Adolph William Amundson was born in November 1923 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. He lived in a small town, but there was a lake there that would attract a lot of people to visit in the summer. He had two brothers and his father was a wooden boat builder. The Great Depression affected his family. They had no money. They never went on vacation, but they had a home and had food to eat and that was enough. He was eating dinner at his second-grade teacher's house when he heard over the radio of the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. When the United States entered the war, he decided to enlist in the Navy to avoid being placed in the Army. Both his brothers were involved with the war effort. One was a paratrooper and the other worked for Higgins building landing barges. When he had to get blood drawn for his physical, he fainted. After he passed all his tests, he received orders to go to Austin, Texas and took CPT training [Annotator's Note: Civilian Pilot Training] for three months. He loved flying. He was sent to Del Monte, California for pre-flight school where he did physical training and schoolwork. He took up the sport of wrestling while in the Navy. After three months of pre-flight training, Amundson was sent to Hutchinson, Kansas and flew the N2S [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Kaydet primary trainer aircraft] biplane and learned how to do acrobatics. He recalled a time when he was practicing rolls and forgot to buckle his seatbelt. He was able to hold on and not fall out of the plane, but he never forgot to buckle up after that. After training in Hutchinson, he was sent to Pensacola, Florida [Annotator's Note: the interviewer asks the interviewee to reposition himself to the camera] where he trained on aircraft instruments. He received his wings after passing all his tests in Florida. [Annotator's Note: A clock sound goes off in the background and interrupts the interview at 0:15:49.000.]

Adolph William Amundson was sent to Jacksonville, Florida to train in multi-engine planes. He flew PBY’s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] over the Saint John's River. He recalled target practicing while the plane was flying. He would either shoot at targets in the water or at an airplane. He had a training trip to Guantanamo, Cuba and thought it was an exciting trip, being a new ensign. From Jacksonville [Annotator's Note: Jacksonville, Florida], he headed to San Diego, California and stayed out on Coronado Island. He took a train to Oakland, California to train on R4D [Annotator's Note: Navy designation for the Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] two-motor transporter planes. He received orders to fly a plane with a few other pilots and it took all night and day to get to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. He was stationed at John Rodgers Airport. His missions were to fly cargo all over the Pacific Theater, including Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands], Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi, Caroline Islands], Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa, Gilbert Islands], and the Philippines. He was then ordered to go to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], they went through some cumulous clouds which gave them a rough ride. Because they had no oxygen tanks, they decided to fly below the clouds. Amundson was in Air Evacuation Squadron 1 (VRE-1). He was sent on a mission to Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] ten days after the invasion. When they came upon the island, they received some resistance from the enemy, so they took off. They were finally able to land four days later to pick up some wounded Marines and take off back to Guam to a hospital. Another time when they picked up the wounded from the island, they went behind enemy lines and one of the wings got a hole in it, so they turned around and went back to Guam.

Adolph William Amundson's mission on Iwo Jima, Japan was to pick up the wounded and fly them back to a hospital on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. These missions were so successful the Navy sent him back to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] to train on the R5D [Annotator's Note: Navy variant of the Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo aircraft] four-engine transport plane. He did multiple trips flying the wounded back to Oakland, California until the war ended. On 1 January 1946, Amundson was discharged and as a lieutenant (j.g) [Annotator's Note: lieutenant (junior grade)]. He married his fiancé three days later. He still flies today.

Adolph William Amundson recalled that by the time he arrived at the island [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], the wounded were well bandaged up and ready for transport. [Annotator's Note: Rain can be heard in the background at 0:35:39:000.] He was just glad to be able to help those men. They had a nurse on board to be with the wounded. Amundson adjusted to civilian life easily and married soon after he got back home. He used the G.I. Bill to attend the University of Minnesota as a math major. He did not finish his degree and instead went to work as a traveling salesman, then sales manager of a company and finally managed a plant until his retirement in 2000. Amundson's most memorable experience was flying. Since he did not have a choice to fight, he decided to enlist in the Navy. He believed that the war made him a man. He grew up fast serving in the military. He believed it was an excellent choice for him. He thinks World War 2 was a just war. Amundson thinks The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is phenomenal and treated him well. He thinks that kids today do not know much about World War 2.