Melvin S. Tanenbaum was born in 1923 in Queens, New York [Annotator's Note: Queens is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. He had the best childhood. They were very poor but that might have been a blessing. They got apples and potatoes from the government. His father had a candy store, and his mother was a housewife. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Tanenbaum how his family made it through the Great Depression which was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States.] They scrimped and saved. They sacrificed plenty. Their neighborhood was poor, but the people were very friendly. He would not change his childhood for anyone's. He loved his friends. He walked to elementary school. He heard about the Japanese aggression and then they bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. That made them more of an enemy than the Germans to him. He was angry about Pearl Harbor. We [Annotator's Note: the United States] were their [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] benefactor, and it did not seem welcome to them. The day after the attack, the other students were very angry at the Japanese too. Tanenbaum wanted to be a physical education teacher. He was an athlete.

Melvin S. Tanenbaum was an all-American boy and he wanted to fight for his country. He enlisted and his parents were upset. He joined the Navy to see the world and he saw the sea, the Atlantic and the Pacific [Annotator's Note: Atlantic and Pacific Oceans]. Neither were what they were cracked up to be. Boot camp was very difficult and rigid. They were kids at 19 years old. Tanenbaum learned Morse Code [Annotator's Note: a method of telecommunication encoding characters in a system of dots and dashes]. [Annotator's Note: Tanenbaum speaks the interviewer's name in Morse Code.] His Navy training was tough. After school, he went to the South Pacific. It was difficult to leave the country. He loves this country [Annotator's Note: the United States]. He was on the Leon [Annotator's Note: USS Leon (APA-48)] that was a hulking vessel that carried Marines and Army into invasions. He was a radioman. He would receive code, type it out, and give it to the officers to decipher.

Melvin S. Tanenbaum had good friends with him aboard the USS Leon (APA-48). Saipan was his first invasion [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Saipan, part of Operation Forager, 15 June to 9 July 1944; Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. The ship carried small boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] that carried 30 to 35 Marines each, onshore to fight. They lost one officer going ashore. A Japanese bomber attacked them. They did not succeed in killing everybody on ship, but it was frightening. They unloaded all of their Marines and left Saipan after one day. They then went to the Philippines. The ship was an attack transport. They carried guns. The Philippines was a long trip, as they were closer to Japan [Annotator's Note: than Saipan]. It was a tough trip. They carried Marines and it was tough living on the ship for everyone.

Melvin S. Tanenbaum [Annotator's Note: a radioman aboard the USS Leon (APA-48)] was part of the invasion at Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan]. He did not interact with the Marines that were onboard. War was frightening. The kamikazes [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft] went right over their heads. When they were told to take cover the first time, he dove under one of the boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] they carried and landed on his chaplain.

Melvin S. Tanenbaum hated the Japanese during the war. They made sneak attacks with no warning. It was a blessing to return home. The war was over. The Japanese deserved the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. Tanenbaum elected to get out of the Navy as he did not want to lead that kind of life. He wanted to teach. 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] is the best thing that ever happened to veterans. Initially it was difficult to return to civilian life, but he worked himself back in. He was used to leading the military life and it was a drastic change to not be. His most memorable experience of World War 2 is being attacked by kamikazes [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft, during the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945 at Okinawa, Japan]. He enlisted to fight for his country. The war made him appreciate his country more than ever. He is proud of his service. He was willing to sacrifice his life. It is important to have places like the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] and they should continue to teach the war to future generations. It is important to see what happened to the country. It could have been hurt much more than it was. He kept in touch with his friends from the service and they spoke to each other about their experiences.