John Stiles was born in September 1924 in Wadestown, West Virginia. He grew up there. He was the second of seven children during the Great Depression. They lived on a small farm. His father was a school teacher. They did not know they were in a bad way. He never went hungry. He went to college after the war on the G.I. Bill. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks if he recalls where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] He went to the theater one Sunday and came home to find out that the country was at war. Most thought that it would be over before they could go fight. Most wanted to go. He was only 17, and his mother said that they would just wait to see what happened. He was drafted and while at the draft board, they asked him where he wanted to go. He wanted to follow his brother into the Navy. They told him he could go to the Marine Corps and he decided to do that. He went to San Diego, California by train. He had never been more than 100 miles from home. Trains were all crowded back then. They were waiting for him when he got off the train and boot camp started then.

[Annotator's Note: John Stiles went to Marine Corps boot camp training in San Diego, California.] They were given clothes, a bucket, soap, and scrub brush for their clothes. They cut all his hair off. Everything is done as a unit, even going to church. Then you meet your Drill Instructor. The mattress for the bed had to have a blanket that was straight every day. They did close order drill and ran the course [Annotator's Note: obstacle course]. When he got his rifle, he held it so long he felt numb. They washed their own clothes. They stood for inspection every morning. They had to hold their folded underwear out for inspection. If they were not clean enough, they were knocked into the dirt and had to be washed again. They learned really quick to keep one brand new pair to use for that. [Annotator’s Note: Stiles laughs.] Boot camp was not too difficult for him. He had worked the farm and been in athletics in high school. Basic training helped later in combat. They had qualifying day on the rifle range, and he was a sharpshooter. Every Saturday they had a parade. When it all ended, they had a big parade with the Marine Band playing the Marine Hymn. Then he knew he was a Marine. He requested different areas of specialty and he went into aviation.

John Stiles went to El Toro, California [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station El Toro] for aviation training. The veterans were pulled back to train the new recruits. It was all action-training rather than going to school. He met Charles Lindbergh [Annotator's Note: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, American aviator] there. He would come and fly there. Stiles was assigned his crew chief that day. He gave a lot of good pointers. He was a very quiet man. He had guard and mess hall duty there too. He was sent to Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] to a Navy school to learn about different parts of the plane. He was trained to be a carburetor specialist. He finished there and was asked which coast of the United States he wanted. He chose the East Coast but was sent to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] to board a ship to the Pacific. His last night of liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], he went into town and took it in. There was a lot of camouflage all over the area. That was the night that he really felt that this was a country and he had pride in what we were doing. He had been raised in a Methodist church and he went to a place where someone can meditate. He made a commitment there and then sent a letter to his mother. He was ready to go then.

John Stiles boarded the USS General Harry Taylor (AP-145). It was a troop ship and it was an interesting experience. The bunks were in layers and were canvas. The chow line was the middle of the ship and they ate standing up. The second day out, they hit rough weather. People were getting sick and it was a mess. They would slide to the rail on deck due to the mess. They went unescorted to Hawaii. He was not allowed off the ship. They formed a convoy to Enewetok Atoll in the Marshalls [Annotator's Note: Enewetok Atoll, Marshall Islands]. They stayed out in the bay. They were allowed to take a swim. They had little white bathing suits. They got in a convoy and heard a destroyer escort putting out depth charges for a submarine in the area. They could not go on deck at night with a cigarette. The Japanese were all over the place. They went to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] and crossed the International Date Line. They did not know where they were going. They landed at Guam and the island was already secure. They were getting anxious. They were in total darkness, all of the light bulbs were even taken out. He was assigned to a night fighter outfit, VMF-454 [Annotator’s Note: Marine Fighting Squadron 454; unable to identify] with F-6s [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft]. Half of the squadron was sent to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands] and he went with them. They landed on Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Mariana Islands] where he saw the B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] for the first time. He was called back to Guam. They sent him up to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan].

