John DuBose was born in November 1926 in Dallas, Texas. He lived there almost all of his life. He grew up in a blue collar neighborhood with a close knit group of families. There were 17 youngsters on his block. DuBose maintained a close relationship throughout his life with many of those early friends. He had a happy childhood. DuBose has an older brother who served in the 112th Cavalry [Annotator's Note: 112th Cavalry Regiment]. While his brother was in OCS [Annotator's Note: Officer Candidate School], the 112th was shipped to New Caledonia and suffered significant combat casualties. DuBose's brother was never shipped overseas because he became an instructor for OCS candidates. Some of his brother's OCS graduates later wrote to him to express thanks for the survival instructions he provided them. DuBose completed high school in June 1944. He became interested in joining the military. His applications for the Navy and later the Marines were not accepted due to his vision issues. He opted to apply for the Merchant Marines. He thought the Merchant Marines were another branch of the military. He was accepted into that service.

After John DuBose signed on with the Merchant Marines, he was shipped to the Maritime Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida for training. It was a very cold winter there and the men had not been issued any winter clothing. The men had outdoor exercises and drills in light clothing that did not protect them from the cold. It led to dissatisfaction in the ranks. DuBose was shipped to New Orleans after the approximately one month of training. Spending about a month in a shipping pool near Lake Pontchartrain, he was next shipped to Houston to join another shipping pool. The men roomed in an elegant two story home. They were provided with a cook and housekeeper. DuBose awaited an assignment there for about a month. He and another man were assigned to Corpus Christi. The rest of the contingent in Houston either returned to New Orleans or shipped out for Mobile for assignment. Ships were more abundant than crewmen which led the government to sometimes fly crewmen from a shipping pool to their next ship. After arriving at his assignment in Corpus Christi, DuBose discovered the ship to be a candidate for the junkyard. It was an old, rusty ship that appeared to have been in operation for several decades. It could have been World War 1 vintage. It was named the SS Bostonian and operated under the Panamanian flag.

John DuBose reached his new ship [Annotator's Note: the SS Bostonian] and was immediately given lifeboat training. He surveyed the different lifeboats that were available. He elected to use one that looked more likely to survive a ship sinking rather than the one he was assigned. [Annotator's Note: DuBose previously described the ship as being in poor shape and looking very old.] His shipmates were a motley crew. Most of them spoke no English. The captain was drunk most of the time and avoided contact with the crew. DuBose had a high degree of anxiety while assigned to the ship. DuBose served as a messman on the ship. As such, he waited tables and washed dishes. One of his first assignments was to put tablecloths on the tables. He could not understand the need until the ship sailed beyond the breakwaters. Then he saw that the dishes would have not stayed on the table without the cloth to stabilize them. The ship ran up to Wilmington with a load of oil. The six day voyage had the men on edge as they worried about attack by a German submarine. The Atlantic seaboard witnessed many submarine attacks on American ships. Later, the Gulf coast would suffer a larger share of u-boat attacks. After reaching the destination, DuBose returned to Dallas. He remained at home for less than a week. It seemed that everything had changed. Everyone in the neighborhood was gone. Most were in the service. DuBose grew restless and decided to venture to the West coast. California was the golden spot of the nation even during the Depression. People who wrote from there seemed to always indicate plentiful work being available. DuBose hitchhiked to Long Beach, California where relatives housed him. He enjoyed his "bon vivant" life with his relatives and their friends until he heard from his mother that the draft board was seeking an update on his status. It was highly recommended that he get on a ship quickly. DuBose went to the Tidewater Oil Company in San Pedro and signed on with the SS Frenchtown.

