Eugene Corson was born in March 1922 in Stanford, Connecticut. In 1936, his father got a job working on submarines in New England. Corson was an only child. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s] affected many families. His father was able to keep his job. Everybody had to walk to school. His uncle was in the war [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] running telephone wires on the lines. Corson was driving his father home when the news came over the radio that Pearl Harbor had been bombed [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He thought he was going to be drafted. He enlisted in the post office in New London. He picked the Navy. His father was proud of him for joining.

Eugene Corson was happy to be in the Navy. It was rough. He went to boot camp in Rhode Island at an airbase. He could not do things on his own. He had to do what he was told to do. He stayed on at boot camp as part of the base staff. He worked in the mess hall and he was an escort for people on base. He was there for about six months. He was assigned to go down to Virginia to train for the amphibious force. He lived in a tent with six other men. He was going to be added to a crew that was already made up. He had to learn about the ships, the codes, aircraft identification, and how to load the guns. He had target practice at the Great Lakes School [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Illinois]. He was stationed on LST-553 [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank]. He was part of the deck crew and was assigned to one of the Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. They went to Florida to get their equipment zeroed in, then they went to California and on to Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. They stayed in Pearl for about a week. They had one or two liberties [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. They went to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] to get their orders. They had to pick up Marines and take them to Peleliu. Peleliu was the bloodiest battle of the whole war [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II; 15 September to 27 November 1944; Peleliu, Palau].

Eugene Corson remembers seeing a USO show [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] in the Russel Islands where they picked up Marines. They only had lights from trucks and tanks to light up the stage. They got to know the Marines. After the battle of Peleliu [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II; 15 September to 27 November 1944; Peleliu, Palau], they found out a lot of their buddies had been killed. The men who died are the real heroes. At Peleliu, Corson was in a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. They were shelling all over the place. The island was on fire. They would transfer supplies to the floating tanks so they could get to the beach. They had to take wounded Marines to the hospital ship. There was a lot of blood. Sometimes they would slip in the blood on the deck. The wounded did not complain much. One day, they had to tie up to a barge because they did not get back to their ship in time. After Peleliu, they got ready for the invasion of Leyte Gulf [Annotator’s Note: The Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of World War 2, 23 to 26 October 1944; Leyte Gulf, the Philippines]. A Japanese plane dropped a bomb and the concussion knocked Corson over while he was on deck. They were a couple of miles offshore. The Japanese had suicide boats running around. They hated the Japanese. They remained on anti-aircraft duty for a couple of weeks. Then they got troops for another invasion. Corson had to fire at the planes if he could get the target on them. He did not personally shoot down any planes. His ship got credit for shooting down five planes and assisting with six planes. The natives were glad to see them. They were happy to be freed from the Japanese.

Eugene Corson went to Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] for his last invasion. The whole ship landed at Okinawa. They were many suicide planes [Annotator’s Note: Japanese kamikazes]. They anchored for anti-aircraft duty. A suicide plane changed course for a bigger plane while Corson was up on deck. The Air Force would shoot many of the planes down first because they were so high up. After Okinawa, they went back to Hollandia, New Guinea. They would play games, rest, or write letters during their down time. Their ship went to Japan after the surrender. Corson saw Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. They let them play baseball out there even though it was supposed to be radioactive. It was surprising to see how much damage one bomb could do. He felt sorry for the people who were left burned and scarred. He did not see many of the victims. The bomb saved a lot of lives. They were happy the war ended. They were in Japan for three or four months. Corson was put on another LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] for about a week before getting on a troop transport to head back to the States [Annotator’s Note: United States]. He celebrated Christmas out at sea. He was discharged in New York on 6 January 1946. He missed his family. He used the G.I. 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 go to school. His wife worked part-time while he went to school.

Eugene Corson had a few sounds that would make him jump out of bed. It would scare his wife. He was able to adjust quite well back into civilian life. He should have told his wife all the details of his service. The most memorable experience was in New Guinea. The world is very diverse. He served to keep married men with children out of the war. He does not think the young people are grasping what they need to fight today. Back then it was a country and today it is an ideology. The museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] shows that we still have to fight for our country like our forefathers. There should be more Bible study and not less.