John Stiles was on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] and it was rather primitive. They got water out of bags and they had to take salt tablets. He liked the climate of Guam. The coral was bright, and they wore sunglasses most of the time. They slept in tents, but they did get some Quonset huts. He went to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands], but he was not there long. He was ordered to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] around May 1945. Fighting was still going on. He took a C-54 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo aircraft] over and landed at Kadena [Annotator's Note: Kadena Air Base, Okinawa]. There, he was assigned to VMF-312 [Annotator's Note: Marine Fighting Squadron 312 (VMF-312), Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33)]. They asked him if he wanted to take a shower. He was taking a shower, and someone yelled at another guy who was there with his rifle, asking what he was doing. The guy with the rifle replied that Stiles was his replacement and he was making sure nothing happened to him because he wanted to go home. He had a tent with folding beds. They told him to use his mosquito netting. They slept with their clothes on and their rifle and helmet close by. Foxholes were already dug. At the air raid siren, they would go to their foxholes. That happened quite a few times. Their main danger was Japanese artillery and airplane attacks. When the campaign finished in the north, some Japanese came through and killed several men at night while they were sleeping. Stiles was concerned a time or two. He was glad he did not have to go to the front lines. His job was to keep the planes flying. He was working with F4U Corsairs [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] who were giving support to the front lines. He did not keep up with the aircraft because he was in engineering, but they did lose aircraft there.

[Annotator's Note: John Stiles was stationed on Okinawa, Japan with Marine Fighting Squadron 312 (VMF-312) when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan on 6 and 9 August 1945.] Their system of getting news was not good. Some men had a radio and listened to Tokyo Rose [Annotator's Note: nickname given by Allied servicemen to any English speaking female radio personality broadcasting Japanese propaganda in the Pacific Theater]. The Japanese system of knowing what was going on amazed him. He was north of Butler Bay [Annotator's Note: Buckner Bay; nickname for Nakagusuku Bay; after General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.] on a strip made just for them. The opening to the ocean was close. The USS Princeton (CVL-23) came in and berthed. There was another ship listing and so the Princeton was moved out. That night the Princeton was hit by kamikazes [Annotator's Note: possibly a different ship than this – unable to locate]. They finally got to see movies. When the reels were changed, someone would go up front and give the news. They only knew that we had a big bomb but that is all. One night they were watching a movie and things had quieted down. The siren [Annotator's Note: air raid siren] went off and they all just sat still. It was a real raid though. All at once one night when he was in the shower, and he looked up and saw firing going on all over. Then he heard the war was over. The Navy guys shot all over the place. All that goes up, comes down. A guy near him got a bullet in the back. About a week later, the surrender team going to the Philippines with MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] was told to paint the planes white with a black cross. They then went to an airbase and then flew to MacArthur to work out the details. Stiles was at Okinawa preparing for the invasion of Japan when the surrender occurred.

John Stiles took part in the occupation of Japan. He had to get a driver's license for Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Part of his squadron [Annotator's Note: Marine Fighting Squadron 312 (VMF-312)] went to Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. That was very revealing. He now could see the destruction. He flew over Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: Hiroshima, Japan]. The factories in Tokyo were just destroyed. He got to see the Imperial Palace and he and some Marines relieved themselves in the moat. He went to some of the public baths and it was interesting to see. A plane had trouble on the return and had to land at Okazaki and he had to stay with it. He stayed in the Japanese barracks. The Japanese squat a lot and their toilet facilities had foot marks where you supposed to relieve yourself. He went back to Okinawa and they started sinking their planes to get rid of them. He came back on the USS Cape Gloucester (CVE-109) baby flattop [Annotator's Note: escort aircraft carrier]. He got back in the United States and he said he wanted his tonsils out before he got discharged. He got a 30 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a specified period of time] and had it done in Cherry Point, North Carolina. He was then discharged and went home. He did not tell his parents he was coming home. He realized then how hard it had been on his mother. His older brother returned as well. He got home and was playing softball that afternoon. He went to school on the G.I. Bill and he enrolled in ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps]. If he had to go to war again, he wanted to go as an officer. He had just gotten married and got a letter to be ready in 24 hours to go to Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War]. They never called him and he never called to see what was wrong. [Annotator's Note: Stiles takes out a dollar bill and shows the camera that it says "Hawaii" on the back and explains how it came about.] Stiles wishes he knew if the country really knows and appreciates what was done for them. He said then that he would stay much longer to ensure that his children and grandchildren never had to go through this again.