ship arrived at Massacre Bay, Attu Island, Alaska on 11 May 1943, after a storm delay, anchoring at Cold Bay [Annotator's Note: Cold Bay, Alaska]. While he was on the ship, he found a friend, and they figured out how to sleep on troop bags instead of the tall bunks. Sasser did not debark from the ship until 12 May 1943. He came onto the beaches in a Higgins Boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. There met no resistance. His company's job was to move supplies off the beach and to build a road from the beach on the hogback [Annotator's Note: a long hill or mountain ridge with steep sides] that separated East Massacre Valley from West Massacre Valley. Since he had no engineer training and was assigned to the Headquarters Company there was nothing left for him to do but special detail. When his company reached Gilbert Ridge, he saw his first dead Japanese.

[Annotator's Note: Sound and video are choppy at times during this segment.] Joseph H. Sasser Junior [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 50th Engineer Combat Regiment] had set up camp [Annotator's Note: at Gilbert Ridge, Attu Island, Alaska]. Early in the morning of 29 May 1943 the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] made their banzai attack [Annotator's Note: Banzai charge; Japanese human wave attacks]. Sasser and two other men were resting in a tent at the crest of one of the many ravines making its way up Engineer Hill [Annotator's Note: the name they gave to an embankment]. Later Sasser decided that he would move up the hill fifty yards closer to the road the engineers had built. Two other guys moved to the place he vacated. It was in the morning when he heard shouting that the Japanese were coming, and some men had already gotten behind him. Immediately he made his way to the only refuge he knew, the roadbed behind him. Sasser eventually was able to find a rifle. The Japanese approach was up the ravines of Engineer Hill. It probably provided them with some protection. The two comrades that moved to the place we had vacated were bayoneted in their sleeping bags. After a night of firing between the Japanese and the Americans, the firing ceased. Sasser walked down a road that led to a valley to make sure there were not any Japanese moving. He did not find any. Sasser went to a medical clearing station and saw the devastation that the Japanese had done on the medical personnel. No one was armed and it was amazing that some of the personnel were able to escape. Sasser remained on Attu for another 21 months. The terrain and weather conditions were very difficult. [Annotator's Note: Video break from 0:58:00.000 to 0:58:14.000.] After Attu was secured, he stayed in a pyramidal tent [Annotator's Note: tent, pyramidal, M1934], which was difficult due to the strong winds. The wind was so bad, that he would have to get on his hands and knees to crawl from his tent to the mess hall. He worked in the mess hall as his detail. A man died from a snow slide. Sasser had to dig his body out of the snow. He listened to the radio and enjoyed listening to Tokyo Rose [Annotator's Note: nickname given by Allied servicemen to any English-speaking female radio personality broadcasting Japanese propaganda in the Pacific Theater]. Every now and then his company was given cold beer which he enjoyed immensely. He never asked for a transfer and served his time.

[Annotator's Note: Sound and video are choppy at times during this segment.] Joseph H. Sasser Junior [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters and Service Company, 50th Engineer Combat Regiment] left Attu [Annotator's Note: Attu Island, Alaska] in December 1944 and went to Seattle, Washington. The next day he caught a troop train and settled in Camp Funston [Annotator's Note: near Manhattan, Kansas]. Sasser was selected to attend Special Service school at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. This involved the various ways that our troops could be entertained as they returned to the United States. He was discharged in November 1945 after 26 months of service. In preparation for the invasion of Japan, Sasser was at Camp Claiborne [Annotator's Note: in Rapides Parish, Louisiana] on maneuvers when he learned about VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. He was then back to Camp Gruber [Annotator's Note: near Braggs, Oklahoma] for discharge. German POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] worked in the mess hall at the camp, and it was the first time he ate sauerkraut. Sasser thought of the Japanese as rats because of the way they lived on Attu. The Japanese often tried to use American equipment with their own equipment. The Japanese were very tenacious.

[Annotator's Note: Sound and video are choppy at times during this segment.] Joseph H. Sasser Junior's most memorable experience of World War 2 was the Banzai attack [Annotator's Note: Banzai charge; Japanese human wave attacks] on Attu [Annotator's Note: Attu Island, Alaska where he was in Headquarters and Service Company, 50th Engineer Combat Regiment] because there was so much disorganization and disarray. Somehow the group that he was with found a way to come together and push the Japanese back. Being in the military, he learned about regimentation and authority. It taught him how to give orders. It was necessary to take part in World War 2. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] wanted to conquer the world, and Americans had to get involved to stop him. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. This was one war that the whole nation supported the war efforts, from children to elderly worked together to defeat the enemy.