[Annotator's Note: The interview starts mid-conversation.] Edward Kissam's father was associated with a saw mill. It was in the wild. He grew up in the two Carolinas [Annotator's Note: North Carolina and South Carolina], Georgia, and Florida. He got into high school in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. There were only 11 grades, so he was not quite 17 when he finished. He played on the football team. He was offered a football scholarship to Clemson University [Annotator's Note: in Clemson, South Carolina], but he felt he should be involved in the war and turned it down. He rode a bus to Wilmington, North Carolina to work assisting a fellow who was repairing ships. It was 100 miles round trip and he worked ten hours a day, seven days a week. He was learning on the job to weld and use different metal-cutting machines. The attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] had an effect on him. He was told he should get trained as a Merchant Seaman. He went to a training school in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. From that school, he was attached to a little ship that was carrying coal to Maine. Kissam was on deck as lookout and he could steer. At one point, the vessel was tending to steer to the left. The wheel got as far right as it would go, and the ship kept going left. A third mate grabbed the wheel and then went and got the captain who showed them how to fix it. He went to the Merchant's union [Annotator's Note: Merchant Seaman's union] and the clerk asked him how much time he had at sea. He said nine days, and somebody said, “old salt.” [Annotator's Note: Kissam laughs.]

Edward Kissam was assigned to a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship], the SS Thomas Nelson Page in Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Norfolk, Virginia] awaiting a convoy to the Mediterranean. He was a lookout. There was a 20mm antiaircraft gun [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm automatic cannon] on board that he was trained to use. His ship was filled with bags of flour. They had very fast vessels to protect the convoy. German submarines were waiting for them. They would fire on the convoy and frequently sink a ship. The protective vessels would frequently then sink the submarine. During his entire time in World War 2, he only saw one person who was afraid. Kissam was not afraid. This person was wide-eyed. They were in the Mediterranean at the time and a ship had been sunk. Kissam told him to take it easy and that things would be alright. They went to Morocco and turned along the coast toward the Mediterranean entrance and slowed down. Toward the entrance to the Med [Annotator's Note: Mediterranean Sea], they then went to full speed ahead. Night fell and all the ships made it in safely. German planes were dropping flares behind them. His ship went into Naples, Italy and tied up to a sunken German ship. They were told to go back out and anchor in the harbor. Another ship pulled in and it was blown up that night by German bombers. They stayed anchored in the harbor for a month or two and every night the Germans bombed. The Americans had antiaircraft guns and every night looked like the 4th of July [Annotator's Note: American Independence Day; fireworks celebration]. Eventually, they were sent to North Africa to get rid of the flour. They went into a base that was run by France. His ship was made into a troop ship. They took people out of North Africa and into Naples, which was only 20 miles from the frontline of the war. The first group was American soldiers. The next group was people who were under French rule, African soldiers who had long guns with a loaf of bread stuck on the bayonet [Annotator's Note: unofficially, Army of Africa (France)]. After that, they took a group of French soldiers. All went to Naples. He spoke with them. They were not afraid of anything and did not complain of anything. They were glad to be out of Africa. They stayed there for a while and then were sent back home. They left the Med and crossed the Atlantic by themselves. They went into New Jersey and Kissam left the ship. He went south to Parris Island [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Port Royal, South Carolina] and became a Marine.

[Annotator's Note: Edward Kissam was in the US Merchant Marine aboard the SS Thomas Nelson Page. When he returned from the Mediterranean Theater, he joined the Marine Corps.] Kissam thought he could have an impact on the war. He came out [Annotator's Note: of boot camp] an expert rifleman. He went through all kinds of examinations. He asked to be sent to artillery. He went to North Carolina and was interviewed by a corporal. He was told they were putting a cannon on a B-25 [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] and if he became a navigator, he could operate the cannon. He did so. By the time he finished, they had found that the cannon could not be on the airplane. He went to bombardier school in California. He returned and trained on B-25s. They were ready to go to the Pacific when the war ended. He was put in charge of about 30 men. They were sent to China by ship. There was a Marine Corps base in Tsingtao. He became a navigator again on cargo planes up and down the Chinese coast to Japan, Okinawa, and inland China. The Chinese were at war and would shoot at them with rifles. Once his wing got hit, but it did not affect them. He spent a good while there. He does not recall why he was sent back and discharged.

