Jack D. Samuelson is a World War Two veteran. He was interviewed at 88 years of age in a senior citizens’ home. He met a variety of veterans of the war in the residence. The war was an important event in Samuelson’s life. On 7 December 1941 [Annotator's Note: the date of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was 7 December 1941], he was walking home from church when he heard loud news being broadcasted over the radio at the fire station. It told of a substantial attack on the facility creating a tremendous amount of damage. Neither Samuelson nor his father knew where Pearl Harbor was located. They only knew it was a US Naval base in the Pacific. Samuelson’s mother kept up with current events through radio broadcasts and newspaper reports. She felt the Japanese would soon be defeated by the United States. She did not worry about her son having to participate because he was 17 years of age, and the draft only called upon men 20 years of age and older. Samuelson was raised in Hollywood near where the movies were made [Annotator’s Note: Hollywood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California]. He was a senior at Hollywood High at the time of the Japanese attack. The Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] resulted in Samuelson’s father having minimal jobs. Samuelson surmised that he would need a college education to get ahead. He sought an education at Occidental College nearby. He had acceptable grades for entry into the institution. Samuelson came from a family of machinists employed by the Elgin Watch Company in Elgin, Illinois. Samuelson obtained a job in an Occidental College machine shop to assist in paying for his education. In February 1942, the draft eligibility was lowered to 18 years of age. Samuelson anticipated the potential interruption of his education as a consequence of being drafted. The work in the machine shop was in support of Cal Tech’s [Annotator’s Note: California Institute of Technology near Pasadena, California] design of rocket components. Rockets were developed with enhanced accuracy capability. Many of the men in the machine shop were drafted without regard for work experience. Samuelson saw his dormitory companions dwindle over time. In December 1942, recruiters from all the services approached the college students with offers to join their branch and complete their college studies before active service. The Navy had the best deal. They offered to allow the student to complete college and then send the graduate to officer training school. Time progressed and the rules changed as more men were needed for boat service like aboard the Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. The program was changed to the V-12 program [Annotator’s Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946]. Various colleges including Occidental participated. Students were only allowed just two additional semesters prior to entry into officer training school.

Jack D. Samuelson continued at Occidental [Annotator’s Note: he was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California in 1943 when the US Navy introduced the V-12 US Navy College Training Program, which ran from 1943 to 1946]. He took the same courses he had been taking, with the only exception being a more intensive physical education program. It was to shape up the men for the future rigors of combat. Being ambitious, he soon became a platoon leader. After two semesters in the V-12 program [Annotator’s Note: the Navy stipulation prior to initiating officer training for the student], he was sent to Asbury Park, New Jersey along with thousands of other trainees. He was in a hotel room with six men he had never met. It was a new experience for Samuelson. The group arrived in July 1944 and was soon sent to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. They were to attend officer school. Being in snow was all new to Samuelson. The facilities and food were very good at Cornell. There were only two men in each room. His roommate was also named Jack. There were 204 students in the class which lasted four months. Learning was quick. Each man was interviewed by the Bureau of Personnel in Washington, D.C. Samuelson took many types of tests including a special test in space adaptation. Samuelson scored as high as anyone before him on the mechanical aptitude requirements. He filled an opening in a special school on optics on Mare Island [Annotator’s Note: Mare Island, California]. He graduated tenth in the class which he is proud to note. The school was in the San Francisco Bay area where a large repair facility is located. He learned about the changes in the new school of optics. He received his permanent assignment to the Louisville [Annotator’s Note: USS Louisville (CA-28)] while in optics school. While at Mare Island, Samuelson contracted measles. He spent two weeks in sickbay in a contagious ward as a result. Afterward, he passed the course. The Louisville had returned from the Philippines after being hit by two kamikazes in the Lingayen Gulf in the northwest side of Luzon. The attack killed the admiral aboard [Annotator’s Note: Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler was killed in the January 1945 attack]. A new turret had to be installed on the Louisville, and there were changes in the crew. Samuelson was surprised by snow while in training. He was not used to it. Samuelson would be assigned turret number two. He learned a lot at gunnery and firefighting school. He learned to fight fires in a simulated environment in a concrete building with burning oil requiring suppression. Samuelson was a new ensign and had to learn to lead the nozzle in extinguishing the fire. He soon learned that was hot work that he did not like. The men were well-trained when Louisville had to be deployed again to the Pacific for the next round of action.

