James Gooch was born in Gilmer, Texas in May 1939. He clearly recalls sitting with the family in front of their large Zenith radio and listening to the nightly programs during the World War 2 era. Gooch's mother had twin older brothers. They had both gone to college in Waco, Texas. One of them served in the military. Gooch still has letters from his uncle while he was in training camp. Sadly, his uncle was home on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in 1943 and was killed in a house fire in Dallas [Annotator's Note: Dallas, Texas]. He left a wife and two daughters. Gooch's mother became very close to her nieces after that. Years before Gooch was born his father broke his back in an accident. [Annotator's Note: video skips at 0:03:30.000.] He was not able to serve on active duty, but he found a position as the city secretary. He oversaw coordinating the supply drives for war production. He picked up various types of metal scraps and tires. Gooch made trips with his father during the supply drives. His family had rationing tickets for gas. He would work in the family Victory Garden [Annotator's Note: also called war gardens, or food gardens for defense; encouraged to reduce pressure on the public food supply] and a chicken coup. They always had chicken on Sundays. Gilmer's responsibility was to get the eggs from the coup. Once he reached for some eggs and pulled out a chicken snake. He sprinted off out of fear. He would watch the Navy Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] flying in formation over his house regularly. Forty miles from Gilmer was Fannin Army Training Camp [Annotator's Note: Camp Fannin in Tyler, Texas], and he could hear the tanks firing. Gooch recalls his neighbors driving to Camp Fannin on the weekends to pick up a soldier or two to bring to the house for a home cooked meal. One of those soldiers was a talented pianist by the name of Cliff Lash who entertained them. He was always impressed by the young soldiers he saw in town. They were heroes to him. Gooch and his sister had to sleep on the porch of the house they lived in, and he saw convoys from the state highway when he woke in the morning. One time he saw a jeep race by and stop at a stop sign. Then an MP [Annotator's Note: military police] jumped out and took complete control of the intersection. Gooch was so impressed by his command with the civilian cars. This inspired Gooch to pursue the military as a career. He attended Baylor University [Annotator's Note: in Waco, Texas] and join the Air Force ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps]. After he graduated, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant and served on active duty from 1962 to 1965.

James Gooch had an ice box on the outside porch. It was his job to put a signal out on the window, so the ice man knew he needed to replenish the ice. Some of the boys that went off to war, did not come back. That took a while for him to grasp at a young age. It also took some time to grasp that these boys who were playing football at a high school left for war, and when they returned, they went right to work. They matured over the years and became men during their war experience. Gooch did not see any difference in his mother's cooking during the rationing. She would shop at a grocery store a couple blocks away. He would always want to buy something for himself, but his mother rarely gave in. Gooch did not travel out of town until he was in high school. He went on a train to visit his aunt and uncle in Dallas [Annotator's Note: Dallas, Texas]. When he went to college, he flew on a DC-3 [Annotator's Note: Douglas DC-3 commercial aircraft] airplane. He eventually trained on DC-3s during Air Force training. Gooch's dad influenced him to join the service. His dad was a wonderful father who did not talk much. When he did, Gooch made sure to listen. [Annotator's Note: Something beeps in the background at 0:24:45.000.] On VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], everyone came out of their homes to celebrate. Families were very excited for their sons to come home. He watched long military convoys pass in front of his house. Soldiers were waving from trains as they passed through town. While growing up, Gooch was required to eat every morsel of food on his dinner plate. His family was very heavy on the vegetables and his father would always eat some meat. Every now and then, his family would eat canned salmon. He loved playing with his toy tops, and he had to always keep hold of his string because that was a commodity that was hard to come by.

James Gooch ate a lot of sweet potatoes during World War 2 because they were readily available. It was difficult to find available fruit. His aunt grew a pomegranate bush and that was really all the fruit he ate during the war. No oranges or pineapples. He loves fruit pies and cobbler. He only ate fish if he caught it, or a neighbor caught it for his family. He also hunted for quail. Almost all his toys had some military bearing. He had green military trucks with the white star on it. He had a toy that allowed children to bomb targets, which was his favorite toy. His sister wanted a doll house. When it arrived, his father saw that it was made from flimsy cardboard, and it was missing several pieces. He tried to make it better but had to throw it away. His sister had to wait another year to receive her doll house. Gilmer [Annotator's Note: Gilmer, Texas] opened an Army-Navy Surplus store. He was so excited and always asked his mom to take him there. He picked out web belts, canteens, and other military equipment. Still to this day he is extremely proud of the military and is supportive of the military.

James Gooch graduated from school and was sent to Florida to replace a Warrant Officer [Annotator's Note: after entering the Air Force in 1962]. He realized quickly that he had sergeants and young airmen reporting to him. He worked hard to make sure everything ran smoothly. He got along great with them, and they were all fabulous people to work with. He made it a point to meet these men's wives and children. Their job at the base was to train certain parties to use missiles. Gooch watched a test firing at Cape Canaveral [Annotator's Note: Cape Canaveral, Florida]. In October 1962, Gooch's immediate superior was called out, so it was his duty to be the officer of the day. While he was getting dressed that morning, a sergeant came to his house and told him that they were getting all kinds of traffic and messages. Gooch went to the base to see what was going on. By the end of the afternoon, Gooch had run out of all his support people because they were heading to Opa-locka [Annotator's Note: Opa-locka, Florida] transporting military vehicles. In the evening, he was ordered to call a Colonel from a nearby base and ask for driver support and equipment but could not tell him why. The Colonel was not happy and hung up on Gooch. Gooch's superior called the Colonel and that changed his mind. This was the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis [Annotator's Note: Cuban Missile Crisis, 16 to 28 October 1962; confrontation between the United States and Soviets over ballistic missiles in Cuba]. From that day on, he was on special duty and worked all day and night. Gooch feels that he could not have had a better education than the events that he witnessed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He witnessed the U-2 Incident [Annotator's Note: on 1 May 1960, an American Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady high altitude reconnaissance aircraft flown by Francis Gary Powers was shot down by the Soviet Air Defense Forces while performing photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet Territory]. He said everyone, no matter what rank, was hands on deck. He was in a secret meeting where maps were distributed for the invasion of Cuba. All the nearby officers from Navy and Air Force bases were at this meeting. They had identified missiles that were in Cuba. For several days, he was not allowed to leave the base. A cot was delivered to him so he could sleep in his office. When he was finally allowed to leave base, he went out to a bar with some friends. He did not even sit down and had to leave because a call came through for him to report back to base. A week later he went to pick up his date, who was a daughter of an officer, she told him that she just heard he needed to return to base. Those 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis changed his life. He witnessed how the military worked when it needed to accomplish a mission.

As a kid, everything James Gooch knew about the military was through movies. As an adult, he stopped in a shop on base to get a quick bite to eat. He saw three enlisted airmen siting at a table having a beer. Then all of a sudden, over the intercom, Gooch heard that they were calling for a squadron to report to duty. The men did not even look at their beers or each other. They just all rose from their seats and ran to their post. The event reminds him of war movie he used to watch. Gooch was never in combat and never had to fire his weapon. He had an administrative position for most of his service. Today, Gooch tries to help Vietnam veterans [Annotator's Note: veterans of the Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. He learned a lot of life lessons, especially during the Cuban Missiles Crisis [Annotator's Note: Cuban Missile Crisis, 16 to 28 October 1962; confrontation between the United States and Soviets over ballistic missiles in Cuba].