Donald Campbell was born in 1923 in Cedar Lake, Mississippi, the son of a sawmill worker. He grew up during the Great Depression, and after the sawmill closed, his father became a common laborer, one of the few men in town who wasn't involved in bootlegging. When Campbell was in the sixth grade, the county ran out of money, and shut the schools down. Within a week, the family moved to another county [Annotator's Note: Jackson County, Mississippi] where he could get an education. He graduated from Vancleave High School [Annotator's Note: Vancleave High School in Vancleave, Mississippi.] in 1942. He doesn't remember exactly how he learned about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], and although he didn't know where Pearl Harbor was, he hated the people who made the "sneaking attack." Campbell said he spent a lot of time in Japan, and got over that hatred. When he was in junior college, a recruiter came around, and Campbell decided to join the Navy. He enlisted in December 1942, and his naval career began on 8 July 1943 at SLI [Annotator's Note: Southern Louisiana Institute; now University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana] in the V-12 Program [Annotator’s Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946]. While taking vocational agriculture courses, he also took Navy courses in navigation and seamanship, wore uniforms and had regular drills. He was at SLI for a year, and in July 1944 he was sent to Northwestern University Reserve Midshipman School in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] for four months, after which he was commissioned an ensign.

After a 24 hour leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], Donald Campbell reported to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California], and shipped out to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. There he was assigned to an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. Campbell spent six weeks there in training and thought the people of Hawaii "so nice," and the islands beautiful and enjoyable. The cruise to Hawaii on a crowded troop ship was uneventful. Campbell was all set to go into training to be an LCT [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Tank] skipper when he got orders to report to USS LST-809 immediately. As soon as he boarded, it was "anchors away," and he was called to the executive officer [Annotator's Note: second in command of a naval vessel or shore duty station; also referred to as XO] who told him they were on their way to Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. The LST-809 arrived as scheduled at the island on D plus 1 [Annotator's Note: one day after the initial invasion day; in this instance, 20 Febraury 1945]. Campbell explained that the ultimate goal was to secure an airbase for the American P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] and B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber], and that there were a number of P-51 service personnel aboard the LST-809. But when they arrived at the south end of the island, the fighting wasn't "goin' good," casualties were "terrible," and the LST was sent out to wait at sea. While circling at sea, Campbell's ship was attacked by a suicide plane. As communications officer, Campbell was inside the radio shack, and he could see only some of the action. Between what he saw and what he was told, Campbell knew that the pilot of the plane had parachuted out, and the aircraft was headed for the ship's wheelhouse, but it turned slightly, went under the yardarm and into the water. Campbell described how the ship's "good" gun crews riddled the plane. Backing up to the time when Campbell reported aboard the 809, he says he was an ensign, and replaced the ship's former communications officer. The USS LST-809 was new, and its function was to land personnel and heavy equipment through a ramp on the bow. Such ships came under Japanese mortar fire while unloading just off the beach.

The USS LST-809 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] spent 60 hours unloading its cargo of men, aviation fuel and ammunition during the amphibious invasion of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], and Donald Campbell describes how a mix-up caused them to unload a type of ammunition that was not used on land, and it had to be reloaded. Campbell says it was a long time to go through the "hell" that was happening on the beach, and after his first day, he already "had enough war" and wanted to quit. Bodies were "floating around everywhere." They pulled off the beach, and located the destroyer that was expecting the ammunition, and delivered the cargo. Campbell says it was terrible to think of how much firepower was sitting on the deck of their ship, while they sat right under Mount Suribachi, in direct line of the Japanese artillery. [Annotator's Note: Campbell chokes up.] The bombs fell all around, and some of the nearby ships suffered terrible bursts and fires, but none hit USS LST-809. While he was there, the American forces raised the American flag on the mountain, and although he didn't witness the raising, Campbell did see the flag flying. He says it was "some nice." The Marines were attacking the mountain, and one LST, having been denied its request to bring its dead out to sea for burial, started firing up on the rock, and silenced the guns that were worrying the LSTs. The troops on LST-809 were brought there to establish mass communications on the island, and others were to take care of aircraft once an airbase was set up. Campbell felt the establishment of air support on Iwo Jima went a long way to ending the war. The 809 never lost any of its crew during the operation, but they had experience with casualties. They took on wounded and transported them to hospital boats. Doctors performed triage on deck, and Campbell was affected by the many men he saw die. Returning to the process of unloading their cargo, Campbell mentions that the ship ran right up to the beach, but because of the soil conditions, it was necessary for some of the vehicles to be towed off the ship onto level ground. Then they waited for the tide to be right so they could "shake aloose," and get back out to sea. He noted that the bow ramps were sometimes opened for ventilation when the ship was at anchor at sea.

From Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], Donald Campbell and the USS LST-809 prepared for the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. They headed for the island and participated in a "fake" landing, where they disgorged wave after wave of "Amtracks" [Annotator's Note: landing vehicle, tracked or LVT] to draw fire from the beach. Then a plane covered the area with a smoke screen, concealing the Amtracks so they could return to the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. Meanwhile, the main fleet had hit the other side of the island. The LST was carrying huge tanks attached to each of its sides, and unloaded them at a coral reef and tied them together to create a level surface for the troops to use in going ashore. Campbell says it was "the most perfect amphibious operation that was ever performed." The troops advanced some distance before running into any opposition. The artificial surface also made it possible for trucks to disembark easily, and there were no men lost in the operation. By the time the smoke had cleared, Tokyo Rose [Annotator's Note: nickname given by Allied servicemen to any English speaking female radio personality broadcasting Japanese propaganda in the Pacific Theater] was declaring that the Japanese had destroyed the entire American invasion force, a real joke among the troops. The ship tuned in to the broadcasts every day, and one of the techs on their ship had rigged its radios to listen to boxing matches as well. LST-809 carried 17 Amtracks to the Okinawa invasion, and Campbell describes the pattern the vehicles formed as they disembarked. Okinawa was famous for the high number of Kamikaze attacks, and Campbell was witness to some. The gunners on the LST were under instruction not to fire at planes at night; detection was left up to the destroyers that had the proper equipment. One night the lead destroyer opened fire on a Kamikaze, but didn't get off many rounds before it was hit, and the conflagration was burning up people on deck and the members of the crew were jumping off everywhere. The 809 launched its life rafts, and picked up survivors. [Annotator's Note: Campbell gets emotional.] Campbell knew some of them. He remembers that for the rest of the war, the 809 was ferrying survivors from one ship to another. He had opportunity to talk with them about their experiences. Campbell says they made several trips onto the beaches of Okinawa over the course of the invasion, and on one trip he remembers transporting Marines to Naha [Annotator's Note: Naha, Okinawa], and the Japanese resistance was terrible. The skipper told the quartermaster to get what the Marines needed unloaded as quickly as possible because he wanted to get out of there before night. They went to work and unloaded, and Campbell "never saw any of that bunch again," and doesn't know what happened to them.

The officers would "talk a lot about things," Donald Campbell says, it was a furious campaign [Annotator's Note: the battle of Okinawa, Japan] and the Americans were losing a lot of men. They were hauling thousands of Marines up the river to Naha [Annotator's Note: Naha, Okinawa], and Campbell says he "didn't envy their job." They were "tremendous young people" like Weldon Humble, an all-American football player from Rice Institute [Annotator's Note: William Marsh Rice University, better known simply as Rice University, in Houston, Texas], who trained with Campbell at Northwestern University Reserve Midshipman School in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. "It was a show that was unimaginable," Campbell said, and he remembers that at Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] details had to sweep away the bodies of the dead with a pitchfork to clear the path for oncoming ships. The 809 [Annotator's Note: USS LST-809] was on the beach offloading cargo for 60 hours, all the while coming under sniper fire. One sniper hid among the dead, and got in several burst before he was killed. Campbell says the Japanese were "tough," and "they didn't give up." "They didn't mind dying, and that's a hard person to beat." Campbell's only contact with prisoners was to move civilians back home after the war was over. They also moved a Japanese battalion, under their own officers' control, and Campbell says they were orderly and kept busy chipping the rusting deck of the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. His impression of the Japanese was that they were respectful, and were no problem to the officers. The group in question were Marines, and of a good size, and mean when necessary. The war ended while USS LST-809 was still stationed off the coast of Okinawa. This ship's radioman heard the message, and when the gunners got the news, they began firing their weapons. It was quite a show, but the skipper stopped the fireworks because the shrapnel was falling back on the ships. Campbell was so busy with his responsibilities that he felt it was "just part of the war." He had to relay the message to the skipper, and it was the skipper who gave the message to the crew. Campbell mentions that he sometimes had to censor messages, and misinformation could be dangerous. Speaking of fireworks shows, he goes on to talk about how the big ships bombarded the islands, and he saw a lot of it when he was on duty. The weight of Campbell's responsibility was such that he rarely had off-duty time. He mentions how valuable the ship's two Higgins Boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] were to their operations, and says he doesn't see how the Americans could have won the war without them.

The weight of Donald Campbell's job was such that he rarely had off-duty time. He was responsible for the division's radiomen, signalmen, quartermasters, and "all the other positions in that area." They always had work to do. If they were loading supplies, two or three men were requisitioned to take a smaller boat and move goods and personnel between the shores and the bigger boats. He mentioned how valuable the ship's two Higgins Boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] were to their operations, and says he doesn't see how the Americans could have won the war without them. When they came in to a designation, they lowered one of the ship's Higgins Boat to go ashore. The first men in would be the skipper, the communications officer and the radioman, and the coxswain who drove the Higgins Boat. Campbell and the radioman went in to pick up messages, and the skipper, who was a drinking man, went to the club and stayed "to the wee hours." Campbell would send the radioman back to the ship, then stay with the skipper until he was ready to return. The Higgins Boat would be waiting at the dock, and sometimes the skipper couldn't climb the ladder and had to be hauled aboard ship in a net. But, Campbell jokes, they "got through it." The radioman was adept at operating the Navy code machines, according to Campbell, and the top-secret communications between the boats of the fleet were well organized and kept safe. Campbell says they had "a lot of sacred material," and in the event of enemy infiltration, they were the first things destroyed. He compliments his "well-trained crew." The USS LST-809 carried ten officers and about 125 to 130 ship personnel. They got along well, and most of the officers stood their turn on watch as part of the day's work. The OD [Annotator's Note: officer of the deck] stood his watch on the conning tower [Annotator's Note: a raised platform, as high on the ship as practical, from which the conning team has good visibility of the entirety of the ship, and an officer can relay orders to those responsible for the ship's movement and operation]. It was "standard thinking" in the Navy that an officer was responsible for anything that happened on his watch. Campbell says, "It made you very careful."

Donald Campbell returned to the United States on 4 July 1946. He married his childhood sweetheart. He was released from active duty in 1946 and remained in the inactive reserves for some time, but was never called back up. Campbell says his time in the war changed his life in several ways. After his discharge, he returned to college under the G.I. Bill, and got a "master's degree plus 30" from Louisiana State University [Annotator's Note: in Baton Rouge, Louisiana]. He said it was unlikely that he would have done that otherwise; he might have gone in some other direction. He became a teacher, and stayed in the profession for 30 years, retiring in 1980. His division experience [Annotator's Note: in his division aboard USS LST-809] helped him to know how to "handle people." Campbell believes he lived during the greatest period in history, and wouldn't trade any of it. The war made him aware of many things, and watches today's events with interest and excitement. He thinks his experience in the Navy had an influence on his teaching career; he taught mostly young men in the flied of agriculture, and feels he was instrumental in the success of a number of big farmers. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Campbell if he thought there should be an institution like The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.] Campbell feels that The National WWII Museum is "the most wonderful thing." He really enjoyed seeing his students go to college, and hopes he had an impact on their young lives.