[Annotator's Note: Video and sound freeze throughout this clip.] Leo Bednarczyk was born in Chicago, Illinois in June 1924. He was raised by Polish immigrant parents in a family of three boys and three girls. His family worked on a farm across from their house. They raised cows, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. In grammar school, Bednarczyk delivered milk, eggs, and butter to people all over Chicago. He attended a technical high school where he took courses in woodworking, engineering, technical drawing, auto shop and other trades. During the years of the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] his brothers worked as caddies at a nearby golf course and his sisters worked at a laundry. It was a blessing to have a job at the time. Bednarczyk was on the golf team in high school and was very competitive. He was listening to a Chicago Bears [Annotator's Note: professional football team] game on the radio when the broadcast was interrupted by news of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Everyone he knew was roused to action and wanted to get involved. As the son of Polish immigrants, Bednarczyk says the treatment of the Polish people by the Nazis and the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor were the two greatest motivating factors that drove him to military service. Bednarczyk's mother encouraged him to join the Navy because he would receive training that would allow him a career after the war ended. Bednarczyk took his mother's advice and enlisted in June 1942. He was called up for active duty in January 1943. He attended basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois. The training was a complete farce with no military value. Most of the time was spent marching in the freezing temperatures. He spent his time trying to find ways to keep warm rather than worry about training. The training did allow him to grow close to and respect the men that would become his shipmates. Bednarczyk trained as a diesel mechanic and volunteered for submarine service. Instead of joining a submarine crew, he was sent to Solomons, Maryland where he began training as an "Oil King" aboard an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] operated by the Coast Guard. Bednarczyk ensured the ship was properly and sufficiently loaded with fuel and fresh water. Additionally, Bednarczyk learned to operate every valve aboard the ship to complete his job. The training was top notch and prepared him for his specific job in the subsequent years he spent at sea. From Maryland he was transferred to a shipyard in Evansville, Indiana to join a skeleton crew waiting to board a ship. He waited five or six weeks until he was assigned to LST-124 [Annotator's Note: USS LST-124].

[Annotator's Note: The audio and video freeze throughout this clip.] In August 1943, Leo Bednarczyk sailed down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for the ship's [Annotator's Note: the USS LST-124] shakedown cruise [Annotator's Note: a cruise to evaluate the performance of a naval vessel and its crew] in the Caribbean [Annotator's Note: Caribbean Sea]. As they sailed down the Mississippi River, his ship was assigned pilots to help navigate through the muddy and curvy river. At New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana], the ship was fitted with guns and took on a load of flat-bottomed boats. Before completing the shakedown, the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] picked up a battalion of Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] in Gulfport, Mississippi. The Seabees were some of the nicest people he met while in the Navy and were always willing to help aboard ship. After a four day shakedown marred by ship-wide seasickness, the LST made its way for the Panama Canal. The ship would buck through the water and while he slept, he had to hold onto to his bunk. While en route, they spotted an oil tanker and watched as it exploded upon being hit by an enemy submarine. This made the crew very skittish for several days after. Upon arriving in Panama, Bednarczyk watched oil-soaked survivors of the tanker explosion go ashore. After a few days in Panama, LST-124 sailed into the Pacific [Annotator's Note: Pacific Ocean] for what was to be a 90-day journey to Bora Bora in the Society Islands, where the ship stopped to replenish its fresh water. When the ship arrived in Bora Bora, Bednarczyk got to work locating and securing a water source to replenish the ship's fresh water. The source was high atop a dormant volcano where fresh water had pooled. The sea was very rough, and ships worried about ramming into each other during the journey in the Pacific. He felt home sick at times. [Annotator's Note: Bednarczyk explains the logistical problems of delivering mail to 5,000 ships spread across the Pacific Ocean and the associate joy felt by the sailors when mail finally did arrive.] Moldy Christmas fruitcakes and letters written two or three months before they arrived were some of the common problems at mail call, but he he was happy to receive any word from home to combat the ever-present homesickness. The original contingent of Seabees aboard ship was put ashore at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] where they began constructing Henderson Field.

