Michael Maziarczyk was born in July 1922. He was raised on a farm in Cameron, Pennsylvania. His mother had 14 children. He did not go to high school. His father had the black lung when he was 14 years old and he had to work on the farm. He went to night school when he was 16 years old to learn mechanics. Maziarczyk wanted to go in the Navy, but he did not get accepted because he has hammer toes [Annotator's Note: A foot condition in which the toe has an abnormal bend in the middle joint]. After that, he found a job where he made 50 dollars a week. He was making money to pay off the farm. He was drafted in 1942. By 15 December 1942 he was gone and he did not return home until December 1945.

Michael Maziarczyk landed in Australia in 1943 after 28 days on the boat. They left from San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. He did not get seasick. There were 1,500 Aussies [Annotator's Note: slang for Australians] coming back from North Africa. He arrived at Brisbane [Annotator's Note: Brisbane, Australia] and had some trouble with the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police]. Then he was sent on a train to Rockhampton [Annotator's Note: Rockhampton, Australia] where the division was returning from New Guinea. He had just missed the outfit stopping the Japanese from coming any further south. The training in Australia was hard. They worked in the sand with full equipment on. This was the furthest he had ever traveled. He had always wanted to be a soldier growing up. In Brisbane, they were marching and going on hikes. He wanted to get into the fighting and not do the simple work they were being assigned. He knew how to shoot a rifle and he wanted to do that. He would sneak out of camp and sneak back in. He trained in Rockhampton before going on to New Guinea. They were fed, got clean uniforms, and then they moved on. There were Seabees [Annotator's Note: Members of US naval construction battalions] there building the place up. Two days before they went ashore, Maziarczyk was given an M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. He remembers an air strike that was his first experience with combat.

Michael Maziarczyk remembers the Navy starting the bombardment at four in the morning. They made a hospital on the island. He did not see any natives. They were on Biak [Annotator's Note: Biak, West New Guinea]. Next, they went up to the Philippines. Once they were out to sea they would be told where they were going. Maziarczyk got sick and spent time in a field hospital. He went from Private to Private First Class and then Staff Sergeant. They went to the island of Palawan [Annotator's Note: Palawan, Philippines]. Here is where they found American soldiers' ruins still on fire [Annotator's Note: Palawan Massacre; on 14 December 1944, Imperial Japanese Army forces murdered nearly 150 Allied prisoners of war by setting the trench they were in on fire and burning them to death; Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines]. The Japanese had burned them. The Japanese mined a hill and blew it up with American soldiers on it. Their job was to find the Japanese and kill them off. It was very hilly. They traveled along the coast. The Filipinos had a party for the Americans. They had a tough time with the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] and were excited. They went out on patrols. When Maziarczyk came home he told his wife he did not want to see anything Japanese in his house.

Michael Maziarczyk was stationed in the Philippines when the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was dropped. After he got back from Mass he was told the war was over. It was a couple of days before the guys believed the war was over. They were sent to Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: Hiroshima, Japan] for occupation duty. When they got to the Army barracks the Japanese used them as a latrine. Maziarczyk had been in Japan six weeks before he saw the destruction at Hiroshima. The captain told him if he got caught he was on his own. He spent six or seven hours there by himself. The glass was melted like wax in a puddle. He saw some men there and they looked like they had a disease from the radiation. He could not believe the destruction one bomb had caused. He took a tour around the island on a plane. He went over on a boat and flew home.

Michael Maziarczyk was ready to return home. It took them 12 hours to get from Hawaii to San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, Hawaii] with only three engines working. It was a long trip to Long Island [Annotator's Note: Long Island, New York] to his sister's house. He did not change clothes from Tokyo [Annotator’s Note: Tokyo, Japan] to Long Island. He missed combat. His whole adult life was gone because of those three years in service. Certain scents took him back to combat. For every man that was on the front, there were eight men behind him. Maziarczyk never saw a USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.] show.