[Annotator's Note: The interview begins with Nimocks Foyle Ladner already in conversation with the interviewer.] Ladner was in high school in ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] and was elected captain of the rifle team. He was born in 1928. His outfit was selected by the War Department to receive 1,000 Enfield rifles [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1917 Enfield bolt action rifle]. Those rifles are British and were made for World War 1. They were packed in Cosmoline [Annotator's Note: name for petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors]. There was a lot of ammunition. The premise was that if the Germans invaded from the South, they would be ready for them. In January 1946, Ladner decided to join the Navy. He went to boot camp in Williamsburg, Virginia. From there he went on to board the USS Missouri [Annotator's Note: USS Missouri (BB-63)] as a signalman. The war was over at this time. He was born and raised in Poplarville, Mississippi. He had four sisters and three brothers and was the oldest. They were a military family. His oldest brother next to him was in the Air Force, the third brother was in the Army, and the youngest brother was a Marine. His first name is Nimocks, which is German. His middle name is Foyle, which is British. His last name is Ladner, which is French. He grew up in Poplarville. His father was a corporal in the National Guard. Ladner was listening to the radio when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He told his dad. His dad jumped in their truck, went into town, and volunteered. The people for the draft were all there and so was the sheriff. Everyone there had heard the news. His father was asked how many children he had, and when he said he had six children, they told him to go home. He had no wife to take care of them. They had a colored [Annotator's Note: an ethnic descriptor historically used for Black people in the United States] cook that raised them. Ladner's mother died when he was 10 years old. He grew up in the depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. His uncle lost millions whenever all the banks collapsed, and another one lost money as well. When Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] came along in 32 [Annotator's Note: 1932] he ushered in Social Security [Annotator's Note: a social insurance program run by the United States Social Security Administration]. His grandfather thought he had died and gone to heaven because he was getting $28 a month. That would buy all the groceries for a family. He worked on the highway doing manual labor. His father was earning $4 a week which was $16 a month. They had a family farm. They had cattle, horses, goats, turkeys, chickens, pigs, a large cornfield, a vegetable garden, some sugar cane, and dryland rice. The dryland rice was an experiment from the Mississippi Agriculture Department. If he had a dollar at that time, it was Christmas time. He raised a calf every year that his grandfather gave him. They helped pay for the farm and they got along pretty well.

Nimocks Foyle Ladner was seventeen when he joined the Navy. He did not want to crawl through the bushes and see the snakes flipping their tongues at him. He joined the Navy so they would not have the chance to draft him in January of 1946. He retired in 1966 after 20 years of active duty. He has been all over the world. The only places he has not been to are Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. He did not like missing them. He likes adventure. When he retired he was a Chief Warrant Officer. He did a lot of different things in the Navy. He worked for the Quartermaster, photographic interpreter, a radar analyst, briefed pilots on targets, was a navigator on the ship, and he was a commissary officer. The USS Missouri [Annotator's Note: USS Missouri (BB-63)] was the biggest one he was on. He was on a carrier, the Kearsarge [Annotator's Note: USS Kearsarge (CV-33)]. He was on an ammunition ship. He was on an oiler. He put Marines onshore in the Dominican Republic. During the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], he was mostly on the east coast of South Korea. He got married in 1952. He wanted to stay in the Navy for 20 years to get his pension.

Nimocks Foyle Ladner adopted a boy in California and a girl in Michigan. He has a grandson in Arizona and a granddaughter in Michigan. He got out of the service in 1966 as a commissioned officer. He was happy to retire. He went to Plainwell, Michigan on a farm. He got to plant corn and squash. He went from wartime to peacetime three times. He was training every minute he was in. They had the Battle Proficiency Awards [Annotator's Note: The Navy Marksmanship Badge was introduced in 1904 to promote proficiency in marksmanship with both Navy/Marine enlisted and officers] even in peacetime. They were in competition with their entire squadron. They had a little flag. It has a little round thing on it they called a meatball. He put one on every ship he served on. He had a good time in the Navy. He was married for 63 years and eight months. His wife went with him everywhere. Every month he got transferred. He had a lot of addresses and made a lot of friends. Some of them were good guys. An admiral's son and Ladner became friends.

Nimocks Foyle Ladner thinks that World War 2 does not mean much to the younger generations. It is only history to them. To the people who did serve in World War 2, Korea [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], and Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975], it means that they put their life on the line for their country. The country is becoming sinful. The tv [Annotator's Note: television] is putting out things that are sinful. He talks about what the Bible [Annotator's Note: the Christian Bible] says about the end of times. He believes in the Bible and Jesus [Annotator's Note: Jesus Christ is the Christian Messiah] and the Holy Spirit. He believes in the Holy Father [Annotator's Note: Holy Father, or God, is the Christian deity]. He has seen a lot of sinful things and practices. The corporations are price gouging people. His most memorable experience in the Navy was when they went to Crete [Annotator's Note: Crete, Greece]. He anchored the ship there. He would send his payday home and not keep much for himself. In Crete, he had the opportunity to go to Jerusalem [Annotator's Note: Jerusalem, Israel]. He did not have enough money to go on the trip. He would have loved to go and walk where Jesus had. He went on a tour around Crete. There are a lot of mountains. In the mountains, there are fossils of sea life. He never got to Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy]. He did not like the way the administration changed in the Navy. After 1963 and 1964, too many people were not seamen. They did not know how to maneuver a ship or what they were in. He could not wait to retire. He became eligible for retirement in August 1966. They still kept him another month because they had to find someone to replace him on the ship. The more you believe in Jesus the more you have peace. The more you believe in God the more you will have. He believes in God and talks to him every day.