Gil Gertner was born in March 1925 and lived in New York City [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York]. He entered the Army when he was 18 years old and was sent to basic training at Camp Upton, New York. He was then sent to Camp Stuart, Georgia for anti-aircraft training. He was selected to go to radio school for three months to train, and then returned to his battalion. He was then placed in Headquarters, but wanted to go back to his original unit. He later learned that his original unit was sent to the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He was instead placed in the 71st Joint Assault Signal Company as a replacement and met the unit in California for amphibious training. His unit was then shipped to the Pacific, but not before receiving a 10-day furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He received money from the Red Cross [Annotator's Note: Red Cross, an international non-profit humanitarian organization] to go home and see his family. He later found out from his father that the California Red Cross threatened his father that if they did not receive reimbursement, his family would never see Gertner again. After he returned to California from his leave, he shipped out from San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] to the Pacific, going underneath the Gold Gate Bridge. After 18 days of travel and being fed two meals a day, the ship landed in New Caledonia, but Gertner was not told where he was. He wrote to his family and was able to figure it out. The first night in New Caledonia, he slept in a five-man tent and slept very well. When he woke up, he realized his wallet was missing along with everyone else’s. They learned that the natives had stolen their wallets and took their money. The army did not feed them well and he was always hungry. His unit trained for three months before being shipped out for the Okinawa invasion [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan].

Gil Gertner served in the 71st Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) [Annotator’s Note: specialized units which coordinated naval support for ground troops] fighting in the Pacific during World War 2. After his unit’s involvement at Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan], they were transferred to Leyte, the Philippines. While in the Philippines, his unit trained some more. It was difficult was to jump out of the Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] and storm the beaches. His unit continued to run exercises of storming beaches from LCVPs until the news of the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. If it was not for the atomic bombs, Gertner would have been in the first wave of the invasion of mainland Japan. He waited around in Leyte and watched cargo ships arrive dumping equipment on to the island. He was waiting to get enough points to go home [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home]. He served in the Army for three years. He and his mother wrote to each other every day. His mother told him that his cousin, Marvin, was in the Navy and stationed in the Philippines. He went to Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines] to find him. He found him at the first Navy base he checked and spent the weekend with him.

Gil Gertner served in the 71st Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) [Annotator’s Note: specialized units which coordinated naval support for ground troops] fighting in the Pacific during World War 2. After the war, for fun, his unit played basketball while they waited until they had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to return home. He finally headed back to the United States, arriving in California and then flying to Ohio and then to New York in February 1946. He went to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] to be discharged. He reunited with his parents and was so happy to see them.

Gil Gertner served in the 71st Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) [Annotator’s Note: specialized units which coordinated naval support for ground troops] fighting in the Pacific during World War 2. He remembered he was outside the stadium of a New York Giants football game when he first heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Gertner was born in the Bronx [Annotator's Note: the Bronx is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. Gertner tells a postwar story in which he visited New York and his taxi driver was a childhood friend. Gertner believes that his service in the military helped him become successful after the war and thinks everyone should serve in the military. People during World War 2 were very patriotic and supported America. Today, people burn flags and do not appreciate the country. Gertner believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. Unfortunately, our country is divided by two political parties and he does not have much respect for politicians. His brother served in the Army too, but never went overseas. Today, Gertner has a daughter and son, and five grandchildren. In his postwar years, he traveled around Europe after he made a deal with American Express. The following year, he traveled to Asia. [Annotator’s Note: Gertner talks about his various trips around the world.]