Norris Bucksell was born in August 1921 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Valena C. Jones Elementary School. He wanted to attend Catholic school, but his family could not afford it. The Depression hit while he was in school. His father had three trucks that he used in the way that buses are used now. After the Depression, his father went down to one truck and things got harder. Bucksell graduated from McDonogh 35 Senior High School. He received a scholarship to Tuskegee [Annotator's Note: Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama]. He wanted to be a chemist, but he could not afford an advanced degree, so his second choice was printing, which he liked. While at Tuskegee, the 99th Pursuit Squadron [Annotator's Note: 99th Fighter Squadron, the first flying unit for African-Americans] was being formed and volunteers were sought to go to Chanute Field [Annotator's Note: later Chanute Air Force Base, Champaign County, Illinois, 1917 to 1993] to learn to be mechanics and communication workers. The 99th was formed at Moton Field [Annotator's Note: now Moton Field Municipal Airport, Tuskegee Alabama]. Chappie James [Annotator's Note: US Air Force General Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr., the first African-American to reach four-star general rank] was at school with Bucksell and played football. Bucksell's college roommate also played and they went to the Orange Blossom Classic in Orlando, Florida in 1941. Bucksell was laying on his bed reading the paper after Sunday Mass and the radio announced the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Bucksell did not know anything about Pearl Harbor. He was too young to register for the draft, but after Pearl Harbor the age limit was lowered. He registered for the draft in February 1942 and graduated from Tuskegee in May. He went to work at a job in Florida where he stayed until he was inducted into the US Army on 1 October 1943. He went to infantry basic training in Anniston, Alabama. He scored a high I.Q. on his test so they wanted to put him in the Air Force. He did not want to fly because some of his friends were killed flying at Tuskegee. After basic training he went to Louisiana and became a medic. He had no training, so he was made a litter bearer. He was assigned to the 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division after about a month. He went overseas with the 370th July 1944 on the SS Mariposa, a converted cruise liner. They did not go in a convoy. They traveled through the Strait of Gibraltar and French Morocco, where they got on another boat that took them to Italy.

Norris Bucksell arrived in Italy with the 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division July 1944. They went into Anzio and were taken to the front line on the Arno River as a replacement unit. The first day one of the men was showing the others the front when he got shot. Bucksell was a litter bearer and went to get him. The soldier's intestines had fallen out. In those days, even the blood was segregated by skin color. The doctor asked the injured soldier if he would take black blood and the soldier replied yes. He was given two units of blood and taken away in an ambulance. Bucksell will never forget that as those kinds of things are what get to you. They moved to the front where the Germans had burp guns that fired right through a man. The Americans did not have anything similar. They crossed at Florence, Italy. There was the most beautiful church he had ever seen there. Bucksell got called up to help an injured soldier. The litter bearers wore red crosses on their helmets and carried the litters between two men. If a single man carried one on his shoulder, he could be mistaken for having a bazooka, making him a prime target. The Germans shot the front man in the thigh and hit the litter. Bucksell carried the man back on his shoulder to the aid station to Dr. Corban. The man died. Bucksell went back and got the other injured soldier whose arm was barely attached to his body. They then went towards a hill that the Germans had hit badly and there were severed limbs lying around. He would take their rifles and mark the spot so the grave group [Annotator's Note: a graves registration uit] could come pick up the bodies.

Norris Bucksell and the 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division, crossed the Arno River in Italy. There were no bridges and the roads were blocked by pack mules. He would go in at night as a litter-bearer and get the injured men. He felt really bad for the locals as they had no food. He would give them some of his rations. On one advance they had to fall back and when they did, the men were drinking wine. One man fell and drowned due to being drunk. They encountered some British troops and asked them for coffee but got tea instead. They pushed all the way to Genoa, Italy and all of it was very rough. The snow made it hard to move. It was the first time Bucksell ever wore long johns. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer backs him up in his story.] When Bucksell arrived in Italy they were rushed to a volcanic crater in Naples. They went by Anzio on their way to the Arno River. The Germans were using the Leaning Tower [Annotator's Note: Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa, Italy] as a watchtower. Bucksell was not afraid because he trusted in the Lord. His grandmother was very religious. She had a stroke and went to live with Bucksell's mother. His mother told his grandmother where he was, and the grandmother said not worry that he would return. [Annotator's Note: Bucksell hangs his head.] They were given a break and had to pick from a deck of cards. Bucksell picked the highest card, the Queen of Clubs, and got to visit Rome. He saw Pope Pius XII, the Coliseum and the catacombs. He bought roses for his mother and grandmother in October 1944. His grandmother died 12 November 1944 and she received the roses blessed by the Pope before she passed away.

