James W. Metcalf was born in Toledo, Ohio in September 1924. When he was still an infant, Metcalf’s father moved the family to Detroit, Michigan where he was raised. Metcalf had an older sister and a younger half brother and sister. His mother died when he was 13 years old, and his father remarried and had a second family. Metcalf did not get along with or care for his stepmother. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his father was a salesman for a hairbrush company owned by Metcalf’s brother. Metcalf was 17 years old and working at a gas station when he heard over the radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Soon after the attack he decided that he wanted to enlist, but his father refused to sign the papers. He also considered joining a branch of the Canadian military since his parents were both Canadian citizens, but decided against it after speaking with one of his uncles who had been in the service during World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918]. In December 1942, at the age of 18, Metcalf was drafted. At the time he was drafted, draftees were given their choice of which branch they wanted to go into. Metcalf chose the Navy because he wanted to be able to sleep in a dry bed. After being inducted into the Navy in Detroit, Michigan, Metcalf was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center near Chicago, Illinois for boot camp. He was trained in a newly constructed camp outside of the main camp at Great Lakes. The buildings where they stayed were simple tar paper shacks with a wood burning stove in the middle of each one. When Metcalf arrived, it was in the middle of winter and freezing cold. For the entire two months he spent in boot camp he trained in the snow. In addition to the time he spent training, Metcalf had a lot of down time. He did a lot of thinking and while sitting on his bunk one day, it occurred to him how badly he had been treating his stepmother. Even though she treated him as best she could, he was not very nice to her. He felt bad about what he had been doing. When he finally completed his boot camp training and was given a short leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] before going on to specialized training, he had a heart-to-heart talk with his stepmother. From that day on, they had a very good relationship until she passed away. After returning to Great Lakes after his boot camp leave, Metcalf took an aptitude test to determine which rating he should be trained for. He loved aircraft and guns and was pleased when he was informed that he would be going to Norman, Oklahoma for aviation ordnance school. After completing aviation ordnance school, Metcalf learned that the Navy was looking for volunteers for aerial gunnery training. He immediately volunteered and found himself on his way to aerial gunnery school in Purcell, Oklahoma. Gunnery training lasted roughly six weeks and Metcalf enjoyed every minute of it. All the trainees got along with their instructor who bought each sailor a case of beer if he scored a perfect score of 25 on a gunnery test. The men loved him. After aerial gunnery training, it was on to flight school in Jacksonville, Florida. They went by coal-burning train from Oklahoma to Florida. During the ride, they wore their dress white uniforms. By the time they were nearing Jacksonville, their uniforms were covered with soot. Fortunately, during a short stop in a small town, the townspeople offered to wash their uniforms and allowed the young sailors to bathe in their homes.

During the spring of 1943 in Jacksonville [Annotator’s Note: Jacksonville, Florida], James W. Metcalf and the other newly minted gunners were introduced to the TBF/TBM Avenger torpedo bomber [Annotator’s Note: Grumman TBF Avenger]. Metcalf liked the Avenger. It was a sturdy plane that could take a lot of punishment. The flight instructor Metcalf flew with was a Marine Corps pilot who did a good job with them. Metcalf never got airsick or seasick, but his radio guy did during training. Metcalf was soon a rated aerial gunner. After flight school, it was time to join the crew. Metcalf was sent to Quonset Point, Rhode Island where he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 13 (VT-13). This is also where he met his new pilot, Jack Laughton [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling], and radio operator, George “Marty” Martin. Martin and Metcalf got along well with Laughton. Laughton told his two enlisted crewmen that they were to salute him and follow all military etiquette when in the presence of other officers, but when they were by themselves he was just “Jack”. From Quonset Point, the squadron moved to Westerly, Rhode Island in the fall of 1943 for squadron training. During squadron training, they practiced making torpedo runs and dropped dummy torpedoes made of cement. It was good training, but once in combat, Metcalf could not wait for the squadron to run out of torpedoes. During their time in Westerly, the crews were given a five-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] for Christmas. Metcalf went home for the holidays and visited his girlfriend. Metcalf and his girl decided to get engaged during this time. When he returned to Westerly, he was two hours late reporting back and had to spend several weeks restricted to base. He bought a ring for his fiancée and sent it to his parents in Detroit [Annotator’s Note: Detroit, Michigan] to send it to her in Winnipeg [Annotator’s Note: Winnipeg, Canada]. From Westerly, Rhode Island the squadron flew down to Oceana, Virginia then continued on to Norfolk [Annotator’s Note: Norfolk, Virginia] where they got their first glimpse of the USS Franklin (CV-13), which was just preparing for its shakedown cruise. Shortly after going aboard the Franklin, the ship steamed out of Norfolk on her shakedown cruise to Trinidad. The TBM Avenger Metcalf was assigned to fly in was a newer model with a radar apparatus in one of the wings. When the catapult launched the plane on their very first flight from the USS Franklin, Metcalf’s pilot, Jack Laughton, did not compensate for the radar and the Avenger crashed into the sea. Luckily none of the three crewmen were injured and they were all quickly picked up and returned to the ship. [Annotator’s Note: Phone rings at 0:26:51.000.] The Avenger had a three-man crew including the pilot, radioman, and turret gunner. Metcalf was assigned as the turret gunner. The turret was fully electric with a hand control with one .50 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun] in it. Metcalf said you could get confused moving the turret gun around while the plane was turning in all different directions.

