Arthur Braunstein was born in New York [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York] in February 1924. His father was a cabinetmaker and remained employed throughout the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. Brauntsein was involved in a car accident in which his older sister died. The effects on the family following her death were devastating, especially for their father. [Annotator’s Note: Phone rings in background at 0:02:43.000.] Braunstein was aware of the conflicts in Germany and in Japan before the American entrance into the war. Because of this knowledge, Braunstein enlisted in the National Guard at age 16. Wanting to be an aerial photographer, he volunteered for service with the Army Air Corps upon turning 18. When it was discovered that Braunstein could speak fluent Hungarian, he was placed in an intelligence role and his hopes of being a photographer were dashed. After training, Braunstein was scheduled to fly to Italy to begin his tour of duty. At the last minute, his spot on the flight was filled by a colonel and he was placed aboard a liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] for the journey overseas. Luckily for Braunstein, the plane that he was supposed to be on never made it to Italy. Braunstein does not recall which bomb group he served with. He was responsible for planning bombing missions over Italy and Europe. For every ten missions he planned, Braunstein flew one mission. He flew five missions overall. The first mission was a disaster as the waist gunner standing next to him was shot in the head and killed. The sight made Braunstein incredibly ill and any illusion he had about being a hero was gone. The other planners for the outfit were killed and Braunstein was grounded, a decision he calls a godsend. While on a bus into the city of Bari, Italy, Braunstein recalls talking to a G.I. [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] and realizing there was something suspicious about him as he would not engage him in conversation. When Braunstein got off the bus, he alerted a nearby MP [Annotator’s Note: military police] to the suspicious man who quickly apprehended him. The man turned out to be a spy who had been damaging B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. [Annotator’s Note: Woman’s voice interrupts interview at 0:9:05.000.] On another mission, Braunstein’s plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Yugoslavia [Annotator’s Note: a former European nation made up of modern day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia]. If plans for a mission were changed just before takeoff, Braunstein was responsible for running onto the runway to let each crew know of the changes. Doing so cost him his hearing. One morning, Braunstein awoke to dozens of bullet holes in his tent. When he asked what happened, the other men told him they had been attacked in the middle of the night, but that Braunstein would not wake up to run for cover.

[Annotator’s Note: Can hear someone walking around and using the phone throughout this segment.] When the war in Europe ended [Annotator’s Note: 8 May 1945], the rest of the group returned home while Arthur Braunstein stayed behind to train their replacements. Braunstein was on a ship to the United States with orders to report to Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. He was discharged in late 1945 with the rank of sergeant. He got a job working in the toy business and eventually retired at the age of 80 after owning several of his own toy stores. Braunstein’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was when he saw a guy get shot in the head. He fought because he wanted to be a soldier. The war changed his life because it made him a man. He is very proud of his service today. He believes America thinks the war is important. Braunstein believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.