Joe Clapper was born in Jonesboro, Indiana, but grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He joined the Marine Corps just out of high school in 1942. Clapper traveled to Detroit for his military physical, then went back home to wait for orders. Troop trains took him first to Chicago, Illinois, then to San Diego, California for basic training, then to Camp Elliott for advanced training before boarding a ship in San Diego to set sail for Melbourne, Australia. There, his group joined the 1st Marine Division as replacements [Annotator's Note: Clapper was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division]. Clapper's battalion rotated once a month to Dandenong for training and maneuvers and "all the good things that go with being a grunt in the infantry." When in Melbourne, the Marines had leave almost every night. Before long, they packed up everything and, because the local longshoremen were on strike, loaded their own ships and sailed north to Goodenough, a small island off New Guinea. Without knowing their purpose, they began training again, and proceeded to Finschhafen, New Guinea which the Marines were using as a staging area for the landing on Cape Gloucester, New Britain.

Joe Clapper's unit [Annotator's Note: Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] landed on Cape Gloucester, New Britain, by LCI [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry] to take the airfield. It was the monsoon season, raining 24 hours a day, and it was impossible to stay dry. Many of the Marines, including Clapper, suffered from ringworm. He took part in a company-strength combat patrol, traveling on the Sag Sag Trail around the edge of an active volcano. Clapper, "being young and foolish," decided to explore its interior, and was nearly overwhelmed by the fumes. They engaged the enemy in a small firefight, after which he was designated as rear guard and felt very lonely being left behind with his BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle]; when nobody from either side showed up, he decided to take off. Clapper noted that when they got back, everyone was standing around in the rain, wondering what to do next, except for the native guides, who were in their element, and had immediately gone to work to build a lean-to and a fire, and were squatting high and dry. Clapper's unit soon boarded ships and headed for Pavuvu in the Russell Islands to train for Peleliu.

On the way to Peleliu, Joe Clapper's transport pulled into Ulithi, where he saw a small carrier with a hole in it big enough to "drive a freight train through." The Marines were fed a steak dinner, and they loaded their tanks into the hold. When they reached Peleliu, the tanks were dropped into the water and, to Clapper's surprise, stayed afloat, traveling in circles until they were all unloaded. They were idling in the vicinity of the USS West Virginia (BB-48)’s fan tail, and had just broken clear when she began barraging the shore, surprising and frightening Clapper. Once they landed on White Beach, Clapper was sitting on the gunnels of his tank, watching the bombardment, when they were met with incoming fire. So they "hauled ass" to get over some small coral ridges, and not all of their tanks made it. Clapper lost track of time and distance, and when they dug in for the night, he looked back and noted that they hadn't gotten very far. They were continually harassed by Japanese fire. The next day they had started up a road over steep ridges when Clapper got hit in the left side of his chest and was spun "like a top." A medic stuck a pad on his wound, then he was sent on a hospital ship to a hospital in the Admiralty Islands for one or two days, then shipped by Gooney Bird [Annotator's Note: nickname for the Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] to a Guadalcanal hospital. He was soon sent back to Peleliu, where not much of his division was left. They were taking on replacements and training for Okinawa.

