James T. Connelly was born in June 1922 in Dorange, South Carolina on a farm. His father had to hunt for a job. His mother raised the children and they had duties during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. They had practically nothing except for what they raised on the farm. If they got an orange or an apple for Christmas, they were lucky. Connelly was at the Charleston Naval Shipyard [Annotator's Note: in North Charleston, South Carolina] when he heard of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. It was disturbing and he wanted to go right then. He was in apprentice school because he did not have the money to go to college. The class decided they would join the service after graduation. They graduated in February 1942. They all volunteered. They were sent to the Fort Jackson, South Carolina recruiting station. Connelly chose the Navy. He went to Bainbridge, Maryland [Annotator's Note: United States Naval Training Center, Bainbridge] for boot camp. After that he went to San Diego, California and then went to a landing craft unit in the Pacific. They were leading MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] back to the Philippines. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses and leaves the room.]

James Connelly made landings on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal Campaign, 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943; Solomon Islands]; Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville campaign, Papua New Guinea, November 1943 to November 1944]; and Hollandia, New Guinea [Annotator's Note: Battle of Hollandia, Operation Reckless, 22 April to 6 June 1944, Hollandia, New Guinea] that MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] called for. He was calling the shots. Connelly's assembly point was a deep water port in Manus [Annotator's Note: Seeadler Harbor, or Port Seeadler, Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea] where they had a floating dry dock to repair landing craft. Connelly was with a group of landing craft getting the men on the islands. The USS Houston (CL-81) and the USS Reno (CL-96) got hit really bad by kamikazes. Connelly was sent back to Los Negros [Annotator's Note: Los Negros Island, Admiralty Islands] to use the dry dock. He worked on repairing those two ships to get back to the United States to get permanent repairs. He was there when the atomic bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. He thinks they should have dropped it sooner. The fighting after the bomb, was politically motivated to cover what MacArthur wanted. He wanted his men on the islands back to the Philippines. Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] wanted to drop the bomb earlier but MacArthur and Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] stopped it. After Roosevelt died [Annotator's Note: on 12 April 1945], Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] instigated dropping the bomb. He was happy that they dropped the bomb. It shortened their stay by many months. Japan was not going to give up. The Japanese were taught to fight to the end. It was better to die in battle for the Emperor than to give up.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks James Connelly if any memories stand out in particular for him.] They ate C rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food] instead of good food that came out of box. He was a heavy smoker then. They had cigarettes that were old and stale and had worm holes. He has quit smoking since then. On all the landings, the Japanese were in foxholes or in caves. They had been preparing and had heavy weapons. They had to burn a lot of them out. On one island he could smell their flesh burning and it was horrible. He was aboard landing craft. He was only aboard the ship when gathering the men for landings. He went ashore on several islands. They had a beachmaster who directed their movements. They would go ashore at his call. A lot of times the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] were in foxholes and places they had built. There was a small island that he cannot recall the name of. They were all similar landings. The Japanese were holed in and bagged in on all of the islands in the same way. Rabaul [Annotator's Note: Rabaul, Papua New Guinea] was the most fortified. MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] bypassed it though.

James Connelly got burned. They ran short of gasoline for flamethrowers. A small boat came back to get more. The LCM [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Mechanized] came back to the beach to get it. Connelly volunteered to pilot the LCM and relieve one of his men. On the way back with the gasoline, a shell hit the LCM and the gas exploded. Connelly was standing on the side. Luckily, it through him in the water. He only got burnt like a heavy sunburn because the gasoline had not burned deep enough yet. It burned the muscles and hairs on his legs. He would do it again if he had to go again. It was his duty to go. Everybody was going. Connelly got out of the Navy and was still assigned to his apprentice school at the Charleston Naval Shipyard [Annotator's Note: in North Charleston, South Carolina]. He did not care too much for the service. He fell in love and got married in 1946. They have been married 70 years [Annotator's Note: at the time of this interview].

The invasion of the Admiralty Islands [Annotator's Note: Admiralty Islands Campaign, Operation Brewer, 29 February to 18 May 1944; New Guinea] is James Connelly's most memorable experience of World War 2. They had a writer and photographer with them. He has written a book and Connelly has a copy. The writer covered MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] landing in the Philippines. The war put Connelly in the service which he would not have joined otherwise. He probably would not have married his wife. If it happened today, he would volunteer to go again. He believes the United States could not win today. Every woman that worked helped win the war. They played a big part in winning the war. They worked as welders, riveters, and drillers. Connelly thinks it is important for The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] to let people know what happened. Newspapers were slanted. Museums let you know exactly what happened.