Hugh Ettinger was born in May 1926 in Watertown, New York. His father worked as a civil engineer, and they lived on Long Island [Annotator’s Note: Long Island, New York]. His mother was a schoolteacher before and after she raised her children. Ettinger grew up in a residential neighborhood and would commute into the city [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York] to attend St. Patrick’s Primary School and a Catholic high school, which he hated. He was aware of the rising hostilities in Japan and Europe because he read the New York Times and listened to the radio. He was 15 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. After church, his mother let him drive home because he was training for his license. When he got home, his dad was shaving when all of a sudden, he ran downstairs to listen to the news of the attack on the radio. After the shock of the news, Ettinger was very excited to join the fight like the rest of his friends. Initially wanting to join the Marines, Ettinger ended up testing into the V-12 Program [Annotator’s Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946] with the Navy. He was accepted and entered the program in July 1943 at the age of 17. He was sent to Dartmouth College [Annotator’s Note: in Hanover, New Hampshire] to take classes. About two months into the intense program, he fell ill for about a week. After that, he could not catch up with the work, and therefore washed out. He was then sent to Great Lakes Naval Station [Annotator’s Note: Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois] as an enlisted Navy man. He was very disappointed with the predicament he was in. He was then sent to Camp Bradford, Virginia to become a crew member of an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] and went through four weeks of training with his crew. He was assigned as a barrage balloon specialist. He was then sent to Chicago [Annotator’s Note: Chicago, Illinois] for gunnery training. The weather was very cold as they waited for his ship to arrive at a Naval armory. He then boarded his LST in Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River. All the men he worked with were very young and from different parts of the country. The oldest crew member was 28 years old, and they called him “Pappy”.

Hugh Ettinger was assigned to an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] in Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River and sailed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. The food on board was made by a Coast Guard crew and was excellent. Halfway down the Mississippi River, one crew member of an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] that they had on the ship came down with appendicitis and was taken off the ship. Ettinger became the new coxswain of the LCVP, even though he had no training experience on the vehicle. He practiced on the Mississippi River. His ship was then sent to Seattle [Annotator’s Note: Seattle, Washington] so their ship could be painted in camouflage. They set sail from Seattle for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He trained some more in Hawaii and almost capsized his vehicle. When the crew set out for the Pacific, Ettinger and the crew delivered equipment for amphibious invasions. His ship transferred barges and pontoon bridges from Guam to Saipan and Tinian [Annotator’s Note: Saipan and Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands]. He recalled playing a baseball game on Tinian. He watched as B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] flew in and out. His crew job was to transfer supplies or deliver messages. He remarked that being 18 and brash, he would often bounce the boat off the coral and would often have to get new propellers. He always wore dungaree shorts with no shirt. He developed sores on his shoulders. He was issued salt tablets everyday by the corpsman because the crewmen sweated all day. For entertainment they played ball and watched the nurses.

Hugh Ettinger was assigned to an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] in the Pacific Theater. After a couple of weeks spent around the Mariana Islands, the Battle of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] had begun. He talked to a couple of men who were at Okinawa and they told him about the kamikaze planes [Annotator’s Note: Japanese suicide attacks]. He was shocked by what he heard. The Battle of Okinawa was virtually over when he arrived on the beaches to unload the equipment they had. He had a fog generator to help disguise the ships in the area. When he arrived on the beach, he was nearly killed when he almost tripped on a boobytrap. He was on Okinawa for two weeks and experienced a typhoon. After the storm, his ship was sent to Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines] to prepare for the invasion of Japan. The war ended while he was in Manila. He had mixed feelings when the war ended. He was sad that he would not be able to fight the Japanese, but also relieved that it was over. For celebration, the service men shot ammunition, hung flags, and went ashore to the bars and PXs [Annotator's Note: post exchange]. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee asked to pause interview at 0:37:17.000.] He thought the Philippines were unimpressive. He was one of the first troops to occupy Japan. When he first arrived, there was no human being anywhere because they were hiding. He found out that the civilians thought the Americans were going to kill them. He was part of a detail to Yokohama [Annotator’s Note: Yokohama, Japan] and saw how the city was in ruins. He did not interact with the local population. He then went to Hokkaido in northern Japan to deliver supplies. Ettinger and his LST were then given the task of delivering Korean slaves back to Korea, and then transfer Japanese troops to Japan. His LST made several of these trips. He also went to Chuuk [Annotator’s Note: Chuuk, also known as Truk, Micronesia] which was well fortified throughout the war. It was crazy that a bunch of 18-year-old guys had to transfer these fierce Japanese troops back to Japan. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:46:48.000.]

Hugh Ettinger was assigned to an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] in the Pacific Theater. After the war ended, his ship was assigned to transfer Korean slaves from Japan back to Korea. His ship was then assigned to help relocate the natives living on Bikini Atoll for Operation Crossroads [Annotator's Note: a pair of nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in July 1946 at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands]. He dropped the natives off at the Rongerik Atoll in the Marshall Islands where the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] built a village for them. However, the natives did not stay on the island very long due to misfortunes and they were transferred somewhere else. Ettinger’s picture was taken while painting a native canoe and the photo was published in Life magazine. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:54:30.000 and again at 0:54:44.000.] When he arrived at Rongerik, he was attacked by a bunch of crabs. He is not sure how the natives felt about the relocation, but he assumed they were not happy.

In the spring of 1946, Hugh Ettinger was stationed at Rongerik Atoll [Annotator’s Note: Rongerik Atoll, Marshall Islands] and received orders that he had enough points to go home and be discharged from the Navy [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home]. Ettinger and his buddy loaded onto a mail plane with a large camera crew and their equipment. The pilot had great difficulty getting the plane in the sky because it was so heavy. The plane took him and his friend to an Army base on Kwajalein Atoll [Annotator’s Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands]. Since they could not find the Navy base, his friend, R.J., decided to find the crossroad project [Annotator's Note: a pair of nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in July 1946 at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands] to see if they could catch a flight back to the United States. They were put up in a hotel for a couple of nights until Ettinger and his friend ran into Carl Mindanz [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling] and were able to make their way back to the states in a dubious manor that involved faking orders to return quickly. Their plane landed in Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] and they were taken by MPs [Annotator’s Note: Military Police] to an office where they were chewed out by high-ranking military personnel. Somehow, they were dismissed and were told to report to the Navy base. Ettinger and R.J. managed to fly back to San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] and stayed the night at Los Alamos [Annotator’s Note: Los Alamos, New Mexico] on the way to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Then he boarded a train to Long Island, New York and surprised his family.

Hugh Ettinger and his friend R.J.’s plane landed in Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] and they were taken by MPs [Annotator’s Note: Military Police] to an office where they were chewed out by a high-ranking officer. Somehow, they were dismissed and were told to report to the Navy base. Then, Ettinger and R.J. managed to fly back to San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] and stayed the night at Los Alamos [Annotator’s Note: Los Alamos, New Mexico] and find a flight on the way to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Ettinger then boarded a train to Long Island, New York and surprised his family.

Hugh Ettinger was discharged from the Navy and used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to return to Dartmouth [Annotator’s Note: Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire] and major in economics. He had some difficulties adjusting back to civilian life. His most memorable experience was his return home. He never would have gone to school if he did not serve in the military. There is not enough American spirit anymore. The Vietnam War [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975] changed the morality of our nation. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.