Angus Francis Mestayer is 95 years old. He was born in 1922 in Loreauville [Annotator's Note: Loreauville, Louisiana]. He has lived there for 95 years. In June 1927, they had to live with his aunt in Broussard [Annotator's Note: Broussard, Louisiana] because of the high water. They stayed there for about two weeks. He was five years old at the time. He had one sister. She was born in 1918 and was the oldest. His brother was born in 1920. His father worked in a grocery store which also sold materials for dresses and shoes. His father worked in the store during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939]. He worked all his life. He was a hunter and would hunt ducks and other things. They never had much money, but they always had food on the table. They owned property. His grandfather on his father's side had a sugar refinery that he worked at. The refinery went dry and it exploded and he died. He lived a block or two from the elementary school he went to. He was working at a restaurant and was sitting down going to sleep when the announcement about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] interrupted the program on the radio. It was like a story. He did not know where Pearl Harbor was. He knew he was going to be drafted. He had a couple of friends who wanted to join so they went. One of them was 17 and his dad had to sign for him. The other friend was 18, and after a week at boot camp, he wanted to go home. Mestayer and the other friend had to try to stop him. None of them had ever been away from home. He joined the Marines. He went to San Diego [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California] for basic training.

One of Angus Francis Mestayer's friends was lonesome and he wanted to go home. One guy on the rifle range climbed the fence because he wanted to go home. They told him to stop, but he did not listen and they shot him. He weighed about 122 pounds and was small. He had to carry a ten pound rifle. At his weight, he could barely carry himself let alone the pack. He had good training. They had three weeks of basic training. Then they did three weeks at the rifle range, and then they returned to boot camp for another week. It ended around November or December [Annotator's Note: November or December 1942]. At the beginning of January, they boarded a ship to go overseas. He shipped out from a Navy base in California. The ship they were aboard was doing about 35 knots [Annotator's Note: one knot equals one nautical mile per hour or roughly 1.15 mile per hour] and the destroyer did about 32 knots. They were on their own. It [Annotator's Note: the transport ship] belonged to a company out of England. It took 14 days to get to the first island. They had three meals a day, anything they wanted to eat. The ship he came back on was only two meals daily. The bunks were ten to 14 high. They had them where they kept the planes. They had to sleep on deck in bags. They pulled into a leper colony [Annotator's Note: historically a place to isolate people with leprosy]. They had them fenced in. They could go by the fence and talk to them. It was not a disease they could catch. He talked to them while they loaded up. They had a supply house there. From there, they went to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. They left the island around seven o'clock. They could feel the ship cracking. They were headed back to the island because it was the last big fight with the Japanese. He was in the First Marine Air Wing. He operated the phone. The pilots would call in to tell them what they were doing. From there, he went to work in the kitchen because they needed help. The office was a tent. One night, the captain told the mechanics they needed a jeep. The mechanics could jump-start the jeep. They looked in the front seat and discovered that it was a two-star general's jeep they had stolen. In June or July, there were Australians sending information across the islands. There were about 120 Japanese planes headed for the island. They were having dog fights [Annotator's Note: an aerial fight between two aircraft] over the island. Going out there were only about 18 planes. As they were shooting them down, they would come over the airfield and they would roll. They needed people in the kitchen who could cook because the cooks had gotten yellow jaundice [Annotator’s Note: a yellow coloring of the skin or eyes caused by too much bilirubin in the body]. To keep their food down they had to sit in cold water. He cooked at home. After they were there a few days they had some Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] left in the mountains. They had a canon they would fire sometimes. They got rid of them. He never feared for his own safety. He was young and he did not figure he would not make it home. He is Catholic and he promised the Lord he would not miss a holy day if he made it home and he never has. Ten days after they got there, they considered the island secure. After that, they went to New Zealand. They were supposed to stay a month, but they did not.

Angus Francis Mestayer remembers the New Zealanders were not too friendly. They had been fighting in South Africa for four years. When they got back home, the wives of some of those who were married had children. They did not see them much. They were warned not to go to town by themselves. They needed to be in groups of five of ten people. They were supposed to stay a month, but they only stayed for two weeks before returning to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. When they got there, they were between the American and Australian airfields. They never had a bomb dropped on them. They tried to dig foxholes, but it was tough coral. They decided they would stay in bed and take their chances. They were young and they did not think they would get harmed. They were feeding about 64 people. The officers had their own mess hall. They then went to Bougainville Island [Annotator’s Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea]. It was separated by two mountains. They took half. They knew exactly which half. The Japanese were only on one side. They kept the Japanese ships from coming in. The Japanese might have starved. He did the same thing for office work. He would get the messages from the pilots. He did not know what was going on with the war at this point. One of their pilots may have been killed. They all had pistols, and someone had gotten to the plane before them and had his pistol. Next, they went to Green Island [Annotator’s Note: Green Islands, Papua New Guinea]. This was their last stop. He was there for 17 months.

Angus Francis Mestayer's outfit [Annotator's Note: 1st Marine Air Wing] was split in half while he was on Green Island [Annotator's Note: Green Islands, Papua New Guinea]. Some of the men who had been there for 14 months were being sent home. He had been there for 17 months. The Staff Sergeant at the front desk was sending their men home before them. He decided to go talk to the doctor about it. He had been there for three months and he was ready to go home. He knew how Mestayer felt. The Sergeant tried to stop him from going to the two-star general. General Harris [Annotator's Note: no given name provided; unable to identify] was from Kentucky. The doctor told the general he wanted them out of there within the hour. The general got on the phone and called a plane. He could not get a plane until eight o'clock the next morning. The doctor came back and told Mestayer he could go pack and be ready to go by the morning. They left. There were four of them who had been there for 17 months. They were the original First Marine Air Wing. The jeep was there at seven o'clock that morning. They flew from there to Bougainville Island [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea]. From there they flew to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. Then they boarded a ship to go back to San Diego, California. When he was on Guadalcanal he met a guy who wanted him to go with him to get a tank of water. He asked Mestayer where he was from. He told him he was from Lafayette, Louisiana. He asked how far from Lafayette. He asked if he recognized him. They used to play in the creek. The guy had a dairy and they used to play in there and swim. He did not recognize him. He was a Broussard and they were first cousins. He came back after the war and he worked for a mail carrier. This happened again on the way back from Guadacanal. They only got two meals a day. At the morning meal, he was in line and another guy recognized him and asked where he was from. The guy, Roland Herbert, had gained a lot of weight. He did not miss a meal. He was working the chow line.

Angus Francis Mestayer returned to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. They got a month long leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He went home for a month. When he went back they asked him where he wanted to go. He told them the East Coast because he had spent a lot of time on the West Coast. They sent him to Santa Barbara, California. He was stationed there for a year. He was getting ready to go home for two weeks' vacation when the war ended. He decided not to go home. He stayed on base for another three weeks before getting discharged. It [Annotator's Note: the point system which had been devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] was 85 then down to 80 and then to 70. He had 76 points. They gave them so many points for citations, months spent overseas, and the rifle range. He returned home to Louisiana. He worked for a seismographic [Annotator’s Note: A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions] company. Then he worked for Texaco. He had half a year of high school left when he came back. There were three or four of them that had half a year of high school left. They got paid to go to school. He did not think he could make it to college. He thinks the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is a good tribute to the war. During his visit, he got to ride in a wheelchair. He had two hip replacements. He was pushed around. He thinks the majority knows what they did.