James H. "Jim" Pritchard was born in August 1925 in Ottawa, Kansas. He grew up there. He had three sisters and two brothers. His family was very poor. His father had a farm and a nursery. They managed to get by with what they had. They had a difficult time as a result of the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s] and the dust bowl era. He was working on the farm that Sunday morning when he heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. It did not mean much immediately, but the next day, a student assembly was called to listen to President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] call for Congress to declare war [Annotator's Note: Day of Infamy Speech; President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the United States Congress, 8 December 1941]. Most of the students thought the war would end in a few months. Pritchard graduated from high school and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He completed his basic training at Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California], in San Diego, California. It was very difficult and more physical than today. The instructors tried to break down the civilian attitude and convert the boot [Annotator's Note: new recruits and inexperienced Marines are referred to as "boots"] into an infantryman. They succeeded. He was transferred to a replacement battalion to go overseas. About that time, a new Marine Division was being formed, the 5th Marine Division. He was assigned to it in the 28th Regiment. After added training at Camp Pendleton, his unit was then sent to Hawaii for additional training at Camp Tarawa.

James H. "Jim" Pritchard was sent to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands] after it had been taken in order to train for the invasion of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. He landed on Iwo Jima following the initial landings [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945]. He observed quite a bit of wreckage and destruction on the beaches. He served in an 81mm mortar [Annotator's Note: M1 81mm medium mortar] platoon. He was always about half of a mile to a mile behind the front lines. Much of his time was bringing up ammunition and other things to the mortars. His position was under constant fire. Casualties were heavy but not near as extreme as the front line Marines. He was concerned for his safety from the day he got there until he left. [Annotator's Note: Pritchard chuckles.] It was a continuous thing to dig foxholes. K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] and C rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food] were provided at first but occasional hot food came shortly thereafter. He did not know totally what was happening in the engagement but generally he knew the progress. He was on the island during the flag raising but did not witness it. Iwo Jima was secure when he was sent to Hawaii for more training. His regiment [Annotator's Note: 28th Infantry Regiment, 5th Marine Division] was to pick up replacements to prepare for the invasion of Kyushu, Japan when the war ended. When the announcement of the first atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] came, the troops thought it was a hoax. Surely, one bomb could not create that much devastation. After the second one was dropped, rumors circulated that the Japanese were negotiating for peace. It was night time and Pritchard was Corporal of the Guard. Soon celebratory gunfire erupted in the camp. His commanding officer told Pritchard to try to keep things under control. That was impossible. No invasion of Japan would be required. Nevertheless, the men went about loading ship and his unit was sent to Japan to serve as an occupying force.

James H. "Jim" Pritchard's unit [Annotator's Note: 28th Infantry Regiment, 5th Marine Division] was sent to Sasebo on Kyushu, Japan where it served as an occupying force in areas around Nagasaki [Annotator's Note: Nagasaki, Japan]. He participated in the boring work of occupation. He will never forget the destruction he witnessed in Japan. The Japanese seemed to be glad the war was over. They seemed to need everything from clothing to food. The Japanese people appeared to be happy that the war was over and were kind to him and his buddies. At first, the women and children were sent to the hills to escape the vengeful Americans. Soon afterward, they came out and liked the friendly attitudes of the Americans. The military police guarded the Shinto and Buddhist altars so that no one would take souvenirs. That helped with the Japanese acceptance of their occupiers. Heavy equipment was used by the Americans to help with the clean-up efforts. Japanese were employed to help in the American compounds. Pritchard left Japan in April 1946. He was discharged in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] and returned home to Ottawa [Annotator's Note: Ottawa, Kansas] where he worked in construction for a year. He then went to work for a natural gas company. He bought his first house using the G.I. Bill. He joined the inactive reserves and, surprisingly, was called for active duty at Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] in California. He provided veteran war training to recruits after boot camp before their deployment to Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 1950 to 1953]. He did not have to go to Korea. His enlistment was extended for a year, but after he completed that he was separated from the service. He thought that people did not appreciate what his generation did during the Second World War until he took an Honor Flight [Annotator's Note: a national network of independent Hubs working together to honor our nation's veterans with an all-expenses paid trip to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to visit the war memorials] to the Mall [Annotator's Note: the National WWII Memorial is in the National Mall in Washington, D.C.]. During the flight and at the Mall, people of all ages were excited to celebrate the World War2 veterans and their service. It was a beautiful experience. Pritchard would advise anyone who is a veteran and can do it to participate in the Honor Flight program.