Edwin Lamm was born in San Antonio, Texas in June 1923. [Annotator's Note: Lamm's wife walks in the background, turns off lights, and asks the interviewer questions 0:00:42.000 to 0:2:36.000.] Lamm grew up an affluent neighborhood of San Antonio during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He graduated high school in 1940. He then went on to San Antonio Junior college [Annotator's Note: now San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas] and was enrolled in the University of Texas [Annotator's Note: University of Texas at Austin, Texas] by 1942. He was an only child but had some cousins. [Annotator's Note: Lamm's wife interrupts interview to ask more questions at 0:0:25.000]. He did not have problems during the Depression like many other people he knew because his father was in the produce business. His family always had enough food and goods, and often received visitors at the backdoor asking for handouts. He did not participate much in sports growing up. He entered the service on 10 December 1942 while attending the University of Texas. He knew of the rise of Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy, but was unaware of the Japanese threat until the surprise attack on Pearl [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was eating lunch when he first heard the news of the attack. He was under the impression that the Japanese were America's friends. President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] declared war immediately. Because of the prevalence of the Army bases and Army Air Corps fields in San Antonio, Lamm was influenced to join the Air Corps in December 1942 before being drafted and having no say in his service branch. Upon joining, he was allowed to skip basic training because of his ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] experience in high school. He was assigned to the motor pool at Brooks Field, Texas [Annotator's Note: later Brooks Air Force Base, now Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, Texas] until an officer recommended him to an engineering program, so then Lamm was sent to the University of Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: in Norman, Oklahoma] for Army engineering school. When the program was cancelled, he was sent to back to a motor pool detail in Muroc, California for six months. He was then sent to air mechanic training in San Bernardino [Annotator's Note: San Bernardino, California].

Edwin Lamm was assigned to the Air Transport Command at Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base [Annotator's Note: now Travis Air Force Base in Sacramento Valley, California] where he worked on C-54s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft] which were used to carry supplies to and wounded men back from the Pacific. He often worked at night. Near the end of the war, Lamm volunteered for overseas service in preparation for the invasion of Japan. The very next day after volunteering, he was flown to various islands in the Pacific, including Hawaii, the Philippines, and Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], before arriving at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: now Kadena Air Base (Japanese name: Naka Hikojo or Yara Hikojo), Kadena and Chatan, Okinawa, Japan] in the final days of the war. At Okinawa, he began training for the invasion of Japan. The atomic bomb did not leave an impression on him at the time. He only knew it was a "terrible weapon." When he learned of the Japanese surrender, Lamm was relieved the war was over. He was sent back to Fairfield-Suisun where he instructed former fighter pilots how to operate the heating and cooling system aboard the C-54. He was discharged from the service on 20 December 1945 as a private. He used the GI 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] to attend the University of Texas [Annotator's Note: University of Texas at Austin, Texas]. He also used the G.I. Bill benefits to buy a house after he got married.

Edwin Lamm's most memorable experience of World War 2 was picking up a crash of a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] in the desert while he was station at the Muroc Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: Muroc Army Airfield, Kern County, California; now Edwards Air Force Base]. He served because it was the thing to do. Since he heard rumors of being drafted, he decided to list in the Air Corps. He wanted to have some say in his destiny. World War 2 took three years of his life. America today thinks World War 2 was a bad dream. He eats breakfast with a group of World War 2 veterans once a month. The United States dedicated itself to the preservation of democracy and the elimination of evil. It's the last war America won. There should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. Lamm toured the Museum with other veterans and a group of Dallas [Annotator's Note: Dallas, Texas] students. The students were able to hear firsthand stories from the war veterans, which he thought was vital to their education, so they do not forget the horror of war.