John W. Snyder was born in March 1926 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Growing up, Snyder's family was poor. However, because everyone was poor, he did not realize his family's problem. His dad did not apply for assistance because his dad worked as a laborer in a hospital, which paid him enough to get by. He lived in a three bedroom house with his parents and brother, and they had an outhouse. Many of the people in the community were in the same situation. When he got older, Snyder would go to the local YMCA [Annotator's Note: Young Men's Christian Association] for recreation and to take baths. His grandparents did not live near Cincinnati, but he knew his aunts and uncles. His mother stayed home to take care of the kids. After his father left the orphanage, he joined the Marine Corps when he was 17. When he left the Marines, he was drafted into the Army and served in World War 1. He occasionally talked about his experience in the war, but Snyder never pushed his father for information. He does know that in the Marines, his father guarded an aircraft carrier, and in the Army he fought in the Argonne Forest and was gassed, leaving him with a speech impediment. Snyder's father became a laborer and worked at the hospital, later becoming an ambulance driver before he retired. Snyder worked for a nickel or dime putting in coal for people in the neighborhood. On Saturdays, he would deliver groceries to the elderly. He used that money for entertainment. Snyder does not know what he was doing when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator’s Note: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 Dcember 1941]. When he was not in school, he was usually playing a sport. In college, he majored in Health and Physical Education, and later became a Physical Education teacher. He did not think America's entry to the war would affect him. In high school, Snyder was taught how to make tools. After he graduated and before his military service, he was a tool maker and worked as a lathe operator in a factory. In 1942, when he entered the service, he requested to be a machinist mate, but he was put where they needed him, which was in the hospital corps. He trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station to become a corpsman. He did his advance training at Brooklyn Naval Hospital and became a Petty Officer before going overseas. At 17, he joined the Navy because that is where all of his friends went. He loved his training in the medical field. He had been in the Boy Scouts, where he learned first aid. When he left the Navy, he decided not to go into the medical field, instead becoming a teacher.

After finishing his training, John Snyder was assigned to the USS Harry Lee (APA-10), which transported troops to North Africa. He then trained for the invasion of Sicily. After that invasion, he returned to the United States carrying casualties and other supplies. He was a combat medic during his first invasion. He did not go ashore in Sicily because he was still a young recruit. When the casualties arrived, he helped take care of them. One time, he ran down the deck while planes strafed his ship. He could hear the bullets hitting the hatches. He ended up diving down a hatch to a lower deck, but was not wounded. The German dive bombers would try to hit the ships, but his ship was never hit. The harbor was full of ships from all over the world. Seeing his first casualties did not affect him as much as would he thought. Snyder just did what he was trained to do. His first invasion was not like the Pacific against the Japanese. It started to hit Snyder more when they would do burials at sea. It was a memorable experience. Using latitude and longitude coordinates, burial sites were posted in the ship's log. When the war ended, some of the burials Snyder was a part of were published. He remembered one for a young Marine from a Cincinnati suburb. He was shot on Tarawa, Snyder's first Pacific invasion. The Marine was one of Snyder's patients. Snyder slept under his bed so he could be nearby. When he went home on leave, he took the burial coordinates to the Marine's parents, which they appreciated. The Marine Corps told his parents that he was buried on Tarawa. Snyder mostly saw gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, and wounded limbs of all sorts. The ship's hospital corps was good. There were five surgeons and about 25 pharmacist's mates which helped in surgeries. Amputated limbs were thrown overboard. While on Luzon, Snyder and another sailor found two kittens and brought them back to the ship. The captain allowed them to keep the cats, but neither lasted.

