George Haines was born in April 1925 in Rochester, New York. His father worked at the YMCA [Annotator's Note: Young Men's Christian Association], not a money-maker but he enjoyed the work. He had gotten the job during the Depression. His mother did not work and played the piano. Haines' father was in World War 1 a very short time. He was loading on the ship to go when the Armistice was signed. He never talked about it. His maternal uncle was an Army photographer in a two-man plane in World War 1 and that pushed Haines to go to the Army. Growing up in the Depression, he and his friends would play cowboys and Indians in the woods with cap guns. The kids were all very close. His parents always moved so that he and his brother did not have to walk more than two blocks to school due to the horrible winters. Plowing the snow was done by horses. He and his friends would hitch onto the horse to get to a sledding hill nearby. They would come home for lunch from school. In high school, he worked in a hardware store and delivered newspapers and he bought a Schwinn bike. He would use the bike while working as a messenger between the police station and the air raid headquarters at the school at the beginning of World War 2. He was at home listening to the radio when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He had no idea where Pearl Harbor was. Haines's father would not sign for him to enlist in the military, but his mother did in January 1943. His 18th birthday was in April 1943 and he was in the Army by 17 May. He went to Fort Niagara, New York [Annotator's Note: Fort Niagara, Youngstown, New York].

George Haines had never been away from home before leaving for the Army in May 1943. Basic training was where he learned to sew and wash clothes. After basic at Fort Niagara [Annotator's Note: Fort Niagara, Youngstown, New York], he boarded a train to go to advance training. The train stopped in Washington D.C. The buildings all had guard patrols and at one of them, a guard collapsed in front of them. Haines got his rifle and took over his duty until someone arrived. He then got back on the train and went to Camp Wheeler, Georgia that night. They received their M1s [Annotator's Note: M1 Garand; .30-06 caliber semi-automatic rifle] there. He did fine in all of his training, and he enjoyed doing it. He took ten days leave and then had to report to Fort Meade, Maryland. Then he went to Charmaine Slip, Louisiana [Annotator’s Note: unable to locate; possibly Chalmette, Louisiana] for 10 days. He then shipped through the Panama Canal and stopped in Balboa, Panama before going to Port Moresby, New Guinea. A day or two later they went on landing craft to Goodenough Island [Annotator's Note: Goodenough Island, or Nidula Island, Papua New Guinea] for jungle training. The Australians were doing the training. He was assigned to 34th Battalion, 24th Division [Annotator's Note: 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division]. He tried to attend the 24th Division's reunions but since his unit was a replacement for one that the 24th lost in World War 1, they never got back to him to join them.

George Haines received jungle training on Goodenough Island, New Guinea. He and his unit [Annotator's Note: 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division] were then sent on landing craft to Hollandia, New Guinea. During jungle training he had tried out the bazooka and the flamethrower and liked neither, so he asked to be first scout. The commander had two people who did not want the job, so his friend Manchester and he took over as first and second scout. After they landed in New Guinea and were advancing up a short hill, they came upon three American nurses, nude, and tied to stakes. One was dead and one died shortly afterwards. The commander came up and told them that they had seen it now, so move out. They never took a prisoner after that due to what they had seen there. He never told this to anyone until recently. He still sees it in his mind. He discovered later that those three nurses had been captured on New Britain Island, Papua, New Guinea. In 2014 he got a calendar that had a picture of four nurses, prewar on New Britain Island. He wonders if they were the same or one of them. Both Manchester and he agreed that the war was not hard after that. It was not hard to kill. They had a number of chances to take prisoners, but they never did. They never took souvenirs either. They did not want to even touch the enemy dead. Once he was on patrol, he hit the ground because a fat Japanese general was coming down the road talking with about ten men. Haines waited until they were about ten feet away and he hit them with the Thompson [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun] right up the middle. Manchester got some as well and the rest ran into the jungle. The general had a beautiful gold saber with writing on both sides and a small pistol. He did take those but was told they had to go back to General Headquarters and he never saw them again.

