Adam Istre was born in 1927 in Lake Arthur, Louisiana, but the family moved to a farm outside of Gueydan, Louisiana early in his life. It was during the Great Depression, and times were really tough, but his father was a butcher and ranch hand, and managed to provide his family with enough to eat to survive. When he was in eighth grade [Annotator's Note: in 1942], Istre was not doing well in school, and figured the armed forces could "make better use" of him than the school system could. He applied for and got a social security card that listed his year of birth as 1925. Then he went to the Navy recruiting office and told them he was 17. When they asked for proof of his age, he told them he didn't have a birth certificate because the church where he was baptized had burned down, this part was true. Istre procured or forged the necessary documents, and said it was pretty easy to get by the recruiters because they needed people. He went to boot camp at Camp Green Bay in Great Lakes, Michigan, where there were no bunks, heat or hot water. Istre qualified for either submarine duty or commando training, and, thinking he was a tough ranch hand, he chose commando training. He soon learned he was not as tough as he thought, but survived five months of training in 1943, graduated, and was put aboard a troop ship headed for the Pacific. While the vessel was taking on supplies, Istre ran into a dentist from his home town, who told him he really needed to go back home. Somehow, Istre found himself on his way back to Moffitt Field in California where they gave him an honorable discharge, a change of clothes, a few dollars, and a bus ticket home. He was 16 then, and spent the rest of the year working on a ranch. When he reached the age of 17, Istre re-enlisted, underwent boot camp again in San Diego, California, and boarded the aircraft carrier, USS Wasp (CV-18) for the Pacific. He waited in a receiving station Pearl Harbor, and was finally assigned to the USS PC-487. [Annotator's Note: A PC was a patrol craft designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare.]

Adam Istre said USS PC-487 was a pursuit craft and a submarine chaser, and its duties included protecting the shoreline of Pearl Harbor and Oahu. The vessel performed this duty until it was needed to escort a ship to its assignment, such as running with a weather ship on patrol in the Aleutians, or escorting a submarine out of Pearl Harbor toward the mid-Pacific to make sure it wasn't mistaken for an enemy ship. After the war was over, PC-487 was supposed to be given to Russia under the Marshall Plan, and Istre was asked if he wanted to go along to deliver the ship. Istre said he missed his family and had enough points to go back to the United States, so he took passage on a small rescue and patrol craft and made the trip back through Panama Canal to New London, Connecticut. There, with the promise of a 30 day leave, he shipped over [Annotator's Note: re-enlisted] for another two years. Istre was assigned to the destroyer tender USS Yosemite (AD-19), and went on its shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay. Back in Norfolk, Virginia, Istre qualified as a diver, then transferred to the Fargo Building in Boston, where he escorted U.S. Navy prisoners between the courts of law and the naval discipline barracks in Norfolk. Istre went back to the Yosemite to take care of Admiral Beatty's [Annotator's Note: US Navy Vice Admiral Frank Edmond Beatty, Jr.] gig, skimmer and barge and to run the liberty launch from the ship to the docks in Portland. When a good will tour to Europe was planned for the Yosemite, the admiral asked Istre if he wanted to be included in the crew. He agreed, and shoved off for Europe.

The USS Yosemite (AD-19) sailed to Europe, and Adam Istre's first port of call was in Taranto, Italy. The ship also stopped in Venice and Naples. While in Naples, the Italians requested help destroying a sunken cruiser, and Istre was part of a dive crew that went below to plant explosive charges in the hull. The Italian navy was grateful, he said, and invited the divers to dinner aboard a four-masted schooner. Istre described it as a nice gesture and mentioned enjoying the champagne they served. The Yosemite then went to Turkey, and also made a stop at Gibraltar before returning to Boston, Massachusetts. Once again, Istre came up for discharge, and this time he took it. Back in Gueydan, Louisiana, there still wasn't much to do except for work on ranches, and Istre did that for a while. One day he was approached by an Army recruiter looking for an ex-Navy person with small boat experience who persuaded him to skipper for an Army deep sea fishing boat out of Galveston, Texas. Off he went to take officers on R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recreation] to the snapper banks in the Gulf of Mexico. Istre made a couple of such trips a week until the base shut down and he transferred to Washington to run a ferry back and forth to the Canadian border. At that time, Istre's wife was pregnant, and on the basis of hardship, he got another honorable discharge. Istre went to work in the marine oil industry, traveling nationally and internationally for Otis Engineering and its successor Halliburton for the next 30-plus years, retiring in 1991 as a superintendent.

Adam Istre recalled that the USS PC-487 sub chaser was armed with a three inch 50mm gun and mouse traps [Annotator's Note: ASW Marks 20 and 22, anti-submarine rockets] on the bow, as well as racked depth charges on the stern, and K-guns on the port and starboard sides. There was also a twin 40mm and some 20mms and some 50 calibers. Istre's Pacific medal has two battle stars for contacts, but he said no one is certain that the PC-487 sunk those ships. It was a Japanese submarine crew's practice to discharge some oil and send trash out of chutes to give the impression that they had been hit, with the hope their American pursuers would withdraw, in which case they would chase and attack. One of the PC-487's contacts happened on the way to Canton in 1944, the other was one the way to the Aleutians in 1945. Typically, when the PC-487 was stalking a sub, it would start by dropping two depth charges, one out of each rack, and there might be up to six or eight dropped during the process of circling a target. If the K-guns were shot, chances were they wouldn't be reloaded due to time constraints. The PC-487 was usually alone on these runs, but in the case of Canton, the PC-487 was escorting a ship. During regular duty in Pearl Harbor, there were probably three to four PCs and SCs [Annotator's Note: submarine chasers] running the ping lines together, each patrolling a designated area. The island was patrolled all around, but the concentration was on the entrance to the harbor itself. Istre's designation during this time was coxswain [Annotator's Note: a small boat pilot].

Adam Istre said his time in the Navy was great. He feels he's Navy through and through. Prior to his service, Istre had never strayed far from Gueydan, Louisiana, and through his naval career he got to see some of the world. There were both tough and good times. With the help of other people, he got a good education out of World War 2. He earned a GED, and had some college courses, but learned the most from the school of "hard knocks." He feels fortunate that he always ended up as the "boss." Istre thinks World War 2 changed America for the better; we proved to the world that we could build ships and planes and provide personnel faster than the enemy could destroy them, and accomplished almost impossible things. Istre has only good things to say. Today he and people like him can look back and be proud. Istre said it made the United States the strongest nation in the world, and he would like to see it kept that way. Istre is a member of The National WWII Museum, and supports it enthusiastically.