John DuBose signed on the SS Frenchtown as a messman. The ship was a T-2 tanker that was welded during construction and more robust than the riveted versions that sometimes broke in two. Welding helped facilitate rapid production of the desperately needed ships. Sometimes the welds would fail, particularly in the Atlantic. Rumor was the Frenchtown was sailing from San Pedro, California to its destination at Ulithi. Upon reaching Ulithi, the beach came down to the dock. There were vast warehouses on the island. It was a huge shipping center for Allied ships. It turned out to be the most dangerous voyage that DuBose made. There was significant combat nearby including kamikaze attacks. This occurred in 1945. The Frenchtown was unescorted during its voyage to Ulithi so the ship ran a zigzag course through the Pacific. That was an evasive action against potential Japanese submarine attack. The T-2 tanker had a 20mm gun on the bow and stern. The weapons were manned by the four or five Navy sailors onboard. The merchant seamen sailed and operated the ship. The Frenchtown planned to unload its cargo and exit Ulithi as quickly as possible. There were some delays in doing so. DuBose and some of the crew decided to take a swim. While in the water, they were urged to get out because sharks were nearby. When DuBose and the rest of the swimmers reached the deck, they observed two sharks coming around the ship from the opposite side. That was frightening. The ship completed unloading its cargo and then returned to San Pedro for more oil. Rumor circulated that the ship would head back to Ulithi which was a five to six week roundtrip voyage. The crew was unhappy to learn that the destination would be further west which would delay their return home. It was good news to DuBose because he felt he was going where the action was. The destination turned out to be Port Moresby, New Guinea where the jungle came right down to the beach. The natives were the blackest people he ever saw in his life. According to the Australians, the favorite food of the natives was Japanese soldiers. It turned out the indigenous people were Christians so the Australians were likely mistaken. The Japanese were mainly concerned with Iwo Jima during this time frame. Darwin, Australia had been previously bombed by the Japanese and it was the next port of call. During that period, Darwin did not make much of an impression on DuBose. The exception was the hundreds of British former POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] who had been liberated from the Japanese. Those soldiers were emaciated and in poor shape. Seeing them taught DuBose that war is not all glorious. Prior to departing Darwin, the ship discovered that no food was available to restock the galley pantry. When the Frenchtown reached the Indian Ocean, the crew caught a large shark. The Navy crewmen shot the shark and assumed it was dead. When it reached the fantail, it began thrashing about and chomping at the sailors. DuBose was praying for survival. The cook attacked it with a meat cleaver and finally nearly dismembered it. The shark finally died. The resulting steaks tasted very good. The cook was also skilled at making raisin jack for his favorite shipmates. DuBose remembers standing watch as a deckhand when he was completely inebriated. There was a baker on the ship also. The food was very satisfactory.

John DuBose heard little current war news while onboard the SS Frenchtown. They did learn shortly after the end of the war in Europe in May [Annotator's Note: May 1945]. The ship had deposited a load of oil in Darwin, Australia and then sailed to Abadan, Persia to take on another load of oil. Upon departure from Abadan, the ship experienced problems and returned to port. It would spend about two months prior to returning to sea. When DuBose and some of his shipmates heard of VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], they decided to celebrate at the British PX [Annotator's Note: Post Exchange]. They hitched a ride with an Arab truck driver who was transporting camel dung. Some of the sailors had to ride in the back of the truck on top of the dung. They would have done anything to reach the PX and the party. There was complete chaos in the PX during the celebration. The festivity continued until the liquor ran out. It was a memorable experience. DuBose also loved bow watch aboard ship. That seemed to him to almost be like deep meditation. There was a sense of timelessness that he never experienced afterward. Until the war ended in the Pacific, the Frenchtown carried on under wartime conditions. During monsoon season, deck crew work had to be limited to inside the ship. It became very boring. The ship reached Panama after crossing the Atlantic. Many of the members got into trouble with the local authorities. Some of the natives that DuBose encountered led very destitute lives. Sailing on to Trinidad, DuBose found the locals to be unlikeable. From there, the Frenchtown sailed to Fleetwood near Philadelphia where the crew signed off the ship. He had been eight months at sea. DuBose was happy to be home. The war with Japan had ended. The news of the bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been received by the crew. After VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945], the Navy crew fired off all the ammunition that was onboard. It was a noisy process.

John DuBose had eight months of back pay when he departed the SS Frenchtown. He was concerned that he would be robbed so he guarded his cash. He returned to Dallas by train. It was a cold morning when he arrived. He was not clothed for the weather. He arrived unannounced at the family home. His dog acted strangely toward him. His high school sweetheart had found another boyfriend during DuBose's absence. DuBose elected to head to Houston with a friend from the neighborhood and catch another ship bound for Europe. Looking back, DuBose saw some filthy places such as Venezuela, Abadan, and the Euphrates River during his wartime experiences. Some of the locations had such oppressive heat that work was curtailed after midmorning. He appreciated the United States much more when he returned home. DuBose thinks today's population does not understand what went on during World War 2. The current generation probably looks at the war in a comparable fashion to the way DuBose viewed the Civil War. Time glosses over history. History is often written by the winners. Many of the Merchant Mariners were communists and that may have affected Congressional views toward the Merchant Marine. The losses were significant during the beginning of the war. One out of four ships was lost during that period. Ships and crews had to be produced quickly to replace the losses. The war was one of survival. DuBose would go on to be drafted in July 1950 after receiving his business degree the month before. He was single and vulnerable to the draft. He grew bored in the Army. He went to Fort Hood and ultimately volunteered to go to Korea. He spent three months there before returning home.