Jack D. Samuelson was assigned with two other officers [Annotator’s Note: he was newly assigned to the USS Louisville (CA-28) in the cruiser’s turret number two]. The turret captain was Lieutenant Junior Grade Mel Meyer from Chicago [Annotator’s Note: Chicago, Illinois]. Next in command was an academy [Annotator’s Note: US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland] graduate named Red Harper. Being an academy graduate, Harper considered himself better than the other men in the turret. Samuelson felt he could not do anything but operate the computer and figure out firing ranges. Lieutenant Meyer decided to go to fire control in the forward mast. He was subsequently badly burned. Red Harper moved to turret captain and Samuelson was promoted up a rank. During deployment, Samuelson got sick. When Harper was approved for Navy flight school, Samuelson reluctantly accepted the assignment to lead the turret. At 20 years of age, he was also given leadership of his division on the ship. He matured quickly. He participated in the Okinawa battle [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] where the Navy lost more men than in any other engagement. Louisville tied up next to Halsey’s [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] command battleship. On 6 June, one year after the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], a Japanese kamikaze hit the Louisville and cut down one of her two stacks [Annotator’s Note: exhaust stacks] for the rear boiler room. About 35 men were killed. At 20 years of age, Samuelson had to write letters to the families of deceased men. The Admiral was not happy with the Louisville receiving another kamikaze hit [Annotator’s Note: the cruiser had been hit by two kamikazes in Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines in January 1945]. As a result, the ship would not be ordered to Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] for repairs until the end of June. A new stack was ready for the ship by the time it arrived at the dock in Pearl Harbor. In August, a sister ship to the Louisville tied up to her. She had several boxes aboard and the ship was stipulated as being quarantined. Polio might have been aboard the ship. That would have been a big thing at that point in time. Instead, it was the atomic bomb aboard the Indianapolis [Annotator’s Note: USS Indianapolis (CA-35) delivered the components to Tinian, Marianas Islands for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945. After that delivery, the ship was in route to the Philippines when it was sunk by torpedoes from an enemy submarine with significant loss of personnel]. Many of the Louisville crewmen were transferred [Annotator’s Note: veteran crew were often moved to newly commissioned ships to serve as the backbone of experience for new training graduates] and Samuelson’s responsibilities were increased. It included time on the bridge [Annotator’s Note: a ship’s command center]. After the war ended, Louisville was the first ship into China. She picked up Wainwright who had been a prisoner in Mukden, Manchuria [Annotator’s Note: General Jonathan Wainwright had been in command of the Philippines in May 1945 when the islands were surrendered to the Japanese and he was taken into captivity]. After the war, Louisville went to the Orient to pick up veteran soldiers for the return home. Some had fought in Germany and were sent to the Philippines [Annotator’s Note: prior to the dropping of the atomic bombs, an anticipated invasion of the Japanese home islands necessitated transfer of many European Theater veterans to the Philippines in preparation for the significant effort and casualties that would have ensued during the planned invasion]. In December 1945, the ship sailed for home. They were dropped off in San Pedro [Annotator’s Note: San Pedro, California]. Samuelson’s wartime experience is something he does not share with just anybody.

Jack D. Samuelson heard of Tom Hanks’ support of The Museum in New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: movie actor Tom Hanks worked with Stephen Ambrose, one of the founding fathers of The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, on various World War Two productions such as the movie Saving Private Ryan]. Hearing that, he decided to contribute to the effort and has left a legacy to the institution in his will. Samuelson’s brother was 4-F [Annotator's Note: Selective Service classification for individuals who are not fit for service in the Armed Forces] and disappointed he did not serve in the war. After the conflict, the two brothers developed a home construction company based on their practical experience. They 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 build their first house. They continued that career for years and years. They tackled ever more sophisticated construction projects. One of the projects involved developing auxiliary power systems for satellites. They even built a floating platform building above the La Brea Tar Pits [Annotator’s Note: La Brea Tar Pits are located in Los Angeles, California] which is on top of prehistoric fossils. Samuelson and his company have been recognized with numerous awards.

Jack D. Samuelson saw his first combat at Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] after significant training. Samuelson was not aware of the difficulty the men on the ground were having [Annotator’s Note: he was newly assigned to the USS Louisville (CA-28) in the cruiser’s turret number two bombarding the enemy positions on the island]. Samuelson was also a qualified catapult operator for the four aircraft on the cruiser. [Annotator’s Note: Samuelson points to photographs of the ship’s gunnery department and himself in book which is off-camera.] The men on the ship were young and very diverse in backgrounds. They were just kids. Samuelson is a college trustee and has been for 38 years. His college awarded him an honorary doctorate. His son has a master’s degree from UCLA [Annotator’s Note: University of California at Los Angeles] and is also a college trustee. They work their contracting company from an intellectual standpoint with remote offices in multiple locations. They love building. [Annotator’s Note: Samuelson begins to show his emotions.] His son is being mentored to take his father’s place. Samuelson has taught classes and believes in America. He hopes it is not ruined. Men like Higgins [Annotator’s Note: Andrew Jackson Higgins built the LCVP, landing craft vehicle personnel or Higgins boats in multiple locations in wartime New Orleans, Louisiana. President Dwight Eisenhower credited Higgins and the Higgins Boats as being a major factor in winning the war] were geniuses. That is why he wants to spend his money [Annotator’s Note: he financially supports The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana].