Earl Conklin was born in September 1921 in Saint Louis, Missouri. He was a "depression boy" whose father worked for the railroad. Conklin played sports in high school and was president of his class. He attended the University of Missouri [Annotator's Note: in Columbia, Missouri] for two years when the war started. He remembered hearing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on the radio, and that "a lot of the athletes signed up." Conklin enlisted in the Marine Corps as an officer candidate and the first six months of his service career was spent at Purdue University [Annotator's Note: in West Lafayette, Indiana]. Conklin went to boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, then moved to New River, North Carolina for further training, and had officer training in Quantico, Virginia. He said the training was rough, but as a "jock" he got through it better than most; and he knew he would be an officer if he could pass. After graduation, Conklin went to Camp Pendleton in California, and was assigned to Abel Company [Annotator's Note: Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division ] as a rifle platoon leader.

Earl Conklin joined the 1st Marine Division [Annotator's Note: as a rifle platoon leader in Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] as a replacement on the small island of Pavuvu in the Russell Islands. He was one of five new officers and the man who became his platoon sergeant, a veteran of Pelileu [Annotator's Note: Peleliu, Palau], was "marvelous" and taught him what he had to know about fighting the Japanese. The division landed on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] on 1 April 1945 which was Easter Sunday and April Fools’ Day. Conklin landed in the third wave and he felt well prepared to lead his men. He remembers the battleships firing their 16 inch guns over his head, and going through water to get to where they could set up. On 4 April, a nasty, rainy day, Able Company was sent across the island to ensure that it was "cleaned out." The company engaged in a fierce firefight with the Japanese, and Conklin was shot. The bullet went through his abdomen and hit his hipbone. He was carried to the beach. The seas were rough and it was an ordeal to get aboard a ship where he could get the necessary medical attention, but Conklin was hauled up in a basket, and underwent an operation during the night. He was taken to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] for recovery. He was "gung-ho to get back," but while he was in hospital he learned that his rifle platoon sustained extensive casualties, and replacements were brought in. When Conklin returned to Okinawa, he shifted positions, and took over as leader of the mortar platoon. They worked their way down the long island. Every night they set up their guns and stayed on the alert for Japanese tossing hand grenades. Conklin said it took 82 days to secure the island.

Asked to describe the fighting in which he participated, Earl Conklin referred to his position with the mortars. The Japanese were shelling, and a mortar man could get hit, but it wasn't the same as being a rifle platoon leader. Okinawa had to be taken ridge by ridge; the last one, Kunishi Ridge, was the most difficult. The Japanese would not surrender, and it took seven days to clear them out. The route to the ridge was through rice paddies, and contrary to practice, some of the Marines moved at night. The reinforcements went by road in tanks, and Conklin could hear the troops moving up and trying to ferret the enemy out of caves. He said real combat is not like the movies make it; it is very difficult to see friends killed. Supplying the forward troops became an issue, so duffle bags filled with ammo and food were air dropped; some hit the men on the ground. The Marines tried to move the dead and wounded away from the combat troops as soon as possible for morale purposes and that became difficult on Kunicsi. Conklin said, "War is hell. Some men can take it, some men…" He related a tale of a buddy who went all the way through, but he had seen too much death, and suffered "battle fatigue." Another one of his men had to be slapped a little bit before he went into his second battle. Conklin said he got really close to his men. Considering when he was first in combat, Conklin said that he knew the firing had started, and it didn't seem long before he was lying on his back, wounded. Conklin said it didn't hurt, particularly; when he saw others who were worse off. He never thought he wasn't going to make it.

Among his fellow officers, Earl Conklin thought there were a couple who were marvelous fellows and he has kept in touch with them. After the war was over, the Division [Annotator's Note: 1st Marine Division] went to the north of Okinawa and set up camp. Conklin said he will never understand why, but instead of going back to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] as Conklin expected, they were called upon to take out a Japanese radio station on a little nearby island, then they were sent to China. One day while there, Conklin decided that he wanted to see the Great Wall, and halfway along the route he spied Chinese Communists ready for ambush. He stopped at a command post and bribed the officer there with cigarettes, and was allowed to go on his way unmolested. But Conklin realized it might have turned out differently. While in China, the division was living in boxcars near bridges, protecting them from destruction by the Chinese who were trying to impede coal shipments from reaching Shanghai. As an officer, Conklin was living in the company headquarters, but said it was not good duty for the enlisted men.

Asked what he thought about the Japanese, Earl Conklin said they were "pretty vicious," but conceded that combat makes animals out of people. Taking a ridge was tough, and everybody did what he had to do. He said that the Marines hated the Japanese. Conklin did not personally see any Japanese atrocities, but he knew of those activities. There were many horrible events in war. During his inaugural combat, while he was coming down a hill to warn his "kids" to be careful, he heard an explosion and found the young men all blown to pieces. He recalled having to censor the enlisted men's mail, and found it amusing to see how the boys would try to divulge the division's [Annotator's Note: 1st Marine Division] whereabouts. When he returned to the United States, he was glad the war was over, and to get back to food that he liked. He remembered visiting the mother of one of his friends who had died in the Pacific to answer her many questions. He has attended reunions, and the further his fellow Marines got from the war, the dimmer their memories were. One memory that stuck with him was that during his convalescence on Guam, the nurses would take the patients down to the beach to watch the waves. Conklin has always been very proud of two things: his college experience at the University of Missouri [Annotator's Note: in Columbia, Missouri], and his service in the Marine Corps. His motivation for joining the Marines was to fight for his country after the "unconscionable" action the Japanese took at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. When he came out of the Marines, however, he was "pretty upset," with its hierarchy, and didn't want to make it his career. He thought the Corps had been unfair to the enlisted men, and that they could be unreasonable in their discipline. It took him a while to get over those feelings; otherwise he adjusted very well to civilian life. He played professional baseball for two years. When he looked for a job afterward, his Marine Corps experience was useful: he had learned a lot, accomplished the job and came out alive. He feels that The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is important, and should continue to teach the history of the war. It proves that, despite its difficulties, America is the greatest country in the world.