George Haines was an infantry scout [Annotator's Note: in the 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division] on New Guinea when he first came face to face with the Japanese. He never stopped to think. You shoot, it's kill, or be killed. He had already lost a sergeant before this. The sergeant ran across an opening to draw fire, but nobody shot at the enemy. He made it back and yelled at the troops for not performing. He ran across again and was killed. Haines threw grenades and cleaned up the area. At that point, a promotion to sergeant was offered to Haines, but he turned it down as he liked his job. His other scout, Manchester and he never discussed how to scout, they just performed well. The Japanese snipers would tie themselves in coconut tree so the two would alternate where they looked, up or down. They would also alternate being first and second scout. They never had to speak about it and they both came home without a scratch. In the field is where you learn the tricks of the trade. Haines says a scout has to have good ears and good eyes. Birds are a clue to activity. When the Japanese were on patrol, they would talk and that would disturb the birds. He learned all of this from the Australians he had trained with. Haines said the conditions were awful. Every night he said his prayers and he always carried his New Testament in his pocket. If you dug your foxhole deep enough you could be comfortable. You hoped the bugs would leave you alone. They wore rubber boots with their pants tucked in to protect from scratches and insect bites. It was what it was, and they just dealt with it. They didn't think about tomorrow, just today.

George Haines says that the equipment supply chain worked well. They would often be short of the clips for the Thompson [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun]. He never knew if he would get a new clip. They had plenty of ammo but not new clips. They would pick up spent clips if they came across them on the trails. In Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte Island, Philippines], he was scouting, and the rest of his patrol had lagged behind. The Japanese let the scouts advance and then killed the remainder of the unit. He and the other scout, Manchester ran into the jungle and hid for a couple of days. Some Americans came by and found them. They had been living only on water and they moved at night and laid down during the day. The two of them were 18 years old and scared. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer gives his views on patrols and then asks why Haines did not turn around to see where his unit was.] If you turn around to look it could be your last time. The two scouts were never allowed to be in one foxhole together due the amount of firepower they carried. From New Guinea they went to the Coral Islands [Annotator’s Note: unsure of location] which was easy because there was nobody there. After that they went to Leyte, which was as bad as New Guinea and cleaned it up. From Leyte they went to both Mindanao and Mindoro in the Philippines. That was just a sweep up as well.

George Haines said they would often see the Philippine rebels. In Leyte, [Annotator's Note: Leyte Island, Philippines] they picked up a 15-year-old Filipino boy who helped them immensely. He would do anything they asked in return for food. The company commander said to feed him as long as he carried his weight. He even went on patrol once. Haines and his unit [Annotator's Note: 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division] came upon some Filipino women that Japanese soldiers had tied to a tripod machine gun with their hands and fingers tied to the trigger. The Japanese had told them that if they did not fire at the Americans, they would be killed. That boy talked to them and convinced them that they would not be harmed. He cut them loose. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks about mail delivery.] Haines says that mail from back home was regular. His dad would tell him how much of the letters they received from Haines had cut-outs in them due to censorship. The military told the troops to destroy their letters so the enemy would not have information on their families. Haines' brother was a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] mechanic. They were never able to meet up despite both being in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks George Haines about "shutting off" when overseas and asks about any haunting memories.] Haines said his mother told him he would be restless so he must have had disturbing dreams, but he does not remember that. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer gives his views on the same thing.] He says he never told the nurses story until on the Honor Flight. A fellow veteran on the flight was describing the Holocaust victims he had seen in Europe, so they compared notes. He was glad he shared it because he had carried that weight for years. He still can see it clearly to this day. The Japanese used these tactics to slow the Americans down. Haines had the same company commander the entire time, Pappy, who was like a father to all of them [Annotator's Note: unable to locate specific individual]. He would never send them on patrol two days in a row unless it was something big. Haines asked Pappy once if he could go on a patrol with a PT Boat [Annotator's Note: Patrol Torpedo Boat] on his day off. Pappy let him and Haines went on a patrol down the coast. He said the PT boats were trying to draw fire from the Japanese so they could locate them. When he returned to the United States after the war, he joined the fire department. One of the fire chiefs had been on PT boats in the same port. Haines was in the service for three years, two years of which was steady combat. Every other day he went on patrol, some hard, some easy. In one village, they discovered a Chinese soldier who had been a prisoner of the Japanese. They took him back to headquarters where he was a cook for a time. [Annotator's Note: Haines sighs loudly at this point. The interviewer then describes scouting without asking a question.] Haines says that New Guinea was supposedly clean of Japanese when they left. The Coral Islands [Annotator's Note: not sure of location; Haines' 34th Infantry Regiment assaulted the island fo Biak after leaving New Guinea] were clean and then Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte Island, Philippines] was a long haul sweeping up. It was the same at both Mindoro and Mindanao, Philippines. Haines' mother would send him cans of peaches and pears. He gave some to a Filipino family he came across and he said it was like giving them gold. They invited him to have dinner with them. He never forgot that.

George Haines was offered a promotion to sergeant, but he did not want it. He liked being a scout and figured the men depended on him. He does not remember thinking that the war's end in Europe meant that they were going to get help. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer gives his own description of life in the field.] Haines does not remember when he first heard of the atomic bomb drops on Japan, but the word traveled like wildfire. Today was today and tomorrow was tomorrow so he did not plan for anything. When he was on patrol, he was on patrol. Whenever they returned, the sergeant gave a report to the captain. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer describes the scout's job.] Haines responds with a story of the time his squad came upon a dozen Japanese in a circle. They silently planned their attack. His fellow scout, Manchester, went one direction and Haines the other. They got as close as they could before opening up with a BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle], killing them all. Killing his first Japanese was not easy. Despite everyone saying it was him or you, it was not easy and very different from the movies. It was not enjoyable and was a hard pill to swallow. He and his friend Manchester worked together the entire time. They remained friends after war. Manchester lived in Wooster, Massachusetts. The two corresponded for years and one day Haines received a letter back. Another friend was traveling in the area, so Haines asked him to check it out. A hurricane had gone through and taken Manchester's house. There was no record of what happened to him. Manchester had never been found. Haines feels awful that his friend went through war and was then killed in a storm. Nobody else in the unit corresponded. Manchester had tried to teach him to play chess, but he never got it. Haines played Solitaire a lot on his days off.

George Haines was top in points and could go home or stay near the war's end. He went to Matsuyama, Shikoku, Japan for some time in a building like a castle. He liked it. On 7 December 1944 he was told they were going home [Annotator's Note: likely meant 1945]. He went over to headquarters and was issued guns because the day was still a holiday to the Japanese. He was sent over to the mainland and went across the Pacific to Seattle, Washington. Everyone was seasick because the seas were so rough. They then took the Canadian Pacific Railway through Canada. The train stopped at every town. The Canadians came out with food every time. Some veterans would get off and stay a while and then catch a later train. Haines wanted to get home, so he came Fort Dix, New Jersey and was discharged. He was very satisfied- he enlisted because he wanted to pay back the Japanese for Pearl Harbor. Earlier in his training, he had been given the option to be discharged at Camp Wheeler [Annotator's Note: Camp Wheeler, Macon, Georgia]. Haines had worked for Eastman Kodak Company before the war and their doctors had identified that he had a slight sugar diabetes issue. At Wheeler, he was given a choice to stay in or be discharged and Haines stayed in. After his active duty discharge, Haines went back to work for Kodak. Kodak gave him his job back and counted his time of service. Haines had been in the 10th grade when he joined the Army. He never finished high school and stayed at Kodak 40 years, retiring in 1980. His wife encouraged him all through life. He was a volunteer medic and fireman. He delivered three babies as a volunteer medic and still is a volunteer in the emergency room. Haines says he is lucky in every respect. He has had a good life and has no regrets. He is ready to go when his time comes. He loves to help people, has lots of friends, and is not sorry a bit about anything in life. The war changed him as a person but he can't say how. He went from being a kid to being an individual. Nobody was going to help him. He had to learn. He recommends all kids get two years of service. He is happy to see women in the service. He says that the women at home helped win World War 2. The entire service now is volunteer. People are there because they want to be. The work of The National WWII Museum is super important. Everything that has happened must be told and shown. Every veteran's story is important.