[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden was born in Leesburg, Florida in September 1920. His father was a pharmacist but lost his business when the Great Depression struck. Desperate for work, Golden's father took the two children and moved to North Carolina, leaving Golden and one of his brothers to live with their grandmother. Life was very tough but the Goldens never wanted for food. The two boys went to work for a dairy farm in Leesburg and always had something to eat. Golden had graduated high school and was a junior at Stetson University in Deland, Florida when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Notes: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] on 7 December 1941. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to remove a clock making noise at 0:03:10.000.] After graduating from Stetson University, Golden volunteered for service in the United States Army Air Forces. In late 1942 Golden volunteered for, and was accepted into, the Army Air Forces Pilot Cadet Program. Before being called to active duty, Golden had completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program and already had flying experience by the time his initial military training began. He was sent to Nashville, Tennessee to be assigned then went to Dorr Field [Annotator's Note: Arcadia, Florida] for his primary training. He trained in a Stearman [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet primary trainer aircraft]. He recalls a time when he saw a plane crash and when they rescued the people, the instructor had died but the student lived. Golden knew that he had to take flying seriously because it could be fatal if they made a mistake. He did his basic training in Bainbridge, Georgia and did his advanced training in Marianna, Florida.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden was assigned as a pilot for P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] after his advanced training. He enjoyed flying the P-47 and the P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft]. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings at 0:19:41.000 and the interviewer pauses the interview.] He thought both had maximum speed and both had great armament. Each aircraft was great, depending on the mission. In December 1943, he had completed his training and was ready to deploy to Europe. Golden boarded a converted luxury liner and steamed, in style, to England. He was able to visit London [Annotator's Note: London, England] twice while stationed in the country. After arriving, Golden was sent to an air base about four miles outside of Cambridge [Annotator's Note: Cambridge, England] as the first replacement [Annotator's Note: to the 374th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force]. When he arrived in England, Golden had only about 60 hours in the cockpit of P-47 Thunderbolt fighters. His squadron commander ordered that Golden spend some additional time training before going into combat but due to an error in communications, he began flying combat just days after being assigned to the 361st Fighter Group.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden slept in Quonset huts while he was stationed in Cambridge [Annotator's Note: Cambridge, England]. The weather conditions, a lot of times, was difficult for flying and Golden used to get mad because the fighter pilots would be forced to fly in the bad weather, and the bomber pilots stayed grounded. There was an instance where the fighters would go through overcast weather and some of the planes collided, losing several men. While flying missions in a P-47 [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft], Golden recalled one difficult mission. Golden was flying escort for a flight of B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] when something caught his eye. All the B-17s were heading into Germany to hit their targets except one. Golden noticed that the lone B-17 was damaged and, to make matters worse, had at least one enemy fighter continuing to fire on it. The bomber had one engine out of commission and was struggling to get back to England. Golden signaled his wingman, Lieutenant Stolzy [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Lieutenant Robert J. Stolzy], and alerted him to the damaged bomber. The two peeled off and flew to the assistance of the B-17. As soon as they got close, the German fighter or fighters took off. Golden and Stolzy escorted the damaged bomber out over the English Channel. Shortly after crossing the coastline, the B-17 lost another engine and the pilot was forced to ditch. Golden and Stolzy began flying cover for the downed airmen. The two P-47s flying above the crash site gave the rescue boats in the area the location of the downed plane. Thanks in part to Golden and Stolzy, the entire crew of the downed B-17 was saved. One afternoon following the crash of the B-17, Golden was approached by a member of the press. He was told that the story of how two P-47s escorted then guarded the crew of a downed B-17 had gotten out and that the bomber crew was looking for the P-47 pilots. The reporter then drove Golden and Stolzy to the airfield where the bomber crew was based. The crew thanked the fighter pilots for their help and the guys all had their photographs taken together. Golden's primary mission was to escort bombers throughout the war. After escorting the bombers to their targets, the escort pilots would dive down to attack targets of opportunity. The targets were usually trains, trucks, and vehicle convoys.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden recalled a tense moment when he was flying home and trying to land and he got in a dogfight with a German fighter plane. The German pilot ends up breaking off and Golden was relieved to finally be able to land. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 0:53:13:000.] In May 1944, the 361st Fighter Group transitioned from P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] to P-51 Mustang fighters [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft]. According to Golden, one day they had P-47s, the next day they had P-51s. The pilots had no time to train in the new fighters. They simply got into the cockpit of the new planes, sat in the pilot's seat for a few hours to familiarize themselves with the controls, and took off. He continued to escort bombers until D-Day [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944].

