George A. Damiano was born in Riverside, California in 1924. He grew up in a little town called Murrieta, California with seven siblings. His parents were Sicilian immigrants and worked in the agriculture industry, moving his family from Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] to the country on multiple occasions during the Great Depression. Damiano attended school in Murrieta and then later in Los Angeles. He recalled when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], his neighbor friend was killed on the USS Arizona (BB-39).

George A. Damiano graduated from high school shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] and received a one-year deferment to help his father on the farm. Damiano noticed that all the farms in the country were losing help because the men were entering service. Damiano would pick up a bunch of kids from school and bring them out so they could help work the farms. It was the first time he saw women working farm machinery as well. Damiano received his draft notice in December 1944 and got on a bus to Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] to report for duty and received his indoctrination at Fort MacArthur [Annotator's Note: in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California]. The first day, Damiano received Kitchen Patrol duty working with vegetables. He was then sent to Camp Roberts [Annotator's Note: in San Miguel, California]. Damiano shares some stories of his friends and him finding ways to sneak out of camp to go home for the weekend or get out of training. He was still in training during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945], but he remembered hearing about it. In January 1945, he received a ten day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and then received orders to report to Vancouver, Washington where he stayed for a few weeks waiting to be shipped out.

George A. Damiano boarded a troopship [Annotator's Note: in Vancouver, Washington] and left for the Pacific. They stopped in Hawaii for jungle training for a couple of days then they boarded a ship again and headed for Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] to a replacement depot. He recalled the rainy weather and trying to set up tents while they waited to be placed. Because Damiano had a medical issue with his eye, he was skipped over to be a replacement in the Philippines. While waiting, he helped some of the air crews prepare their planes. He finally received orders and headed for Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. When he landed on the island and was assigned to a machine gun team [Annotator's Note: in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division].

George A. Damiano recalled the rainy weather while on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], and that it was hard to get supplies because of the weather. On his first night of combat, he was siting in his foxhole and suddenly realized it was his birthday. Damiano was coming up in the rear when he spotted Japanese soldiers, who then opened fired on Damiano and his group [Annotator's Note: Damiano served on a machine gun team in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division]. Luckily, another group of American troops came over and killed the Japanese. Damiano recalls the various men in his group that were hit during combat but did not die. Damiano helped when they had to retrieve their dead from when the Japanese ambushed the troops.

George A. Damiano recalls an incident where his comrade, Blacky [Annotator's Note: unable to verify identity], was hit in the right arm by machine gun fire and he fell onto Damiano's lap. Damiano explains how easily it was to get hit by fire. He talks about several incidents where men were hit because they made the slightest moves or because of something they were wearing on them.

George A. Damiano recalled the weather [Annotator's Note: on Okinawa, Japan] being so wet that they had to talk their shirts off because they were soaked. He was under attack so much that he did not have time to read his letters from his sister. He remembered that the Japanese would try to penetrate their lines during the night. One night, a Japanese officer came by and Damiano put his rifle up to him. The officer began speaking English to him and told Damiano that he went to high school in California. His comrade that he was sharing a foxhole with fell asleep with his eyes open so Damiano thought he was awake. When he saw a Japanese soldier come up, Damiano killed him and woke his friend up.

George A. Damiano recalls when the Marines accidently fired on his unit [Annotator's Note: Company G, 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] when they came close to their area. Damiano had a piece of shell dropped on his back and ripped his clothes up. As the Army moved inland, the Japanese moved into caves, so Damiano and his unit had to clear the caves out. He encountered a Japanese soldier holding a hand grenade. He threw it at Damiano, and it exploded. Damiano took cover, but still does not know how he made it out alive. His helmet was hit with shrapnel, along with his leg. Damiano did not like it when tanks parked near their camp because the Japanese always tried to hit the tanks.

George A. Damiano recalls that the local population [Annotator's Note: on Okinawa, Japan] was happy to have the Americans on the island. They came asking for medical help and food. The troops had to be careful that Japanese were not hiding among the local population. Damiano thought the American soldier was stronger than the Japanese soldier. When the island was secured, they set up a company perimeter [Annotator's Note: Damiano was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division], and a Japanese soldier snuck in. Damiano said he was scrawny and starving for food. The fighting lightened up a lot and Damiano was able to relax a little more, but they began to train for the invasion of Japan, which he was not looking forward to at all. He was happy when he heard about the United States dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. He said many of the troops were shooting off their rifles and cannons were going off too. He was then ordered to begin "mopping up," which meant he had to go around and pick up equipment and pile it up by the roads.

George A. Damiano was ordered to pick up the dead Japanese [Annotator's Note: on Okinawa, Japan], but he refused to do it because the the bodies were so deteriorated, they would fall to pieces. The only time Damiano was ever scared was when he had to do guard duty by himself. After the Japanese surrendered, he was shipped to Korea for occupation duty. He was transferred to the kitchen as first cook. The local Koreans helped them find the food and equipment they needed. He remarks that the Koreans liked the Americans but hated the Japanese.

George A. Damiano had issues with a new commanding officer [Annotator's while serving on occupation duty in Korea with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] because he allowed the cooking staff to eat first. Later Damiano was asked to be a cook at an airfield and he remarks about all the military equipment. He was there for 12 months. He could not go anywhere because of the snowy weather. He and other guys would barter with the Koreans. Damiano returned home in November 1945 on a cargo ship. He recalls when he met up with some of his friends while in basic training. He also reunited with some of his comrades after he retired.

George A. Damiano was discharged from the Army in November [Annotator's Note: November 1946] at Camp Beale [Annotator's Note: now Beale Air Force Base] in Marysville, California as a T4 [Annotator's Note: Technician 4th Grade; equivilent pay grade as a sergeant or E-5]. He took advantage of the G.I. Bill with the 52-20 Club [Annotator's Note: a government-funded program that paid unemployed veterans 20 dollars per week for 52 weeks] and then used the bill to start a business with his father. He eventually worked in construction. Damiano does not recalled having Post-traumatic Stress after the war. His most memorable experience was when he found a bullet hole in his shirt flap. His cousin was in the Bataan March, but his family did not know until years later.

George A. Damiano fought in World War 2 because he felt like he should help his country. He felt he did not learn much from his service, however it offered him more opportunities after he returned home. He used the G.I. Bill for some education. He worked for Parks and Recreation for the City of Anaheim [Annotator's Note: Anaheim, California] for 27 years.