Martin Sherbecoe was born in 1920 in Stamford, Connecticut. His father was a skilled mechanic and from a very early age his father taught him his trade. When World War 2 broke out, the federal government was looking for skilled mechanics. He was in New York City when he heard about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He saw an ad in the local newspaper for a position available to work as a helper machinist for the government. He recalled an FBI [Annotator's Note: Federal Bureau of Investigation] agent came out and did a background check on him, talking to his coworkers and neighbors. After he passed his check, he was contacted by the Navy which told him to report to California. He reported to Mare Island Navy Yard [Annotator's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California] for medical shots and then went to a hotel in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. Every day for six weeks, he took a trolly ride to Hunters Point [Annotator's Note: San Francisco Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California], and then in early 1942 he got a notice they he would be leaving on the freighter, President Tyler, that the Navy modified for troop transit. His bunk was near the keel, so he decided to sleep on the deck. They sailed in a convoy to Hawaii, which took ten days because they zig-zagged [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] the whole way. They had two sparse meals and two cups of water a day. When they reached Hawaii, Sherbecoe saw that the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was flat on its side and contractors were working on turning it back over. One of his jobs was after he received damaged metal samples, he would have to make new ones to replace them. He recalled working long hours, and one day melted into another. He remarked that the people seemed to be normal and went about their day as though an attack did not happen. There were also a lot of Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese people in Hawaii. He was put on the graveyard shift, and one night all the lights went out and he was told to go the roof because they received an alert. He thought that was the scariest night he ever experienced.

Martin Sherbecoe remembered that the curfew on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] was very strict. He recalled being very busy all the time. His contract with the Navy was for two years and when it came to an end, he decided he wanted to join the Navy. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the tape at 0:18:00.000.] He was sent home and he went to a draft board to join the Navy. He was sent to New Haven [Annotator's Note: New Haven, Connecticut] to the induction center where he was signed into the Navy. He was sent to Sampson, New York for basic training. The first few days was rough for him, but he eventually got used to the routine. He really enjoyed the firefighting training. He applied and was accepted to torpedo school, but while waiting to be sent over, he came down with an illness and was put in the sickbay. When he felt better, he snuck out of sickbay so he could take the train to Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] for school. He remembered the weather was very cold. At school, he learned how to service torpedoes, take them apart and put them back together. After he graduated, the Navy put him in advanced school out West. When he graduated from that, Sherbecoe volunteered for PT boat [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat] service. He was then sent to Melville, Rhode Island for more training.

Martin Sherbecoe recalled a couple of incidents from PT boat [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat] school. One incident where his trainer did not teach him how to load the torpedo and when they were out on the water doing exercises, he got in trouble with the skipper because it would not release. The skipper told him to pull the manual lever and when Sherbecoe did, the torpedo headed straight for the shore where there were beachgoers. Another incident was when they were going high speed on the water. They told him to practice hand signals. The weather was foggy and Sherbecoe could not see anything. Suddenly he realized they were about to run into the beach and the captain had to make a sharp turn, almost hitting the pier. Sherbecoe graduated from PT boat school after three months of training. By this time, the war was over, and he thought he would be sent home, but the Navy sent him to Treasure Island, California. He was put on a transport and went out to sea, not knowing where he was going. They stopped in Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] and then as they headed to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] they ran into Typhoon Louise and it was rough and scary. They continued up to the China Sea and landed on the island of Kyushu [Annotator's Note: Kyushu, Japan]. He was assigned to the torpedo group for the USS Yosemite (AD-19). When the warrant officer found out he was a skilled machinist, he was transferred to the machine shop. He made all different kinds of tools to keep up the maintenance of the ship. He recalled that he could go on liberty, but not to eat the food. He remembered seeing all the damage from the bombings during the war.

Martin Sherbecoe served for over eight months [Annotator's Note: on occupation duty in Japan] and earned enough points to go home. He was put on the USS Alcyone (AKA-47) and shipped home. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer stops the interview to change tapes at 0:46:20.000.] On the journey home, the ship stopped in the middle of the ocean because they saw a floating mine. They tried to shoot it with a machine gun to no avail and used a deck gun to finally blow it up. They landed in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] and deboarded the next morning with a band and welcoming committee there for them. As he was on his way home on the train, the train stopped because the engineer had a medical emergency. They had to wait for a new engineer to come to bring him the rest of the way home to Connecticut. He really enjoyed his World War 2 experience. Sherbecoe used the G.I. Bill to go to school. He married and moved to Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California]. He wants his family to go and see The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] because he loved it so much.