Garland Virgil Longhoffer was known as "Chub" through high school. He was born in Abilene, Kansas, in March 1926. His father was a farmer. The family was poor, but so was everyone else. They were able to make their own food, which helped them. Longhoffer had three siblings. He enjoyed growing up on the farm. He attended a country grade school. For two years, he was the only boy in the class. Not all of the grades were in the school. Occasionally, there were only a few kids per grade. There was one male teacher. Longhoffer was visiting family during the Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did not find out until Sunday evening. His family did not play the radio very often and his aunt did not have the radio on during the visit. He was shocked when he heard the news. Longhoffer had two older brothers, but one was not eligible for the draft because of a disease. His other brother was drafted but did not go overseas until Longhoffer did. His brother was not drafted immediately. He was able to visit several times and did not want Longhoffer to join. His other brother would get looks because he did not serve, so he tried to talk Longhoffer into joining. He wanted to join the Navy V-5 program [Annotator's Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943] when he was 17 years old. When he tried to join, his parents told him not to. He did not understand until he was a parent himself. One of his classmates got into the program and ended up in Pensacola, Florida while he had to serve in Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. His mother was mad about that.

Garland Virgil Longhoffer turned 18 years old and became eligible for the draft in March 1944. He could have stayed out of the war because of his farm. His neighbors did not want him to go. He did his physical after finishing high school and was drafted on 10 July 1944. Because he was in a rural area, he was kept home until 1 August, so he could help with the harvest. Longhoffer was inducted at Fort Leavenworth [Annotator's Note: Fort Leavenworth, Kansas], then sent to Camp Hood [Annotator's Note: now Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas]. It was a bit easier because he was around people from home. Longhoffer did not mind basic training. He gained a lot of weight during training. He was in good shape when he entered but gained about 20 pounds by the end. He learned how to be yelled at and not let it affect him. He learned discipline and weapons. He had hunted before training, but he was not a good shot. He learned about the M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] and how to assemble it. He was in an anti-tank unit. Longhoffer was used to being yelled at by coaches. Some of the people at basic training were older and had a harder time being yelled at. He trained on 37mm [Annotator's Note: M3 37mm gun anti-tank gun] and 57mm anti-tank guns [Annotator's Note: M1 57mm; American name for the British Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt]. They were loud. The men did not wear earplugs, which surprised Longhoffer. The VA [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs] thinks that is why so many veterans have hearing loss. He was trained as a replacement. He was the lowest person on the post because he did not belong to a unit. The first 81mm mortar [Annotator's Note: M1 81mm mortar] he saw was on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Longhoffer had spent some time in the hospital and thinks that was when they taught the men about mortars. On Okinawa, he never used the anti-tank guns he trained on. After basic training, Longhoffer was sent home for a delay in route [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a specified period of time]. Basic training ended around 16 December, about the time the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] started. The people in the classes with Longhoffer were sent to Europe. He was sent from Fort Ord, California, to Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington], where he remained for three weeks. He figured they were waiting to see if he was needed in Europe. Eventually, he was sent to Hawaii. Longhoffer would have rather been sent to Europe, but later felt happy he did not go there. He did not mind going where the military sent him.

In Hawaii, Garland Virgil Longhoffer was still a replacement. It took time to get out of the United States. The trip to Hawaii was not bad. He did not get sick but did not feel good. Five men on the ship knew each other. Longhoffer never got home sick. The quarters were crowded. There was always line for the bathroom. One day, he took his watch off while shaving. Afterwards, he went downstairs, but forgot his watch. He felt lucky that it was still there. Longhoffer felt lucky several times. The ship he was on was a Navy vessel. Longhoffer was used to the kind of food he was served on the ship. He had never seen anything like Hawaii before. He did not like Hawaii much because of the restrictions put on him. The Hawaiians did not like the military men much and he was told to be off the street by a certain time every night. He was there for a few weeks. While there, Longhoffer did artificial training. He got in trouble for slipping off into the woods. Longhoffer and his friend were made to clean several rifles. He ran into the officer that caught him at a roll call sometime later. He was not assigned to the 27th Division [Annotator's Note: 27th Infantry Division] until he got to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Longhoffer went to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] before going to Okinawa. His squad leader played dead during a banzai charge on Saipan. Longhoffer crossed the International Date Line on his 19th birthday. He was not allowed to write home. He was able to write home when he was in Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington]. When he got to the front line, he was able to write anything he wanted. Longhoffer was not concerned about Saipan not being secured when he got there. He never saw action on the island. He did not have much interaction with the locals.

