John Arch McGill was born in Okolona, Arkansas in 1923. His father raised open-range cattle, hogs and chickens, and owned a couple of farms that were run by sharecroppers. His mother kept a large garden and canned vegetables. McGill said he had a common upbringing in a farming community. He would go to a neighbors' house to listen to the radio because they didn't have one. He finished high school in May 1941, and within a few days he went to Little Rock, Arkansas to enlist. He wanted to be a pilot. He was too young and didn't have the education required to be an aviation cadet, but when the war in Europe heated up, the rules changed. McGill didn't care about the war in Europe, and felt it wasn't his business, but considered himself extremely fortunate, to get into a program to become an aviation student. He passed the strenuous peace time physical and was taken out of mechanics' school at Chanute Field [Annotator's Note: Chanute Air Force Base in Champaign County, Illinois] to go to Kelly Field [Annotator's Note: now part of Joint Base San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas], where he went into the same class with the aviation cadets. He passed all the courses and had to take another physical. This time, he did not pass the eye test, and washed out of the program. He jokes that his mother's prayers were answered, but he was greatly disappointed. He was sent to California and assigned 34th Air Depot Group, in California.

When John Arch McGill arrived in California, he didn't know much about what he would be doing. He learned that each squadron took care of its own planes, much like a service station would an automobile, but they didn't do any major work. When major repairs were required, the plane went to the depots, which were scattered all over. The 34th Air Depot Group consisted of approximately 850 guys, all specialists in their fields, and they worked on all kinds of airplanes. When McGill was deployed, he went overseas on a troopship he thinks was the Barry [Annotator's Note: USAT Thomas H. Barry] in a convoy. He was 19 years old, and felt it was a great adventure He remembers seeing the battleship Arkansas [Annotator's Note: USS Arkansas (BB-33)] alongside the port bow of his ship and wondering how the thing could float. McGill landed at Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco]. He lived in a pup tent and assembled P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] and P-39s [Annotator's Note: Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft]. The people in and around Casablanca were extremely poor and were happy to take the big crates in which the plane parts were shipped. He took a French lesson so he could talk to the girls at the dances that were organized for the service men. Children would come up to the fence that surrounded the area where he lived. They held out tin cans, begging for something to eat. Army mattress covers were coveted by the Arabs, who cut head and armholes in them to wear as apparel.

John Arch McGill traveled in a boxcar across the top of North Africa to Bizerte [Annotator's Note: Bizerte, Tunisia]. Along the way, several of the boxcars uncoupled from the train engine, and began sliding back down the hill. McGill was in one of them and he and the other guys thought it was very funny. The train had to stop often, and the men would get out and shower under the water tanks. While he was in Bizerte, Bob Hope [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope KBE; British-American entertainer who was famous for entertaining American troops serving overseas during World War 2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War] and Frances Langford [Annotator's Note: Julia Frances Langford, American singer and actress] entertained the troops. Bizerte was an active port, and it was where McGill got closest to a German air strike or getting hurt in any way. There were reports of bombing, and there was a German plane shot down close to his camp. From Bizerte, McGill got on an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] and sailed to Palermo, Sicily, where he really started working on airplanes. They had a P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] that landed on a beach. Three or four men had to go out and take off the propeller, take the engine and radios out, and then douse it with gasoline and set it on fire. Within a few minutes, the fire wore out, and they left the carcass to accept an invitation to share an octopus dinner with some locals. McGill almost feels guilty because his service experience was such an adventure, while others were getting shot.

John Arch McGill was stationed in Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy]. His outfit [Annotator's Note: 34th Air Depot Group] got three battle stars [Annotator's Note: device worn to denote subsequent awards on medals and ribbons; also called campaign stars or service stars] for having been in three areas of combat. In each case they had arrived just after the Germans got out. In Naples, McGill got into one of the most dangerous things he did in the war and that was hauling gasoline. The supply came from several places in North Africa and some in Sicily [Annotator's Note: Sicily, Italy]. They used C-47s[Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] like they were trucks. Before too long, they moved on to Pisa [Annotator's Note: Pisa, Italy]. He visited Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy]. While he was taking photographs around the Vatican [Annotator's Note: Vatican City, officially Vatican City State, independent city state enclave within Rome, Italy], he heard that Pope Pius XII [Annotator's Note: head of the Catholic Church from 2 March 1939 to 9 October 1958] would shortly be making an appearance. McGill is not a Catholic, but he bought a rosary and had it blessed by the Pontiff. In Pisa, his work centered on the long-range bombers that were flying to the south of France. He did engine changes on many C-47s and B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. Earlier in the war, while he was in Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco], he worked on a B-17, and then went along on its test flight over the desert. For kicks, the young pilots decided to buzz three riders on camelback. The crew all thought it was great sport. McGill hitched a ride on a C-47 to Venice [Annotator's Note: Venice, Italy] and rode in a gondola.

John McGill was in Pisa [Annotator's Note: Pisa, Italy] when the war ended. He had just over the number of necessary 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] to qualify for return to the United States. While waiting for the boat, McGill worked with German prisoners, boxing and shipping small equipment. The prisoners were clean-cut and hard-working. They were just guys like him. It is a shame that they had been shooting at each other. Finally, he got on a Liberty Ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship], for a slow ride home. While McGill was in Naples, he took the pilot's physical and passed the eye test. He got ready to fly. He thinks his mother's prayers got in the way of accomplishing his ambition. On the bulletin board was a message from General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] that no more air crew trainees would leave the theater of operation. He washed out for the second time. This time it wasn't so disappointing. McGill thinks he returned to the same port he departed from at Camp Kilmer [Annotator's Note: Camp Kilmer, New Jersey].

John Arch McGill says the war was a terrible waste, in terms of loss of human life, of destruction to communities, and the devastation of families. He regrets that there seems to be no end to it. World War 2 was necessary to retain our freedom. The war did not change him all that much at the time, because was too young to have a philosophy. But in his later years he has thought about how resources might have been put to better use. He thinks it very important that young people of today know about the war, otherwise it might be repeated. He laments that history is often forgotten or overlooked because of more recent political problems.