At Norfolk [Annotator’s Note: Norfolk, Virginia], James W. Metcalf was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 13 (VT-13) on the USS Franklin (CV-13). He was awestruck by the size of the ship. The Franklin was the biggest thing he had ever seen. After crashing on his crew’s first training flight during the shakedown in Trinidad, they flew again the next day and everything went smoothly. When he went aboard the Franklin he found his berth [Annotator’s Note: a bed on a ship]. Later, when the Franklin was out in the Pacific, the berthing areas for the enlisted crewmen were not air conditioned and got uncomfortably hot. Instead of trying to sleep in their sweltering bunks, most of the airmen slept in the air-conditioned squadron ready room. That was the general quarters station for the air crews anyway. While the ship was in port, he helped restock, and during downtime, the crew played a lot of cards. After their shakedown, the Franklin steamed for the Panama Canal Zone [Annotator's Note: manmade canal in the country of Panama that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in between North and South America]. When she neared the Canal, she was to launch her squadrons for a training exercise. The Franklin’s air group was to carry out a mock attack on the Panama Canal. The Army units in the area were to defend the canal. When the air group got over the locks, there were no army units in sight. After a few passes over the waterway, they landed at the Army airfield. Metcalf received liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] while the Franklin was at the Panama City port. They returned to the Franklin when it was time to continue to the West Coast of the United States. When the USS Franklin arrived at San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California], her air group, Carrier Air Group 13, or CAG-13, received all new aircraft. The crew had some liberty to take a trip to L.A. [Annotator’s Note: Los Angeles, California] and they did some sightseeing and visited a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.] Stage Door Canteen. Metcalf ‘s ship had its own band, and they were very good. During squadron training, they practiced making torpedo runs and dropped dummy torpedoes made of cement. It was good training, but once in combat, Metcalf could not wait for the squadron to run out of torpedoes. His missions were mostly gliding bombing. He explained how his crew made their glide bombing over their target while trying to avoid gun fire. Between combat missions, the Franklin stopped at Eniwetok [Annotator’s Note: Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands] and Ulithi [Annotator’s Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands] for recreation. The crew was issued beer and free time to swim for a couple of hours.

