[Annotator's Note: This clip begins with Edgar De Pue Osgood mid sentence talking about how he went in the service as an enlisted man and worked his way up to being made an officer.] Edgar De Pue Osgood was born in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] in 1918 with the Asian flu [Annotator's Note: 1918 influenza pandemic, also called the Spanish flu, or Asian flu, February 1918 to April 1920] but he and his mother [Annotator's Note: Correnah De Pue] survived. Life was nice in San Francisco. His mother divorced his biological father [Annotator's Note: Jack Francis Neville] who was a Hall of Fame golfer. Osgood later became a Hall of Fame tennis player. His mother remarried [Annotator's Note: Robert Peel Elliott] and they lived in L.A. [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] for seven years. She remarried again to a man named Osgood [Annotator's Note: James Osgood]. He was in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] from the ages of seven to 12. He later went to UC Davis [Annotator's Note: University of California Davis in Davis, California]. He enlisted in the Navy in 1940. He applied for Naval Intelligence and got in. He was a good clerk and was put in Public Relations in Long Beach [Annotator's Note: Long Beach Naval Shipyard in Long Beach, California]. When Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] came, they heard that bombs were dropping in Santa Monica [Annotator's Note: Santa Monica, California]. The Navy set up machine guns on the piers. Osgood was in Long Beach for quite a while. He got in trouble for referring to officers as "90 Day Wonders" [Annotator's Note: derogatory slang for a newly commissioned graduate of three month, or 90 day, officer candidate or midshipman school]. In Long Beach, they tracked the tankers to protect them from submarines. They also worried about the oil tanks being bombed. They came up with a poster that had an African man with big mouth on it. The poster said, "a slip of the lip, will sink a ship." The NAACP [Annotator's Note: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] protested and they ended that in a hurry. The Japanese were interned [Annotator's Note: Internment of Japanese-Americans in American concentration camps, 19 February 1942 to 20 March 1946] in the area due to paranoia. There had been a fifth column [Annotator's Note: a group within a country at war who are sympathetic to or working for its enemies] in Norway with the Nazis. It was a mistake that Franklin D. Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] made.

Edgar De Pue Osgood got a good reputation and asked for a transfer. They were forming a transport squadron in Kansas City [Annotator's Note: Fairfax Field in Kansas City, Missouri]. He went as a Senior Yeoman and organized their offices. He was told he was being sent to Cadet school. He was transferred to Saint Mary's [Annotator's Note: Navy Pre-Flight School, Saint Mary's, California] and had boot camp for three months. He was told he had to decide if he wanted to be a navigator or flyer [Annotator's Note: pilot]. He chose navigator. He took those courses at Hollywood Beach Hotel [Annotator's Note: Naval Indoctrination and Training School in Hollywood Beach, Florida]. The important thing in fighting in the air is to see the enemy first. They were trained to learn to identify ships and squadrons of planes by sight. He had a room with a prize fighter, one guy was a person who buries people. You get very close to people with very different backgrounds. They started flying old P-boats [Annotator's Note: slang for patrol aircraft, some of which could land on water as well as land]. [Annotator's Note: Osgood asks the interviewer to turn off the camera so he can get some pictures. He has a photo album he is showing to the camera when he returns.] He turns to a page with the planes they flew. The flew all through the Caribbean [Annotator's Note: Caribbean Sea] with antiques to learn to navigate. In Hollywood Beach they did physical training as well. They flew to Bermuda. They were sent to MIT [Annotator's Note: Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts] to learn LORAN [Annotator's Note: short for long range navigation; hyperbolic radio navigation system] which was brand new and enabled them to zero in on things without using a radio. He was then assigned to VB-111 [Annotator's Note: Patrol Bombing Squadron 111 (VPB-111)] to Commander Tuttle's [Annotator's Note: US Navy Commander Magruder Hill Tuttle] plane as his navigator. The plane has a bubble on top where he could take celestial observations to use on a chart. It was hard to learn.

Edgar De Pue Osgood and his squadron [Annotator's Note: Patrol Bombing Squadron 111 (VPB-111)] were in Florida when they were ordered to go overseas. Churchill [Annotator's Note: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill; Prime Minister, United Kingdom, 1940 to 1945] had demanded the squadron be sent right away. They had to take the northern route to England. They were going to Cornwall [Annotator's Note: Cornwall, England], close to Brest [Annotator's Note: Brest, France]. They set out in 12 planes with about 18 crews. They made it but four planes went down due to icing. This was simply because they were ordered to go the wrong way. They reported to Coastal Command [Annotator's Note: Royal Air Force Coastal Command], which was British. They were assigned to fly anti-submarine missions in the Bay of Biscay [Annotator's Note: northeast Atlantic Ocean]. Gibraltar [Annotator's Note: Gibraltar, British Overseas Territory] was close by. They also flew around the North Sea. They trained with Brits [Annotator's Note: slang for British people]. Osgood has nothing but respect for the English fliers. They were losing a lot of planes due to the fog there. Their missions were long, and they would run out of gas. Joe Kennedy [Annotator's Note: US Navy Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.] wanted to be President and Joe Sr. [Annotator's Note: Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr.; American businessman, investor, and politician] wanted him to be President. He was very tall and very impressive. Kennedy was in the squadron [Annotator's Note: Patrol Bombing Squadron 110 (VB-110)] and was a brave fellow. He was sent to bomb the submarine base in Brest. They were to fly with a skeleton crew and a lot of ammunition [Annotator's Note: as part of Operation Anvil, an operation to use Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated PB4Y Privateer, and Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers as precision-guided munitions used to deliberately crashed into their targets under radio control]. They were to fly to about 10,000 feet and get above the German machine guns and then kamikaze the base [Annotator's Note: at Heligoland in North Sea on 12 August 1944]. He was to jump out and there were craft to pick him up. As the plane [Annotator's Note: BQ-8, a converted Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] came down, it exploded. Nobody knows why. Kennedy died and he probably would have been President instead of his brother [Annotator's Note: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States].