Garland Virgil Longhoffer arrived at Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] on the night of 26 April 1945. He was assigned to the 27th Infantry Division which arrived on 10 April. Longhoffer was shocked when he got to his unit because nobody wore their rank insignia. Despite being new, the men of the 27th Division treated Longhoffer well. There was no yelling, and no one blamed him for mistakes. He expected some initiation, but the situation was too serious for such a thing. On his first night, Longhoffer was afraid. He did not know the territory and his mortar was in a low place. The Japanese artillery would miss hitting him but would shake the area. His hole started caving in on him. Longhoffer was with an older guy who he went through basic training with. Longhoffer did not know when the American guns were shooting. After some time, he could tell by the sound. The first night he knew the Japanese were firing because the shells were landing around him. When he arrived on the island, Longhoffer and everyone sent to the 27th were sent to one area. From there, he was put in his unit, then moved to the front. He went up while in the evening and was not given much orientation. The following day, Longhoffer was assigned to a mortar squad. He was happy to not be the observer. Three men, including Longhoffer, were sent to the flanks as security. When he was brought to the line, he was assigned to H Company, 105th Regiment [Annotator's Note: Company H, 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division]. The company had two machine gun platoons and a mortar platoon. Longhoffer was happy to be in the mortar platoon because the mortars shot over and the machine gun was more exposed. Longhoffer's position was to hand over the ammunition. The unit did the most shooting right before it was relieved. They would have to fire all their shells. He did not know how to shoot the mortar. Sometime later, he was shown how the mortar worked. They fired all their shells so they did not have to carry it back and so the Japanese could not get it. Longhoffer would be sent out to mop up. The unit wanted to make him a radioman. He enjoyed the break because he worked with the CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer], First Sergeant, and other men of rank. Longhoffer was a PVT [Annotator's Note: private]. Nobody wanted to carry the radio because it was heavy. The radio did not work that well. One time, a colonel called him on it. The colonel used many curse words because a platoon got lost. Longhoffer answered the colonel in colorful language, then got dressed down by his CO. Longhoffer did not normally curse but did in battle. He liked his CO.

Garland Virgil Longhoffer did have contact with civilians. During mopping up [Annotator's Note: cleaning up missions] missions, he would have them leave. Sometimes he had to burn their houses down in front of them. Longhoffer did not enjoy that duty. The Americans dropped leaflets telling the civilians to meet at the beach. They then had to burn the houses so the Japanese would not have shelter. It made the civilians mad at the Americans. One time, Longhoffer found a girl and two men of military age, but they were dressed in nice clothing. He was prepared for any sudden attacks. They had a nice wooden house, but Longhoffer did not have to burn it. He brought the three people to the beach. He was 19 years old at the time. He did not know if he could shoot someone, and never had to find out. He may have shot them in the leg. He thinks most of the men did not know what they would do until they were in the situation. Longhoffer only saw Japanese soldiers on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. He did not think too much about seeing them. He did not see too many bodies. His squad leader was killed in an accidental friendly fire incident. The man had been a replacement but was not transferred. Longhoffer saw many kamikazes. They sank several ships. At night while on guard, the soldiers could watch the kamikaze attacks. Those attacks were not very successful. Longhoffer was happy to be on the side with air dominance. He saw one plane hit a ship and another one miss, then get shot down. Longhoffer was a few days away from landing when the President died. Nobody knew who Harry Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] was, but Longhoffer thinks he had many friends after the war. His father had been a Republican, so Longhoffer knew Hoover [Annotator's Note: Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States of America] and his dad was not a Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] fan. He was not able to follow the news in Europe. He occasionally got an issue of Yank [Annotator's Note: military magazine] and The Stars and Stripes [Annotator's Note: military newspaper]. When the war ended in Europe, Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] had a parade in Abilene, Kansas, which was in Yank. Longhoffer saw it in that newspaper and got homesick. He heard through chatter about the war in Europe ending.

