Louis Massengale was born in February 1926, and spent his first five years in Goodwater, Alabama, living with his grandmother. His mother then took him to Bessemer, Alabama, an industrial area outside of Birmingham, where his father worked in a steel mill and she was a hairdresser. Because his parents were "in business," Massengale said his family did better than many. They lived in a mixed neighborhood, in a city that was not completely segregated, and Massengale had odd jobs growing up, including tailoring, funeral arrangements and shoe repair. He left Dunbar High School after tenth grade and was working as a shoe repairman when he turned 18 in 1944 and was drafted. Massengale was inducted at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia and was sent to Bainbridge, Maryland for boot camp. He said that having intermingled with whites while growing up made it easier for him at boot camp. He went home for a short leave, then spent a week on a troop train traveling to the west coast, stopping once in Chicago. When he arrived in Seattle, Washington, he was redirected to Klamath Falls, Oregon. During roll call he learned that he was going to be a steward, and he was devastated. He had never done anything like it in his life, but he wasn't given a choice.

An average day aboard ship [Annotator's Note: USS New Jersey (BB-62)] for Louis Massengale started early in the morning, and his duties included feeding the officers, shining their shoes, making up their beds, and cleaning their rooms. Each steward had certain block of rooms assigned to him, and during mess wore a uniform that consisted of a white jacket with a Nehru collar and dark blue or white trousers. He served meals, but he never had to cook. Before and after lunch he had a two-hour break. He had been trained to handle weapons, because aboard ship he was part of a gun crew. Massengale said the stewards were allowed to man the 20mm [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm automatic cannon] and 40mm [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm automatic cannon] guns, but all white crews handled the big guns. Sometimes he had to chip paint or do laundry. The shipmates worked as a team on board, but there were no white stewards. After a while, he developed a sense of pride in his position. Massengale's ship shuttled between Hawaii and the west coast of the United States, never venturing into the war zone. He had heard that the black sailors aboard aircraft carriers saw more action, so he put in for a transfer, but he was never reassigned during the war. Ironically, after he was discharged he signed up for the reserves, and got assigned to an aircraft carrier for his annual two weeks of active duty.

Occasionally, Louis Massengale said, the guys would pull little tricks, and he described a "hot foot." When lit, a match stuck in the "Goodyear" welt of a sleeping sailor's shoe got pretty hot, and, he pointed out, a lace-up shoe couldn't be taken off very quickly. The other prank was a "short sheet," that only allowed a man to get halfway into the bed. Sometimes personal items were hidden in someone else's locker. Massengale noted that some black guys were very bitter about their situation, and admitted that he had bouts when he felt he had been misplaced and mistreated, because blacks were not allowed to go into a field. He often wondered why officers couldn't get their own food like everybody else. Of course, he never verbalized this; there was no use trying to get out of that type of job. He said he had to accept it as his way of fighting for his country and did the best he could. Massengale said the stewards were never told the news or the plans, and when serving officers who were working, the stewards had to step back out the range of hearing. When he heard the war coming to an end, Massengale was very happy, and celebrated on liberty in downtown Seattle where the blacks congregated. He left Seattle aboard a train headed south, and as the train went along its route, it picked up cars at every military base. By the time he reached Texas, the train was a mile or more long. At Jacksonville, Florida, Massengale got his discharge, and in about two days was on another train to Alabama. He finished high school on the G.I. Bill, and got his certification for shoe repair. He won a scholarship to professional shoemaking school, but after almost a year there, and without seeking anyone else's advice, he quit and joined the Marines.

When he signed up for the Marines, Louis Massengale was on his way to Montford Point, North Carolina within two days. He was treated like a new recruit, and went through boot camp that lasted roughly a month, learning how to handle a weapon and fight as an infantryman. Massengale was then told that he would report to Hadnot Point at Camp LeJeune for steward school, and asked to be assigned to something different. Still he had no choice, but requested a position in the kitchen, and started out in the spud locker, and eventually graduated to washing pots. When the camp closed in June 1949 Massengale was sent to Paris Island, then ordered to Quantico, Virginia where he was waiting tables again. After two years of constantly trying to get out, he took the advice of an old salt and re-enlisted, requesting a change of occupation. Massengale became a motion picture projectionist and later a repairman. When he wasn't busy, so he played football until a knee injury ended his athletic endeavors. Later he became an assistant instructor in the officer candidate school, and set up classrooms with equipment, weapons mock-ups, and training films. From Quantico, Virginia Massengale was sent to Korea, and when he came back he worked as a dial central technician on telephone equipment. He got out of the Marines in 1968.

Louis Massengale feels that it is very important for the younger generation to learn about World War 2. He said the war was an "eye-opener for the world": one individual had an objective of a world with one race, and he almost had his way. When Massengale thinks about what effect his service had on race relations, he feels that moving out of the role of steward into a different field helped bring about the integration of the armed forces. As we go into the future he feels we need to live with open mindedness, and not "live with our past history" and bitterness. That would make it harder for today's youngsters.

The message Louis Massengale would like to leave for future generations is that every young person who can should get an education, and more than a high school education if possible. His second piece of advice is to save money for emergencies and retirement. He said he is now living a comfortable life because he prepared for it early. Massengale said he appreciated the opportunity to offer his story to history.