While Norris Bucksell was in Naples, Italy, the churches that had not been bombed stayed open and he was able to attend Mass. Bucksell was a litter-bearer with the medics [Annotator's Note: in the 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division] and the chaplains usually stayed with them near the front line. Two of the medics that Bucksell worked with got killed in action. He cannot count the number of times he picked wounded men up off the battlefield. They would pick up wounded Italian soldiers too. They sometimes fought alongside the 442nd Japanese American group [Annotator's Note: 442nd Regimental Combat Team] who were good fighters. Bucksell treated the future Senator Inouye [Annotator's Note: Daniel Ken Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient and US Senator from Hawaii] who got wounded there. Inouye took black blood [Annotator's Note: blood supplies were segregated by skin color] in transfusions. Bucksell recalls hearing a Dr. Corban ask a wounded, white soldier if would accept black blood. To Bucksell that was a hateful thing to ask and it affected him. The military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, came out every day. There was an advertisement that they needed printers. Bucksell sent one in as he had been trained for that job at Tuskegee University [Annotator's Note: Bucksell had attended Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama on a scholarship prior to entering the service]. He asked his commander who told him he could not go as he was too important. Bucksell felt that anyone could carry a litter, but he was trained to do the newspaper work. He was still not allowed to apply for the job. When the war ended, he was the first one sent out of his unit. He was sent down to Naples to join an Air Force Security Group going to the Philippines. He went to Mass on 15 August [Annotator's Note: 15 August 1945], the Feast of Assumption. Before the priest started Mass, he told them all that the war in the Pacific had ended as well. Bucksell was then sent to the United States. He went through Hattiesburg, Mississippi on his way home after the war ended. Whenever the troop train stopped, people would give them candy and cookies. Bucksell was promoted in Hattiesburg and sent home for a 30 day furlough, that got extended to 45 days. He went to see his wife who was a stenographer in Washington, D.C. He was next sent to Drew Field, Tampa, Florida. He had enough points to be discharged so he did. He traveled a little and then got a job with a newspaper in Houston, Texas.

Norris Bucksell was in Italy during World War 2 as a litter-bearer in the 370th Regimental Combat Team, 92nd Infantry Division. A lot of the men he served with in the medical corps were college-educated. A lot of the men drank alcohol, but Bucksell did not. He wanted to be alert, unlike a soldier he knew who fell and drowned after he had been drinking. Some men would mix their powdered drink rations with medical alcohol. [Annotator's Note: He describes life in the field in detail.] He loved the Barbasol shave cream and still uses it. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks him to talk about any racism he experienced. He frowns and then does not answer directly.] Bucksell says he got along fine with the Japanese-American soldiers [Annotator's Note: of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team]. On their final push [Annotator's Note: into Northern Italy], the African-American soldiers went in on one side and the Japanese-American soldiers went in on the other. The white soldiers hung back to move up if needed. The men with Bucksell were happy to fight and they lost a lot of men. There was a medic who came in and told Bucksell it was really bad across the river from them. Indian troops were with them as well. Bucksell never had any interactions with the soldiers in other units. He says that in those days one kept to himself, rather than be insulted.

In basic training, Norris Bucksell had a new lieutenant who would not give him a paycheck because his mustache needed trimming. He wondered what that had to do with his ability to fight. Bucksell was at mass on 15 August 1945 when the priest announced the war in the Pacific had ended. Bucksell believes that the atomic bomb was not dropped on Germany because Germans are white. Berlin Rose used to come on the radio and tell them that America did not care anything for them. And Tokyo Rose was doing the same to the Americans in the Pacific Theater. They both were saying how the black soldiers were fighting for a country that did not treat them right. Bucksell knows it is true. Men would want to join the US Marine Corps but could not because of their skin color. Some men did get to join the triple-nickel paratroopers [Annotator's Note: 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion], but it was only gradually breaking down the system. Bucksell mostly used V-mail [Annotator's Note: Victory Mail; a hybrid mail process used as secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad] to write to his mother. He sent most of his money home and it was spent. He did have bonds. When he returned home, he went to a bank to cash them and was questioned as to why he was there, even in uniform. He was treated poorly even on the streetcars. He still had to sit in the back. He just keeps plugging along and trusts in the Lord.