James W. Metcalf was assigned as turret gunner with the Torpedo Squadron 13 (VT-13) on the USS Franklin (CV-13). The Franklin steamed to Hawaii where her squadrons would spend the next two months training. When the USS Intrepid (CV-11) was hit a couple of weeks later, Franklin’s training program was cut short and she headed out to join the fleet. The Franklin arrived in the Mariana Islands near the end of the battle of Saipan [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Saipan, 15 June to 9 July 1944; Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] to be part of Task Force 58, too late to take part in the action there. Metcalf’s first combat mission was on 4 July 1944 going to Iwo Jima [Annotator’s Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. His air group flew several strikes hitting the airfields on Iwo Jima. After the missions to Iwo Jima, Metcalf flew strikes on Guam [Annotator’s Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. Another thing that happened during the strikes on Iwo Jima was that a Japanese troop transport convoy was located heading to the island. Metcalf’s aircraft and the others with it carried out attacks on the convoy. Metcalf’s pilot, Jack Laughton [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling], scored a hit on one of the transports. Metcalf mostly strafed the beaches at Guam and Peleliu [Annotator’s Note: Peleliu, Palau]. During a mission to Peleliu, a flak burst blew out the bomb bay window of Metcalf’s TBM [Annotator’s Note: Grumman TBF Avenger]. After being hit, Metcalf looked down from his turret into the radio compartment and saw that Martin [Annotator’s Note: his crew mate and radioman] was covered with blood. Metcalf told Laughton what he saw and stated that once they had cleared the danger zone, he would climb down to see how bad Martin was hurt. Laughton immediately called ahead to let the carrier know that he was coming in with a wounded man. When it was safe to do so, Metcalf jumped down by his buddy and took Martin’s flight helmet off. When he did, he could not find any real wound on Marty’s head. All he could find was a very small cut that he covered with a band aid. He figures that the pressure from the altitude and the force of the blast caused Marty’s head to bleed and look worse than it was. When they landed back aboard the Franklin, Martin took off. As Metcalf was climbing down out of his turret, pharmacist’s mates and corpsmen tried to pull him out and place him on a stretcher. It took several minutes to convince them that he was not the wounded man. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:55:11.000.] Torpedo bombing was the scariest mission to go on because they were open to antiaircraft guns and enemy fighters. The torpedoes were not adequate in the beginning and often failed or ran in circles. His commander helped develop a better torpedo. The TBM was a sturdy plane that could take a lot of punishment.

James W. Metcalf was assigned as a turret gunner with the Torpedo Squadron 13 (VT-13) on the USS Franklin (CV-13). When his crew had missions to Iwo Jima [Annotator’s Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], they experienced ground anti-aircraft fire. When they returned from a strike, the airmen would go to debriefing. There was almost no intelligence on Iwo Jima, so the airmen had been told to memorize what they saw when they carried out their strikes. After returning from the mission, they would draw maps of the island as they remembered it with all of the airfields, trench systems and gun emplacements. He remembered that if they crashed onto Iwo Jima, they should swim out to the ocean and try to get picked up by a submarine. There were more crews than airplanes, so every morning he went and saw if he was assigned to an aircraft for the day. The crew would be debriefed before leaving for their mission and given advice if they had to land on their target islands. Like if they landed on Formosa [Annotator’s Note: modern day Taiwan], he was told to head for the hills if he could not get in the water, and told not to go above the fence. The biggest battle Metcalf took part in was the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, also known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23 to 26 October 1944; Leyte Gulf, the Philippines]. As the air group neared the Japanese fleet, Metcalf looked out over the enemy ships and saw an umbrella of flak unlike anything he had seen before. He could not stare long, though, as there were several Japanese fighters in the area. Just before starting their dive, Metcalf noticed a Japanese fighter attacking the number four man in the formation. Metcalf opened fire on the enemy aircraft and shot it down. Unfortunately, even though Metcalf did not know it at the time, the enemy plane had succeeded in shooting down the number 4 plane before going down itself. They went into their dive, lined up on a Japanese warship, and dropped their fish. As soon as the torpedo was released, Laughton [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling, Metcalf’s pilot] pulled up slightly and flew right over the deck of the ship at which he had aimed his torpedo. After crossing the deck, he dipped back down and flew until he found an opening between the Japanese ships to fly through. He then flew at deck level until he was far enough away from the enemy formation to bring the TBM [Annotator’s Note: Grumman TBF Avenger] back up to altitude. He had done this to stay below the Japanese antiaircraft guns. Metcalf does not know how much damage it did, but their torpedo did hit the target vessel.