Edgar De Pue Osgood loved Great Britain because they had very attractive girls in the Red Cross. They were put in barracks that had a man who took care of everything. On liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], they would go to London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. He got blitzed by the Nazi bombs once. Osgood was there for about six months then he was transferred to Morocco. He was based at Port Lyautey [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Port Lyautey in Kenitra, Morocco] above Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco]. They landed there. He was bilingual in French and it was French Morocco then. This gave him the pick of the litter of the women and other things. Every third day he had to get up and align his instruments. They would take off and fly for about ten hours looking for subs [Annotator's Note: submarines]. [Annotator's Note: Osgood gets some pictures to show.] He shows pictures of the crew and then some of them flying over some ships. Morocco was a marvelous place. They would fly one day, have duty the next day, and the third day have liberty. He would take the crew places and meet the people. They did some good and protected the convoys by sinking submarines. They got one in the Straits of Gibraltar [Annotator's Note: Strait of Gibraltar, connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea]. They dropped bombs and the submarine went straight up in the air before taking 160 men to their deaths. They were being shot at, and Osgood was also a gunner. His memories are starting to fade at age 90. [Annotator's Note: Osgood asks to take a minute to gather his thoughts. He returns holding up a photo album to the camera.] He shows more pictures of Morocco including one of his pilot, Ashton [Annotator's Note: US Navy Commander Harold H. Ashton]. They went to Tunisia and Algeria. They flew into clouds quite often. Sometimes there would be a vacuum in the middle and they would just drop. When you are a young kid, you can live through that. Osgood does not think he could live through that now. [Annotator's Note: Osgood laughs.] The flying in Africa was rewarding in many ways. He had a lot of affairs there. If you want to learn how to make love, you have to make love to a French woman once in your life, or more, which he did. The challenges you take are what makes a man out of you. He was an introvert as a child and became a Renaissance man [Annotator's Note: a person with many talents or areas of knowledge].

Edgar De Pue Osgood spent some time on liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] with what was called battle fatigue [Annotator's Note: military term for an acute reaction to the stress of combat]. He had been overseas for a year and a half and was pretty worn out. He went to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] and Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. In Chicago, there was a girl he liked who he stayed with. She introduced him to a girl named Nancy Davis [Annotator's Note: Nancy Davis Reagan born Anne Frances Robbins, American actress and former First Lady of the United States] who was quite beautiful and highly opinionated. [Annotator's Note: Osgood shows a picture of them together.] She wanted to be an actress, so he told her to get some pictures taken. [Annotator's Note: Osgood shows pictures of her.] She was successful and married Ronald Reagan [Annotator's Note: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States]. Osgood was reassigned to a transport squadron [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] that operated all over the Pacific. He flew out of Miami [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida] to Bermuda. He flew in Coronados [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PB2Y Coronado flying boat] and China Clippers [Annotator's Note: Martin M-130 Ocean Transport]. [Annotator's Note: Osgood shows more pictures taken from the aircraft.] He was flying into New Guinea once and the pilot came back to look at the charts and told Osgood that it was all wrong. Osgood disagreed. The pilot took over. They started heading towards Truk Island [Annotator's Note: Truk Atoll, also referred to as Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia], which was in Japanese hands. After about an hour, the pilot started getting worried. Osgood suggested he disobey orders and get a beam from base. They made it, but Osgood thought they were going to run out of gas. Later on, he heard the captain was taken off the route. Flying over the Pacific islands, Osgood and his crew would often see B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. They often came in on three engines. [Annotator's Note: Osgood shows some pictures of B-29s.] They had been bombing Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] and Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. Osgood found out his old plane and old crew were shot down over Iwo Jima. They were in the Philippines too. Finally, the war came to an end. They flew home and past the Iowa [Annotator's Note: the USS Iowa (BB-61)]. [Annotator's Note: He shows a picture of the Iowa he took through a porthole.]