After leaving Italy, John Snyder was transported to another ship in the Pacific because they needed more corpsman out there. As a corpsman, he was transferred from ship to ship as needed. In the Pacific, Snyder served on the USS Harris (APA-2) which was one of the flag ships for Commodore Carlson [Annotator's Note: likely Commodore M. O. Carlson]. In North Africa, Snyder trained onshore. In the Pacific, he went ashore during an actual battle. Snyder said his first time ashore during battle was like in the movies. Shells were flying overhead and he could almost feel the guns of the ships firing. Laying behind a log in the sand, he was scared of the sounds of the guns, but knew the shells would land ahead. When that ended, the wounded were brought back to the beach where it was decided who could be saved or could not be. They only treated the ones that could be saved. The wounded would be housed in a tent, then transported to the ship. They used Higgins Boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] to get to the LCIs, Landing Craft Infantry. The ships had a big sick bay, but they would also use the mess hall and officer's mess to store excess casualties. Snyder was assigned a group of wounded to take care of. There were no nurses, so Snyder took on nursing duties. During routine days, there were assignments corpsmen had to do. One of the last assignments Snyder took part in was in a dental office, where he helped the dentist take care of men from other ships. He was only able to do minor things because he was not a dentist. He thought it was fun. During his time off on the islands, Snyder would pick up shells from beaches. Using the dental tools, he would make them into jewelry out of the shells, and would either give them to sailors or send them home. Snyder slept in the dental office, which was nice and cool. He liked that assignment. His ship was targeted by kamikazes, but was never hit. He saw an aircraft carrier in the distance get hit by two kamikazes. They went for the big ships first, then the troop transports. The sky was full of tracer rounds and it looked like a firework display as the ship guns fired at the incoming planes. But he never knew who hit what.

It was like a dream, sometimes John Snyder does not know if it [Annotator's Note: the war] happened or not. He tells it to kids in school, and encourages them to join the military as an officer, especially in the Army and Marines. He advocates kids joining the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps]. When he attended the University of Cincinnati, he majored in Health and Physical Education as well as Administration. He then received a Master's degree in Counseling with a minor in Military Science. At the university, Snyder was in the Air Force ROTC and stayed in long enough to become Commander of Cadets. He then traveled the country in the Arnold Air Society [Annotator's Note: an organization that advocates for aerospace power] as a National Executive Officer. Snyder used the G.I. Bill to attend college. He attended three and a half years for his Bachelor's degree. When he was a teacher, Snyder attended college part-time for his Master's degree. Without the G.I. Bill, he would not have been able to afford school. He was ready to leave the Navy. After he received his officer's rating in the Air Force, he stayed in the Air Force Reserve for 13 years. He tried to go to Korea [Annotator's Note: the Korean War], but was refused because they did not need his job type. When he was discharged, Snyder was a First Lieutenant. He enjoyed military service. He then spent 75 years as a Scout Master [Annotator's Note: Boy Scout Master] working with kids, which he loved. He also volunteered with Parks and Recreation building parks for children.

The war made John Snyder more passionate. His love of children and helping others came from his work in the war. At his home, people ask for his help with all sorts of things. He has never experienced any negative side-affects from his service. He wanted to serve because it was the thing to do, and because his friends and neighbors were joining. His most memorable experience of World War 2 was roller skating. When Snyder joined the service, he was allowed to take his skates. When he stopped in a port or country, he would going skating. Snyder still owns those skates. Burials at sea were also memorable to him as was going to the different islands. He thinks that The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is important and thinks it is important to continue to teach World War 2 history. He thinks the Museum stimulates children to think. He used to take his Boy Scouts to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. In 2006, he took an Honor Flight [Annotator's Note: an organization that brings military veterans to Washington D.C.] to D.C. [Annotator's Note: Washington D.C.] to see the monument [Annotator's Note: the World War 2 monument], but has not yet made it down to the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum] in New Orleans.

John Snyder's most memorable invasion of World War 2 was the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Although he did not witness it, the Americans in the front had to burn the Japanese out of the island. The local Okinawans were told that the Americans would do terrible things to them. People jumped off cliffs to avoid being captured by the Americans. Snyder did not experience an abnormal amount of casualties. At Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa, Gilbert Islands], he felt overwhelmed by the casualties. He thought that was the worst casualty rating he experienced. Snyder was a part of several invasions including Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein, Marshall Islands], Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands], Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines], Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Peleliu, Palau], Lingayen [Annotator's Note: Linguyan Gulf, Philippines], and Subic Bay [Annotator's Note: Subic Bay, Philippines]. He found all of those invasions to be routine. When he had time to himself, Snyder would do things like souvenir hunt. Snyder did not have to bury the dead on land, only at sea.