James W. Metcalf was assigned as a turret gunner with the Torpedo Squadron 13 (VT-13) on the USS Franklin (CV-13). On 13 October 1944, three Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers attacked the USS Franklin. Metcalf was in the ready room during the attack but his pilot, Jack Laughton [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling], was standing outside on a catwalk just below the flight deck with five other pilots. Only one of the Betties made it through the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] screen and scored a near miss on the ship. When the pilots on the catwalk saw that the plane was heading right at them, all ran for cover. Unfortunately, the last pilot in line did not make it inside before the bomb went off and he was killed. The others were lightly wounded but otherwise alright. On 30 October 1944, the USS Franklin was the target of something the airmen and sailors aboard had never expected, a kamikaze. Metcalf was in the mess hall when the Japanese plane plowed into the ship. He heard and felt the blast but did not know until a while later what had happened. The plane had hit the ship on her hanger deck. The blast killed most of the ordnance men. Metcalf knew many of the men who died during the attack, and it affected him greatly. To this day he cannot watch a burial at sea on television or during a movie. The Franklin had been badly damaged during the attack. She steamed to Ulithi [Annotator’s Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands] where the decision was made that the damage was sufficient that the ship would have to return to the United States for repairs. She steamed back to the United States and arrived in Seattle [Annotator’s Note: Seattle, Washington] in late November 1944. The air group was taken off the ship. The TBM [Annotator’s Note: Grumman TBF Avenger] had a Norton bombsight, but the radiomen would not use them because they did not receive enough training on them. Metcalf crossed the Equator and went through Shellback hazing [Annotator’s Note: Naval vessels sometimes held a ceremony to mark sailors’ first crossings of the Equator, where they go from being a Pollywog to a Shellback, someone who has crossed the Equator]. The toughest missions were during the secnd battle of the Philippine Sea, also known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23 to 26 October 1944; Leyte Gulf, the Philippines]. He did not think that he was going to make it through. He received decorations from one of his missions in Formosa [Annotator’s Note: known today as Taiwan]. When The Franklin returned to the United States, Metcalf received a 30-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He flew to Winnipeg, Canada and married his fiancée two days after Christmas 1944.

After returning from his leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], James W. Metcalf was separated from Torpedo Squadron 13 and assigned to the US Navy’s Ferry Command in St. Louis [Annotator’s Note’s: Louis, Missouri]. From there he was sent to an acceptance unit in New York where he inspected aircraft before they would be accepted by the Navy. Metcalf was in New York when the Germans surrendered [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945]. When he heard the news, he went into Manhattan [Annotator's Note: Manhattan is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York] and celebrated with everyone on the streets. Three months later, he learned of the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] being dropped and of the Japanese surrender. On VJ Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] he went to Brooklyn [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York] to celebrate. After the Japanese surrendered, Metcalf was assigned to shore duty at the receiving station in New York City. His assignment there lasted about two months after which he was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center [Annotator’s Note: Great Lakes, Illinois] where he was discharged from the Navy in December 1945 as an aviation ordnanceman second Class (AOM2c). After leaving the service, Metcalf used his G.I. Bill benefits [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 get an apprenticeship as a jeweler. Many of the tools he purchased during his first few years were paid for using the G.I. Bill. He did not suffer from post-traumatic stress [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder; a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event either experienced or witnessed], but had bad dreams. He moved to Canada to be with his wife and infant child. He worked for his uncle at a moving company. Later, he moved to Detroit [Annotator’s Note: Detroit, Michigan] and worked at a gas station until he began his jeweler apprenticeship.

James W. Metcalf’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was flying in combat and the chance of not making it back. He recalled when he visited the USS Franklin (CV-13) after it was hit badly. He had already been transferred off the ship. He wants to tell the future to never give up hope. Everyone gets scared, but you should not give up. Metcalf had joined the Navy and served during World War 2 to defeat and punish Japan for attacking the United States in December 1941 [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He believes that he and the men and women he served with were doing what they could to save the world. He also believes that it was because of America’s role in WW2 that this country became the super power it is today. Metcalf 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. He believes that the education system in America does not spend a lot of time teaching about the war and kids do not know much about it. When he was discharged from the Navy, he did not stay in touch with anyone. In 1996, he got a letter from a former squadron-mate and reunited with him and other men in his squadron. He began attending reunions.