Claire Maddox was born in Pittsburg, Kansas in 1924 [Annotator's Note: April 1924]. He had two older brothers. It was a time when the boys could do what they pleased without their mother worrying about them. Times were tough during the Depression. Money was hard to find. His father's company failed when the Depression began [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. The company gave his father a truck which he used to acquire jobs. The problem came when he tried to receive pay for his work. Maddox went to school in multiple towns because his father was in the construction business. Maddox remembers the day his father lost his work. There was no money in the bank because it no longer existed. Although 17 years of age when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], it did not mean anything in particular to him. He knew it was war and became involved when he was drafted. He was deferred to complete high school but was called up that summer [Annotator's Note: in 1943].

When Claire Maddox went into the service [Annotator's Note: in the summer of 1943], he had the option to pick any of the military branches. He chose the Navy for no particular reason. He was trained in Farragut, Idaho. The mountains of Idaho were a beautiful setting for his boot camp. The lake was wonderful. He enjoyed the exposure to the outside world. After boot camp, his group was sent by train to Port Hueneme, California. He went right into an ACORN [Annotator's Note: Aviation, Construction, Ordnance, Repair] outfit [Annotator's Note: ACORN-21]. The outfit served as ship's company with activities such as guard duty and everything to do with the base. Living in tents to start, the unit was later sent into Quonset huts [Annotator's Note: prefabricated metal building]. They trained on a rifle range and participated in other duties. They partied also. He was aware of the war in the Pacific. Maddox knew that the Pacific was the outfit's ultimate destination. His ACORN unit was deployed to the Marshall Islands on a merchant ship with five-high bunks. They sat offshore until the island was secured [Annotator's Note: after the Battle of Eniwetok, 17 to 23 February 1944 at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands]. Aerial and naval bombardment subdued the Japanese on the island while the merchant ship remained in the lagoon. Prior to reaching the Marshall Islands, the ship had taken on supplies in Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Maddox witnessed the attack on Eniwetok . The captain in charge of the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] which accompanied the ACORN unit on the ship wanted to send his men in with the Marines. The Marine captain strongly suggested that the Seabees stay out of the way during the assault. The officer said that the Marines would do their job and then the Seabees could come in and do their job. Maddox and the ACORN group stayed on the ship about a week. The Marines forced the enemy to one corner of the island and simply waited for them to come out and surrender, which they did.

Claire Maddox went ashore [Annotator's Note: as a member of ACORN-21, after the Battle of Eniwetok, 17 to 23 February 1944 at Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands] and spent the first night in a pup tent [Annotator's Note: also called a shelter-half, type of partial tent designed to provide temporary shelter or concealment]. There were several Black men in the ACORN outfit, but the troops kept to themselves and were segregated. There was a knife fight in the middle of the night, so rifles had to be secured. There were about 100 personnel assigned to ACORN-21. The only thing to eat in the beginning was fruit cocktail. Nothing else was available so it got very old after two days. Later, six men were in each tent which had a wooden floor. There was a tent over the tent to attempt to keep it cool. There were no problems with diseases or insects. The runway was built by a Seabee unit [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] using the ocean coral around the island. It was superior to the metal strips used to fabricate some runways. A squadron of B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] flew daily bombing missions from the island against Truk [Annotator's Note: Truk Atoll (Chuuk Lagoon), Federated States of Micronesia and other targets. Eniwetok was utilized as a refueling location for another bomber squadron. Replacement Navy fighter planes for aircraft carriers were located on the island. Maddox was assigned to direct the efforts on various jobs. He shared 12-hour shifts with another man in his tent. They worked miscellaneous jobs such as sorting piles of can goods. Shifts sometimes reached 24 hours, but when it was said that his crew had to work 36 hours, he told his eight- or nine-man crew to take breaks and sleep to refresh themselves for the work. His men offloaded and loaded supplies from barges that were run-up on the beach. Most of the supplies were for the B-24s. Some P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] passed through. A big bomber, a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] had to land on the runway one time. Weight had to be stripped from the heavy bomber so it could take-off. The work of the B-24s was the main focus on the island. The island was attacked twice by the Japanese. The first bombing hit a pile of old ammunition which caused no damage. The second attack missed the targeted island because of its small size. There were four Marine gun emplacements to protect the island. When Maddox first reached the island, he dug a foxhole for his protection, but during the attack, he found another individual had gotten to his hole before him. He ran to seek another foxhole that was empty. Digging foxholes in coral was not easy. The Seabees were phenomenal. That found ways to make money. Maddox was transferred home after the war. He managed to hop on an airplane to get back to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. He brought an inflatable raft on the flight in case the plane had to ditch. Flying back was easier than waiting for the aircraft carrier Saratoga [Annotator's Note: USS Saratoga (CV-3)] to sail them back home.

