Daniel Morisak was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania in January 1921 and was raised in Akron, Ohio with three brothers. He grew up during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] and had very little in the way of toys. For Christmas, he hoped for just one gift. Morisak's father was a carpenter for the BF Goodrich Company [Annotator's Note: BFGoodrich; American tire manufacturer.]. He and his brothers all worked for a rubber company in Akron. Morisak did not have a lot of clothes, and only one pair of shoes which was good for the Depression era. He attended Kenmore High School in Akron, graduating in 1939. He began working as a messenger for Western Union while still in high school. He was 20 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was in a car with friends when he heard about it over the radio. None of them had ever heard of Pearl Harbor. Everyone was anxious to join the service after the news. Morisak enlisted right away, and was inducted 19 January [Annotator's Note: 19 January 1942] at Fort Benjamin Harris, Indiana. He was then shipped to Syracuse, New York and formed into different outfits. Morisak was assigned to the 2nd Airdrome Squadron. They then moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico. There, he served as supply sergeant for the unit, responsible for supplying 282 men and 12 officers with clothing, bedding, etc.

Daniel Morisak moved from New Mexico [Annotator's Note: from Alamogordo, New Mexico] to Oakland, California to board a ship, a converted ocean liner called the Mount Vernon [Annotator's Note: USS Mount Vernon (AP-22)], which carried about 8,000 men. They were not in a convoy for the trip from California to Sydney, Australia. They made a zig-zag [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] course that took about two weeks to complete. They remained in Sydney for about a month, then went on to Port Moresby, New Guinea for a week, and finally on to Kiriwina Island in the Trobriand Islands. It was only about four miles wide, and eight miles long. The Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] had just laid out an airstrip for Morisak's unit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Airdrome Squadron, 5th Air Force] to take over. It was miserable there, very hot and wet, and lots of mosquitos. The Japanese were on nearby Truk Island [Annotator's Note: also known as Chuuk Lagoon or Truk Atoll located north of New Guinea]. They sometimes saw Japanese bombers going over the island to bomb New Guinea, and occasionally dropped their bombs in Kiriwina. Digging their foxholes was tough because the island was all coral. There was a native population there, but the military did not interact much with them.

Daniel Morisak left Kiriwina [Annotator's Note: Kiriwina Island in the Trobriand Island Group of Papua New Guinea] after 11 months, and went back to Lae, New Guinea which was the last place Amelia Earhart [Annotator's Note: Amelia Mary Earhart; American aviation pioneer who disappeared in July 1937] took off from. They then went to Leyte and Samar, the Philippines which had seen a lot of action during the war. One night they were bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] on the shore when the Japanese dropped paratroopers. Zeros [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] were firing at the ships and some of the shells ricocheted off the ships and back to shore. Morisak was more afraid of that than the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. The next morning there were a lot of dead Japanese soldiers on the shore. Morisak's unit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Airdrome Squadron, 5th Air Force] moved to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, the Philippines] for about three months, then continued on via LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] to Okinawa via Ie Shima [Annotator's Note: Okinawa and Ie Shima, Japan], where Ernie Pyle [Annotator's Note: Ernest Taylor Pyle; American journalist and war correspondent] was killed. It was on their way to Okinawa that it was announced that the war was over [Annotator’s Note: 15 August 1945]. Everyone celebrated. Morisak was sent back to the Philippines to be returned home. The trip home lasted a week. The ship was overloaded with men, many of whom had to sleep on the deck. They arrived in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] and were given a steak dinner with real milk. It was the first real meat and milk he had had in years. Morisak returned to Ohio after being discharged. Our country is a better country now than it was before the war.