John F. Caraway was born on in November 1922 in Baytown, Texas, the son of an antiques dealer. At an early age, his mother moved him and his older brother and younger sister to New Orleans, Louisiana. He always took school very seriously, but enjoyed taking local trips and going to the library during the summer months. He had the idea of going into the diplomatic corps when he grew up, but the war intervened. Caraway began his studies at Tulane University [Annotator's Note: Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana] in 1940, and as a freshman, he joined the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps]. Caraway was at class when the university president called all students to the auditorium. There, he told them that the Japanese had attacked the American installation at Pearl Harbor, and that the United States had declared war on Japan. Caraway said it was quite a shock, and he knew he was on his way to active duty; it was just a question of when. In 1942, he was placed on the active duty rolls, but stayed in New Orleans until he graduated. Caraway was awarded his law degree and commissioned as an ensign in the Navy at the same time. In late 1943, he received orders, and after traveling through San Francisco, California and gaining transport on a slow Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly built cargo ship], arrived in Pearl Harbor where he reported to the USS Bridge (AF-1), a provisions ship that carried everything but munitions and fuel.

When John Caraway boarded the USS Bridge (AF-1), he found it to be not only one of the oldest ships in the Navy's fleet, but also one of the most interesting. It had been commissioned in 1918 for World War 1, had no radar, chugged along at about eight knots, and was very lightly armed. Caraway said it was lucky that they never had to defend themselves. The crew consisted of about 250 sailors, with a complement of about 22 officers. Caraway was in communications, a skill he learned on the job. The ship's routine was to make round trips to pick up supplies at Pearl Harbor and deliver them, initially to the Marshall Islands and – as the American assault proceeded westward – to Guam, Saipan and the Marianas. The USS Bridge (AF-1) traveled in a convoy at first, while there was a threat of Japanese submarine attack, later it sailed solo. Within the first year's interim, the ship was sent back to San Francisco and refitted with radar and some heavier guns. Occasionally, the ship comfortably quartered high-ranking officers, and very rarely it carried casualties, but it never carried troops. The ship's destinations were sometimes still active after major amphibious invasions. Sometimes, Caraway's ship came in with supplies while land operations were still going on, but the beaches were secure.

A typical day for John Caraway consisted of reading and distributing daily dispatches, and receiving and sending coded messages. The decoding machine that Caraway operated was similar to a typewriter, and he was one of the few aboard who could operate it. Not until the ship went into Okinawa did Caraway feel like his life was in jeopardy. He arrived about seven days after the landings. They were anchored and unloading in a bay on the west side of the island, among a flotilla of warships of all sorts, when the USS Bridge (AF-1) came under Kamikaze attack. The antiaircraft fire was tremendous but one enemy plane got through and was headed right for Caraway's ship but then veered off and hit a nearby cruiser. Caraway commented that sometimes, in order to confound the Kamikaze pilots, Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] would burn smoke pots to provide cover for the fleet. Caraway also praised the destroyer picket lines for preventing greater damage from the Japanese suicide bombers. Caraway said it was "mean stuff." He said everyone on board would be at general quarters and praying. After everything was secured, Caraway and another officer toured the island, and saw the devastation of the villages and the wreckage of destroyed equipment.

There was ongoing correspondence with people back home, and John Caraway was able to keep abreast of what was going on. The mail service was pretty good, and anytime the ship was in port, there was mail to pick up. He didn't return home for two years, not until after the peace treaty with Japan was signed. When that happened, there was "joy and celebration," and every guy had a bottle of whiskey and a lot of fun for a couple of hours. Soon afterward, Caraway experienced his first typhoon. The USS Bridge (AP-1) was among the many ships gathered off Okinawa, and a convoy was formed to take ships about 60 miles offshore where they could ride out the storm. Winds were up to 145 knots, and waves were up to 45 feet high. Caraway described the ship at the crest of such a wave, where it would "shake and shake" and then go to the bottom. It was critical to keep the bow into the wind during the 24 hours the storm raged, and the captain and crew were hard pressed to keep the ship safe. The USS Bridge (AP-1) made it through the storm, but when they went back to Okinawa, Caraway said the damage was "unbelievable," with about eight big ships beached on the shore.

John Caraway's ship [Annotator's Note: USS Bridge (AF-1)] was anchored in the harbor at Okinawa when he heard about the atomic bombs, but he had no idea of the enormity of the event. He only learned the details after he got back to Pearl Harbor for supplies. The war had ended, but Caraway was still in the Navy, and shipped out with supplies for delivery to Pusan, South Korea. By this time he was a navigator, and early one morning when he was taking star sights in the Sea of Japan, the USS Bridge (AP-1) hit a mine that blew a big hole amidships. Even though the damage was devastating, there was no loss of life, and the ship was towed to Pusan for temporary repairs and then to Sasebo where it was put in dry dock. While waiting for completion of the refurbishment, Caraway and a buddy went to see the remains of Nagasaki. He remembered there was nothing left standing, and for miles the only thing besides rubble was a little lean-to where two nuns had stayed to help the needy. He left Sasebo in late 1946 on a heavy cruiser bound for San Francisco. Out of the service, Caraway embarked on a cross-country trip with stops in Chicago, New York and Washington D.C. He had no trouble re-acclimating to civilian life and enrolled at the University of Chicago to pursue his master of law degree.

John Caraway stayed in the reserves and was called up when the Korean War broke out. In October 1950, he shipped out of San Francisco on a modern version of his World War 2 ship [Annotator's Note: the USS Bridge (AF-1)], and ferried supplies between Sasebo, Japan and San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. When he had enough points to get out, he settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, practiced law, married and had two daughters. He is the historian for the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, and has given talks on aspects of the Pacific war, including a presentation at The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana].