Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams was born in Ballinger, Texas in May 1925. In the 1920s, his parents owned a ranch. Because of the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] and drought, they had to sell the ranch. His father was elected Sheriff in 1924. His family moved into the jail and lived there for six years. His father served for six years and then became a Texas Ranger [Annotator's Note: Texas Ranger Division, commonly called Texas Rangers, investigative law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas] They moved to Austin, Texas and his father served under Governor Sterling [Annotator's Note: Ross Shaw Sterling, American politician] until Ferguson [Annotator's Note: James Edward Ferguson, Jr., American politician] was elected Governor. A lot of the Rangers resigned because the Ferguson regime was crooked. They moved to Midland [Annotator's Note: Midland Texas] and his father became a Cattle Inspector for the federal government. They moved to San Angelo [Annotator's Note: San Angelo, Texas], and his father became a Texas Ranger again. They then moved around Texas and lived in 52 different places. McWilliams lived in Big Lake [Annotator's Note: Big Lake, Texas] when he was in the sixth grade in 1936. He feels he grew from a child to a boy there. He grew from a boy to a man when he joined the Marine Corps in 1943. He served from 1943 until 1946, the duration and six months. [Annotator's Note: There is poor audio from 0:04:23.000 to 0:04:41.000. The interviewer is asking McWilliams if he was following the events in Germany and Japan during the 1930s.] He did not until the war started in 1941. He was too young to be concerned about world matters. He was oblivious to the goings-on [Annotator's Note: slang for actions] of Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and Mussolini [Annotator's Note: Italian fascist dictator Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini; also known as il Duce].

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams was in high school in 1941 in Ozona [Annotator's Note: Ozona, Texas]. They were shocked [Annotator's Note: by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He wanted to do something but was too young. He knew he would join the Marine Corps later on. By the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, two of his older brothers were in the service. The height of the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] was in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His brothers had been in the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps; 1933 to 1942]. They went into the service knowing that sooner or later the United States would be involved in the war. His sister joined the WACS [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the US Army, 1942 to 1978]. He had one brother in the Navy and two in the Army. He was anxious to do his part. He volunteered. The Marine Corps was all volunteer. When he became 17, he got his parents' permission to join. Two of his brothers earned Silver Stars [Annotator's Note: the Silver Star Medal is the third-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy]. One was posthumously for the Italian Campaign with the 36th Rainbow Division [Annotator's Note: 42nd Infantry Division; called the Rainbow division due to its shoulder sleeve insignia]. His other brother survived and led a fruitful life. McWilliams wanted to be part of the people defending the United States and to be part of the Marines because they were, and are, the toughest. His family represented nearly all of the branches. He never regretted joining the Marines.

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams joined the Marine Corps on 17 March 1943. He trained at San Diego [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California] for boot camp that was eight weeks long. Part of that was on the rifle range, and he became a rifleman and got pistol training. He was one of the first Marines allowed to go home before going overseas. He came back from home and went into rigorous training. He was assigned to Platoon 284. It was a tough two and a half years but the finest of his life. He made some terrific friends. Some were lost, but others got together after the war. He finished training and on 23 October 1943 he boarded a ship to go overseas. He had Thanksgiving dinner on the Rochambeau [Annotator's Note: USS Rochambeau (AP-63)], and they landed at New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Oceania], not far from Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. It [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal] was safe by then. From there they were sent to Moro Bay, New Guinea. He was assigned to 1st Marine Division, 5th Regiment, H&S Company [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division]. The 5th Regiment was a rifle infantry regiment. They trained for their first encounter at Cape Gloucester, New Britain [Annotator's Note: Battle of Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Papua New Guinea; 26 December 1943 to 16 January 1944]. They landed on Christmas Eve [Annotator's Note: 24 December 1943]. An officer said it was memorable that day was chosen, but it did not matter if you were killed on that day or any other day.

Sometimes it is hard to remember and sometimes it is good to forget some of the things that happened in those days. Joining the Marines is something that Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams will not forget. He will also not forget going into Cape Gloucester [Annotator's Note: Battle of Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Papua New Guinea; 26 December 1943 to 16 January 1944]. It rained constantly. It was a dense, difficult jungle, to fight and even walk in. There were huge snakes, spiders, and alligators. They lost a lot of Marines to those things as well as to Japanese snipers. The Japanese took advantage of the conditions by firing from up in the trees very effectively. McWilliams was in an infantry regiment. His company was H&S, Headquarters and Supply [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division]. His responsibility as a corporal was to see the troops got the weapons and ammunition that they needed to do the fighting at the front lines. They were the targets of the Japanese mortars and rifles as much as the front lines. Anybody that comes under fire who says they are not a little bit scared are a little bit loony. When you see your buddies get hit and fall, and grenades and mortars going off, you get afraid, and he did. He knows fear.