[Annotator's Note: Edgar De Pue Osgood shows a picture of the USS Iowa (BB-61) that he took through a porthole.] That was the end of the war. His service was good and made a man out of him. It did take about five valuable years from him. He was about 26 when he went in and came out at 31. He went into business and did very well. He made millions and, through bad marriages, blew most of it. He wishes more young people would have to spend a year or two in the service of their country. The war was a great war that compelled him to do great things. Franklin Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] was so wise. Pearl Harbor was an incredible mistake by the Japanese. The Germans declaring war on us was a horrible mistake. Roosevelt had been elected on a platform that we would stay out of the war. Thank god Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was the horrible man he was and got his comeuppance. Thankfully we had people like Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] and Marshall [Annotator's Note: US Chief of Staff and General of the Army George C. Marshall]. The Marshall Plan [Annotator's Note: American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe] was unprecedented. What we did was remarkable and Osgood thanks God he had the opportunity to do it. The war began the age of tolerance. We have a long way to go but he is happy we now have a Black President [Annotator's Note: Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of the United States]. He feels there is far less prejudice. Women had just gotten the vote when he was born. If our culture is to succeed, continue, and expand we need more of that.

Edgar De Pue Osgood was on anti-submarine and escort duty [Annotator's Note: as a navigator in Patrol Bombing Squadron 111 (VPB-111)] at the Bay of Biscay [Annotator's Note: northeast Atlantic Ocean]. They would fly around convoys. Osgood was busy navigating and had no say in how they flew the mission. They flew the B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber] that had been rejected from the Army Air Corps. They called them "flying boxcars." The Army had double-tails and the Navy gave them one tail. They flew long distances and were all alone. They did not realize the danger because they were young. [Annotator's Note: Osgood speaks some French. The interviewer asks if the planes were equipped with the ASB Mark II radar.] Osgood believes so but says that Ashton [Annotator's Note: US Navy Commander Harold H. Ashton, his pilot] could tell more technical knowledge. They had two machine guns on the waist and one turret gun. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Osgood when he first was attacked.] They were not attacked that often. When they were bombing a submarine once, they were being shot at from Tangiers [Annotator's Note: Tangier, Morocco]. He shot back, but it was kind of silly. It was more patrol. If somebody came after them, they would head for the clouds. He flew in both the Pacific and Atlantic Theaters as well as the Caribbean. The barracks were rough. The best ones were in England. They would go to their facilities sometimes [Annotator's Note: the British facilities]. They treated their fliers well, but they did not have any food. The Americans had enough to eat but they often did not.

Edgar De Pue Osgood was not shot up on any of his missions [Annotator's Note: as a navigator in Patrol Bombing Squadron 111 (VPB-111)]. They had a number of close calls but nothing like the time they nearly ran out of fuel when he was overruled by their pilot. Osgood did not count his missions. He flew every three days. In Africa alone, he had 100 missions. He probably had another 30 in the Pacific and another 20 in England. Ashton [Annotator's Note: US Navy Commander Harold H. Ashton, his pilot] might have a better memory of that because he is younger. Osgood was transferred from a battle situation into a transport situation that probably saved his life. He and Ashton see each other occasionally. Osgood went to one reunion of navigators, but everybody looked like hell, so he never went back. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Osgood about his feelings towards the Germans.] He hated them. He went to school with some French people. They said that they would have to fight. The French then did not really like America because of Prohibition [Annotator's Note: nationwide constitutional ban on production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933 established by the 18th Ammendment to the United States Constitution]. The French helped Morocco pretty well. There was a lot of discrimination against Jews. [Annotator's Note: Osgood talks about the Ivory Coast's, or Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, Africa, issues. The interviewer asks what his impressions of the Japanese were.] He thought they were awful in how they treated prisoners and more. Osgood flew transports of supplies and manpower.

The war was a challenging experience for Edgar De Pue Osgood. There are other ways of getting those challenges, like sports. His first generation fought the First World War [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918]. He thanks God no one had to fight in the Vietnam War [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975] or Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. Osgood's grandparents helped pioneer the West. His grandfather had a huge empire of warehouses. World War 2 made America. It is remarkable what has happened. America is the longest-living Republic ever. Building a place where freedom reigns is remarkable. He wonders if the culture has peaked and no longer has the idealism. Now it seems to be about money regardless of the cost. Obama [Annotator's Note: Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of the United States] seems to be pointing in the right direction. It may be necessary to have another challenge to make the culture grows. A negative was the cost in money and lives. The positives are the coming together for a cause. Women went to work and achieved full suffrage [Annotator's Note: political franchise, or the right to vote], which is why we are ahead of cultures like the Muslims which have reverted back to tribalism. The war taught people how to work. It created the current infrastructure of America. Power is not concentrated in America like it is in China and Russia. Somebody has to speak up the way Kennedy [Annotator's Note: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States] did about what you can do for your country. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Osgood what in his opinion is the significance of having The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.] Hopefully, it will be important in giving young people access to the history of the war and how it shaped the world. The free enterprise system is the best system of bad systems. It gives challenges you have to meet. You have to give to get. Osgood hopes we do not retrench too much. Osgood values what was done in World War 2 and he is proud to have been a part of it.