Alfred A. Lingo was born in San, Jose, Costa Rica in March 1914. His father was a civilian engineer for United Fruit Company building railroads for banana plantations. He grew up with a younger sister. His father died in an accident in 1917, so his mother raised him and his sister. His mother was a teacher by profession. He grew up in Costa Rica and finished high school in 1931. After high school, Lingo worked for a railroad company. After an accident where two locomotives collided, Lingo and a few others built a new locomotive by using the two that crashed. In April 1933, Lingo moved to California to attend college at UC Berkeley [Annotator's Note: University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California] for engineering. In 1934, Alfred enrolled into ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps], and in 1936 he joined a newly formed Signal Corps unit [Annotator's Note: US Army Signal Corps], which Lingo was excited about because he was studying electrical engineering. Later that year, he went to Fort Lewis [Annotator's Note: Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington] for basic training for six weeks. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the army reserves in April 1937 and was assigned as a signal officer. During the summer, he worked in a fruit cannery loading peaches in a loading machine. He met a female worker and they married her in 1936. In May 1938, Alfred obtained his degree in electrical engineering with emphasis on thermodynamics and obtained a job with PG&E [Annotator's Note: The Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California] as a power plant manager until his activation in the Army in 1940.

In 1940, Alfred A. Lingo was activated into the Army for one year at Hamilton Field [Annotator's Note: now Hamilton Air Force Base, in Novato, California] to supervise the growth of the Signal Corps [Annotator's Note: US Army Signal Corps] and the expansion of communication equipment and construction. He was supposed to be discharged in November 1941, however, the army extended his service due to the potential of war. He received news that he was to be transferred to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Philippines]. He began assembling units to form a battalion to get ready to go to the Philippines. After the war, he became an assistant supervisor of a power plant for PG&E [Annotator's Note: The Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California], worked his way up in the company and retired in 1975. He helped Native Americans, Mexicans, Filipinos with their coal and power plants after his retirement. During his retirement he travelled with his wife.

[Annotator's Note: Running water can be heard throughout segment.] Alfred A. Lingo returned from the Aleutian Islands and was separated from services after World War 2. He joined the Air National Guard and became commanding officer of a squadron. [Annotator's Note: Video break at 0:41:57.000.] After the Japanese attacked Hawaii [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Lingo was assigned to go to Alaska to protect the Aleutian Islands' oil refineries from Japanese submarines. He was preparing his troops in La Push, Washington while they waited for orders to go to Alaska. After the Japanese attacked Dutch Harbor [Annotator's Note: Battle of Dutch Harbor, 3 to 4 June 1942, Dutch Harbor in Amaknak Island, Alaska], his unit [Annotator's Note: 621st Aircraft Warning Company] was sent to Nome [Annotator's Note: Nome, Alaska] to set up radar and other communications. They were to detect the movement of the Japanese near the Bering Sea. In May 1943, the American Army recaptured the island of Attu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Attu, 11 to 30 May 1943 at Attu Island, Alaska]. There was a significant loss of Americans, but they were able to secure the island. Lingo was given orders to land on Shemya [Annotator's Note: Shemya Island, Alaska]. It was very difficult to land on the island because the terrain was flat and there were very high winds and snow. He did not have supplies for the first few days. He responsibility was to supervise the radar and communication center. There was one instance where he communicated with a pilot who was running out of fuel, but Lingo had no way of helping him. He heard him crash into the sea. [Annotator's Note: Video break at 0:58:00.000.] The events at Kiska were a mess because of the friendly fire [Annotator's Note: Operation Cottage, 15 August 1943 at Kiska Island, Alaska].

In 1944, Alfred A. Lingo [Annotator's Note: with the 621st Aircraft Warning Company] was in Attu [Annotator's Note: Attu, Alaska]. He received orders to report to Drew Field [Annotator's Note: Drew Army Airfield, now Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Florida] and arrived on Christmas 1944 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1944]. He was then sent to Will Rogers Air Base [Annotator's Note: now Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma] in 1945. He was in charge of the communications training for the bombardiers and how to destroy enemy facilities in Tokyo Bay [Annotator's Note: Tokyo Bay, Japan]. After the war ended, he had racked up enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] that he was given a choice to be discharged. He separated from the Army and joined the Air National Guard Reserves. He eventually became the commanding officer of a squadron. He is glad he separated from the Army because he would have been reactivated for the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. After the war he returned to his position with PG&E [Annotator's Note: The Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California]

World War 2 made Alfred A. Lingo rethink about how to react to things. He learned to control his emotions in order to carry on a task and make decisions. Military life is good and taught him to control himself. Unfortunately, the effects of World War 2 are fading away from the new generation. 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. The younger generation needs to learn discipline to succeed in life. Young people should serve in the military for a year or two just to experience it. Serving your country gives you a better handle on your life. When the Air Force separated from the Army, his uniform changed.