Eugene J. Gemperline was born in Portsmouth, Ohio in June 1923. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings in the background at 0:00:29.000.] Gemperline was the third of six boys in the family. His Great Depression-era [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] neighborhood was filled with family members his age with lots of fun to be had. At age eight, Gemperline joined a YMCA [Annotator's Note: Young Men's Christian Association] baseball league playing shortstop and second base until he was 17 years old. They created a division of about eight teams and there was always a championship game at the end of the season. After graduating from high school, Gemperline's father made him work in the family grocery business. In September 1942, Gemperline's oldest brother went into the service and Gemperline filled his brother's role as a delivery driver for the company. Gemperline soon left this job and began working in a metal cutting machine shop for three months and then at Patterson Air Force Base [Annotator's Notes: now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio] repairing engines. He had to work in the cold weather. After six months of working at the base, Gemperline was drafted into the USAAF [Annotator's Note: United States Army Air Forces] in April 1943. At this point in time, he had three brothers already in the military. Gemperline reported to Fort Thomas, Kentucky for his induction. He was awakened at five o'clock in the morning for an I.Q. test. He did horrible and asked if he could take it over, which they allowed. Gemperline was 18 years old when Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] happened, but he cannot recall what exactly he was doing. He knows he was home when he first learned of the attack. He knew that the country would be at war. He cannot remember what his reaction was to the Pearl Harbor attack. From there, Gemperline boarded a train to Saint Petersburg, Florida for basic training. Initially, he was housed in a tent city with terrible living conditions. Two weeks later, the health department condemned the place, and he was moved to a beachfront hotel. For six weeks, ten men were assigned to one room. The rooms were so crowded that they only had room to walk in and walk out. They were required to do fire rotations where they guarded the stairwells during the night. Nothing stands out from his training in Saint Petersburg other than the traditional drills he experienced. They were free to do what they wanted on the weekends. From Florida, Gemperline was sent to Buckley in Denver, Colorado [Annotator's Note: then Buckley Field, now Buckley Space Force Base, in Aurora, Colorado] for more training.

Eugene J. Gemperline was sent to Buckley [Annotator's Note: then Buckley Field, now Buckley Space Force Base, in Aurora, Colorado] and Lowry Fields [Annotator's Note: now Lowry Air Force Base] in Denver, Colorado for six weeks of armory school. While in Colorado, Gemperline learned to take apart and put together machine guns while blindfolded. There were times when there was not much to do, so they made him plant and take care of trees. A physical training instructor formed a baseball team while in Colorado and he played all the games in shoes that were too big. Saint Louis Cardinals player "Red Shaney" [Annotator's Note: Albert Fred "Red Shaney" Schoendienst; American professional baseball player, coach, and manager] was on the team. After six weeks at Lowry Field, Gemperline was sent to Harlingen, Texas [Annotator's Note: Harlingen Army Airfield, later Harlingen Air Force Base] for gunnery school. He mostly shot at moving targets using skeets and machine guns. He went up in training planes to practice shooting at targets trailed behind another plane. The bullets were color coded to show how well the planes different shooters were doing. On an early training exercise, Gemperline did not move far enough back and had a tooth knocked out by the weapon's heavy recoil. A friend from gunnery school, Ray Gallman [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to verify identity], suggested that he and Gemperline apply for the cadet training program. After graduating with his sergeant stripes, Gemperline was accepted into the cadet program. The rest of the guys from gunnery school boarded B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] bound for combat in Italy. Gemperline reported to San Antonio, Texas for another six weeks of training. While there, he was hospitalized and had an operation. The pain he experienced after the operation is one of his most memorable experiences in the service. He missed ten days of training because of the operation. After he healed, and completed training in San Antonio, Gemperline was sent to Keesler Field, Mississippi [Annotator's Note: now Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi] for a few weeks and to San Marcos, Texas [Annotator's Note: San Marcos Army Air Field] before heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma by train. While in San Marcos, he received a two week furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went home to visit his family. When he was stationed in Stillwater, he studied for five months at a liberal arts college. He attended class five days a week for six hours each day. Every morning he had to get up and being ready for inspection and have physical training before class. They usually had Saturday afternoons and Sundays off. While not in classes, Gemperline trained to fly in a Piper Cub [Annotator's Note: Piper J-3 Cub light observation aircraft]. The training required him to fly in a figure eight pattern over an area of about ten square miles. The discipline in the program was very strict, he says. He had to have his barracks clean to exact specifications. His uniform had to also be neat to exact specifications too.

