Joseph Mittelsdorf was born in September 1923 in Orange, New Jersey. He grew up during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. His parents owned a house but lost it. His father had lost his job but started his own business as an auto mechanic. He was good at his work. Mittelsdorf and his brothers worked with his dad. He learned how to drive when he was ten years old. When the war started, his father had to give up his business and went to work as a tool maker. Mittlelsdorf's grandmother lived with the family. When the house was lost, the family had to move. They did not consider themselves poor, and always had food. The family lived around Italians and African Americans. Mittelsdorf did not have any German family in Germany when the war started. His ancestor came over prior to the Civil War [Annotator's Note: American Civil War, 1861-1865] and joined the Union Army when Lincoln [Annotator's Note 16th President of the United State Abraham Lincoln] made a speech in New York [Annotator's Note: New York City, New York]. His other grandfather was from France. Mittelsdorf attended school in East Orange [Annotator's Note: East Orange, New Jersey]. The family moved into Orange, and he graduated from high school in 1941. The family did not talk about the wars in Europe or the Pacific. He does not know where he was when Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was attacked. Many of his classmates enlisted in the Army before they graduated. The US propaganda told the citizens the Japanese were vicious. Mittelsdorf wanted to join the Navy so he would always have a bed, but his cousin convinced him to join the Marine Corps instead. His brother and a cousin enlisted in the Army. The cousin later joined the Navy.

Joseph Mittelsdorf thought the Marine Corps was intense. They taught everyone learn how to follow orders. The training lasts a person's whole life. Drill instructors would hit the recruits and call people names. He admires Marines. After boot camp, Mittelsdorf was sent to Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina] and was stationed at Cherry Point [Annotator's Note: Cherry Point Marine Air Station, near Jacksonville, North Carolina]. It was a new airfield that was brand new. He went to secondary training there. When Mittelsdorf was in Parris Island [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina], he took a test and was then sorted at Camp Lejeune. His cousin was sent to a different unit at that point. Mittelsdorf knew automotive work, so he was going to be sent to mechanics class to work on trucks. He was not happy about the assignment. After five weeks, Mittelsdorf was sent to become a welding instructor, which he also did not like. He spent two years doing that, despite signing up for various units. He would hunt and fish, had a car, and generally had a good time. Mittelsdorf would hunt and fish on the base. He was in the last class to graduate and was given a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. When he went home, he got shotgun shells and took them back to the base. He would supply the colonel with game he shot. He got a boat and would sell fish to a local trailer park store. He had free run of the mess hall after building a trailer for the mess staff. Mittelsdorf's cousin was sent overseas with the 3rd Division [Annotator's Note: 3rd Infantry Division] and fought in six battles in the infantry. His cousin had various commendations. Mittelsdorf was not able to keep in touch with his cousin. He did not write letters home too often. He spent four years in the Marine Corps and never had a furlough. He did not go home for Christmas. He would have weekend passes and would go to Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington D.C.]. After he got married, he brought his wife to meet his parents in New Jersey. As an instructor, Mittelsdorf would teach the new mechanics what could and could not be welded. He also taught them different welds and how to repair a radiator. He learned from many of his students because they were already welders. He was allowed to work on his own car on the weekends. He also repaired other people's cars. Mittelsdorf was well liked on base. He could speak with his colonel, and he had a good life. He would date girls occasionally. He liked to fish at night before going into work the next morning. Mittelsdorf met his wife when he started teaching women Marines. She was among the first women to go through the course. He did not want to teach women. His wife was very smart and ended up as a secretary for the colonel. Mittelsdorf would get into fights with her but ended up becoming friends with her. He did not want to teach the women and none of them became mechanics. None of the men on the base wanted women to be in the Marines. There was still segregation in the country. He had a friend that did not like women or African Americans in the Marine Corps. Mittelsdorf felt like he was in a strange country when he was in the south, so he just tried to enjoy his world.