Claire Maddox returned to Hawaii [Annotator's Note: as a member of ACORN-21, Aviation, Construction, Ordnance, Repair] after the war. He had been on Eniwetok when the atomic bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. The Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] seemed to know ahead of time that the bombs would be used to end the war. After reaching San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California], Maddox remained in the Navy in clothing and small stores on the base. He, along with his wife, lived in a housing unit. He was the only married man in his unit. His lieutenant gave him a pass to go in and out of the gate anytime he wanted. Maddox did as he pleased. He stayed ashore for nights. He provided new uniforms to men returning from the war front. There was a lot of surplus clothing at that point. Maddox was discharged in the Spring [Annotator's Note: 1946]. His in-laws drove an old Studebaker [Annotator's Note: a brand of automobile] to California to pick up Maddox and his wife to return home [Annotator's Note: Pittsburg, Kansas]. It was a nice vacation and journey. They lived in a house owned by his wife's parents. He joined the 52-20 Club [Annotator's Note: a government-funded program that paid unemployed veterans 20 dollars per week for 52 weeks]. The 20 dollars a week for 52 weeks was enough to get by on. They lived on that and partied. There had been nothing to do on Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands], the island he served on during the war. The island was later used as an atomic bomb target [Annotator's Note: from 1948 to 1958] and was destroyed. Maddox had a very hard time readjusting to civilian life. He had nothing but work to do for two years. He understands what guys go through today [Annotator's Note: posttraumatic stress disorder]. He started college at WSU [Annotator's Note: Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas] but spent too much time partying and not enough time studying. Consequently, he did not take advantage of the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment].

Claire Maddox does not feel the country [Annotator's Note: the United States] has any idea what the veterans went through during the war. Most of his time on the island [Annotator's Note: he served in ACORN-21, Aviation, Construction, Ordnance, Repair on Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands] was spent drinking so it was an unusual experience compared to other veterans. He shared a tent with five other men including an Indian [Annotator's Note: Native American] from Minnesota who was Maddox's crane operator. The operator was a pure alcoholic. Maddox had to make sure the Indian did not operate the crane while inebriated. The men finally got into a Quonset hut [Annotator's Note: prefabricated metal building]. When Admiral Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] was slated to visit the island, a supply of alcohol was stored in a Quonset hut. It mysteriously disappeared. The authorities never found it. Maddox knew where it went. An old-timer was in charge of small ships in the harbor and knew where all the buoys were. There was another island used to provide beer to sailors for a day's relaxation. There was a good supply of alcohol on the island. Maddox had access to quite a bit of stored beer. He cooled the beer using CO2 [Annotator's Note: carbon dioxide] bottles to chill the bottled beverage. The ACORN supply unit gave a man a jeep in return for him keeping the CO2 bottles filled. Maddox does not like beer today, but he could drink a case a night during the war. After duty, he would wash off in the ocean and then drink copious amounts of beer while playing poker. In supply, Maddox had access to many things not ordinarily available. That included an ice cream machine for the officers. The problem was that ice was not available from the cooks. The supply staff and galley crew did not get along well. The war stirred the country to build it to what it is today. It brought the country out of poverty [Annotator's Note: due to The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]and started it over again. The computer generation of today will change it once again.