On the way to Okinawa, Joe Clapper answered a call on the ship's horn for all those wounded on Peleliu to appear amidships. He joined a line that snaked from amidship to the fantail and back again, and in his turn was handed a Purple Heart. He was then directed to a mail slot where the medal could be mailed home. Clapper landed on Okinawa on 1 April 1945. Sometime in May he was blown off a ridge and was hospitalized with shrapnel in his back. Once he recovered, he was sent back up north where patrols were crossing the isthmus, trying to clean up the caves. The process was to get one refugee to come out, and then talk the others, mostly civilians, into following. Clapper encountered one group with an older woman cradling a baby that still had its shriveled umbilical cord attached, and was using an eyedropper to give it water from a mud puddle. The Marines gave her a canteen of fresh water, and asked the whereabouts of the baby's mother. A younger woman soon came out of a nearby cave, and everyone refused to move until the baby was fed. Clapper said she "flipped her boob out" and all settled down until the feeding was done. Typically, the prisoners were brought out to the road, loaded up and hauled away. On one occasion, however, a big gang had to be hiked about five miles, and one woman kept jerking at Clapper's shirt sleeve, motioning for him to notice another woman who kept falling behind. Clapper couldn't understand what the woman was trying to tell him, so he just stopped for a five-minute break, then started again, motioning for the lager to come along, and kept going. When they reached camp and were interviewing the prisoners, the lager gathered her skirts, squatted, and "popped out a baby," picked it up, and got back in line. Clapper noted that it was a different world, full of memorable moments. Later on, he was shot in the leg and after going to the aid station, went back to duty. He was eventually pulled off the line and sent back to the UStates, where he learned servicemen were being discharged with points. Clapper had had twice the necessary points, but his records were all in China, and he had to wait for them to catch up. Clapper never did get the medals for his wounds on Okinawa, but said that's all right. On 22 October 1945 he was discharged, and on the 25th he married a Navy Wave [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service] he met at Parris Island. The relationship lasted 57 years, and produced two children.

Joe Clapper remembers being on a date at a movie theater on Pearl Harbor Day. When he came out, newsboys were peddling extras that read "Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor", and his first question was, "where in the hell is Pearl Harbor?" Before joining the armed forces, Clapper worked in a marina, repairing boats. He thought he would be interested in serving on PT Boats [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boats], but felt the Navy gave him "short shrift," and he left their recruiting office. The Marine Corps headquarters was close by, and Clapper was ready, so he signed up. His took his basic training in San Diego, California. He recalls living in an eight-man tent, and out of his sea bag, and that it rained all the time. His training included close order drill, knowing the difference between a rifle and a gun, duck-walking around the parade ground, push-ups holding his sea bag, and boxing. He also learned to respond with "Yes sir" and "No sir". Clapper mentions having attended the 60th anniversary of the Marines' landing on Peleliu, and how dumbfounded he was with the way it looks now, emerald green and very beautiful. He said the slogan, "once a Marine always a Marine", is accurate. The Marines formed special bonds.

Recalling his experiences on Cape Gloucester, Joe Clapper said the combat portion was very light. It was the easiest one of all, except for the rain. He mentioned that his unit [Annotator's Note: Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was strafed on the beach road by a Japanese plane and that bullets were hitting about every 20 yards. When the Marines looked up they were cursing a B-25 [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] they spotted, thinking it was the culprit, but it turned out that the Allied plane was chasing the Japanese perpetrator. The unit hedgehopped north to a native village where the Japanese, in their evacuation towards Rabaul, had been raiding the gardens and livestock. The Marines set up small, squad-strength ambushes, and waited for the enemy to filter through. The natives were doing everything to show them where the Japanese were moving. Clapper said the jungle was thick on Cape Gloucester; they had to cut a hole to walk through, and the ground was mostly lava and crusty, hard and sharp. Clapper noted that the natives went barefoot, but had thick calluses and scampered around like it was nothing. Once the Marines had the airport secured, they would often go hunting to supplement their rations.

Joe Clapper was in Company L, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines [Annotator's Note: Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division], which everybody referred to as L-3-1. His regimental commander was "Chesty" Puller [Annotator's Note: later US Marine Corps Lieutetant General Lewis B. Puller] , and he was "a bulldog." Clapper was 20 years old when his unit was readying for Peleliu. He lost several of his platoon mates during the war, and never expected to make 21, but he's now 83 and still "chugging along one day at a time." Clapper said a soldier really doesn't know what combat is going to be like until he's there. Combat on Peleliu was "really something else." Short and very, very concentrated. The island is only three-by-six miles and there were some 20,000 troops there. The regimental commander told them that for every square yard they took, they had to kill somebody, and they should kill them all. Clapper said he was really up tight; to him it was "all pucker." After he was shot and brought back to the beach for evacuation, it seemed to him that he was stepping over the body of a Marine every ten feet. Clapper said he has no words to describe it. One of his closest friends, fighting right beside him, was killed during that battle. He wondered then, and still does, why he was spared when so many perished. Clapper claims Peleliu was the most intense experience of his life.