[Annotator's Note: The audio and video freeze throughout this clip.] Leo Bednarczyk's first combat experience was at Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, New Guinea]. The island was lightly defended. The Japanese were hiding in caves and sniping at the Americans. [Annotator's Note: There is some background noise present at 0:29:13.000.] When not transporting troops and their equipment to shore for an invasion, USS LST-124 crisscrossed the Pacific [Annotator's Note: Pacific Ocean] on supply runs from New Caledonia. He had sleepless nights because they were on duty constantly. When his ship picked up troops, he had the opportunity to talk to some of the soldiers or Marines. The toughest invasion Bednarczyk took part in was the invasion of Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. The LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] became stuck on a reef surrounding the island and the Marines unloaded into water up to their armpits. Additionally, the necessary supplies for the invasion were unable to be offloaded immediately and had to be brought ashore several days later aboard LCVPs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. While in the Mariana Islands, 2,000 of the local people committed suicide by jumping off a cliff because they were afraid of what the Americans might do to them. Bednarczyk went ashore on a supply run and was shocked to see a friend of his from Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] digging a trench for ammunition. The friend, Steve Vargo [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], looked filthy and Bednarczyk offered to take him back to the LST for a shower and a hot meal. The two worked together for many years after the war and enjoyed a close friendship. Vargo always credited Bednarczyk with saving his life on Saipan. Shortly after Saipan, the LST took part in the invasion of Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands] where they were fired on from Japanese pillboxes [Annotator's Note: type of blockhouse, or concrete, reinforced, dug-in guard post, normally equipped with slits for firing guns]. The terrain was coral. Tinian was the island where the B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] took off from to drop the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] on Japan. After World War 2, Bednarczyk had the opportunity to meet famed pilot Paul Tibbets [Annotator's Note: US Air Force Brigadier General Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.; pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945] and told him, "If not for me you would never have been able to take off from Tinian for Japan with that bomb." During invasions, the empty tank deck of the LST served as a temporary hospital where wounded Marines were stabilized before being evacuated to a hospital ship. Bednarczyk and every other sailor on the ship donated blood as often as they could for the wounded men. Before the invasion of Saipan, Bednarczyk was in Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] during the West Loch disaster [Annotator's Note: The West Loch Disaster was a maritime accident during World War 2 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii on Sunday, 21 May 1944]. He recalls a quiet morning aboard ship with most of the crew and Marines on liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii]. His captain ordered him to get the engines running shortly after the first explosion that would ultimately sink the five LSTs tied up alongside LST-124. Because they were able to get away unharmed, Bednarczyk and the crew spent the following days working as first responders and fishing bodies from the water. The scene was indescribable and the saddest moment in his Navy service. It was like a second Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941].

[Annotator's Note: The audio and video freeze throughout this clip.] Before VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945], Leo Bednarczyk was aboard a ship [Annotator's Note: the USS LST-124] that had its engines overhauled in New Zealand on two separate occasions. On VJ-Day, Bednarczyk and LST-124 were beached at Noumea, New Caledonia when the news arrived. There was beer drinking and dancing that lasted all day and into the night. The ship was decorated with flags, and he was relieved to be going home soon. He has photographs with the captain of the ship on VJ-Day. In November [Annotator's Note: November 1945], he was put aboard a troopship and sent back to the United States. On the ship back to the United States, he would line up for breakfast and by the time he finished breakfast, it was time to line up for lunch. He was discharged at Navy Pier in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] on 4 February 1946 with the rank of Motor Machinist's Mate 1st Class and Chief Engineer. With the help of a special Navy program under the G.I. 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], Bednarczyk attended classes at Purdue University [Annotator's Note: in West Lafayette, Indiana]. He made a career out of industrial management and enjoyed it.

[Annotator's Note: The audio and video freeze throughout this clip.] Leo Bednarczyk's most memorable experience of the war was the West Loch Disaster [Annotator's Note: the West Loch Disaster was a maritime accident during World War 2 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii on Sunday, 21 May 1944] and the incredible hospitality he received from the people of New Zealand. He was able to ride a tortoise that was 250 years old. He fought in World War 2 because it was necessary. His heart goes out to all the veterans and service men. He often gives rides for veterans to and from the base at Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina]. World War 2 gave Bednarczyk a reason to understand people in positions of leadership and he credits his officers for the successes he enjoyed throughout his life. He is grateful for his service experience and the men he met and befriended along the way. He continued these friendships throughout his life and enjoyed going to the reunions. He is very fond of President Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] because he believes that he would be bones and ashes in Japan if Truman did not step in and end the war. He believes that the last Independence Day [Annotator's Note: 4 July of the year of this interview] shows how much Americans appreciate the servicemen who fought in World War 2. He thinks that it outweighs the civil turmoil that is going on in this country today. Bednarczyk believes it is important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. He talks about his own experiences in teaching World War 2 to future generations and says it is important work, but also says that the further removed in time World War 2 becomes the more it will be forgotten. Middle school age children are more fascinated about his war and experience than college kids. He tries to conduct his talks to the age level he is mostly talking to. Once in New Orleans, he and his companion ate at a restaurant and had their photo taken. When they asked for the check, he was told that a man at the bar paid for his dinner out of respect for Bednarczyk's World War 2 experience.