Archibald Boyd Rackerby was born in July 1920 in Washington, D.C. because his mother and her family were Washingtonians. His father was from California, where he joined the Army with his three brothers. His father was sent to Maryland to ship out to Europe for World War 1. His father was not a church going man but went one night in Washington D.C. with a friend. He met Rackerby's mother there. They corresponded when he was in France. He returned in April 1919 and married Rackerby's mother. Rackerby was born ten months later. He spent a lot of time in California hunting and fishing with his father. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby loses track of his thought and then repeats a lot of the story.] Rackerby's father did not like the east [Annotator's Note: the eastern United States] and did not care much for his wife's family. In 1921 or early 1922, his father bought a car and took the family to California. His father went to work for Southern Pacific Railroad in Sacramento [Annotator's Note: Sacramento, California]. Rackerby has lived there ever since then. Growing up there was good. Rackerby would see kids whose fathers did not have jobs during the Great Depression. His father started working for himself and he made out. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby describes his father's businesses in detail.] Rackerby attended school in Sacramento.

During World War 1, Archibald Rackerby's mother worked for the Navy as a clerk. Her father worked for the Government Printing Office. Most of her family worked in government jobs. They were not called WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Navy Women's Reserve] then, they were called yeomanettes [Annotator's Note: nickname for Yeoman (F)]. During the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression] years, things were tough. They would use his mother's Navy cloaks to keep warm. There were six children so his mother could not work then. His father had served in France in World War 1 in the Army. They were a patriotic family. His brother served in World War 2 and another brother served in the Vietnam War, all Marine Corps. Many of his friends he went to school with joined the Marine Corps. Rackerby enlisted in the Marines after 7 December 1941 when war was declared because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. He had tried to join in April 1941, but he did not meet the requirements for height and weight. He had two years of college at the time. He went to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were taking anybody then. He decided to spend Christmas at home and went in the day after. He was sworn in 27 December 1941. Patriotism was high in the country then. The recruiting offices were jammed. The country rallied.

Archibald Rackerby joined the Marine Corps on 27 December 1941 and went to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. There were about 30 of them. Boot camp started when the train stopped at the station. Several platoons were filled at once. It was a five-week camp. Later it was cut down to three weeks from 12 weeks before the war. Rackerby had been working for the California State Employment service. Things were less formal then. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby describes how he left that job to join the Marines on 7 December 1941.] He chose the Marines because his mother was born and reared in Washington D.C. and worked for the Navy during World War 1. She had a very high regard for the Marines. She also played the piano and a favorite tune was "The Marines' Hymn". His father had been in World War 1 in the Army in France. He also spoke highly of the Marines. Rackerby thought "why serve with second best".

Archibald Rackerby volunteered to become a Marine Raider. He was a corporal and was in charge of classifying incoming recruits in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. Boot camp had been cut from 12 weeks to five weeks when the war started. At the end of his boot camp, a couple men were pulled to become Assistant Drill Instructors and Rackerby wound up as a typist clerk. Things moved fast but smoothly. During the summer of 1942, the Raiders became prominent after going into Tulagi [Annotator's Note: 1st Raider Battalion, Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo, Solomon Islands, 7 to 9 August 1942]. Rackerby was selected to go to Quantico [Annotator's Note: Quantico, Virginia] for officer training. That was ten weeks, terrible, raining and snowing. It was difficult. On 27 January 1943, he completed the training. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby repeats the story with different details.] He was a squad leader [Annotator's Note: before officer training]. He was not a college graduate and nearly all the others were. He picked up a platoon to take to New Zealand to the 3rd Marine Division. He was on the drill field with them in San Diego when a messenger came and told him he had orders back to Quantico. It was worse than any enlisted training. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby describes the different pay scales at the time.] Rackerby tired of working at the boot camp and felt the war was passing him by. He applied for everything to get into combat, including the Army Air Corps, anything to get out of training recruits.

