Henry Dubay was born in July 1923 in Turner’s Falls [Annotator’s Note: Montague, Massachusetts]. He grew up in a “French Inquisition” background because the community he lived in was very Catholic and run by the priests and nuns. His father served in World War 1 in the trenches in France. Dubay applied for jobs after high school, but did not have much luck due to the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He lived very close to the Canadian border where they were already entrenched in war. Dubay enlisted in the Army in July 1941, figuring the United Stated would eventually become involved. He was sent to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] and then to Paine Field [Annotator’s Note: Paine Field, Washington] for training. He got into the Army Air Corps and learned to fly C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] before going overseas. Dubay was always interested in flying since he was a young boy and thought the Army Air Corps would allow him to fly. He received orders to report to Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas shortly after the events of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He felt that the Japanese were sneaky for bombing Pearl Harbor. He returned to base and when he went to the PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange], everyone was drunk talking about how they were ready to fight the Japanese. His whole Army Air Corps training program was very exciting to him.

After graduating from advanced flight training, Henry Dubay received orders to report to Kansas where he was assigned to a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft]. After more training at various fields such as Fort Benning [Annotator’s Note: Fort Benning, Georgia] and Lawson Field [Annotator’s Note: Lawson Field, Georgia], Dubay received orders for overseas duty in North Africa. He left Lawson Field and headed to Florida, Mexico, and then to Brazil and the Azores. His destination was Casablanca [Annotator’s Note: Casablanca, Morocco]. He served with the 313th Troop Carrier Squadron, 12th Air Force. Casablanca was primitive, but did have a few restaurants due to the French colonization. North Africa was dull and Dubay was sick of being there. After five weeks in Casablanca, the squadron moved to Sicily, Italy where they transported troops and were not armed. The temperature in North Africa was over 100 degrees. There was an incident when friendly fire attacked a unit. His unit was scheduled to fly from Sicily to Cassino, Italy, but the mission was canceled due to the heavy coverage by the Germans.

After five weeks in Casablanca [Annotators Note: Casablanca, Morocco], Henry Dubay and his C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] squadron moved to Sicily, Italy. They transported troops and were not armed. He constantly worried about the safety of his passengers during his missions, so he did not have time to get scared. When he was in Europe, the Germans used howitzers to attack the American planes. Dubay then transferred to the 34th Troop Carrier Squadron, 9th Air Force for the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and Germany. Stationed in England, he met and possibly dated Margaret Roberts who later became Margaret Thatcher [Annotator’s Note: Margaret Hilda Thatcher was a British politician and stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990]. He enjoyed his time in England and had lots of training during this time. He experienced the V1 rockets [Annotator's Note: V-1 pulse jet flying bomb, German name: Vengeance Weapon 1; Allied names: buzz bomb, doodlebug]. Before the D-Day invasion, everyone was restricted to the base and Dubay killed time by making model airplanes. He had several briefings about the Normandy missions and the goals for him to accomplish. The day of the invasion, they rose early and got into freshly painted planes.

The day of the Normandy invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Henry Dubay and his C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] squadron [Annotator’s Note: 34th Troop Carrier Squadron, 9th Air Force] woke up early and got into freshly painted planes. The weather was bad. They were towing two gliders apiece and were supposed to drop them inland 10 to 12 miles from Omaha Beach [Annotator’s Note: one of the landing beaches of the Normandy invasion]. They cut the gliders, returned to England, and then went back to the invasion with a supply drop. Dubay felt good about the Americans and all the supplies they carried for the troops. Glenn Miller [Annotator’s Note: Alton Glenn Miller, an American musician and an officer in the US Army Air Forces] was flying in a small plane to give a concert in Europe, but disappeared. Dubay believes the plane was accidentally bombed by British forces. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:53:05.000.] Even after the invasion of Normandy, people were apprehensive about the progress of the war. While Dubay was in England, all the citizens were on rations. Dubay finished out the war with missions to France to resupply, then to Holland [Annotator’s Note: the Netherlands] to take out bridges. On one mission, the plane in front of him took a shell and began to fall straight down. He saw some parachutes come out. He probably suffered from post-traumatic stress [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder; a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event either experienced or witnessed] due to the calamities he witnessed.

Henry Dubay and his C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] squadron [Annotator’s Note: 34th Troop Carrier Squadron,9th Air Force] moved bases from England to France where he brought supplies to forces at 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 did not find the French civilians very friendly. The weather was horrible which made it risky to go out on missions. Dubay’s last mission was to Hamburg, Germany to pick up French POWs [Annotator’s Note: prisoners of war] and return them to France. When the prisoners were given food, they immediately threw it up because they had been starving for several years. He was surprised by this because he thought the moment would be joyous. When the war came to an end, he had enough points to go back to the United States [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 took a troop transport from Liverpool [Annotator’s Note: Liverpool, England] to America on a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] and arrived home in Bismarck, North Dakota where he reunited with his father, who was an officer of a prisoner of war camp for Germans, Japanese, and Italians.

Henry Dubay was separated from service as a second lieutenant in September 1945. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to go to college for architecture and engineering. Later in life, his career led him to being a consultant with NASA [Annotator’s Note: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research]. He enjoyed designing skyscrapers and airport projects. [Annotator’s Note: Dubay talks about his involvement with some of the NASA projects.] His most memorable experience of World War 2 was being saluted by five-star generals. After the war, he was commended by a top general which was very memorable. He served in World War 2 because he had no job and wanted to fly. The war gave him the opportunity to work in aviation. His experience in the war is history. He believes that not many Americans care about World War 2 and worries that socialism is creeping in. Dubay 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.