Calvin Elliott was born in February 1918 in Whitesville, Delaware. He grew up in Maryland after moving there when he was eight or nine years old. He worked on the farm until he went into Fort Meade, Maryland [Annotator's Note: Fort George Meade, Maryland]. Elliott was working in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], in a US Government clothing manufacturing plant as a senior industrial sewing machine mechanic when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941. His only plan for after graduating high school was to try to survive those hard times. Elliott was drafted by February [Annotator's Note: 1942]. He was gung-ho like everybody else. It was his duty. His first day at Fort Meade, he was in a line stark naked. In front of Elliott was a young man who must have lied about his age. When the young man got his shots, he passed out. That was the highlight of his entrance. It shows he did not have an eventful four years. His boot camp was at Langley Field, Virginia [Annotator's Note: now Langley Air Force Base, Hampton, Virginia]. They did not even have trainers there. They only had some tents. A corporal was pulled out of Panama to do the training. He was very antagonistic. Things were not normal; he did not know that at the time. He was assigned to a crash boat pulling targets for B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] bombardier trainees in the Chesapeake Bay. The target simulated an enemy submarine periscope. Some of the bombs came straight at their boat. Elliott's job was to watch where the bomb was going. They were 50 pound smoke bombs, but they would have put a hole in the boat. He was then sent to Bowman Field, Kentucky [Annotator's Note: Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky]. There he dug up sod and made a big pasture for them. He was put on a troop train to Walterboro, South Carolina [Annotator's Note: Walterboro Army Airfield]. There was a cow pasture, rattlesnakes, and a rusty fence. They cleaned all of that up. The drank out of Lyster bags [Annotator's Note: canvas drinking bags] and about half of them were hospitalized with dysentery. They built barracks rapidly.

Calvin Elliott decided he wanted to try and be an airplane pilot. He was fascinated by the B-25s [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] and B-26s [Annotator's Note: Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber] flying out of the base. He was working in a Quartermaster Supply Depot, hauling barrels of oil. There were hijackings of oil then, but he carried a .45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] and did not have any problems. He took the pilot test and passed but he could not fly because he had an astigmatism [Annotator's Note: defect in the eye]. Getting ready to go overseas, he heard about tank commanders. He wanted to be one and ride around in a tank with his head sticking out. He did not realize how dangerous that was. He went to Fort Knox [Annotator's Note: Fort Knox, Kentucky] in intense training. He woke up with a fever and was sent to sick call. He was hospitalized right away with the flu. He spent eight days there and was left behind by his company. The base commander told him he had to be reassigned or transferred a grade. He had to start training all over again. He went to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri [Annotator's Note: Jefferson Barracks Military Post, Lemay, Missouri] to an unassigned depot. Unassigned G.I.s [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] of all ranks were there. Their commander was a major who was the meanest man Elliott had ever known. One day in formation, he stopped in front of Elliott. He said Elliott looked good and moved on. He was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana and quartered in a warehouse with no air conditioning in the summer. Their captain took them on forced marches through the swamps. Snakes there were as big around as your wrist. It was good training though. Elliott was ready to go fight anybody in the world. He did go up to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. They had street cars, which he had never seen before. He enjoyed one evening there but does not remember much.

