Earl Forstall is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was studying mechanical engineering at Tulane University when the war broke out. He was a year and a half in when they called him up. Pearl Harbor was on 7 December [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], and he was called upon 4 April, it was Good Friday. He went to Sheppard Field [Annotator's Note: now Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas] for training. He remembers the mess hall had a sign that read "take all you want and eat all you take." Then he went to Wichita Falls, Texas. They referred to it as Colonel Clacker's Concentration Camp. Colonel Clacker [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. Wichita Falls was extremely hot, and the wind would cause sand storms. They would get sand in the barracks. They had to put gas masks on to go to the mess hall. From there he was sent to California to the Boeing Aircraft Company. They made him an engine specialist. Then he went to Boise, Idaho to practice the mechanics. Forstall became a crew chief there. He was the last man to say the plane was ready to go. He had mechanics working for him. The pilots that were coming out of flight school were practicing in Boise as well. One lieutenant came over to his shop to look over a plane with him, and one tire had tread on it while the other was a balloon tire. The lieutenant did not like this and went to headquarters. Jimmy Stewart [Annotator's Note: later United States Air Force Brigadier General James Maitland Stewart; American actor and military pilot] came out and chewed Forstall's butt. He was told not to scare the men before they get shipped overseas. They stayed there for a while practicing. Anytime he had to do something on a plane he had to go up with them to make sure it was done right. Another time he was in his bunk and he had the windows open to get some air in the top bunk. It had snowed during the night and he did not know it. They came early in the morning to get him up. He could not move. They picked him up like a plank and took him to the dispensary. They had to put a heat lamp on him and massage him. They were breaking up the units there. Forstall was in the 701 [Annotator’s Note: 701st Bombardment Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. Then they went to Watertown, South Dakota and they practiced take-off and landing. They practiced short flights. He met Lieutenant Lewis [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] who would fly his plane overseas. Lewis flew the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] between the two hotels and waved at his wife. From there they went to Saint Louis [Annotator's Note: Saint Louis, Missouri]. Then they went to Miami [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida].

Earl Forstall was shipped overseas from Miami [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida]. They went to Trinidad [Annotator's Note: Trinidad and Tobago is a dual-island Caribbean nation near Venezuela] and Port-au-Prince [Annotator's Note: Port-au-Prince, Haiti]. When they were there they were told to take everything out of the planes they would need for the night. There were some men on guard duty to shoot anyone who went near the planes. Forstall and another guy snuck out to get goat cheese and wine. From there they were going to fly to Africa. They went to Dakar, Africa [Annotator’s Note: Dakar, Senegal, Africa]. They were in their winter wool clothes even though it was over 100 degrees in the daytime. At night he had to sleep in his full uniform because it was freezing in the desert. Then they were going to fly to England. They were told not to fly in Spanish air space because they would get shot down. One plane got too close to Spain and was shot down. When they arrived in England they were not ready for them. They did not have k rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] or barracks. There was only an airstrip. Eventually, they made the perimeter around the airstrips. The English people were putting the concrete down. They were a good ways away from the mess hall and the barracks. The bombs were brought in big heavy crates. Forstall used the crates to build a little shack out there. They were able to do some cooking there and heat up coffee. They spent more time out there than in the mess hall. As a crew chief, he could go to the mess hall any time to get something to eat. When they first got to England they had to get the ice off the planes. They were there for a couple of days before they started with their missions.

Earl Forstall went overseas in a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. They went on quite a few missions before they were shot down. After they were shot down, they were given B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] because they could hold a bigger load of bombs. His plane flew 59 missions without turning back for a single problem. It turned back once due to the pilot. He got over the Channel [Annotator’s Note: English Channel] and got cold feet. He released all the bombs through the bomb bay doors without opening them. He had to turn back with the doors hanging. The guy would not write up a report. Forstall went to get the colonel and the colonel chewed the guy up and made sure he wrote a report. Forstall got a citation and a Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy]. There was a musical group, a big band, that came to play at their base and then they were going to fly to France. They were shot down over the Channel [Annotator's Note: Forstall is likely referring to US Army Airforces Major Alton Glenn Miller; an American big band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader whose aircraft disappeared over the English Channel on 15 December 1944]. The Germans were shooting down anything they could. On one mission they were trying to drop 1000 pound bombs on submarine pens. The B-24s flew at low, almost water level and skipped the bombs into the submarines and blew them up from the inside. He had one pilot complain about the cables being loose and the hydraulic system. Forstall looked at the plane to see what he could do about them. He made the hydraulic system better to control and the cables a little tighter than they should have been. Another mission sent up about ten planes from each group. They would fly into formation. Two other units had issues. One came in too high the other too low and ten planes came raining down on top of them. They were picking up bodies and plane pieces all over the place. After they would drop their bombs and head back to base, a German fighter would follow the bombers. The fighter would come down and fly down the runway as fast as they could. It did some damage to some planes. Forstall had one plane lose three engines. It took two days to get the plane back in the air. Another plane had been shot in the cylinder which had to be replaced.