Norris Bucksell fired a gun for the first time on 8 May 1945, V-E Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day], and then thanked the Lord. In June, he was transferred to another unit and in July he was on a ship coming back to the United States. When he was a litter-bearer in combat, he saw all kinds of injuries and death. He carried Italian civilians who were hurt as well as soldiers. Bucksell liked the Italians and they treated him very well. One of his aid stations was set up in a nice house of a man they called Count. The Count told them that Josephine Baker [Annotator's Note: Freda Josephine McDonald, known as Josephine Baker, was an American-born French entertainer and French Resistance agent] had stayed there. Bucksell would sit and eat at the table in the kitchen with the Count's house help. He did not experience any discrimination from the Italians. He did not like the Germans because they did not like anybody else. It was pitiful to see the Germans though. Near the end they did not even have gasoline and were using mules. The Americans would strafe the mules and then the Italian civilians would eat the dead ones. Bucksell had a girlfriend from high school who went to business college when he attended Tuskegee [Annotator's Note: Bucksell had attended Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama on a scholarship prior to entering the service]. They later married. During the war, she worked in the Pentagon. Bucksell decided to get married and just took his girlfriend to a jewelry shop and told her to pick out a ring. He went to work for the Houston Informer newspaper in Houston, Texas. He married on 21 February 1948.

President Truman [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman] integrated the military. Norris Bucksell's brother-in-law eventually became a colonel and was in Korea at the time of integration. Bucksell moved to Washington D.C. in 1952. He bought a house in 1953 in a whites-only area. His deed says right on it that it was not to be sold to colored people. Whites are now moving back into the area. Bucksell has three children. There was not much difference in New Orleans after he returned from the war. He was not surprised. A friend he knew died of a heroin overdose. Life is what you make it. Bucksell says he is blessed. He lived in Tampa, Florida and walked a lot but never had a policeman stop him because of his skin color. In New Orleans, blacks even had to sit in the backs of the white churches. It was even difficult for black men to become priests as they would be sent out of state for seminary training. Whites could attend the same training just blocks away from the church.

Norris Bucksell says he needs a lot of sleep. He goes to mass every night. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks him about nightmares. He starts to talk about his wife being ill but then says what he is about to say is off the record. The interviewer says she can turn off the tape, but he decides to not tell the story.] He used to get nightmares quite a bit but now only from time to time. He would bite his lower lip often. He would keep a toothpick in his mouth to keep from biting his lip. His nightmares are that someone is after him and there are explosions. He recalls the burp gun [Annotator's Note: Bucksell is likely referring to the German MP40, Maschinenpistole 40, 9mm submachine gun] sound that he cannot forget. He also remembers the screaming mimis [Annotator's Note: Nebelwerfer rocket artillery]. His wife would wake him up during the nightmares. He would also sweat profusely. He does not have them that often now. His brother-in-law was a colonel who was in Walter Reed Army Hospital as he was dying. There was a young man in the bed next to him who was missing parts of his legs and would cry out loud and it was disheartening. Bucksell never talked about his nightmares to anyone because there is nothing you can do about it.

Norris Bucksell says that Rome, Italy is hard to beat. The war ending was great, but Rome was the best. Even the buses were great. He never made it back there though. He served in the war because it was his duty. He was drafted but he was happy to do it. The war was bad, but he learned a lot from it and got to meet people from everywhere. He has G.I. Life Insurance which he likes a lot. He is an American who served and fought for America and his proud of that and grateful. America stopped the Nazis. That guy [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was crazy and he made one mistake - he did not invade England. England would not have made it without America. He does not think people today think or know much about World War 2. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana is important - you cannot do without history. Slaves helped build the White House, so blacks are part of America. Humans are humans no matter where they are from. Bucksell is his brother's keeper. If he is mistreated it is due to the ignorance of the person mistreating him. World War 2 should be taught to teach what was gone through. You cannot get around history.