Calvin Elliott was put onto a Limey [Annotator's Note: period derogatory term for British people] troop transport. Nazi submarines got after them. It took them nine days to go from New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] to Puerto Rico. It was rough and everybody except him and some others was seasick. The Limeys fed them stewed beef for three meals a day. Elliott was taken to Borinquen Air Base [Annotator's Note: Aguadilla, Puerto Rico]. It was beautiful and hurricane proof. He was promoted quickly to Tech Sergeant [Annotator's Note: Technical Sergeant, E-7] and was put in charge of a giant warehouse of supplies; all clothing, cooking utensils, all the food. He had a captain that he learned to love. Elliott had about 50 civilian, Puerto Rican employees. He got the idea they were cursing him. You could not drink the water in town and town was not too safe. He learned the Spanish language. One day they cursed him, and he cursed them back. They had some parties there. One of his buck sergeants was a carpenter. One night he came to Elliott and said he had the blues [Annotator's Note: term for feeling depressed] and wanted to get drunk. Elliott said he did not get drunk but could get a bottle from his captain. They drank the whole bottle and he could not believe he survived it. He was going across the parade ground the next morning, got into formation and was given calisthenics. He did it and did it well. He kept doing the same routine. There was an airplane that had gotten very popular towards the end of the war. They had a little party. A second lieutenant was in charge of burials. The plane had disintegrated and caught fire on landing. [Annotator's Note: It is hard to follow the story.] They had one alert of a sub offshore. They were issued live ammunition. He stationed his men around the warehouse. Nobody showed up.

[Annotator's Note: Calvin Elliott was stationed at Borinquen Air Base, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.] There was a major who had maid, all of the officers did. There was an alert going on and somebody came to his door. He shot and blew one of the breasts off of his maid. Elliott does not know if it is true. That major could not be found after that. [Annotator's Note: Elliott consults notes to see what he missed.] While stationed at Walterboro [Annotator's Note: Walterboro Army Airfield Walterboro, South Carolina], Elliott met his wife of 68 years. One afternoon after marching, he came in and the First Sergeant said that the nurses had invited some of the men to have a little party. He asked for volunteers and Elliott had nothing else to do. He married her a few months after meeting her. They had a good life. He nursed her for four or five years. He was getting ready to take her to the doctor and left the room. When he came back, she was dead. Elliott points out that every time he was about to get in danger, it was blocked. It was the Lord. He had other plans for Elliott than getting shot. Elliott had converted to Christianity when he was 12 years old. It was not uncommon for country folk. There is no doubt in his mind, that the Lord decided he was not going to let him get killed on the battlefield. He raised a family.

[Annotator's Note: Calvin Elliott consults some notes to see if he left anything out of his story.] Calvin Elliott was home after the First Sergeant at Borinquen Air Base [Annotator's Note: Aguadilla, Puerto Rico] told him he could have leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] with his family. He went. He was sent back to Florida when his leave was up. His orders to Puerto Rico were cancelled and he got orders to the Pacific. At the last minute, the war ended in Japan. They dropped the bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. Then he got orders to Albany, Georgia. He sat there doing practically nothing. He rented a house. The day his wife arrived, he got orders to Fort Dix, New Jersey. He was discharging troops then. He saw poker games. Some of the men had been prisoners of war for years. He got his discharge 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] to go home. He told the Colonel that they were not doing a good job accounting for what was going out of the warehouses. Elliott went home to his wife. He could work in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] if he wanted it. He did not want to.

Calvin Elliott did not use the G.I. Bill. He had an occupation. He worked with women all of his life. When he retired, he was in charge of about 600. From his discharge until he was 65 years old, he manufactured shirts. The women did piecework, which is now called sweat shop work. He disagrees. He had no trouble going from military to civilian life. He was excited. His first job after the service was as a mechanic. He had fairly good relations with the unions. Elliott's wedding is his most memorable experience of World War 2. Elliott decided to serve when another country insulted the United States by bombing its Navy [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Elliott calls himself a country bumpkin. His service acquainted him with people of different races and from different countries and places. It was a step to love. All of these things were supervised by Jesus Christ. There is no doubt in his mind about that. He has had things happen that people would not believe. Elliott's service means he did what he could, when he could, as he should. The war was supposed to end all wars. Unfortunately, that was not true. Jesus will put an end to wars when the time is right. Elliott thinks the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is a healthy recognition of the war. Sometimes he thinks teaching the war is political hoopla [Annotator's Note: unnecessary fuss], but it does not do harm. [Annotator's Note: He describes what sounds like a home he lives in.] He feels he has an obligation to show people who are not Christians that there are better things in the future.