Earl Forstall remembers another time a plane came back with a lot of hits. The right wing had taken a direct hit. He was able to fit through the hole in the wing. The sheet metal man put plates on the top and bottom of the wing. The plane was pretty beat up. He had a lot of fun doing it. On D-Day [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], his plane flew two missions. They flew in before the landing crafts got there, trying to soften them up. They were trying to knock out bridges and roads so the Germans could not send reinforcements to the beaches. After those two flights, the paratroopers were dropped in and the landing crafts went in. It was early, and it would be two flights one right after the other. They knew the paratroopers were going in but not the landing crafts. They used to get up at four in the morning to get the planes ready. One night, Forstall woke up and yelled "My brother has been shot!" Everyone told him to be quiet and go back to sleep. Two weeks later, headquarters came to him and told him his brother had been shot, but he was okay. His brother was shot in his right cheek in his rear end. Forstall got a pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to go down and see his brother. When he was heading to the train station, a bomb went off and helped him back into the station. Then at another station, the same thing happened. There were no trains going to Southampton [Annotator's Note: Southampton, England] after that. He got a ride from one man then hopped on a caboose the rest of the way. His brother was with Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] Army when he got shot. He was in England until the end of the war. One of his pilots asked him if he wanted to go to Dusseldorf [Annotator's Note: Dusseldorf, Germany] after it had been cleared out. He and a couple of other guys went over there. They went into an SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] headquarters. There were SS uniforms in there and wine. He cut the SS insignia off of a sleeve and lapels to keep. They brought wine back with them on the plane. Jimmy Stewart [Annotator's Note: later US Air Force Brigadier General James Maitland Stewart; American actor and military pilot] was a good guy. After he flew his ten missions, they commissioned him as a colonel. When they first got there, they only had to fly ten missions then they got to go home. Forstall never had any issues with his pilots. By the time they got into Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany], it was time to go home. They took the northern route, flying from Germany to the United States. They ate dehydrated food while they were in England. Forstall had a weekend pass and he went up to Aberdeen, Scotland. On the way back, he was on a train and there was a gentleman sitting across from him staring at him. The man recognized the family crest on Forstall's ring. The man asked if he could treat him to some dinner. He was brought to a club in London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. Forstall took a friend down there to get some food and a drink.

Earl Forstall landed in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] when he returned home. They gave him a steak dinner. He was asked if he would be interested in going to the Pacific. He said he would as long as he got to go home. They said they would give him a two week leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] before he was sent over there. He had to get his toolboxes out of his plane. They told him his plane was on the way to the Pacific with the tools on it. He lost all his tools. During those two weeks, he went to visit his mother and father in Bay Saint Louis [Annotator's Note: Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi]. He went sailing and swimming while he was there. When he reported back, he went in without a shirt because he had blistered from sunburn. From there he went to Dallas, Texas. He spent a couple of weeks there and then it was the end of the war. They gave him one dollar and 75 cents to get from Dallas to New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He was proud when the commander of the base presented him with his wings and his citation. He really enjoyed serving. It was not pleasant, but he would not trade it. If he could do it again he would. His final rank was Master Sergeant when he left Boise, Idaho. He would like to take all the football players and put them in the situation he was in to make them realize they can do what they do because of his generation. He would fire them all if it was up to him. Or he would let them sit on the bench every game if they kneel. He thinks people appreciate it. When he goes to the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] people stop him and thank him. The people at home did a lot for the men overseas. Their food was rationed and they had to go to work. The people at home did a lot for the war. He thinks if the people today knew what happened during the war they would appreciate it. Germany could have ruled the world if the war did not happen.