Claude Clifton Cuniff, Junior was born in August 1927 in Beaumont, Texas. He grew up in Big Hill, Texas where his father was a farmer, while his mother stayed at home raising nine children. Cuniff went to a one-room school, and when he was 10 years old drove himself and others to the schoolhouse. He came home from school and helped his father on the farm. He grew up with no electricity and used kerosine lamps. His next-door neighbor about one mile away from his family home. Cuniff does not recall where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], except listening to the radio. Cuniff was influenced by several guys he knew, including his girlfriend's brother, to join the Navy, however he was only 15 years old. He quit school in the 9th grade and lied about his age to work at a shipyard in Houston [Annotator's Note: Houston, Texas] until he was 16 years old. In January 1944, Cuniff enlisted into the Navy at the age of 16 years old, completed a six-week boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] and three-week amphibious training in Coronado [Annotator's Note: Coronado, California].

Claude Clifton Cuniff, Junior was assigned to the USS General G.O. Squier (AP-130) out of San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. His ship set out for New Caledonia, and everyone got sick except for him. The Squier reached New Caledonia and Cuniff stayed there for two days before being assigned as an electrician aboard the USS President Hayes (APA-20) at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. [Annotator's Note: Video break at 0:15:28.000.] The weather was horrible, and the mosquitoes were thick. The Hayes was part of the Reserve unit during the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan]. He could hear the battleships pounding shells on the island. He saw the USS Texas (BB-35) in action firing their 14-inch guns [Annotator's Note: 14-inch, .45-caliber naval gun] onto the beaches. While on the ship, they carried troops. He had two meals a day. He spent most of his time in the engine room, and that's where he would do his watch duty. The engine room was always loud, and Cuniff suffers from hearing loss because of it. The galley room had a fire shortly after picking up supplies in Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. The crew was able to extinguish the fire, but there was damage to the electrical wiring and cause them to be dead in the water. It took the crew about a day to fix the wiring. The Hayes set sail for Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii] for more repairs. He befriended a sailor named, Archie Allen [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], who was from Oklahoma. He drove a ship to shore with supplies and hit something in the water. Allen ended up being rescued and placed on another ship. He eventually made it back to the Hayes.

Claude Clifton Cuniff, Junior [Annotator's Note: assigned to the USS President Hayes (APA-20)] was at San Pedro [Annotator's Note: San Pedro, California] while his ship was loading supplies for the invasion of Japan. Cuniff was on about to go on liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] when he heard the news about the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. A family took him to their house and fed him a big meal. Everyone was celebrating the hopes of the war's end. The next morning, he returned to the USS Hayes and left for Japan. During postwar, the USS Hayes brought troops to Wakayama [Annotator's Note: Wakayama, Japan] and Nagoya [Annotator's Note: Nagoya, Japan] for occupation duty. Cuniff was able to have liberty in Japan for a few days. The Japanese would have never surrendered and millions more people would have died if it were not for the atomic bombs. Cuniff remained on the ship for three more trips of transferring military dependents and discharged troops to Hawaii. He was discharged on 3 August 1946. After the war, he did not go back to school and chose to work in the oil fields until his medical retirement in 1981. He bought a motorhome with his wife and traveled every summer. They visited 48 states.

Claude Clifton Cuniff, Junior's experience in the Navy was exciting. He always enjoyed coming through and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge [Annotator's Note: suspension bridge in San Francisco, California as a sailor aboard the USS President Hayes (APA-20)]. He wished he should have stayed in. He went into the service as a kid and grew up quickly. Most young people do not know much about World War 2. Cuniff worries about the future of America.