[Annotator’s Note: There is background noise throughout this segment.] Joseph Fulton Jr. was born in March 1923 in Peoli, Ohio. His father worked as a mechanic for the railroad during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. Fulton grew up with one brother and one sister. He attended and graduated high school in 1941. He recalled when Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was attacked and was appalled by the event. He knew that he was going to be drafted, and his parents were not enthusiastic about it. Fulton decided he did not want to wait to be drafted and decided to go ahead and enlist in the Navy. He asked his parents’ permission to sign a form because he was too young at the time. His parents reluctantly agreed to sign, and Fulton enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was fascinated by the Air Corps and decided that was the route he wanted to go. Fulton took thorough physical and mental exams before being accepted into the program. He was then sent to pre-flight school in Nashville [Annotator’s Note: Nashville, Tennessee] for classification where he was classified as a single-engine pilot. He was then sent to Avon Park, Florida for primary training in a Stearman PT-17 [Annotator’s Note: Boeing-Streaman model 75], which was bi-wing and had an open cockpit. He was sent to Morgantown, West Virginia to take some college courses. Fulton liked to be in control of the whole plane. He liked being the pilot, the bombardier, the gunner, and the navigator. After seven hours of training, he did his first solo flight on the PT-17 and landed successfully. He then went to basic flight training at Cochran Field in Macon, Georgia, flying BT-13s [Annotator’s Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant] for six weeks, and then sent to Jackson, Mississippi for advanced training flying in AT-6s [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft] with retractable landing gear. While in Jackson, he met Lois Weissman, his future wife, on a blind date. They hit it off right away. When Fulton went overseas, he named his plane after her and had her face painted on the side of the plane.

[Annotator’s Note: There is background noise throughout this segment.] Joseph Fulton Jr. continued training in P-40s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft] and P-39s [Annotator's Note: Bell P-39 Aerocobra fighter aircraft] and did gunnery practice off the coast of south Florida. The P-40 had a narrow landing gear. After he completed his training and was commissioned in March 1944, he was sent to New Jersey for overseas deployment in the summer of 1944. He was transported overseas on the SS Île de France, a luxury liner, and shared a cabin with nine officers. They slept in bunk beds. The ship zigzagged [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] across the ocean for three days and docked in Scotland. Fulton knew that there was a big invasion about to happen [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] because of all the preparation going on. He was sent to the 351st Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force in Raden, England, near Colchester, England. He took several trips to Colchester and London [Annotator’s Note: London, England]. His first mission was to fly as wingman for the commanding officer as a bomber escort over Germany. Most of his missions were bomber escorts and strafing airfields in France and Germany. He was ordered to blow up a train with red Xs on it. When he dropped the bombs, he realized they were not medical trains, but ammunition trains. On the morning of the missions, he was debriefed on where he was going and the route to take to get to his target area. His group then assembled and met up with the bombers. The missions took about five hours. Fulton’s biggest fear was being shot down by a German fighter or anti-aircraft guns on the ground. He lost his four closest friends.

[Annotator’s Note: There is background noise throughout this segment.] Joseph Fulton Jr. served [Annotator’s Note: with the 351st Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force] in Raden, England, near Colchester, England during World War 2. He remarked on how well he was treated by the local population in England. He received credit for shooting down a 109 [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft], but he believes that the German bailed out before his plane blew up. He talked about the air-sea rescue teams that rescued planes that went down. Fulton had to make emergency landings a couple of times because he ran out of gas in Belgium and France. He went on many strafing missions knocking out airfields and railroads. One time while he was flying over Holland [Annotator’s Note: the Netherlands], he decided to fly under a bridge to be adventurous. On missions, he had targets of opportunity where he strafed targets and returned to base, but was not allowed to leave his bomber. He lost his best friend to friendly fire. He flew a P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] and had layers of clothing, including a heat suit. He sat on his parachute. It took a long time to remove the clothing, so pilots did not use the relief tube to urinate, but held it until they returned from their missions.

[Annotator’s Note: There is background noise throughout this segment.] Joseph Fulton Jr. served [Annotator’s Note: with the 351st Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force] in Raden, England, near Colchester, England during World War 2. While on missions, he had to keep track of the bomber planes and be vigilant about staying with his group. Fulton knew that the Americans would win the war because of the equipment and manpower that they had against the Germans. To blow off steam during down time, he went to the movies or played ping pong. One time he walked into his Quonset hut [Annotator's Note: prefabricated metal building] and a pilot was having sex with a girl on Fulton’s bed. He left and came back after they left the hut. Fulton still stays in touch with some of his fellow pilots. He located the daughter of one of his best buddies that was killed in action. Fulton believes that the servicemen of World War 2 are being more recognized today than they were immediately after the war. Fulton misses the friendships of his military buddies. Fulton flew 61 missions while in Europe and was discharged as a first lieutenant.