Dale Bates was born in Salem, Oregon in January 1924. Bates’ father worked in the banking industry and, as such, the family was not greatly impacted by the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. Bates was aware of rising tensions with the Japanese in the late 1930s and can recall the embargoes enacted under President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States], as well as diplomatic talks with the Japanese in Washington D.C. shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Early in 1941, Bates graduated from high school and took typing and shorthand classes as his parents thought he was too young to enroll in college right away. Bates’ father was a commander in the Oregon National Guard based at Fort Stevens. On 6 December 1941, Bates and his family went to Fort Stevens to visit his father. While his parents attended a party to celebrate the opening of a new officers’ club, Bates listened to a news broadcast which told of a large Japanese naval convoy making its way towards the Philippines. The next morning, 7 December, the family was out for a walk on the beach when his father was called back to Fort Stevens when news of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor arrived. Once war broke out, he was ready to do his part.

Dale Bates wanted to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps and enrolled in college at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He joined the enlisted reserves in hopes of attending officer candidate school and becoming a pilot. In February 1942, Bates boarded a train to Lincoln, Nebraska for preliminary testing to determine his eligibility for flight school. He passed these initial tests and was sent to Drury College in Springfield, Ohio for training. While enrolled at school in Ohio, Bates also experienced his first 15 hours of flight instruction. In June 1942, during a classification interview that would have allowed Bates to begin his training as a pilot, he was asked if he had ever stuttered to which he replied, “I have, but I’m not now.” He was disqualified from pilot training and was sent to basic training at Sheppard Field, Texas, then to armament school at Lowry Field in Denver, on to gunnery school in Harlingen, Texas and finally to gunnery instructor school in Fort Myers, Florida. Bates resented becoming an instructor after he had been disqualified from becoming a pilot, to which the Air Force replied, “You used to stutter, but you’re not now.” Bates, knowing he would never make it overseas as an instructor, seized an opportunity and volunteered for service in the South Pacific where a gunnery instructor squad was being established. Bates was flown to the Pacific onboard the transport version of the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber], the C-87 [Annotator’s Note: Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express]. After a stop in Hawaii in which Bates saw the destruction caused by the Japanese [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], he island-hopped across the Pacific to Australia before finally arriving in Port Moresby, New Guinea. Before the gunnery instructor squad was formed, Bates was assigned to the 22nd Bombardment Group in order to get some combat missions under his belt before instructing others. On one of these missions, the right propeller of the B-24 lost pitch and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. The pilot landed perpendicular to the runway, causing the plane to cross over the airstrip and nosedive into a ditch. Everyone walked away safely and Bates collected a piece of the broken Plexiglas nose of the plane. Once the gunnery instructor squad formed, Bates trained Australian gunners for the first several missions. On an instructor mission, Bates was at the left waist gunner position and could see heavy anti-aircraft fire coming towards the squad. A plane near him had been hit and had a large hole blown out the top of the fuselage. After safely landing, he found out that the shot had gone through the ball turret and out of the top of the plane. Luckily, the pilot had not assigned anyone to the ball turret position on that particular mission. Bates flew seven missions as an instructor before the squad was disbanded in October 1944.

Dale Bates flew seven missions as an instructor before the squad was disbanded in October 1944. Bates was then assigned to the 90th Bombardment Group on Biak Island [Annotator’s Note: Biak, Indonesia] to await further assignment to a squad. In the meantime, Bates flew missions with the CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer] of the 90th as part of a “pickup crew”. One of these missions was a night mission through heavy storms over Luzon [Annotator’s Note: Luzon, the Philippines]. After flying 12 hours each way, Bates received credit for two missions for this 24 hour long flight. By December, Bates had still not been assigned to a regular crew and was given leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to spend Christmas and New Year’s in Sydney, Australia. Shortly after the New Year, Bates was assigned to the 321st Bombardment Squadron [Annotator’s Note: 321st Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force] as a waist gunner. His crew was assigned to fly squadron lead and the pilot was promoted to captain before his 21st birthday. Bates was fortunate to be assigned to such an expert crew. On a mission to bomb oil and gas refineries near Saigon [Annotator’s Note: Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam], Bates’ crew began strafing a rail yard filled with oil supplies from 2500 feet. The other waist gunner shot up the wing of the plane and they were forced to return home on only three engines. The officers at headquarters were not too pleased. When not bombing these targets, the 321st often served as ground support in advance of landings in the Philippines. On one mission, the squad bombed Corregidor [Annotator’s Note: Corregidor, the Philippines] and the Bataan Peninsula [Annotator’s Note: Bataan, the Philippines]. They would often bomb at such low altitudes that Bates could feel the concussion from the blasts.

Dale Bates was assigned to the 321st Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group [Annotator’s Note: 321st Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force] as a waist gunner. One mission took Bates and his crew into cloudy skies over Formosa [Annotator’s Note: today known as Taiwan]. To avoid flying back to Biak [Annotator’s Note: Biak, Indonesia] over enemy territory, the plane set out east over the ocean. The pilot instructed the engineer to transfer fuel from the bomb bay reserve tank so that the plane could return safely. The rubber from the inside of the tank had disintegrated and blocked the fuel from going to the engines. With the plane burning fuel from all four wing tanks, and a rescue submarine and a PBY [Annotator’s Note: Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina] standing by to fish the crew out of the ocean, the engineer managed to solve the problem and the pilot managed to make a safe landing in the Lingayen Gulf area of the Philippines. The pilot was awarded for safely landing the plane, but the engineer never got the recognition he deserved for solving the problem before an emergency landing was necessary. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:48:49.000.] Bates never faced any truly life-threatening situations while on board the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. He credits this to the confidence and professionalism of the entire crew. He remarked about other planes crashing which happened while he was in his group.

In early August 1945, the 321st Bombardment Squad, 90th bombardment group [Annotator’s Note: 321st Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force] was transferred to an airfield on Ie Shima off the coast of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: both in Japan]. While stationed there, Dale Bates flew his final combat missions over Balikpapan [Annotator’s Note: Balikpapan, Indonesia] and was able to see Japanese delegates board an American plane en route to meet with MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] in Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines] to discuss the terms of surrender. After the war ended, Bates and the rest of the 321st had to fly four hours per month to continue receiving flight pay. Having taken typing and shorthand before entering the service, Bates kept the records of these flights. Six weeks after the Japanese surrendered, Bates boarded a ship in Manila en route for California. He then took a train to Fort Lewis, Washington and was discharged on 25 October 1945 with the rank of staff sergeant. A few days after his discharge, Bates re-enrolled at Willamette University [Annotator’s Note: in Salem, Washington] using 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]. He joined the enlisted reserve in 1947 and graduated in 1948 as a second lieutenant. He remained in the reserve until 1984 when he retired as a major.

Dale Bates' most memorable experience of World War 2 was a mission off the tip of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa, Japan]. He served in the war because he had no choice, but it was also the thing to do. His father, being in the military, was also a great influence. Bates knew that the country’s freedom was threatened, and is glad that he served and survived. He thinks that many Americans today know very little about World War 2 and is not sure how many schools are making a point to teach it. He 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 because it is too easy for nations to repeat the same mistakes.