Cortland Claus was born in May 1925 in Ridgeway, Ontario, Canada. He spent his first 10 years going through grade four. They lived on his grandfather’s farm. His father was Canadian and his mother was American. They met at an amusement park. His mother wanted them to be American, not Canadian. He liked the United States because they had so much to offer. In Canada, his playground was open fields and a barn. The farm was bordered by Lake Eerie. He grew up making his own amusements because he did not have any friends that lived close by. He got a BB gun when he was young and this led to him getting an expert rating when he joined the service. When he entered the United States, they lived in a suburb of Buffalo [Annotator’s Note: Buffalo, New York]. They could walk to the theatre and lived right down from a general store. His friends lived closer to him. He had to adapt to several things when he went to school. They still had gas lights for the street lights. They had horse wagons to deliver milk and bread. His father went to work for a company that produced cream separators for farmers. Later they switched to radios. During the Depression years [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s], his work was stable because radios were new. During the war, they manufactured radios for the military. His father had a garden and his mother canned everything. They knew the war was coming. He remembers in 1938 when the Germans invaded. His teacher brought in a radio and they could hear the Germans marching. Winston Churchill [Annotator's Note: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill; Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 1940 to 1945] was the only one who took the Germans seriously. It should have been obvious to Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] that war was inevitable. They knew they would be in the war.

Courtland Claus remembers his cousin dropped by for a military visit. The radio was on in the next room over. They announced that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He knew he would be heading for the Army after that. He was 16 years old. He was in shock. He wondered what they would do about what was coming. He thinks they should have been on red alert and not surprised. He was in his senior year in high school. He was supposed to graduate in June. He was anxious to join the fight. He got his parents' permission and went down to enlist. He was told he could not enlist because he was born in Canada, but they could draft him. Two weeks later, he was drafted and began his service in September 1943. He went on to water works in the Army. This was the first time he had been on a train. He did not have a choice where he went because he was drafted. They selected men based on the replacements they needed at the time. Claus was shipped to Texas for training. Then he was shipped to Panama to work on the canal [Annotator's Note: a manmade canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in between North and South America]. He bought some notebooks to keep a record of his adventures. When he got to Panama, it was the first time he saw palm trees. They referred to it as the crossroads of the world. He volunteered for the construction crew. They dug ditches, poured concrete, and built barracks. Claus could type. He went to headquarters and got a good position. He would make the orders and directives for the day. In 1944, they were looking for infantrymen. His best friend had been killed in France. He jumped at the opportunity to get into the infantry. He went back to the United States to train for the infantry and then the war with Germany ended. VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] in Europe was great, but he knew he would be going to fight the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. When he got to California, he boarded a ship in Los Angeles. He spent a day in Australia and then went on to India.

Courtland Claus could see buildings just beyond the dock when he arrived in India. He saw a stagecoach going by. It was like going back in time. He saw the farmers using tools that dated back hundreds of years. India was very poor. People were dying in the streets. He saw lepers in the street. He saw a man with a hand attached to the shoulder. He grew up a lot in a short time while he was in the service. He managed a gas station when he was 16 years old. The Army needed manpower so they took everyone they could. The living conditions were very poor. There was an overwhelming amount of poor people. Even the British soldiers did not have as much as the Americans. [Annotator’s Note: Claus describes his feelings while experiencing the poor conditions and people.] His job was to ship gasoline over the Hump [Annotator's Note: aerial supply route over the Himalayan Mountains between India and China] to China. He did not have much contact with the British soldiers. [Annotator’s Note: Claus learned about the caste system in India.] Claus had Indians, Muslims, and Hindus working for him. They were working with high-octane gas. He did not like the way the British treated the Indians. The British built railroads. They were taking everything out of the country, but were not putting anything back. He did not have contact with the Japanese. The day after he arrived in India, the first A-bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. It was August 1945 and he did not get out until Easter Sunday in 1946. They were happy the war was over, but there were no celebrations. They were anxious to go home because their job was done. He never forgave the Japanese for what they did in Hawaii [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941].

Courtland Claus will never forget what the Japanese did [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He will never own a Japanese car. When he returned to the United States from India, everyone was excited to see the coast of Oregon. He was home. Some countries do not appreciate what men and women did for the world. World War One [Annotator's Note: World War 1, a global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but that did not happen. He did a lot of traveling during the war. He went overseas twice. The Japanese attack on the United States caused him to be very patriotic. He could not wait to get in. It was something he had to do. Claus was fortunate not to get wounded.

Courtland Claus used 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] when he separated from the service. He was able to get a degree in psychology. He got married. He and his wife worked during the day, and he went to college at night. He is proud of his service. He is glad he did what he did. Those who died paid the ultimate price. It was a war that had to be won. He would visit his mother when he got furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], and found out his best friend had been killed in 1944. The ones who died were the real heroes. He is glad he got to play a small part. He thought the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] was overwhelming. He thinks everyone should see it and experience it. [Annotator’s Note: Claus discusses how high school students interacted with him and other veterans.] The museum is first class. Future generations need to learn about the war because it saved the world. There has never been another war like World War Two. He hopes the younger generations today will have the same patriotic duty as they did then. They should never allow something like that to happen again.