[Annotator's Note: Edward Kissam was serving in the US Marine Corps as a navigator on cargo planes in China after the war ended. He was sent home and discharged.] Kissam opted to not stay in because the war was over. He had joined because of the war. Things were not so good at home. In China, he had gone to Beijing to a hotel. He and some other Marines had a good room. He noticed there were women in the hall. They were prostitutes. The women in charge spoke excellent English. She offered a girl and he said he had a girl waiting for him at home. That was as far as that went. The locals who were close to them were very friendly. There were some who were Communists and the Chinese were still fighting each other. In general, they were nice. The Communists were secondarily fighting the Americans. When he came home it was not the best day of his life. His mother was schizophrenic and kept a loaded rifle in the living room. His girlfriend that he was so in love with, was with somebody else. One of his best friends had been a tail gunner in Europe and had bought a small airplane. He flew over Kissam's house in Elizabethtown [Annotator's Note: Elizabethtown, North Carolina] and hollered down to the family. Kissam's brother said that shortly after he heard the plane crash. His friend was killed. His father had broken a leg and it got infected so he could not walk. It was not the best coming home. He spent the next three years getting his mother in and out of mental hospitals for shock treatments. She could not remember anything, but she was not trying to kill people. Kissam took his parents to north Florida where his aunt lived. His mother had an episode and was put into the Florida system [Annotator’s Note: Florida mental health] for the rest of her life.

[Annotator's Note: Edward Kissam returned from the war and had a lot of family problems to deal with.]. Kissam did use the G.I. Bill. When he got his parents to Florida, he bought them a small house. When his mother was put into the mental system for the rest of her life, his father went to South Carolina. Kissam went to the University of Florida [Annotator's Note: in Gainesville, Florida] and majored in Psychology. While there, the courses were easy. He got a job. He graduated in 1949. He met a girl at his job. [Annotator's Note: Kissam gets emotional.] He asked her to see a play with him and she agreed. One of her professors told Kissam that she was the smartest they ever had. [Annotator's Note: Kissam gets more emotional.] After school, he got a job in Stark, Florida so he could be close to her. They eventually went to Columbia, South Carolina and were married. They moved to several places. He can hardly remember them. They had five children [Annotator's Note: he points to photographs of them].

Going into the Mediterranean on the SS Thomas Nelson Page is the most memorable experience for Edward Kissam. When he got into the Marine Corps, he was sent to China after the war ended. He was not quite certain as to why. He returned to not the best years of his life. [Annotator's Note: Kissam had several severe family problems which he describes in other interview clips.] He decided to serve in the war because when he finished high school, he wanted to save the United States and the other countries that were friendly to us and unfriendly to Germany. His life seemed to be changing all the time. When the war ended, he was just dealing with family problems. Then he had the amazing good fortune of marrying an intelligent lady. He did several things to try to make a living after graduating from the University of Florida [Annotator's Note: Gainesville, Florida] in 1949. They had their children and lived in South Carolina for a while. His service means essentially nothing to him today. The rest of his life was not related to the military. Losing his best friend right after the war was a heavy burden. His mother's problem [Annotator's Note: she was schizophrenic] had him end up in Florida. Kissam does not have an idea about what World War 2 means to America today. He thinks there is some good to be done with the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. World War 2 is a strange phenomenon. There were so many different elements of it. It turned out positive for the United States and most of Europe. He is not quite sure why the Germans felt so embittered. Being a Merchant Seaman was very positive for Kissam. It was interesting, but he is not quite sure why the war was such an expanded event. It was mainly the Germans against the other European countries.