Archibald Rackerby was assigned to the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion. Colonel Liversedge [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Brigadier General Harry Bluett Liversedge] had been in charge of the 28th Marines [Annotator's Note: 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] who went to the top of Suribachi [Annotator's Note: Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan] and was in charge of the Raider Battalion. Rackerby was in Company K. Boot camp in those days was cut from 12 weeks to three weeks then. Rackerby went to New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia (dependent state), France] for advanced training. He then went to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] in preparation for Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua, New Guinea]. They did a lot of night training, including amphibious landings from rubber boats. It was physically difficult. He knew he was going to play an active part in the war. He had office jobs because he could type. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby talks about officer training.] Bougainville was jungle and kind of scary. He picked up a platoon that had been formed overseas from other Marine units. They all had been in the Marine Corps a little while. All of the eligible second lieutenants on New Caledonia were gathered and selected for the Raiders. Rackerby had the advantage of more time in the Marine Corps. Freddy Beans [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Brigadier General Fred Dale Beans], of 3rd Raider Battalion and Alan Shapley [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Lieutenant General Alan Shapley] of 2nd Raider Battalion came down the line with a doctor and picked who they wanted, including Rackerby. He has no idea why he was chosen. Beans asked if he wanted to join the Raiders. You do not say no to a Colonel, so Rackerby said "yes sir!" That is how he volunteered to be a Raider.

Archibald Rackerby was training to go to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] after Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea] where he had been for two and a half months. They were training on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] with live ammunition, including hand grenades and mortars. Guys got hurt and Rackerby was one of them. A couple of guys were killed. They got into a firefight with the 2nd Raider Battalion [Annotator's Note: 2nd Marine Raider Battalion]. Something happened and the 2nd and the 3rd [Annotator's Note: 3rd Marine Raider Battalion] were shooting at each other. Rackerby was with his mortars up close to the front lines. He does not know how it happened. Getting hit surprised him. It felt like somebody hit him in the neck with a baseball bat. The shrapnel ended his time with the Raiders. The corpsman was on him in an instant and got a compress around Rackerby's neck. They made a stretcher out of some poles and jackets. He went to a Navy hospital about 25 miles away. The Battalion doctor got ice and rode with him to the hospital. Jugular veins are pretty serious, so the doctor kept putting ice down Rackerby's throat. There were no paved roads. He was served a full dinner which they should not have done as he was going into surgery. That was on 9 March 1944 and he got out of the hospital in June.

[Annotator's Note: Archibald Rackerby was wounded by friendly fire while training on Guadalcanal on 9 March 1944.] Rackerby stayed in the Marine Corps after he was released from the hospital [Annotator's Note: in June 1944]. He was not 100 percent well. His vocal cords were paralyzed for a short period. He was talking like Andy Devine [Annotator's Note: Andrew Vabre Devine, American actor] for a couple of years. The vocal cords regenerated eventually. It took about five years to speak normally but it is not like it was. He used to sing in choirs but that all ended. He had no combat after that. He had interesting jobs, fighting with the Navy. There are squabbles at any kind of Naval Station as a Marine. He applied for combat duty, but was denied. The war was passing him by. It is not a good feeling when your men are exposed and getting hurt. He should have been there. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby gets emotional and says he does not think about that much.]

Archibald Rackerby stayed in the Marine Corps after the war ended. He was not 100 percent after his injury. [Annotator's Note: Rackerby had been hit in the throat by friendly fire while training on Guadalcanal on 9 March 1944.] He never applied to get out. A couple of VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] doctors did not know what combat or combat wounds were like. One of them said he had a psychosis because he wanted to get back to full duty. They could not visualize that. He turned down a 40 percent impairment. He sent the check he received back to the VA. He was healthy enough to work and he felt good. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve. He was routinely promoted. His voice was the only thing affected. They thought he was crazy for sending the check back. He has his pride. He has had a good life.