Eugene J. Gemperline reported to San Angelo, Texas [Annotator's Note: San Angelo Army Airfield] for bombardier training. Gemperline learned to identify all Allied and Axis aircraft, how to accurately drop bombs from a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] and learned the basics of navigation. On a training mission, one student operated the Norden bombsight [Annotator's Note: Norden Mk. XV tachometric bombsight], while another sitting in the copilot's seat photographed the bomb's landing spot. A third practiced dropping the nine, 100 pound smoke bombs. The target range was usually about 20 minutes out. When he practiced as a bombardier using the Norton Bombsight, he did pretty good, but did not always hit his targets directly. On one mission over western Texas, one of the plane's engines went out at 8,000 feet. The plane dropped to 4,000 feet before the pilot could regain control. On the 20 minute ride back to the base, flames repeatedly shot out of the engine. The plane landed safely even though they still had bombs aboard. There was another plane that followed them in to make sure they got back to the base. Gemperline was hospitalized on another occasion for an infection on his wrist. Out of training for ten days, he received a theee day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and was able to visit his brother before his brother shipped out for service with the Navy. Gemperline received his bombardier wings on 1 March 1945. As a bombardier on board a B-29, Gemperline was also the central fire control officer responsible for knowing how to operate the gun at every position on the plane. As a result, Gemperline would have to go back to gunnery school. Gemperline waited four months to be sent to gunnery school because the military was building a new bomb-target area. During this time, the war in Europe had ended. With nothing to do, Gemperline and other guys played touch football every day. The discipline in the program was still very strict and if you goofed up on inspections, they would not allow you to have liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] on the weekends. If you goofed up six times, you were required to walk for an hour. After finishing his gunnery training in Harlingen, Texas [Annotator's Note: Harlingen Army Airfield] in early August [Annotator's Note: August 1945], Gemperline was on his way home on furlough when news of the Japanese surrender reached him. He was able to catch up with some guys that he was with in his first gunnery school program.

After a brief furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], Eugene J. Gemperline was stationed in Lincoln, Nebraska [Annotator's Note: Lincoln Army Airfield]. He received a furlough to go home when one of his grandparents died. On his return to base, his train jumped the track and reported six hours late. The very next morning he was told that he would be discharged. Because he was able to get four hours of flight time before his discharge, he received bonus pay. He was discharged on 13 October 1945 with the rank of second lieutenant. His brothers returned home in December 1945 and February 1946. Gemperline was very lucky during World War 2, including getting into the cadet school [Annotator's Note: aviation cadet training], and not having to go overseas. One brother, serving in an armored division, survived being shot across the top of the head. The other served as a radio operator aboard an ice breaker off the coast of Greenland. Gemperline was at bombardier school in Texas when he heard the news that the Germans surrendered. He was waiting for his next orders and played a lot of touch football during that time. He passed through Austin, Texas on his way home on VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. The celebration was infectious. They did not stop and kept driving through until they reached Saint Louis [Annotator's Note: Saint Louis, Missouri]. They had some mechanical problems with the car on the drive which delayed them. He returned home to Portsmouth [Annotator's Note: Portsmouth, Ohio] and found out his mother had known of his return even though he did not tell her. He attended a party for another serviceman who had just returned home. He took advantage of 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] and attended Xavier University [Annotator's Note: Xavier University in Cincinnati and Norwood, Ohio] in the fall of 1946 with three of his brothers. In 1945, the school had a freshman class of 500 students. In 1946, with an influx of returning GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier], the freshman class was 900 strong. Because there was not enough on-campus housing, he and his brothers found a boarding house to live in. Gemperline was married in 1948. He graduated in 1950 before getting a job with an oil company.

Eugene J. Gemperline's most memorable experience of World War 2 was being operated on and the dizzy aftermath of post-surgery. Another was the night when his engine went out 20 minutes from base [Annotator's Note: while training as a bombardier]. The engine would flame up as they returned to base, and he was very scared. He fought because he was drafted and had to go. He feels like he benefited greatly from his World War 2 experience. He grew up and matured. He also developed more in physical strength from when he was in school. He learned how to associate with lots of different people. When he returned from the service, he became more independent. His service allowed him to go to college and get a degree in accounting. He later pursued auditing [Annotator's Note: a telephone rings in background at 1:08:26.000] and was able to pursue a successful career of it. He thinks World War 2 means a lot to the younger American generation. They do not know much about the war and the sacrifice of many servicemen. He thinks there are many things wrong with society today including children going into slavery, killing children, abortion, school shootings, continuous wars. He thinks it is going downhill. He believes there should be institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations because it would be well off if they knew about it. If they saw how many people sacrificed their lives for our freedom, they may appreciate our country.