Isaac Edward was born in May 1923 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up during the Great Depression and his family was very poor. He attended Thomy Lafon school. [Annotator's Note: Thomy Lafon Elementary School, New Orleans. Demolished in 2011.] Edward does not recall where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His father died when he was a baby. His mother did a lot of domestic work and worked at a pecan factory as well. Edward attended school through the seventh grade and then went to work for a McMillan's Drug Store delivering medicine by bicycle at night.

Isaac Edward was drafted into the Army in 1943. His uncle, Joseph Anthony, had gone before him. Boot camp in St. Louis, Missouri was pretty rough. He was then sent to Sarasota, Florida for advanced training in the US Army Air Corps. He then shipped out from Florida into the 92nd Infantry Division in Paducah, Kentucky. They then took a train to Camp Lee, Virginia. The train was like a prison train and had bars on the windows. When the war was over in Europe, he was headed to Japan and was caught in a typhoon. A lot of men broke their arms and legs on the ship in that storm. He took port in the Philippines.

Isaac Edward landed in Florence, Italy with the 92nd Infantry Division. There were combat units next to them that hit a minefield, so his company had to withdraw while they cleared the field. He was on patrol one night when German soldiers surrounded a house they had entered. They drove them off with grenades. Edward carried the BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle]. Italy was very rundown, but the people were nice. The country was very different from America. They worked 12 men to a patrol at night. He never got face-to-face with the Germans despite being on the front line. The 92nd was the only black unit that saw combat besides the Tuskegee Airmen [Annotator's Note: African American pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group]. Edward never met any of them. He was very scared to go on his first patrol. They called the aircraft that would fly over them at night "H.H. Charlie."

Isaac Edward and the 92nd Infantry Division proved that black soldiers could fight as well as anybody else. In Florida during training, the black soldiers could not eat in restaurants even when in uniform on military bases. This persisted after the war. [Annotator's Note: Edward talks of shopping in New Orleans and experiencing overt racism.] After the Germans surrendered, the 92nd Infantry Division was sent to the Pacific Theater. That year [Annotator's Note: 1944], he got to experience two Christmases due to crossing the International Date Line. He enjoyed going through the Panama Canal as they headed to the Philippines. There, they did more training as there was no longer any combat happening. He was in the Philippines when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. The Division then went back across the Pacific and landed in San Pedro, California. He was ready to go home.

Isaac Edward returned to the same segregation at home, regardless of his uniform and service. After the war he went back to work. He could not go to school because of the need for money. He spent 34 years loading and unloading ships on the waterfront in New Orleans, Louisiana. He retired in 1982. He was married and had a child before he left for the war. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer describes wartime American life.] Even after the war, everything was rationed for a long time. Edward says that even beer at a bar was rationed.

Isaac Edward could not find much work after being discharged at the end of the war so he volunteered for the US Air Force sometime later. He stayed in a couple of years and was stationed in Amarillo, Texas as a cook in the mess hall. The mess hall was still segregated then. He feels he changed a little bit due to the war. It really made him think about the fact that he was doing the same service as other soldiers but still was treated differently. He feels that if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, things would have been worse for the United States. Edward's best days in the Army were the days in the Philippines. He just loved it and would have gone back if he could have.

Isaac Edward was a Mardi Gras Indian in New Orleans, Louisiana. He became one in 1932. He masked [Annotator's Note: masks in Mardi Gras were early ways to escape societal and class restraints] up until 1952. He really enjoyed every bit of it. There were a lot of troublemakers though and he tired of it and decided to stop. He still sews outfits and donates the suits to children. [Annotator's Note: He sends a friend to get one of the suits he made. The interviewer talks about being deaf but having good vision. The friend brings over an outfit and shows the camera the stitching.] Edward feels it is important to tell the story of the war at the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer talks of his own military service and the lack of segregation now.] Edward tries to talk to the young people around him about going into the service as an alternative to street life.