Emmett Charles Guderian Jr., was born in December 1926 in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. He was the oldest boy of nine children. Guderian left New Orleans when he joined the Navy. After the war, he returned to the city and married his wife on 1 January 1947. He joined the Coast Guard and worked at the Port of Embarkation. For a time, he rented an apartment in Elmwood [Annotator's Note: Elmwood, Louisiana] which had been a German prisoner of war camp called Camp Plauche [Annotator's Note: Camp Plauche, or Camp Harahan, in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana]. His wife worked for the Army Quartermaster Corps in New Orleans. Guderian's father was a sergeant in the Army during World War 1 but did not go overseas. He worked as a traveling salesman. His mother was a house wife. His grandmother helped his mother since his dad was away much of the time. Guderian learned how to be a handyman and how to take care of children. He also worked as a newspaper delivery boy around town. Guderian was not a good student. For two years in the 1930s, he lived in a convent in Brookehaven, Mississippi. While there, he retrieved wood for the stove. His father did well as a salesman. People would beg at his door for food. For fun, Guderian went to dances on river boats and school gyms and visited with friends. When he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], he told his mother he was joining the Navy. [Annotator's Note: Guderian shows emotion.] His mother told him he would have to wait, since he was only 15 years old. He enlisted when he graduated in 1943. He then boarded a troop train bound for San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California], where he did his boot training. He does not know why he chose the Navy. His mother only cried when he finally came home. [Annotator's Note: Guderian shows emotion.]

Emmett Guderian was told he would not be able to go home before shipping out overseas. [Annotator's Note: Guderian shows emotion.] A chaplain helped him get home and back before in time. He attended radar school at Point Loma, California. He chose to be a radar man because he wanted to work with the new technology. When he finished school, he boarded his ship in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. He did not know anything about the USS Independence (CVL-22). Guderian had spent one semester at LSU [Annotator's Note: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] where he was a part of the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] program. He was assigned a hammock in the mess room, where the ship had been torpedoed. After a week, he was given a locker. He did not mind the cramped quarters. For the first year, he slept below sea level. It was so hot, he would wake up wet and would have to put a flame proof cover on the bunk, then it would get wet again. Every few months, the crew was sprayed down for lice. There was a constant smell of aviation fuel and rust. For his job, Guderian located and reported incoming contacts. He became accustomed to the work. He also had to report the distance from other ships. He does not remember how many other radar men were aboard. To get to one radar set, he would have to go up several levels and across the flight deck. Guderian saw a lot of planes take off from the ship. There was a portable radar set that he used to help the landing officer talk planes in during bad weather. When TBMs [Annotator's Note: Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber] missed their landings and skidded across the flight deck, Guderian would have to jump into cubby holes to avoid being hit. Sometimes those planes would get snagged on the antennas. The USS Independence was a night carrier, so Guderian worked a lot at night. He was amazed the pilots could land on the deck with only red lights guiding them. There were several crashes.

The ship would reposition at Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands]. Occasionally, Japanese planes from nearby Yap Island [Annotator's Note: Yap, Caroline Islands] would harass the ships at Ulithi. Everyone on board had to help bring materials aboard. On Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Marianas Islands], he was allowed to go ashore, but was not allowed to go into the caves. He saw Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] clear trees to make room for runways. He also went ashore on Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines]. The Filipino people were happy to see the Americans. They called him "Blondie." The people lived in raised huts along the shoreline. He had a best friend from Illinois. They were both radar men and would go on leave together. Around the time of the atomic attacks against Japan, Guderian remembered B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] going over the fleet at night and blinking their lights. He heard about Franklin Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] dying. He and his wife wrote each other as often as possible and Guderian still reads the letters. His wife sent him pralines for Christmas one year, but they did not reach him until March. When they arrived, there were worms in them, but he ate the candies anyway. Guderian found it exciting to find an enemy on the radar. He served off of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], and Leyte. He remembered the kamikazes at Okinawa. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Guderian went topside, which he found exciting.

Emmett Guderian served in the occupation of Japan. He saw the remains of bombed towns. He worked with Japanese on garbage duties and saw old women pulling carts. There was nowhere to spend money. Guderian left his ship [Annotator's Note: USS Independence (CVL-22)] with some crewmen, but when they became disrespectful to the Japanese, he left. When he returned to the town, he was invited into the house of a local woman. He remembers the smells. He wanted to give his money to locals, but thought better of that. While he was engaged in battle, his views of the Japanese did not change. He constantly heard Tokyo Rose [Annotator's Note: nickname given by Allied servicemen to any English speaking female radio personality broadcasting Japanese propaganda in the Pacific Theater] on the radio. After the surrender, Guderian ferried troops from Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], and Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands]. He remembers troops getting seasick in the hanger bay. When the surrender was signed, Guderian was patrolling the coast. Guderian was discharged on 26 April 1946 in San Pedro, California. Guderian helped get the USS Independence ready for use in Operation Crossroads [Annotator's Note: a pair of nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in July 1946 at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands]. He does not remember being told what he was preparing the ship for. He was conscientious about not revealing his locations in letters. He wishes he would have kept a diary. After his discharge, Guderian tried school but could not concentrate. He ended up working as a truck driver for the Hotel Monteleone [Annotator's Note: an old hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana] and other various jobs. He married in January 1947. Eventually, he started working at the office his father worked at, then became a salesman in Memphis [Annotator's Note: Memphis, Tennessee]. He worked in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. He did well at the job. Guderian retired from his job in 1993. For some time, he worked all around south east Louisiana doing seismic interpretation. He became the first independent contractor for Shell Oil in New Orleans.

Emmett Guderian's Navy career gave him all kinds of new experiences, from world travel to intense emotions. He remembers looking at the stars at night from the deck, feeling the breeze on his face, and discussing postwar intentions. He remembers those things fondly. During a typhoon, a wave caved in a bulkhead. Shoring timber was thrown into the damaged room to stop the bombs from rattling around. One or two men were lost overboard during that storm. He experienced three typhoons. Experiencing the war helped him actually understand what war is about. He believes he is related to Heinz Guderian [Annotator's Note: German Army Generaloberst Heinz Wilhelm Guderian]. A kamikaze came so close to the ship that Guderian could see the pilot. The pilot hit the water, but Guderian thought that he was going to die. Guderian believes it is important to teach World War 2 history to people. His son was in the Vietnam War and it hurt seeing how those veterans were treated. He does not like seeing how today veterans suffer. Guderian did not talk about the war for a long time, but he does now. Guderian suffered from PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. His wife made him get evaluated when she found him having a breakdown. [Annotator's Note: Guderian shows emotion.] Guderian had a hard time finding himself after the war, but got better after he started taking medication.