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden thought that the Allied pilots were better fliers than the German pilots. Days leading up to the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944; D-Day], Golden recalled being issued a sidearm. Before then, they never flew with one. On the morning of 6 June 1944, Golden was scheduled to fly the first mission to hit German lines of communications just inland of the Normandy beaches. Just as he was taxiing out to the runway, Golden was ordered to exit the flight line. He was then informed that the squadron commander was having mechanical problems with his own Mustang [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] and needed Golden's plane. Golden informed his commanding officer of a problem he had been having with his fighter's oxygen system and watched as the senior officer took off. Later that morning, Golden's commander returned after having the same problem with the oxygen system.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden finally got his Mustang [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] back, after his superior officer took it, and was ordered to fly the last mission his squadron [Annotator's Note: 374th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force] would fly during the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: Normandy, France]. Just like the other missions of the day, Golden was ordered to attack enemy supply lines. He crossed the English Channel late on the evening of D-Day [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and soon located a good target. Golden was flying in a group and began an attack on a train. By the time Golden was making his run on the train, all of the German antiaircraft gunners aboard and in the area were alert and firing at him. His Mustang was peppered with shrapnel and antiaircraft rounds. It was not long afterwards that the Mustang's engine froze and Golden was forced to bail out. It took a few moments for Golden to get out of his stricken plane. When he finally got out, he discovered that he did not have his parachute properly secured. He eventually managed to pull his rip cord only to discover that the only part of his harness that was hooked up was the strap around his chest. He was forced to hold on to the risers to keep from falling out of his chute. Golden was pretty banged up when he hit the ground. He had bitten a piece out of his tongue. Still, once on the ground, he began looking for a place to hide. He noticed a group of French children playing in a yard and asked them to get their parents. The parents eventually arrived and motioned Golden to a large trash pile near their home. Golden learned that there was a large German camp nearby and that he should remain hidden as best he could. Golden spent the night in the trash pile. The next morning, the French couple returned for him and brought him to their home. The couple asked Golden if he wanted them to find out where the front lines were located so he could get back to friendly forces. Golden agreed and was led to a shed behind the house. In the shed, the wife took Golden behind a sheet and produced a radio. No sooner had the woman turned on the radio than a squad of German soldiers appeared outside of the shed. The soldiers promptly took Golden into custody and forced him back to their camp at gun point.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden was captured by the Germans and was brought to a few police stations and questioned at each one. Golden does not know what happened to the French couple that tried to hide him from the Germans. When he was finally formally interrogated, it was easy and brief. After questioning, Golden was taken to Stalag Luft III [Annotator's Note: Zagan, Poland], arriving there in late June 1944. By late January 1945, the Russian Army was close to Stalag Luft III. The Germans decided to move the prisoners away from the advancing Russian forces and put them on the road to the prison camp at Moosburg [Annotator's Note: Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany]. The trip to Moosburg was hell for the prisoners. They left Stalag Luft III in a blizzard and marched for several days. By the time they got to the railhead that would take them to Moosburg, many of the prisoners had died. The prisoners were put in cattle cars, packed in so tight that the men had no room to sit or lie down. The prisoners were not fed or given water for many days.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden recalls that food was scarce in the prison camp but the Red Cross parcels the POWs [Annotator's Note: prisnoers of war] received supplemented what was provided by the Germans. The POWs continued to get the Red Cross parcels until late in the war when the Germans began keeping the packages for themselves. Golden states that the Germans provided language classes for the prisoners to attend. On Christmas night 1944, dozens of POWs ignored the German curfew and opened their windows late in the evening to sing carols. Not long after that, the Germans shipped the prisoners out because the Russians were coming close to the camp. They arrived at a concentration camp and were told to undress in get in the showers. Golden and the other prisoners, hearing information about people being gassed, were so relieved when water came out of the showers. Golden relays a story of how there were several American and British pilots in a concentration camp, but the Luftwaffe heard of this and had them relocated to a camp that was for prisoners of war. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 1:54:10:000.] Soon after arriving at the camp, Golden started suffering from severe abdominal pain. When the pain got to be too much, he went to see the camp medical officer. The medical officer, a Major in the British Army, decided to conduct an exploratory operation on Golden. Fortunately, a recently captured French officer, who happened to be an anesthesiologist, had just arrived at the camp. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings and interrupts the interview at 1:57:37.000.] When the surgeon opened Golden up, he found and removed his appendix which was gangrenous. The surgeon also removed part of Golden's stomach and intestines.

[Annotator's Note: Throughout this clip, a woman off camera interjects with comments.] James Ramsey Golden recalled when Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] and his 3rd Army entered Moosburg [Annotator's Note: Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany] that some soldiers entered his room, put him on a stretcher, and carried him out to a waiting truck. He was then taken to an airfield where he boarded a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] and flew to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France]. He was in a Paris hospital when Germany surrendered. Late in the evening of VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], Golden was out in the street when he noticed that the blackout shades had been removed from a nearby building. Within moments he saw more and more shades being removed and lights coming on all over the city. The Paris streets soon erupted into a huge party and Golden struggled to get back to his hospital. He was a little saddened by the fact that he was not healthy enough to be out celebrating with everyone. Soon after the German surrender, Golden was put aboard a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] and returned to the United States. He was given two months of convalescent leave and told that when his leave was up that he would have to return for training for combat in the Pacific.

James Ramsey Golden was separated from service at Camp Blanding, Florida in September 1945 with the rank of First Lieutenant then he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and attended law school at the University of Florida. Golden was happy to have the G.I. Bill. His most memorable experience was marrying his wife and he kept correspondence with her throughout the war. Golden believes that institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] are very important.