Jack D. Owen was born in Lufkin, Texas in 1926. He had a twin sister and an older brother. Owen’s father struggled during the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] to sell cotton gins. In 1930, the family moved from Lufkin to Tennessee Colony, Texas and lived in very primitive, poverty-stricken conditions. There was one school, one church, and one store for the small community. His father improved a house that the family could live in, but there was no running water, electricity, or plumbing in the house. Luckily, his family never went hungry because his father was able to provide and continue to find work in the agriculture field. Owen and his siblings attended a country school and were bussed into a city school for high school. When the war in Europe broke out in 1939, Owen’s brother attended Texas A&M University [Annotator’s Note: in College Station, Texas], while Owen and his sister went to high school in Palestine [Annotator’s Note: Palestine, Texas]. On 6 December 1941, Owen’s father’s cotton gin caught on fire. This was a big blow to the family’s economic security. His father found a job in Houston [Annotator’s Note: Houston, Texas] with a war contractor as the chief engineer to build 75 mm ammunition boxes. Owen graduated high school at 16 years old. In September 1943, 17-year-old Owen entered Texas A&M University like his brother. His brother received a commission. Owen also joined an infantry company in the school’s ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] program. Owen was unprepared for college and barely passed his first year. After being in the ROTC program, Owen decided that the Army was not for him, and decided to enlist in the Navy instead of waiting for the draft. He was inducted into the Navy in Tyler, Texas on his 18th birthday.

Jack D. Owen was inducted into the Navy [Annotator’s Note: in 1944] in Tyler, Texas, and then boarded a train to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] where he completed basic training. The trip took three days, and when he arrived, Owen was met by a petty officer who took them to the base and assigned them to a company. He did not think boot camp was very hard. The ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] military training at Texas A&M University [Annotator’s Note: in College Station, Texas] helped him. At the end of six weeks, he received a two-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went home to visit his family. After he completed his basic training, he volunteered to go into radar training at Point Loma, California for six weeks. At the end of the fifth week, he boarded a World War 1 destroyer ship and was tested on his radar capabilities. He was fortunate not to get seasick. When he completed radar school, he was sent to Treasure Island outside of Los Angeles [Annotator’s Note: Los Angeles, California]. In December 1944, he was assigned to the USS Colusa (APA-74) as a radar striker. He was present for the commissioning of the ship on 20 December 1944. His captain was very strict and did not entertain any kind of insubordination. His ship cruised in and out of San Pedro Harbor in Los Angles preparing for sea duty. In January 1945, the ship was declared fit for duty and received orders to report to Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii].

Jack D. Owen [Annotator’s Note: Assigned to the USS Colusa (APA-74) as the radar striker] arrived in Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] before sailing to Midway [Annotator’s Note: Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian Archipelago] to transport a load of hay for cows on the island. The USS Colusa then took a load of troops in a convoy to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands, and then sailed independently to Saipan [Annotator’s Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] in March 1945. His ship took aboard the wounded from the Battle of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. His ship had a medical staff, medical area, and equipment. He witnessed when his captain “went berserk” after there was damage to the captain’s gig. The captain was relieved of his duties, and the executive officer took command. [Annotator’s Note: Interviewee asks to take a break at 0:27:48.000.] His ship was ordered back to Pearl Harbor and on the way, one wounded Marine died. After a couple of days at Pearl Harbor, his ship received orders to report to Australia, stopping in New Caledonia to pick up troops for transport to Brisbane, Australia. There were not a lot of men in Australia, so the Aussie women were excited when a ship came in. It was not until picking up survivors of the Battle of the Philippine Sea [Annotator’s Note: Battle of the Philippine Sea, 19 to 20 June 1944] that he realized the stark realities of war. After unloading troops, the USS Colusa received orders to report to Seattle, Washington. They encountered a tremendous storm that delayed their arrival. The waves were very high and the ship took a hard pounding in the storm. They remained in Washington for two days, and headed to San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] where he saw the Golden Gate Bridge while going into the harbor. While in San Francisco, his ship was installed with new and modified radar equipment. While there, he heard the news of FDR’s death [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, died 12 April 1945] and the formation of the United Nations [Annotator’s Note: an international organization with the goal of maintaining worldwide peace and security]. The USS Colusa took on some troops and set sail to Pearl Harbor. Owen’s ship was in Pearl Harbor when news of the German surrender arrived [Annotator’s Note: 8 May 1945]. There was much celebration and gunfire on the top deck.

In the early summer of 1945, Jack D. Owen [Annotator’s Note: assigned to the USS Colusa (APA-74) as the radar striker] and his ship took aboard a battalion of Marines and made practice invasions along the coast of the Hawaiian Islands. Owen was unaware that they were practicing for the invasion of Japan [Annotator’s Note: the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of the war, codenamed Operation Downfall]. In mid-July, the Colusa was ordered to Saipan [Annotator’s Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] with a full complement of Marines. They were two days out of Saipan when news of the first atomic bombing of Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] reached the ship. Owen was anchored off the coast of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa, Japan] weeks later when the Japanese surrendered. They were ordered to Sasebo [Annotator’s Note: Sasebo, Japan] where they offloaded some of the first American occupiers of Japanese soil. They sailed past Nagasaki [Annotator’s Note: Nagasaki, Japan] and Owen surveyed the devastation through binoculars. They headed to Sydney, Australia and saw women signaling to the troops with signal flags asking for dates. He could sell American cigarettes for a lot of money to the Australians. The Colusa participated in several Operation Magic Carpet trips [Annotator’s Note: Operation Magic Carpet, the post-World War 2 operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from overseas] before returning to Treasure Island, California for decommissioning. He reunited with his parents in Houston [Annotator’s Note: Houston, Texas]. Owen was discharged in Galveston, Texas with the rating of petty officer second class.

When Jack D. Owen was discharged, he was required to give a urine sample to make sure he had no medical problems. All these sailors were shoved in a large bathroom with a trough with a sign that said, “Piss or reenlist.” He was taught to hate the Japanese and was not impressed with them when he finally met them in New Guinea. The Japanese that he met were prisoners. He recalled one close encounter on his way to Saipan [Annotator’s Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] when he picked up an enemy ship on the radar. The range was drawing closer, so the radar team contacted the captain, who refused to change course. Owen continued to report that the enemy ship was coming closer, and somehow passed the ship without colliding. They learned later that it was a friendly ship. After the war ended, he was excited and happy that he would be going home soon. He was ready to be discharged and had to wait until he 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]. When his ship was commissioned in June 1946, he was given orders to go home and to be discharged. He took advantage of the G.I. benefits [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] and enrolled in Texas A&M [Annotator’s Note: in College Station, Texas], and is eternally grateful for his education. He had a successful career in accounting working with his father’s company. He adjusted to civilian life smoothly from military life.

Jack D. Owen’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was when he participated in the commissioning of the USS Colusa (APA-74) and all the pomp and circumstance that was involved in the ceremony. He is proud of his service. He served because the choice was to enlist or get drafted. He was grateful that he was able to volunteer for the Navy. The war changed his life for the better because it set him up to have a successful career. The military also helped him become responsible and helped him set goals. He grew up and the military made a man out of him. He is proud to say he is a veteran of World War 2 and happy to have served. He believes that World War 2 means little to Americans today. Owen believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.