Frank Pantuso was born in November 1925 in San Antonio, Texas. He says his mother and father worked hard to support the family during the Great Depression. Because everyone was in the same boat economically, Pantuso says he was unaware of the Depression until much later in life. Pantuso grew up with one younger brother, Joseph. He says his parents had another child, Philip, who died in infancy. In 1934, eager to pass the name Philip on again, his parents gave birth to another son, nine years younger than Pantuso. Pantuso says he was vaguely aware of the outside world and the tensions building around the world as the family was still deep in the throes of the Great Depression and did not own a radio. To get news the Pantusos subscribed to the San Antonio Express newspaper. Pantuso says he remembers learning of the rise of Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] through the paper. He recalls hearing often that "Great Britain will fight a war until the last American." He says this common phrase alerted him to the fact that danger was not far from America in the late 1930s. Pantuso felt that President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] was wise and would keep the country safe. On the morning of 7 December 1941, Pantuso was returning from church and stopped in at a pool hall owned by a neighbor. It was in the pool hall that Pantuso heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Notes: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] over the radio. Initially, Pantuso had no idea where Pearl Harbor was, but, he says, each day the situation came into greater focus. After graduating from high school in December 1942, 16 year old Pantuso began to think about military service. He was aware of a 50,000 dollar insurance policy that was written for all servicemen and he knew the money would help his family pay off whatever bills they had. Pantuso wrote to the Navy inquiring about the V-5 program [Annotator’s Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943] and hoped to become a Naval pilot. The Navy responded to his letter, leading his parents to discover what he was planning. Not wanting to seem like he was going behind his parents' backs, Pantuso decided to stay home for a year and contribute to family before joining the service. Later, while in boot camp with the Marines, his parents wrote to him to tell them the house note had been paid off. [Annotator's Note: Pantuso is visibly emotional when remembering his contribution to his family.]

In 1943, Frank Pantuso reported to the local recruiting station on his 18th birthday and joined the Marine Corps. He says he chose the Marine Corps over the Navy because he swam "like a rock." He did not want to join the Army because of the prevalence of Army personnel in San Antonio [Annotator's Notes: San Antonio, Texas] from nearby Fort Sam Houston, home of the Indianhead Division [Annotator's Note: 2nd Infantry Division]. Furthermore, Pantuso says he was influenced to join the Marine Corps by footage he had seen of Marines in combat at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Notes: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] and Wake Island. Pantuso reported to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Notes: San Diego, California] and his drill instructor, Sergeant Ambrosia [Annotator's Note: no given name provided], a seagoing Marine and fellow Italian, taught him how to be a Marine. Pantuso says every day was a test. Once while marching in cadence, Sergeant Ambrosia complained that the platoon was not loud enough, so he taught them to count in Chinese. Pantuso says Ambrosia was teaching the platoon lessons in accepting discipline without question. Once while stacking rifles in a standing circle on the beach, many guys in the platoon were distracted by four engines planes taking off from an airstrip near the training ground. Ambrosia had the platoon line up and threatened punishment if anyone looked towards the runway as the plane took off. He says he never knew if anyone looked or not, but they all learned to accept orders, no matter how small. While in basic training, Pantuso went for an interview to assign him a job. Having worked in the engineering field as a member of the Civil Service before joining the Marines, Pantuso agreed to engineering training [Annotator's Notes: A telephone rings and interrupts the interview between 0:30:14.000 and 0:31:56.000.] Pantuso was sent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina for training and quickly learned the differing definitions of civilian and Marine engineering. [Annotator's Notes: A telephone rings and interrupts the interview between 0:32:20.000 and 0:33:07.000]. Over the course of 60 or 90 days, Pantuso says he became an explosives specialist before reporting back to San Diego.

Shortly before his 19th birthday, Frank Pantuso met Sergeant Tatonetti [Annotator's Note: no given name provided] and the two became close. To celebrate his birthday, Tatonetti invited Pantuso to his private quarters for a drink of gin. Several other officers came in one at a time and each had a drink with Pantuso who had never drank before. After 20 or so minutes, Pantuso passed out and was carried back to his bunk where he became sick, Tatonetti stayed by his side all night cleaning up the vomit. Soon after, the two were assigned to the 1st Engineer Combat Battalion, 1st Marine Division and their bond was assured. Pantuso arrived on Pavuvu [Annotator's Notes: Pavuvu, Russell Islands] for further training and says the 1st Marine Division played host to "five million land crabs." While in his tent on Pavuvu, Pantuso heard a rifle shot and could see a fellow Marine in a tent not far from his had committed suicide after receiving a "Dear John" letter [Annotator's Note: a letter from a female to a serviceman ending a romantic relationship] from his girlfriend. Pantuso and the 1st Engineers boarded ship to Ulithi [Annotator's Notes: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands] where they joined a convoy of over 250 ships in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Notes: Okinawa, Japan]. Pantuso says the 1st Marines were due to land between the 6th Marine Division and two Army infantry divisions on the island's western shore. Pantuso says he did not go ashore until about the fifteenth or twentieth wave landed. He recalls the sense of surprise when they landed without any enemy resistance. His outfit boarded a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] and began the process of unloading their equipment from ship to shore. After spending the entire day unloading, two or three Higgins boats tied up together not far off the beach and the Marines settled in for the night. Thinking they were far enough from the beach to avoid any attacks, Pantuso says no one set watch. When he woke in the morning, it was discovered that enemy soldiers had swam to a boat not far from his and slit the throats of all the Marines on board. Pantuso says he was lucky that night and they learned a lesson to always set watch. They hurriedly unloaded the ships and moved ashore permanently. Pantuso says the landing day, 1 April 1945, was a "combination" day as it was Easter Sunday and April Fool's Day. He says they began to say "Golden Gate in '48" when they arrived on Okinawa.

