James "Jim" Tubach was born in April 1926 in Fall City, Nebraska. He grew up there on a dairy farm with ten brothers and one sister. Life on the farm was a good education watching the animals. They grew wheat, corn and alfalfa. He remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] very well. They were having homemade ice cream after church. It was a shock but did not affect him a lot. The news was not so instantaneous as it is today. He attended a small school. He graduated from high school and was drafted into the Army in 1944. He completed his basic training at Fort Hood, Texas. It was a shortened duration for basic. It was relatively easy training. He had to get used to firing a different type of gun from what he had used before. There was no advanced training after basic. After completing his basic training, he was issued winter clothing. He thought he was going to Europe; however, he was sent to the West Coast [Annotator's Note: West Coast of the United States] and issued new gear. During the cross country train ride to the coast, he had a stop at his brother's town but could not leave the train. He was miserable. He left California in an unescorted and crowded ship for Pacific deployment. They sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge [Annotator's Note: suspension bridge in San Francisco, California]. He saw no land or other ships along the 30 day, zig-zag [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] route. It was a smooth voyage. He arrived in Manila Bay [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines] in the Philippines after it had been secured.

James "Jim" Tubach was assigned to an Army group [Annotator's Note: 96th Infantry Division] out in the hills looking for Japanese who had been left behind. It was a mopping up operation. They had picked up many scared and hungry Japanese who had no ammunition. They offered no resistance. They had been forgotten and were quiet happy to be found. His patrols would go out in the morning on Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines]. He had little interaction with the Filipinos. Some of Tubach's memories of those months on Luzon are somewhat hazy. Leaving the Philippines on a troopship, the men found out that they would involved in the invasion of Japan. It was good to hear that the Enola Gay had come over with a couple of bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons were dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay Boeing B-29 Superfortress super heavy bomber and on Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively]. Tubach would not have survived the war had the bombs not been dropped. Everyone was happy with the news. The ship proceeded to Yokohama Bay as the troops entered Japan as occupying forces.

James "Jim" Tubach was sent to a little town outside of Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] called Fukiya [Annotator's Note: Fukiya, Japan]. Their job was to destroy an ammunition dump and weapons storage area. A doctor came through to give injections for various diseases that the men could potentially contract. After the shots, the doctor offered to take one of the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] with him to give shots to others. He decided to take a farm boy with him. Tubach was volunteered by one of the other guys with him. The doctor confirmed that Tubach had given injections to livestock while on the farm. He selected him as a result. Unknowingly, Tubach was shifted from the Army to the Air Corps at the time. It reflected on Tubach's discharge papers. The doctor had Tubach with him as he traveled Japan giving shots. Tubach had malaria in the Philippines so his memory is a bit hazy on some details. He does remember using the same syringe to give shots to multiple individuals. Times were different back then. There was the doctor with three assistants providing shots all across Japan. The duty was different for Tubach. In the little town of Fukiya, Tubach met and visited with local Japanese people. One lady who spoke very good English revealed she had graduated from a college in California. In her opinion, the dropping of the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was a fortunate event. More lives were saved compared to the cost of the planned invasion. He returned to the Yokohama [Annotator's Note: Yokohama, Japan] area and he worked in communications. He was operating the switchboard when the notice that he had 82 points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] and could return home. The troopship returning him to the United States hit rough water and weather around the Aleutian Islands. The ship's skipper had sailed the Atlantic [Annotator's Note: Atlantic Ocean] throughout the war. He was just as sick as everyone else. Progress forward was very slow as the ship went up and down. The cold weather was rough, as was the ride home.

James "Jim" Tubach was discharged at Fort Lewis, Washington and returned to Falls City, Nebraska. His family only knew he was returning when he arrived. He found work with Richardson County, Nebraska in their noxious weed program. Because of his bout with malaria, he would get attacks occasionally. He decided to use the G.I. Bill and enrolled in Kansas State College [Annotator's Note: now Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas] in 1949. He began in agriculture because of his aptitude due to his prewar farm experience. It took two and a half years to get transferred to another major. He entered the school of arts and science. He was employed as a public social worker in Oskaloosa, Kansas. He was there for three years then returned to Manhattan, Kansas as director of public service in Riley County. He and his wife have one adopted daughter. He has resided in Manhattan since 1957 and seen it grow significantly. He brought back from Japan a rifle, bugle and Samurai sword that he retrieved from Fukiya [Annotator's Note: Fukiya, Japan]. He feels that he is very fortunate even though his records were destroyed. He has mixed emotions about not receiving compensation for the malaria that he contracted. [Annotator's Note: Tubach contracted malaria while in the Philippines mopping up Japanese troops before the end of the war.]