[Annotator’s Note: Video and sound is very choppy throughout this segment. You can also hear chattering in the background.] James Battifarano was born in West Newark, New Jersey in January 1925. In January 1943, he joined the Navy when he was 17 years old and a senior in high school. He was at his family’s country house when he first heard the news about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He chose to join the Navy because he had been around water all his life. He was sent to basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Station [Annotator’s Note: Great Lakes, Illinois]. The weather was very cold. He wore two pairs of pants. He completed his training in March. He was accepted into signalman school because he already had a background in Morse code. He then volunteered for submarine service. He was accepted and sent to New London [Annotator’s Note: New London, Connecticut]. At submarine school, the instructors were very strict, and the tests were very difficult. If any sailor cracked, they were instantly washed out. After he graduated from submarine school, he was sent to a newly constructed submarine, the USS Guitarro (SS-363), in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. He stayed in quarters on a beach until the submarine was ready. They did trial runs, and he thought the captain was an ace. His accommodation aboard the submarine was tight quarters and he slept on a bunk. He had duty for four hours and then had eight hours off. He was assigned as the signalman on the ship and had to make records.

Annotator’s Note: Video and sound are very choppy throughout this segment. You can also hear chattering in the background.] James Battifarano was assigned as a signalman on the USS Guitarro (SS-363). He was on all six combat patrols of the submarine. He spoke about the strategies of finding and attacking enemy ships. They were able to sink three destroyers and several cargo ships. His sub never picked up an airman, but they were always depth-charged [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] as they tried to escape from the enemy. While his sub was on Lake Michigan on a cold day, the quartermaster opened the hatch, and all of a sudden the submarine began to dive down. Water started to come into the hatch and they quickly had to close it, but by the time the hatch was closed, they already had water up to their chests. When he was at Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii], his submarine lost their gun crew during target practice. The crew was washed off the deck. Battifarano was in San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] when the war ended because his ship was in for an overhaul. He was discharged in 1945 in Long Island, New York as a signalman first class. The war changed his life because he was able to see the world and meet all sorts of people. He was proud to be on a submarine and serve his country. Battifarano 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 because people do not know about the men that served in submarines.