Frank Pantuso's outfit [Annotator's Note: 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division] was assigned to support the 1st, 5th, and 7th Marine Regiments when they called for explosives. He says when they were not called to the front lines their time was spent behind the front building bridges and other construction projects. After two weeks on Okinawa, on 14 April [Annotator's Note: 14 April 1945], Pantuso returned to camp after a day of building a bridge in the city of Naha [Annotator's Notes: Naha, Okinawa, Japan] to the news that Sergeant Tatonetti [Annotator's Note: no given name provided] had been killed when a 10 pound pack of TNT used by the engineers to clear our enemy caves had exploded in his arms. Pantuso wonders why Tatonetti went on the mission himself when he normally would have ordered someone else to go. The only reason he can think is that the rest of the men were busy building the bridge. Pantuso was told that instead of a brief delay, the TNT exploded immediately after Tatonetti pulled the pin. After Tatonetti's death, Pantuso says everyone in his outfit worried that the same fate would fall to them when they were called to clear a cave. Pantuso explains the bridge building scenario briefly and says it was as near to the frontlines as he ever got, but he only came under sporadic rifle fire. By the time the Marines had reached Okinawa, cave warfare had developed to the point that they were no longer required to carry flamethrowers which had, by this time, been mounted on tanks. As a result, Pantuso says the only calls for support came when a 10lb pack needed to be thrown into a cave. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes ay 0:59:23.000.] One guy in Pantuso's outfit received a "Dear John letter" [Annotator's Note: a letter sent by a female to a serviceman ending a romantic relationship] from his girlfriend who was leaving for an Army veteran who had fought in Europe and received a medal for his actions. Hoping to earn a medal of his own and win her back, the guy volunteered for stretcher bearer duty and was killed. Pantuso says he learned to never volunteer for anything in the military.

Frank Pantuso was relieved when President Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] dropped the atomic bombs and ended the war as his outfit [Annotator's Note: 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division] had begun training for the invasion of Japan. After the war, he says his time on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] was made difficult by General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] who ordered that the Marines be fed last when food ships arrived. Personally, Pantuso says he did not like MacArthur one bit. Without enough points to return home, Pantuso was transferred to China. Upon arriving in China, Pantuso saw a dead body floating downstream in a river and a person rowing upriver. The person pushed the dead body away from the boat without any regard for it. Pantuso realized the disregard for life was because of the terrible conditions found on land. Because of drinking raw milk and eating raw eggs while in China, Pantuso contracted tuberculosis later in life. From September 1945 until May 1946, he was stationed at a rail station in Northern China that ran through Manchuria and into Russia; Pantuso speculates this was to discourage the Russians from advancing too far south. On the ship back to the United States, Pantuso had no fear of enemy attack and said he was treated well by the ship's crew. When they arrived in San Diego [Annotator's Notes: San Diego, California] he said the sight of the buildings along the beach was "phenomenal," and he was happy to have beaten the "Golden Gate in '48" mantra. Pantuso says he still feels as though the war happened yesterday, although he cannot recall what he did every single day overseas.

After his discharge, Frank Pantuso rode a bus back home to San Antonio [Annotator's Note: San Antonio, Texas] where he got a haircut and a fresh shave before returning home and surprising his family. Pantuso says he did not have too much trouble readjusting to civilian life, although the fear of the unknown stuck with him for a long time after. He says he thought of his own death a lot and believes the tense times spent in the dark on guard duty were the cause of this. When on guard duty he says his mind would play tricks on him and he took every sound or movement as coming from an advancing Japanese soldier ready to attack. He used the G.I. bill to attend St. Mary's University [Annotator's Notes: in San Antonio, Texas]. While in college, Pantuso says he was more interested in playing baseball in hopes of becoming a professional player. Pantuso met his wife at a parade in April 1949.

Frank Pantuso's most memorable experience from World War 2 is the realization of the "reality of war; of knowing that you can be like millions of others, free of all obligations but the obligation to self and country and that it could likely get you killed." He says he fought in World War 2 because he understood that his liberty and way of life was at stake. World War 2 changed his life completely, he says. He became aware of himself and the impact that outside forces could have on his life.