Leon Dixon was born in June 1918 in Batchelor, in the parish of Pointe Coupee [Annotator's Note: Louisiana]. It was segregated but black and white all got along because they did not have anything. It was rough and they were all just trying to survive. His parents farmed. They raised cotton and corn. His father would do logging as well. It was not a sharecropper farm. His father rented the house and the land. In his time of coming up, the dangerous disease was TB [Annotator's Note: tuberculosis, bacterial disease of the lungs]. He knew people who contracted the disease. When you are young, you do not pay it much mind. He thought he was doing good on the farm. His parents took care of him. He had a horse and would get cows out of the woods by roping them. He would be paid for that, and it was big money to him. He would bring the money home to his mama. He loved it. He was the baby boy of the family. He had four brothers and three sisters. They only received school four months per year. If they were able to get two good months, that was good for them. They walked five to six miles, so if it was raining, they could not go. Sometimes it would be freezing, and they would be sent home. They never learned of Germany's actions in Europe or of Japan's actions in the Pacific. They only had one teacher for 50 to 60 children. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dixon how The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939, affected his family.] It really did not other than the segregation part. His parents provided for them. His mother made their clothes. She raised, chickens, ducks, and geese. It is like today, there are a lot of homeless people but there are a lot of people doing well. If you put God first, you will make it. That is what his mother did.

Leon Dixon can only remember that it was 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. It hurt him. He was born and raised in the country, and it was a great country. The way they did it, hurt him more. President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] was not told about it, and they attacked. They knocked out almost all we had. If everybody else was going to war, he would too. He was drafted into the Army. If the country was in trouble, he was in trouble. It was rough. Dixon went to Camp Shelby, Mississippi [Annotator's Note: in Hattiesburg, Mississippi]. He learned things he did not know about. He learned to fight. The segregation hurt him, but he could not back up from somebody hating him because it was his country, and he knew of no other place. He did his best but was not treated the best. He trained in marching, drilling, saluting, and learning how to handle a rifle. He learned how to operate searchlights to spot aircraft. He experienced racism during training but did not let it bother him. He was taught to respect the officers, but some of them did not respect them. When called to attention, they were helpless. Sometimes the officers would hit them for no reason. That is how it was though at that time. It was bad because it was in the Army against men fighting for the country.

After training, Leon Dixon headed to Europe. He was going to defend his country. He went to North Africa and landed in Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco]. He later went to Belgium. He was with the 90th Regiment [Annotator's Note: unable to positively identify which unit he served with]. They were in Casablanca, Paris, France, Marseilles [Annotator's Note: Marseilles, France], Germany, and London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. When they landed in North Africa they set up searchlights. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] and his people would go ahead and take towns. Dixon and his outfit would go to guard those towns. Combat was not good. It was rough. The Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] and White [Annotator's Note: Caucasian] soldiers mixed. The people over there [Annotator's Note: the Europeans] treated them like people and did not use the word "nigger" [Annotator's Note: a derogatory term for African-American people]. There were seats you could sit in. In his hometown, he could not do that. But it was still his country [Annotator's Note: the United States]. He had never been to war, but he did what he had to do. After North Africa, they moved to France. As they [Annotator's Note: the Americans] were taking it, they followed. The Germans had torn up Europe. They never took London. Russia was with the United States. Italy was with the Germans first, but then joined the United States. Dixon just wondered why one man thought he could rule the whole world. The United States was not bothering the Japanese and they attacked on 7 December [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. On 8 December [Annotator's Note: 8 December 1941], the United States declared war. On 11 December [Annotator's Note: 11 December 1941], Germany declared war on the United States. Dixon felt the Germans were just greedy. Dixon only made it to the third grade in school. He thanks God for giving him three things, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Dixon had to be at the ready all the time. He might get a pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] sometimes. The unit had to be working and ready day and night. He mostly worked at night [Annotator's Note: Dixon operated searchlights to seek out aircraft]. Experiencing combat was not a happy thing, but he could not give up. He was in Munich, Germany when the war ended. He did not get to the capital, Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany]. It was a bright, and beautiful day, but there were so many planes going to bomb Berlin, that it was shadowy. He was glad to look up in the sky and see the "V" [Annotator's Note: V-formation of aircraft] meaning it was all over.

While in Europe, Leon Dixon was treated wonderfully by the Europeans, way better than he was treated in the United States. All of their places of business had one door that everyone went through. He was not skipped in lines because he was Black [Annotator's Note: African-American]. He could sit anywhere he wanted on buses or trolley cars. He had to sit in the back in his own country. It was rough but you could not give up. When he came back, they landed in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. There was music, food, and drinks. He was not allowed off the train though. The Whites [Annotator's Note: Caucasian] were greeted but not them. It was harsh but what could he do? He went to help defend his country. When he got out, he knew nothing other than farming. He wanted to get a G.I. loan to buy some property and build a life. At the VA [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs; also referred to as the Veterans Administration] office they would not give him a loan or any help. He got nothing. He tried and tried. He worked different jobs and eventually started a little business of his own. He wanted to give his family something better than he had. He has nine children, all of whom graduated from high school. Four got college degrees. He got no help from the VA.

Leon Dixon started his own company after the war. He worked a good while to save up money. He worked at the Kaiser Aluminum plant for six years. He did other jobs and bought himself a tractor. He would load trucks with dirt. He raised nine children doing that. He bought one truck. Not all White [Annotator's Note: Caucasian] folks are bad against Blacks [Annotator's Note: African-American]. Some helped him. One man helped him get a loan to get his dump truck in 1968. God was in the plan. He got another truck and from there it kept going. That man really opened the door for him. He did not have to, but he did. The Army did not help him. Dixon's most memorable experience of World War 2 was returning to the United States alive. He saw so many different things he would never have seen in other countries. He would not give anything for that experience and seeing how those people [Annotator's Note: Europeans] treated him as opposed to how he was treated where he was born and raised. Dixon served because he was serving his home, his country, the United States of America. His service means a great deal to him. For any youngster, the Army is great and wonderful to join. The war was a hurting thing on one side. It changed him considerably on the other side by seeing things he never thought he would see. It seems like the war is great to America today. The other countries have dictators and those are not good. Dixon thinks The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana is important and so is teaching the war to future generations. People need to mix and learn from each other. We can do better. When Dixon was in training, he was notified that he was going overseas to Europe. He had sent all his money home to his mother. He was going home on his last furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and was in Mississippi. He got off the bus to stretch his legs. Three men walked up and kicked his bag into the air. They wanted him to make a move. Dixon did not say a word, because they would have beaten him to death even though he was in uniform and fighting for his country. It went through some hard times, but he thanks God for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. [Annotator's Note: Dixon thanks the interviewer twice.]