In preparation for hitting the beaches, Joe Clapper said a soldier's main concern is that he has enough ammunition. He grabs grenades and makes damn sure his rifle is in good shape. Clapper's unit [Annotator's Note: Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was cut off a time or two on Okinawa, and he had to conserve his ammunition, so he learned to carry all he could carry. On Peleliu he used an M-1, starting with a full cartridge belt, and he usually had from four to six extra bandoliers around his neck. He would carry at least a half a dozen grenades. On Peleliu the objective was to get off the beach as fast as possible; bullets were falling like rain. They ran for cover, collected everybody together, and started out as a unit moving forward. They went straight in from White Beach and on the second day swung left. They moved with the tanks over the ridge and when approaching the valley, Clapper "got eliminated." Clapper thinks it took 12 days to gain control of the island, and only a small group was left when his comrades traveled on to Pavuvu.

Landing on 1 April [Annotator's Note: 1 April 1945], Joe Clapper's platoon went into Okinawa right below Kadena, with Yonton airfield as their first objective. They were on a plateau, and they set up a perimeter fence and dug in. Clapper said it was like having a ringside seat on the Fourth of July, watching the Japanese bombers come over and the Allied ships open up with antiaircraft fire. He saw one bomber splatter just behind the superstructure of the USS West Virginia (BB-48). They were the first Kamikazes that Clapper saw. Later he was moved north across the island, and he saw a Tony [Annotator’s Note: Japanese Kawasaki Ki-61 fighter aircraft] come by with its pilot, mistaking them for Japanese, waving at them. He also witnessed a Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, known as the Zeke or Zero] crash right in front of his camp, and when the Marines went to apprehend the pilot, he attempted to burn his maps and orders. They took the pilot prisoner, the only one they took on Okinawa. Clapper's unit [Annotator's Note: Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was then sent south to relieve an army division that had run into some "stiff stuff," and had been pretty much decimated. Clapper's unit cleaned up the caves by first throwing in some smoke to see if there were any other outlets and if there were none, throwing a satchel charge in and sealing them up. Their next objective was Shuri Castle, and despite a shortage of ammunition, there were a couple of airdrops, they took it. Near the Naha hills, they traded fire with the Japanese who were rolling artillery in and out of caves, making it difficult to pinpoint the source. At that point Clapper was pulled and sent home.

Traveling back to the United States, Joe Clapper said they had a mixed complement aboard ship; there were many Navy guys who had been on the "cans" [Annotator's Note: Tin Can’ is naval slang for a destroyer]; everybody had a rough time on Okinawa. The Navy had been shelling the beaches before Clapper landed, and had taken a beating from the Japanese air force. The Marines used the Navy ships' guns as artillery quite often. Clapper wore the Marine Corps utilities and leggings. Many of the Marines got rid of their helmets, which didn't do a lot of good; a .30 caliber or .45 caliber would go right through them, and they were always bouncing around so they just wore their fatigue hats. Clapper said he would probably do it all over again if he had to, not that he had any choice in the matter at the time. He asserts that anyone who tells you they're not scared is "lying through their teeth." You're scared, but you keep on going. And he had faith in the Corps's unwritten code to never leave anybody behind.

In this segment, Joe Clapper reviewed photographs that visually record the history of his platoon [Annotator's Note: Clapper was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division]. He reminisces about the personalities and habits of his superiors, acquaintances and friends. Clapper joked about an episode when he and a buddy took off in a purloined jeep, impersonated Army officers and got drunk at an officers' club. He laments that there aren't very many of his fellow Marines left anymore. When he returned to Peleliu for his reunion, he found it green and luscious; the jungle had taken over again. Clapper referred to the pictures of the 1944 landing [Annotator's Note: on Peleliu], and said it is hard to believe that it is the same place. The Japanese had evacuated the natives; now they have returned and speak a trilling language that Clapper didn’t understand. His feelings about the Japanese remain uneasy, even though he recognizes they were doing their job, just as he was.