Elmo Espree was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in September 1921. His family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1923. His father was a laborer and his mother was a domestic. Espree had no siblings. Growing up during the depression was hard because black people were the last to get hired and the first to get fired. The segregated east side of Los Angeles was where he grew up. With the exception of the well educated blacks, most blacks had a rough time in that period. Espree graduated from high school in 1940. He was aware of the war in Asia and Europe. The Japanese bombing of America angered most of the country. Espree felt that if a person was not Anglo-Saxon, he was not white. Jews and Italians would fall into the category of non-white in that context. When the war broke out, Selective Service was drafting people ages 21 to 35 years old. In November 1942, Espree was 21 years old, and he was drafted into the Army. At age nine, Espree's parents separated. He lived with each of his parents for six month at a time. At 17, he went to live with his mother full time. He did not know his future wife in high school because she was younger than him. After high school graduation in 1940, Espree entered into both the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, and the Works Projects Administration [Annotator's Note: Works Progess Administration], the WPA. He also worked with the Southern Pacific Railroad washing cars. While Espree was a carpenter's helper for the WPA, he helped build a bridge. He did not want to be drafted because he heard what was being done to black soldiers down south while in training. He heard that the residents of the southern states were throwing rocks at the troop trains carrying black soldiers. He had no alternatives to going into the service. He went to Fort MacArthur in California for two or three weeks of basic training. After leaving Fort MacArthur, Espree went to several other camps in California before ending up in San Pedro, from where he shipped overseas. Not knowing their destination ahead of time, the troop ship landed in Tasmania. The city of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia was all white so the black soldiers were marched back onto the ship. The black troops were upset because it was racially motivated. All the local females were white.

Elmo Espree's troop ship sailed from Australia for the Bay of Bengal in India. In India, Espree went through the Ganges River which is a holy river. They eventually made their way to Assam, India where there was heavy jungle. At that time, the United States was building the Burma Road to China. The route also crossed the Himalaya Mountains. The convoy that Espree was part of went through rough terrain in order to reach China. After reaching China, the drivers would be flown back to the start of the Burma Road for a new convoy to drive up. This convoy duty for Espree lasted from late 1943 to 1945 when the war was over. As a driver of supplies across the Burma Road, Espree experienced the hazards of the terrain. The Burma Road was a very dangerous road. He was sent to the front so much that he took a detour from the road and was missing for two weeks. During that time, he was close to the enemy. He would always put a fire close to him at night to help repel animals. He used water flowing in a river as it was viewed to be safer. The water was more filtered that way. Espree also knew to eat whatever a monkey ate because it was safe. Espree was demoted because of his detour once he returned to his original unit. He was awarded five medals for going to the front 13 times, but it took 30 years to get them. He and his wife filed all his original paperwork with congressmen in order to receive the medals. When he was sent to the front, he was transporting supplies in the convoys. After they arrived, the trucks were left and the driver flown back. If the truck went over the side of a mountain, the driver and the supplies would be lost. The trucks would be observed by Japanese aircraft but never strafed. In Calcutta, India, Espree saw Japanese aircraft attacking civilians, but the American and British hospitals did not allow the Indians to enter the medical facilities. Espree jumped into a hole in order to survive a bombing by the Japanese. He avoided the bombs as a result. There was another bombing occasion which he survived after this time.

There was an incident involving the Red Cross where Elmo Espree and another black soldier wanted to enter the facility. When he neared the entry, a Red Cross lady would not let them enter. Espree said he was in the armed forces and should be allowed to enter. A major was brought in and said his Red Cross was down the street. Espree was told it was a segregation thing. The black Red Cross had a much better group of bands and with Hindu girls as black as him. Those girls would dance with him, but it still angered him that he could not enter the white Red Cross. Another incident involved a near fatal experience for Espree. A Chinese soldier restricted Espree in his truck from crossing a bridge. This was to allow a group of Chinese soldiers to cross the bridge first. Espree was impatient and wanted to go across before the Chinese soldiers finished crossing. The Chinese soldier drew a gun on Espree. A white soldier with the Chinese outfit rode up on a horse and hit the Chinese soldier across the face with a riding crop. This knocked the gun down. The white soldier on the horse never said a word to Espree but he had saved his life. Another incident happened during the two week detour. Espree built fires at night and headhunters were in the area. The headhunters would cut off a Japanese head or ears to bring to the Americans for cocaine. One night, two headhunters arrived at his camp but because he had black skin they walked off. Another incident occurred when he confronted a guard at a compound for the convoy trucks. Espree attempted to enter an exit instead of the entrance of the compound and the guard raised his weapon and cocked it. Espree turned around and took the direction the guard had given him.

Before Elmo Espree got on the ship for deployment overseas, his group of black soldiers was lined up first on the George Washington [Annotator's Note: SS George Washington] along with 10,000 other troops going to India. That way the black troops were at the bottom of the ship. The blacks were packed like sardines. Espree complained and always asked why it had to be. He felt that he was not being treated right. He was punished for his attitude. Espree was arrogant and did not get along with the other soldiers, but one soldier did specifically ask for a transfer into Espree's company [Annotator's Note: 3468th Quartermaster Trucking Company] because he felt Espree was a nice guy. He was granted the transfer. Espree sometimes passed his letters out to other soldiers who received no mail. Mail was important to a soldier away from home. Another incident occurred in the jungle overseas. There were four individuals in a tent. They built a floor with an ice box in the bottom. They had end tables and a sky blue parachute lining the inside. At inspection, an officer requested that Espree build a tent for him. Espree refused and was sent to the front as a result. One buddy told him that the Army would break him. Espree was broken, but in the process he learned discipline. That discipline stayed with him after the service. During inspection, Espree was awarded a case of beer for having the neatest foot locker. He did not show appreciation for the written citation. He only shoved it in his pocket. Espree did not need the award. During the time in the jungle, Espree kept to himself. He did not attend first run movies that were sent to the troops. For the two years he stayed in the CBI [Annotator's Note: China-Burma-India Theater], Espree lived like Robinson Crusoe [Annotator's Note: a fictional character created by author Daniel Defoe who lived alone on an island for 28 years after the ship he was aboard sank in rough weather].

