David T. Morgenthaler was born in August 1919 in Chester, South Carolina. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mom remarried and relocated Morgenthaler to Asheville, North Carolina for some time, then moved to Coral Gables, Florida where he attended high school and graduated when he was 16 years old. He did very well in academics, but also enjoyed the social aspect of school, including playing sports and joining a fraternity. He entered an MIT [Annotator's Notes: Massachusetts Institute for Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts] program where he received both a bachelor and master's degree from the school during the Great Depression, and also allowed him to work at the General Electric company and gain a lot of work experience. He joined the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] program while attending MIT. Morgenthaler and a couple of his friends were on there way to a cocktail party when they heard the news that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] on 7 December 1941. He remembers being shocked and thinking his world was about to change. On 8 December 1941 he was called to active duty and assigned to the 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment.

David T. Morgenthaler reported to Langley Field [Annotator's Note: now Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia] in Virginia for military training, where he started out as a staff officer and was then promoted to company commander, which he did not feel qualified for and did not receive the necessary training to command a group of draftees. Morgenthaler was placed in charge of about 200 men, most of who were older than he was and did not volunteer nor want to be there. Morgenthaler and his battalion [Annotator's Note: Morgenthaler was a member of the 21st Engineer Aviation Regiment] were sent to Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco] after the fighting stopped. He was disappointed that Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman [Annotator's Note: Bogart and Bergman were popular film actors of the era] did not meet him when he landed.

David T. Morgenthaler and his unit [Annotator's Note: 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment] were sent to North Africa and taken to a remote site in the desert and told to construct a 10,000 foot airfield pointing in a specific direction. He made sure his men always had good rations, shelter, clothing, and the equipment to do their jobs. He found ways to earn respect from his troops and they came to respect him as their leader. His unit constructed and maintained several airfields in North Africa. He found an old broken ice machine and his men repaired it; so, they were able to make ice, a very valuable commodity in the desert.

David T. Morgenthaler recalled some of the cooks in his unit [Annotator's Note: 21st Engineer Aviation Regiment] were doing a sloppy job. He told them to straighten up or they would be assigned to work details constructing runways. He never had a problem from any of his cooks again. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 0:51:45.000.] When his regiment entered Tunis, Tunisia, they received a warm welcome from the local population, and built and airfield. In September 1943, Morgenthaler left North Africa and landed in Taranto, Italy then moved up the peninsula with the British. He recalled the rainy and snowy weather while trying to build airfields. He was asked by his superior to be the defense counsel for men who were being court martialed. Morgenthaler was apprehensive about the duty but was still ordered to do it.

David T. Morgenthaler was transferred to the Headquarters and Service Company [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 21st Engineer Aviation Regiment]. Living situations were better in Italy than they had been in North Africa. Morgenthaler heard about D-Day [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] over the BBC [Annotator's Note: British Broadcasting Corporation]. Morgenthaler was sent home for a 45 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and landed in the United States on the day the war with Europe ended.

David T. Morgenthaler returned to the United States at the end of the war with Europe. He had a 45 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] with the intention to go to Japan after, but Japan surrendered after the atomic bombs were dropped, so Morgenthaler was sent to MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida. Morgenthaler recalled an instance in Italy when his Italian workers wanted a raise or refused to work, so he threatened to take away their bread ration cards and black list them so they could not be hired by the Allied military again. The workers changed their minds and went back to work.

David T. Morgenthaler started a new company in Erie, Pennsylvania after he was discharged in 1945. He married and began having children soon after he returned home. He became very successful and a pioneer for venture capitalists. Morgenthaler believes World War 2 changed America in many ways, including bringing women into the work force, increased population mobility, and people received educational degrees. He believes that every young person should go into public service for two years.