Louise Settles was born in Framingham, Massachusetts in June 1916. She was working for Bethlehem Steel at Fore River Shipyard [Annotator's Note: Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.] and it was cold. She saw signs about joining the Army. She decided to go into the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve] because she liked the uniforms. She was about to sign when she learned that they did not go overseas so she joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps [Annotator's Note: later the Women's Army Corps (WAC)] instead. It was later changed, and she had the option of joining the regular Army, which she did [Annotator's Note: in 1942]. She went to basic training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Her first assignment was back to Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] and she was unhappy about that due to the cold weather. She signed up to go overseas at her first opportunity. She went to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia for training and then to Fort Ord, California. She boarded a converted cruise ship with 1,500 women. She had a friend who asked her if she wanted to go to Australia. She was chosen and went to MacArthur's [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] headquarters. Stateside, she was in finance. Overseas, she was in personnel, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She went from Australia, to Hollandia, New Guinea which is where she met her future husband in 1944. She was assigned to G-1 Personnel desk work. She went to Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] and then to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines] until she returned to the United States. She would have liked to have stayed in, but when women married, they had to leave the service. She was married in Manila. She returned to the United States and was discharged.

Louise Settles put in for overseas duty in 1943. She did not necessarily want to go overseas. It was more to get out of the cold, New England winter. Bethlehem Steel was at the Fore River Shipyard [Annotator's Note: Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.]. She had to walk nearly a mile to get to her office and those winds are cold. She was in cost accounting there. Settles left the shipyard in April 1943 and enlisted. She met General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] when she was on his staff. He would ride the elevator with them, and he was always very nice to them. They all found him very nice. In Manila [Annotator's Note:Manila, Luzon, Philippines], the Filipinos' attitude toward him was one of worship. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks how she felt about President Harry S. Truman relieving MacArthur of his command in 1951]. She felt that was an injustice. In Brisbane [Annotator's Note: Brisbane, Australia], they were in a multi-story building. Australia was beautiful. They were quartered at Yeronga Park in tents. It was cold then, but she enjoyed it. The food and people were wonderful.

Louise Settles worked in personnel, mostly making assignments. She had never left the United States before the Army. She had been all around New England but only as far south as Virginia. She was on a ship for 23 days when she left the United States. That was a long trip. They had games to play and they had drills. She got her Neptune Card for crossing the date line [Annotator's Note: International Date Line]. There were too many people to have a ceremony. She really enjoyed what she did, and she is glad that she did it. She believed it was something she had to do. She was not happy at home and she needed a change. She does not think it is healthy to stay in the same place all of one's life. On the ship, they had three cots which were not the least bit comfortable but the food on the ship was fantastic. They got pork chops and eggs for breakfast. The food in New Guinea was not good. They had canned pork every day and no coffee. It was very hot. They were up in the mountains and at night it was cool. They rode in trucks to work. She was not worried about the Japanese in New Guinea. In Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines], she was quartered in a convent. One night, she ran to a foxhole when the beach at Tacloban [Annotator's Note: Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines] was being bombed by the Japanese. She had said she would never get in that foxhole due to the spiders. That night she did not think of the spiders. That was the closest she got to danger.

Louise Settles had a date or two in Hollandia [Annotator's Note: Hollandia, New Guinea] and she was very disappointed. She said she would not date anybody. Her friends knew how she felt. On a day off, she was ironing, and some friends came in and asked her down to the airstrip. She had her hair in rollers, and she was going just as she was. This nice-looking guy did not have a shirt on. That is how she met Chuck [Annotator's Note: Charles Ray Settles, her future husband]. They began to date. They listened to records and sat around and talked. Settles moved up to Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] and he was gone. They got back together in Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines]. He proposed to her there while sitting in a jeep. He got rotation orders, so they moved their marriage up. It required a lot of red tape. Settles was a Catholic and he was not. She joined his church. She had to go to see the chaplain who said he could not do anything because she was Catholic and needed permission from her priest back home. The Chief Chaplain came in and told her not to worry about it. He arranged for them to be married in a civilian church in Manila on 9 June 1945. They have been married for 59 years [Annotator's Note: at the time of this interview].

Louise Settles had to leave the service once she was married. She knew that would happen. Her husband was to leave 20 June [Annotator's Note: 20 June 1945]. They had said their goodbyes. The transportation people told her there was a seat available, so she got to fly home with him to Hawaii. Her husband was from Big Spring, Texas and they moved there after her discharge. They moved to Fort Worth [Annotator's Note: Fort Worth, Texas] for about two years and her husband re-enlisted [Annotator's Note: in the Air Force in 1947]. They moved to Spokane, Washington [Annotator's Note: Fairchild Air Force Base], then to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan] and back. They have been in Texas ever since. They thoroughly enjoyed the five years they were in Spokane. They had two children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Settles was from a large family with seven children. Her husband was from a family with eight children. Settles was a United States Air Force wife until 1964. When her husband was on 90-day deployments, she worried about him. Everything turned out really well for them.