When President Harry S. Truman said the war was ended with the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Elmo Espree thought it should not have been done. It was not dropped on Nazi Germany. It was only dropped on the Japanese because they were not Caucasian like the Germans, Italians and the Czechs. Espree felt the Japanese were on their knees and would have surrendered without the bomb. Espree looks at the portrayal of World War 2 in museums and questions why the pictures of the war being displayed do not contain black soldiers. This is a source of concern for him as a legacy to black soldiers. In discussing the issues of race relations with school children, he says there are so many untold stories of the black veterans.

Elmo Espree was impressed with the huge size of the first camp he trained at. Customarily, the service facilities are in the front of the camp so that the best location to be billeted is toward the front. The most difficult location is in the back of the camp. Lunch was in the same cafeteria but it would be separated by black and white soldiers. Theaters would be used by the blacks only on a few days. The Army transferred white noncommissioned officers in to train the black soldiers. There was resentment with this. Within the ranks of the black soldiers, there was a class system. Blacks from New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles were looked upon as top of the line. Black soldiers from all the other locations across the United States were looked down upon by the black soldiers from the four major cities. On the transport ship, the dining was standing room only with no tables. The first man would start at five o'clock in the morning and the last at noon. There were only two meals a day. Black and white soldiers both ate at the same time. In Burma, as Espree traveled the Burma Road, his truck could only make five miles per hour through the difficult roads and trails. Espree felt he was doing more than others and the company clerk confirmed it. That was when he took a two week break. He left duty with the convoy and decided he needed a rest period. This resulted in a missing in action telegram being sent to his family. When Espree returned, he was demoted but did not go to the guard house. In Calcutta, Espree went site seeing and shopping in the market. It was during this time that the air raid siren announced the Japanese planes were coming. British fighters met them but the Japanese dropped their bombs during five to six minutes of action. Espree jumped into a trench for protection. Others jumped on top of him. After the raid, he saw military personnel and civilians among the killed and wounded. The white hospitals would not let the Indians or blacks in the hospital.

During another incident experienced by Elmo Espree in a Bombay restaurant, a British, an American and a South African soldier were arguing about which army was best. A black buddy of the South African soldier told Espree not to interfere in the dispute. Espree was not inclined to help the American because the black South African was so large. This was particularly true after the black South African tossed two Indians out of the door. Nevertheless, the fight did not happen but Espree would have helped the white American soldier because he was an American. Another situation happened when several soldiers from multiple countries were sitting around a table. Espree was the only black soldier. Espree was called a darky by an English soldier. Espree rejected that name and the English soldier said that was what a white American soldier told him that blacks were called. The English soldier said that he did not know that the term was derogatory. Derogatory names were seldom used with Espree because he did his job well but he did not like the way he was treated. Some of his wife's best friends were Japanese-Americans. When the Japanese-American friends of his wife graduated from high school, it was after they were moved to internment camps. His wife took the diplomas to her Japanese-American friends in the camp. Espree did not like the transfer of these individuals to internment camps. The Jews and Italians had similar problems as the blacks. They would change their names to avoid the bias of the times. Many of those individuals had skin color darker than Caucasians. Espree learned to send his wife in for housing applications because of her skin color. She looked like a Mexican or white person. Espree would be rejected because of his dark skin color but his wife would be accepted. While Espree was in the CBI [Annotator's Note: China-Burma-India Theater], he paid attention to the fighting going on in the European and Pacific Theaters. When the war in Europe ended, Espree knew that troops would transfer over to the war with Japan. Espree felt it was horrible for the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. The United States supplies were a major part of the victory. Espree had no feelings toward the Nazis. The German-Americans were sympathetic toward the Nazis but kept it low key. Espree was dedicated to his country. The most memorable World War 2 experience that stands out for Espree was when he was recognized as the best soldier out of a group of 250 men. It was an honor for him.

At the end of the war, Elmo Espree was transported through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. He had tears in his eyes as he saw the Statue of Liberty. It was snowing at the time. He was struck by the huge welcoming crowds. There were no black faces in the crowd to welcome the black soldiers. Espree then went to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey with many other soldiers. They stayed there for three days then went home. When he arrived at home, no one asked him what he did overseas except for two people. That was hurtful. Espree was happy that he never had to serve in the southern United States. Espree served in World War 2 because he was drafted. The service changed his life because he learned discipline, respect for authority and how to live with other people. It made a man out of him. He always had good jobs and after the service he went to school with government funding for the United States Post Office. He has had a good life with a good wife and good jobs. Life has been good, though not perfect. Espree and his family have travelled extensively. He has been active within the civil rights movement. Espree's service in the war does not have too much meaning for him in the current world. This is because the average person he comes in contact with knows little about history. In addition, black veterans do not want to look back on that time because of the way they were treated. The National WWII Museum is a good institution to provide information on new historical content. World War 2 history should be taught since the past is important to know in order to deal with issues of today and tomorrow. Today and tomorrow are the most important times to keep in mind. The government sent Espree to many schools. That helped him with his exposure to whites and education. He cannot get many blacks to have interest in the same topics in which he has interest.