Joseph Mittelsdorf was assigned to the 5th Marine Division. He was in the rear echelon for the Battle of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945, Iwo Jima, Japan]. By the time he got to the Pacific the battle had been won, so he was sent to Hawaii. He was put in charge of the welding shop of the headquarters motor shop. Every company had a garage. Every truck was sent to his garage to determine if a truck was fixable. He had good welders under him. They were resting for the invasion of Japan. There was plenty of spare time and nothing to do. Mittelsdorf kept a forge that he would make coffee on. He gave the coffee to truck drivers. Mittelsdorf knew every truck driver. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Marine Corps started using the weasel [Annotator's Note: M29 Weasel tracked vehicle], which was used to get through marshes. It was a small vehicle but was not good in combat. They were all sent to Mittelsdorf's garage to be fixed or scraped. They would take the engine out of the weasel and put it in jeeps for people. He was on the big island, which was very mountainous. The colonel came in looking for the upgraded jeep because it would outrun the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] jeeps. Mittelsdorf was told to upgrade the colonel's jeep. The mechanics were race car mechanics in civilian life and enjoyed the challenge. The infantrymen lived in tents on the side of the mountain. They would train by shooting their rifles at cans along the mountain. Mittelsdorf enjoyed going to those ranges. He did not discuss battles with the other Marines. The Marines shot at everyone that moved on the islands. Mittelsdorf feels the same way about current wars. The Japanese women would commit suicide instead of being captured. Mittelsdorf was going to invade the Sasebo [Annotator's Note: Sasebo, Japan] area of Japan. He believes he would have died. The Marines did secondary training to prepare. They were always training. On weekends, they would fire .50 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun]. When the Marines were heading to Japan, they were given booklets on how to speak Japanese. Mittelsdorf did not do well in English classes in school. He enjoyed reading and writing. His wife was an English major. He learned Japanese quickly and liked the Japanese people. The booklet did not talk about Japanese culture. Japanese women would clean the Marine's clothes for a pack of cigarettes. The Americans fell in love with Japanese women and the military tried to discourage fraternization. Marines would by geishas [Annotator's Note: a class of Japanese performance artist] out of their service. After some time, the Americans did not notice the cultural differences. Mittelsdorf was raised on a cattle farm, so seeing some of the things in Japan did not bother him.

Joseph Mittelsdorf enjoyed swimming and diving for lobsters at night in Hawaii [Annotator's Note: as part of the 5th Marine Division]. He became friends with a local police officer. He did what he was told and had as much fun as possible. While on a LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank], the bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was dropped. He had to sleep on the top deck and went through a typhoon. The Marines laid around on the ship and had nothing to do. Nobody anticipated anything. Mittelsdorf's division went into Sasebo [Annotator's Note: Sasebo, Japan]. He traveled in the oldest and slowest LST in the convoy. When he got there, all the ships were anchored. A Japanese pilot climbed onto the ship and the Marines were ready to fight him. The pilot helped navigate the ship through a minefield Annotator's Note: stationary explosive devices triggered by physical contact]. Mittelsdorf's ship was the first through the minefield and his was the first unit ashore. After the first day, the Marine's rifles were taken away. It was a week before he saw live Japanese people in the streets. The soldiers had to walk around in groups of four with their weapons. They ate C-Rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food]. Mittelsdorf watched soldiers put together telephone lines and kitchens. He thought they were well organized. The Marines would sneak into the food lines. He wandered through the buildings in the shipyards and managed to take some Japanese flags. Mittelsdorf had his friends sign one and took it home. He thought the atomic bombs were good and ended the war. He was sent to Nagasaki [Annotator's Note: Nagasaki, Japan] where he set up a garage. The city was home to Polish and French missionaries prior to the war. The Polish ran an orphanage on the mountainside. The French ran a hospital in the city. When the bomb was dropped, one of the Polish men was blown through the building. There were many Polish Marines who would talk to the friars. They would ask for supplies from the Marines. Mittelsdorf would give them tools. They were told about what happened when the bomb exploded. Mittelsdorf did not get into those conversations. He did not feel much sympathy about what happened because he was used to farm living. He thinks he has lived a full life. When he had free time, Mittelsdorf explored Japan. MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] wanted Japan to recover. Japanese engineering companies were putting water lines into the streets. They would go to Mittelsdorf's shop and ask for help with welding. It was time consuming work, but everyone was happy. He would watch how they did their angles and learned many tricks. They did things differently. He got to know many Japanese men and would be able to talk with them. He was able to get jobs anywhere later in life because of his experiences.