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] were successful and quickly cleared Cape Gloucester of Japanese [Annotator's Note: Battle of Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Papua New Guinea; 26 December 1943 to 16 January 1944]. Those who were not killed or captured, escaped further up the coast to Talasea [Annotator's Note: Talasea, New Britain, Papua New Guinea]. A bunch of them in the 5th Regiment were sent up there on landing craft. They landed and once they got that done [Annotator's Note: Battle of Talasea, or Operation Appease; 6 to 9 March 1944], McWilliams was assigned to be in charge of a group of natives who were backward people. They were fierce fighters. He had about 20 to 25 under his command. They were to go into the deep jungle and cut poles to construct buildings. He became pretty close to the boss warrior whose name was Dende [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to verify identity]. He could speak English after being under the control of Australia. He told McWilliams he was taking him to a place no other white man has ever seen. They came to a clearing in the jungle that was full of flowers. It was one of the most beautiful things McWilliams has ever seen. Dende told him it was where they bring their people when they died. McWilliams cherishes the memory. The Division left Cape Gloucester and was sent to the Russell Islands to Pavuvu. It was supposed to be a rest camp. Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] was close by, and they trained there. Pavuvu had to be carved out from the jungle. They slept in hammocks. Because of the rain, they could not sleep on the ground. The cover kept the mosquitos out. If you constructed the hammock correctly, it was nice. If you did not, it was like sleeping in a bathtub. One guy did not and slit a hole in the bottom with his knife so the water could run out. Living on Pavuvu was uneventful. There were land crabs everywhere. They had a young officer who was not one of their favorites. Somehow, he had a chicken. One night after drinking jungle juice [Annotator's Note: powerful or roughly prepared alcoholic liquor], McWilliams and another gentleman captured the chicken. The put the chicken in a pot of boiling water. They were inebriated but drank the soup. The officer never found out who stole his chicken.

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] were generally not told where they were going. They did not know they were going to Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944; Peleliu, Palau] until they were almost there. Peleliu was designed to assist General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] in retaking the Philippines. They were to capture it for use as an airport. As it happened, MacArthur stepped up his invasion of Leyte [Annotator's Note: Battle of Leyte, 17 October to 26 December 1944; Leyte, Philippines] before they finished their job on Peleliu. It was an unnecessary capture. They went in on 15 September 1944. Their officers, particularly General Rupertus [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Major General William Henry Rupertus], said that Peleliu would be bombed and shelled to the point that the fighting would be done in a matter of a few days. They found out the shelling and bombing had almost been for naught. The Japanese and their equipment were underground in caves. They were shocked, as were the officers, to find the Japanese were hardly touched. The Japanese knew they were coming and had trained in their defenses. The sighted in their mortars to the shore landing spots. When they started in, the mortars hammered the hell of out them. One mortar shell hit near McWilliams, and he had to scrape what had been a Marine off his helmet. A lot of landing craft were hit in the water. It was a brutal awakening as to the fight ahead. What was supposed to only last a few days, lasted over eight weeks. There were more Marines killed on Peleliu than on other famous islands, like Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945, Iwo Jima, Japan] and Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943; Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands]. Of all of his campaigns in the Pacific, it was the most brutal and toughest. He lost his best friend. They had been on the lines and were told to report to the beach. The Japanese broke through the lines that they had evacuated. The Army had moved in behind the Marines and the Japanese broke through them. The 7th Marines [Annotator's Note: 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] were called back to help. His best buddy, Billy Harrell [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class Billy D. Harrell], who had joined with him in 1943, was killed on the last day of fighting [Annotator's Note: 28 September 1944].

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] went to Pavuvu [Annotator's Note: Pavuvu Island, Russell Islands, Solomon Islands] for rest [Annotator's Note: after the Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944; Peleliu, Palau]. He did not know his friend Billy [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class Billy D. Harrell] had been killed. Ike Iverson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] and McWilliams decided to go see Billy. They went to the 7th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] and then found out. That was pretty brutal. McWilliams wrote a letter to his mother. In boot camp, he and Billy made a pact that they would write home for the other if something happened to the one. His mother wrote a sweet letter back. She had kept his room in her home, just the way it was when he left. They began to get replacements because they lost over 8,000 Marines in Peleliu. As they came in, they began to train. They knew when they were issued Eisenhower jackets [Annotator's Note: waist length jacket developed during later stages of World War 2; named after General Eisenhower], which were warm and fleece lined, at Pavuvu, they knew they were going closer to Japan. Once on ship, they knew they were going into Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945, Okinawa, Japan]. They landed on 1 April 1945. They expected the same kind of greeting as at Peleliu but it was far different. They landed on the northern end of Okinawa, but most of the Japanese had been sent to the southern part of the island. One of the Marine Divisions acted like they were going to land on the south end but did not. It fooled the Japanese. The 1st Marine Division literally walked across with very little resistance. They secured the northern part before turning south to join the other Marines and the Army. The Army fought gallantly. The 7th [Annotator's Note: 7th Infantry Division], 27th [Annotator's Note: 27th Infantry Division], and 77th [Annotator's Note: 77th Infantry Division], plus the 1st Marine Division and 6th Marine Division were there initially. It was brutal in the south. He was under the 10th Army commanded by General Buckner [Annotator's Note: US Army General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.] who was killed by a sniper [Annotator's Note: 18 June 1945]. McWilliams stood on top of Shuri Castle [Annotator's Note: castle in Naha, Okinawa, Japan] with dead Japanese all around his feet. The Japanese forced the Okinawans to fight alongside them.