Garland Virgil Longhoffer was at a movie when he was told the Japanese surrendered. His area did not believe the news. Nobody slept, they just sat in their tents talking about the news. Soon, a bulletin came through threatening court martial for anyone who fired their gun. Longhoffer heard gun fire on the beach anyway but did not participate. He was flown into Japan soon after and was one of the first American troops in his area of Japan. He served [Annotator's Note: on occupation duty] in Fukushima [Annotator's Note: Fukushima Prefecture, Japan]. Longhoffer was flown in a couple of days after the surrender was signed. Before the end of the war, Longhoffer was being trained to invade Japan. He was not excited about the prospect of the invasion. Most men were not afraid of being killed; they were afraid of being shot in a bad place. The men were not told much about what the invasion would be like. When Longhoffer went to Japan, tanks were brought in and he was fully equipped. Women and children lined the streets and the women cried. Around three weeks after, he did not have to carry weapons. The kids would follow the Americans and would be given candy. The evening Longhoffer landed, a Mexican soldier took everyone's C-Ration [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food] and made a stew for the men. Longhoffer traded a D-Bar [Annotator's Note: D-ration chocolate bar] for an onion. He did not know how to speak Japanese, so the trade became difficult. Eventually, MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] showed up and told him to get back to the base. One man finally showed up with an onion and the trade was complete. Longhoffer did not feel like a conqueror when he got to Japan. Within three weeks, he could tell the civilians were happy the war was over. They were good to Longhoffer. At some point, he ended up working as a battery clerk and then went into a military government unit. He was transferred to the 1st Cavalry [Annotator's Note: 1st Cavalry Division]. He would hang out in a Red Cross station and play games and eat. One night, he found out people had been looking for him. He was sent to the 87th Military Government Company in Nagata [Annotator's Note: Nagata-ku, Japan]. After two weeks, someone realized he was not supposed to be there. He was supposed to be in the 88th Military Government Company. When he got there, he acted like a fresh recruit and was told MPs had been searching for him. Longhoffer was made an MP. Every few weeks, he was given rest and relaxation. He would eat well in nice restaurants. He was treated well by the Japanese civilians. Longhoffer played ping-pong with Japanese soldiers and attended a kamikaze wrestling match. He could not figure out how one of the Japanese wrestlers did not throw him out. He liked the Japanese people and got to know one family very well. He regrets not staying in touch with the family.

Garland Virgil Longhoffer returned home on 1 September 1946, after one year in Japan. He learned some of the Japanese language and some of them could speak English. It was hard to communicate on the telephone, but face to face communication was easier. Longhoffer was discharged on 1 September 1946. He was one of the last in his family to return home. He was paid for his remaining vacation time. Longhoffer was discharged at Camp Beale, California. He was a corporal at the time of his discharge. He used the G.I. Bill to attend Kansas Wesleyan [Annotator's Note: Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas], then KU [Annotator's Note: University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas]. He does not think he would have gone to college had he not served. He thinks he would have been a farmer. World War 2 allowed him to go to college, which was big for him. It also gave him confidence. He saw people that had been in combat stuck together but did not talk much about it. Longhoffer was proud to be awarded the Combat Infantry Badge [Annotator's Note: awarded to an infantryman who perform duties while personally present and under fire while serving in an assigned infantry capacity; also referred to the the CIB]. He did not fire his rifle in combat. The war helped him develop as a person faster. Trading the Japanese man for an onion was a memory that stuck with him. Longhoffer thinks The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] is important as is educating people on the war. He does not think people, including his kids, realized what people did until much later in life. He does not think the country learned much from the war. Longhoffer thinks there have been many men that went through war but were not seen as heroes like the World War 2 generation.