Nagasaki [Annotator's Note: Nagasaki, Japan] was devastated [Annotator's Note: by the nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, 9 August 1945]. Everything was burned. A punch machine had been melted and it turned cherry red. Joseph Mittelsdorf was amazed by how hot it must have been. Other places had been bombed with normal bombs, but the atomic bomb did more damage. All that was standing were chimneys. Pilots would shoot at the standing chimneys. Mittelsdorf met one person that survived the bombing. He was a homeless man who had a beard and wore rags. Men would throw things at him when they passed him by. One day, a truck driver picked him up and got him to a shower. He was given Marine dungarees. He was a Korean man and the Japanese thought he was crazy. He would light cigarettes using the welding tools. He had a scar across his stomach, and Mittelsdorf thinks a bull wounded him. He would walk around naked. One day, the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] had to walk him back to the welding station and asked why he was wearing Marine uniforms. They had to find him different clothes to wear. At night, guards would walk around the compound. The guards would like the man to walk the building with them because he scared away the Japanese. He would use the welding rods as chop sticks. Mittelsdorf does not know how he survived the bomb. Nobody knew how he got to the city. The roads were terrible in Japan and the trucks would have to be washed constantly. The Korean man was used to clean the trucks. Civilians would be used in the shop for work so they could earn money and food. The United States helped Japan and the two countries are close today. Mittelsdorf likes Japanese people. He remained in Japan for roughly six months. He was sent back to the United States and entered in Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Norfolk, Virginia]. He was able to go through the Panama Canal. He loved being on the ocean during the trip. He went through several typhoons on the ship. He slept on the top deck because there was no room. He never got seasick on the trip home. He was sent to Quantico, Virginia [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia] so he could reenlist. They kept him there for three weeks trying to show Marines what it was like in the service during peace time. He was told he would become a staff sergeant. Mittelsdorf was given a new uniform and while walking around, a lieutenant started talking to him about his uniform. After that interaction, Mittelsdorf decided to leave the Marine Corps. Several men he knew died in Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 through 27 July 1953] and Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. He is grateful for that interaction.

Joseph Mittelsdorf used the GI Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to learn how to be an air conditioning technician. He bought a truck and worked as a wood worker. He would get calls at night and the weekends for air conditioning but did not like that. His wife wrote him every day while he was in the service, but he did not write to her much. He drove to Missouri where she was in college. They got married after she graduated. She did not have family to go to, but she got along with his mother. They moved in with Mittelsdorf's parents. The war changed Mittelsdorf life. It was an adventure, but nothing bad happened to him. He had family members that died in the war. He was fortunate where he was placed and has no regrets. Propaganda and the government did a good job convincing him to join the war effort. He thinks young people are too vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Mittelsdorf thinks the war changed the lives of the people that lived through it, but it does not affect people today as much. He thinks the Germans and Japanese were doing bad things and they had to be killed to end the war. He also thinks there were good people in those countries. Mittelsdorf is proud to have served in the war. He does not think he is a hero. Everyone wanted to join the military. He was a worldly person, even as a child. Many of those veterans went through the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] and had a different mindset about how the world works. He thinks things are going to be worse soon with other countries having atomic bombs. He thinks The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is good because memories are good to preserve. He believes the country and the world is in trouble because of politicians. Mittelsdorf thinks it is important to teach future generations about World War 2. His wife was also a Marine. He always thought she did well as a parent to their children. They would travel to bed and breakfast. They had five children and would drive around the country. His wife was always ahead of him. They had perfect compatibility. He thinks their military background helped emphasis right and wrong for them. They were married for 66 years, making them the longest living Marine Corps couple. His wife led a Girl Scout [Annotator's Note: Girl Scouts of America] troupe and it was very popular.