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams was on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] when they dropped the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. They were extremely happy to hear there was a weapon of that type. It ended the war. He has no doubt about that. He had gone there in April 1945 [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945, Okinawa, Japan]. In November 1945, his division had been designated to land on Kyushu [Annotator's Note: Kyushu, Japan for Operation Downfall; proposed Allied plan for the invasion of Japan]. He read in the Wall Street Journal [Annotator's Note: American newspaper] recently that it was not until the surrender that they learned how many Japanese were prepared to repel the landing. They had over 1,000 suicide bomber planes. They had almost 800,000 Japanese soldiers on Kyushu. The emperor had called on the civilians to die defending their island. McWilliams is certain that if the Japanese had not surrendered because of the atomic bomb, he would not be sitting here talking. Back in the United States, they had parades, but that was not the case for them on Okinawa. Some of the Marines had never prayed in their lives, dropped to their knees and thanked God that the war was over. [Annotator's Note: McWilliams becomes emotional.] The fighting was over, and they could go home. After the surrender, his division [Annotator's Note: McWilliams was a member of Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was sent to China to disarm the Japanese soldiers there. They landed in Tientsin [Annotator's Note: Tientsin, or Tianjin, China] and went by bus to Peking [Annotator's Note: now Beijing, China]. They stayed there from about October [Annotator's Note: October 1945] to January 1946. He boarded a ship and returned to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. As they pulled into the harbor, they had on life jackets. They took them off and threw them in the ocean. They all sank. [Annotator's Note: McWilliams laughs.] They went ashore and the war was over. He was discharged soon after. He boarded a bus. His father was a Deputy Sheriff in Upton County [Annotator's Note: Upton County, Texas]. McWilliams was going to see him and pulled into Rankin [Annotator's Note: Rankin, Texas], the bus did not have any brakes. The bus rolled over and McWilliams was thrown through the front windshield. The bus continued rolling over towards him. He managed to get out of the way, or it would have killed him. He had spent two and a half years fighting the Japanese, had been hit by shrapnel on Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944, Peleliu, Palau], and here he was almost killed by a bus.

Donald G. "Mac" McWilliams 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]. He feels it was one of the best government programs that has ever existed. It was not a gift. It was an investment to the people who had served. The benefit was based on their length of service. He was able to get his degree just as it ran out. The return was tenfold. It educated them to earn money and pay taxes which paid the government back. McWilliams' most memorable experiences of the war was finding out his friend Billy [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class Billy D. Harrell] had been killed on Peleliu [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, September to November 1944, Peleliu, Palau] and the day Japan surrendered. There is so much that he wants to forget and so much that he cannot forget. He fought because the country needed him. He is not just patriotic. In those days, you wanted to join. Those who could not and were declared 4F [Annotator's Note: Selective Service classification for individuals who are not fit for service in the Armed Forces] were almost ostracized and not proud. He cannot say that for wars since. He is not saying he as a hero. His two brothers were. He just did his part. He wishes that it is mandatory that military training be part of a young person's life. Those who were with him went from boys to men because of their service training. Some of the young boys and girls so busy rioting now, would not be doing that if they had Marine Corps training. They would learn there is more to life. He is extremely proud to have served. Veterans die every day and there were 16 million [Annotator's Note: men and women who served in the US military during World War 2]. When he wears his Marine Corps hat, people stop him and thank him. That means a lot. Up until this year [Annotator's Note: the year of this interview; 2021], World War 2, was in Reagan's [Annotator's Note: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States] words, "a beacon on the hill." People revered the war and the response to it. The world has changed and some people who are rioting and looting do not know about World War 2, and it does not mean anything to them. The war did not change his life, it kept his life. Because of the victory, it allowed the country to speak English instead of Japanese. The war put a stamp of approval on the American kind of living. Norman Rockwell [Annotator's Note: Norman Percevel Rockwell, American painter] was an artist, and his pictures were on The Saturday Evening Post [Annotator's Note: American magazine]. It depicted America as it was and that is the America McWilliams wanted to come back to. It is not that way now. It is extremely important to have the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] and to teach about the war as it was. It is honest and truthful. He visited the museum and gave the book, "Never Too Old to Cry" [Annotator's Note: title of book authored by the interviewee, D. G. McWilliams, published August 2001], to the director. It is one of the best World War 2 novels anyone can read to learn what it is like to be a young Marine corporal. [Annotator's Note: McWilliams thanks the interviewer for doing what he is doing.] McWilliams went on a trip to The National WWII Museum provided by Gary Sinise [Annotator's Note: Gary Alan Sinise, American actor, director, musician, producer, philanthropist], and he is grateful.