Floyd Annas was born in March 1925 in Granite Falls, North Carolina. He moved to a farm when he was 12 years old. Annas learned to farm and enjoyed it. Life was good. He and his father built a six-room house in 1937 and 1938. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if he recalls how he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] They did not have a radio, so he heard about it at school the next day. He was in his junior year. They listened to President Roosevelt's [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] speech [Annotator's Note: Infamy Speech; President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the United States Congress on 8 December 1941]. Most of the boys realized they would be involved. Annas did not want to be in the Army. He wanted to fly. In high school, he took the entrance exam for Army Aviation Cadets and passed. He was sworn in two weeks before high school was out. He went into the Air Corps training program straight out of high school on 23 June 1943.

Floyd Annas had always wanted to fly and enlisting in the Army Air Corps was a way to do it. He was sent to Miami Beach, Florida for basic training. It was hot there in June 1943. Basic was hard; it was a lot of physical training and marching drills. They marched to the rifle range ten miles away. He was sent to a College Training Detachment for 12 weeks. They went to University of Denver in Denver, Colorado on 21 September. He learned a lot. They did physical training too. History was taught by a girl who had escaped Czechoslovakia. Their science teacher had worked on the atomic bomb. They took math, logistics, and algebra. He then went to classification. They tested for 21 days. A lot of men washed out. On the final day he qualified for pilot. When he later got into air sea rescue, the navigator was crucial. He went to basic flight training at Mira Loma Flight Academy in Oxnard, California. It was close enough to Hollywood that stars came up and instructed them. Robert Cummings [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Lieutenant, later US Air Force Reserve Captain, Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings; American actor] was one. They flew the PT-13 [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet primary trainer aircraft]. He was there for three months and flew solo the first time. He then went to Gardner Field, California and flew the BT-13 [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft; also known as the Vultee Vibrator] which was similar to the AT-6 [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft]. There were quite a few accidents. He saw two planes collide and was one of the few witnesses. It was terrible. He had an accident in a UC-78 [Annotator's Note: Cessna AT-17 Bobcat advanced trainer aircraft; the UC-78 was the cargo variant of the AT-17; also known as the Bamboo bomber] when both engines quit at once. He was not hurt but the plane was lost. Next, he went to Marfa, Texas [Annotator's Note: Marfa Army Airfield] for advanced flight training and multi-engine school. They flew the Bamboo Bomber there, the plane used in Sky King [Annotator's Note: American radio and television series that ran from 1946 to 1951]. They learned navigation there. The decision as to what type of aircraft flown was not left to him.

Floyd Annas graduated from advanced pilot training in Marfa, Texas [Annotator's Note: Marfa Army Airfield] on 23 December 1944. The war was winding down in Europe and there were too many pilots. All of the graduates went into different groups. He went to copilot school in Kingman, Arizona [Annotator's Note: Kingman Army Air Field]. He flew B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] as targets for P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] to shoot at. He spent five weeks and began to get restless. He saw a notice for helicopter pilots but was not interested. He volunteered for air sea rescue at Keesler Field, Mississippi [Annotator's Note: now Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi] flying B-17s. He was assigned to a crew at Keesler. He was copilot. He trained there for a couple months. They were working on the early stage of the A-1 lifeboat [Annotator's Note: Higgins Industries A-1 Lifeboat; also known as the Higgins Air Sea Rescue boat]. It was supposed to be the most seaworthy craft ever built. It had a canvas top as a shelter and stored food. It also had an engine. The engine had problems but there was a sail on the boat too. It carried supplies for five men for 30 days. One was used to rescue a man from a hurricane before he got there. They trained at Biloxi and over the Gulf of Mexico. [Annotator's Note: Annas describes the mechanisms and methods for releasing the boat in detail.] It was a good design.

[Annotator's Note: Floyd Annas was training for air sea rescue at Keesler Field, now Keesler Air Force Base, in Biloxi, Mississippi.] Floyd Annas was there a couple of months from February until May 1945. He got orders to the Pacific. He had two weeks leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] first. There were 12 crews that picked up the last 12 B-17s [Annotator's Note: SB-17Gs; Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber outfitted for air sea rescue] built in Savannah, Georgia. They headed west to Amarillo [Annotator's Note: Amarillo, Texas], then San Francisco [Annotator's Note: [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California]. They went to Hawaii and the boat [Annotator's Note: Higgins Industries A-1 Lifeboat; also known as the Higgins Air Sea Rescue boat] was not there. They stayed there for three weeks. They found one boat in a supply house. The B-17 was the most stable airplane ever built. It was designed for high altitude but flew better at low altitude. They rarely flew above 500 feet. A lot of times he was only 60 or 70 feet above the water. They had a crew of seven. The planes were fully armed, but when the war was over the guns were stripped off the plane. He was assigned to the unit in Hawaii. Their orders were to Biak Airdrome [Annotator's Note: Mokmer Drome or Mokmer Airfield, Biak, New Guinea] and they had no idea where it was. He was in the 2nd Air Sea Rescue Squadron, 13th Air Force [Annotator's Note: 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron, 13th Air Force]. They made it to Biak with many stops. They then went to Morotai [Annotator's Note: Morotai Island, Indonesia] from 4 July to November [Annotator's Note: 4 July to November 1945] as their home base. They had pushed the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] back. About 2,000 of them were there still. The only problem they had was them slipping in to get some food at night. It was the rainy season and muddy. They were three men to a tent. They had a foxhole beside the bed. There were a lot of lizards. The doves were colored and beautiful. True jungle. They flew two or three times per week. The war was over on 15 August [Annotator's Note: 15 August 1945] and not much was going on. He flew one mission near Borneo. He followed B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] out. They would just orbit and wait in case somebody got shot down. They listened to Armed Forces radio. He was on his cot and the news [Annotator's Note: of the war's end] came over the radio. Everybody started hollering and firing their guns. It was the only time he was in his foxhole. He went to the Philippines. The squadron commander wanted somebody to fly with him on 15 July. They flew to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Annas had never seen so many ships and aircraft. They spent the night and went back. They moved then from Morotai to Clark Field [Annotator's Note: now Clark Air Base, Luzon, Philippines]. Annas had been checked out in C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft]. Two of them would fly C-47s and kept busy moving the squadron for two weeks. He enjoyed it. He stayed there until he was transferred home.

[Annotator's Note: Floyd Annas rotated home from Clark Field, now Clark Air Base, Luzon, Philippines.] He stayed in the Reserves. The tour of duty was 30 months and he had been overseas for 22 months. He went home and was going to stay in, but they told him he could not. In January 1946, he started flying helicopters. For six months he was the only helicopter pilot in the Philippines. They had five but only one that flew. It was good for search and aerial photography. In Mindanao [Annotator's Note: Mindanao, Philippines], a plane had crashed in the rainy season. He went in to take photographs. The wind was rough. It was a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] with no survivors. There were no roads. He was so tired he could not eat after that flight. Annas feels that air sea rescue was a morale booster for the fighter pilots. They could get there with their B-17s [Annotator's Note: SB-17Gs; Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber equipped for air sea rescue] before the PBYs [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] could. The Catalinas made over 700 rescues. Those pilots were real pilots. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks how they would find the downed planes.] They would plot a course based on the mission and then spread an expanded course. They would search for three weeks before giving up. There were homing beacons in use, but he does not recall much use.

Floyd Annas was called back to active duty for the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953] but did not know it. He was getting his annual exam and they learned he was a helicopter pilot. At the time he would have gone but he thinks it worked out [Annotator's Note: better that he did not go]. He stayed in the Air Force Reserves for 22 years. He went to the Air Force Finance and Accounting School at Shephard Field, Texas. He also went to Charleston, South Carolina and served as Assistant Comptroller. He did not continue to fly in the military. He was assigned to an academic unit in Hickory, North Carolina. He retired in 1968 as a Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, he signed up for the G.I. Bill and wanted a parttime job. He went to the bank where he had a savings account and they said they needed someone fulltime. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks how World War 2 changed his life.] He feels that he was brought up in the Air Force. He went from high school to the best training the world. He used all of his training in his life since. It showed him the importance of discipline and training. It gave his life direction. The type of flying he was doing stands out in his mind. He saw the beauty of the earth in his travels and he still travels the world. It changed his outlook. He was married a year after he got home. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if Annas feels it is important for The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana to exist.] He thinks it is important. The older he gets, the more he appreciates it. He finds a spark in the eye of the younger people when they are told about it.