Orville Carroll was born in Bend, Oregon in December 1924. He grew up in Sisters, Oregon, graduated from high school there in 1942, and went to college at Oregon State [Annotator's Note: Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon]. He had one year of college before he was drafted into the Army. His military career began at Fort Lewis, Washington [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Lakewood, Washington], and his basic training took place at Buckley Field [Annotator's Note: now Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado]. It was there he learned that he would be part of the Army Air Corps. He was sent to fighter plane mechanic school in Lincoln, Nebraska, and worked on P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft], P-52s [Annotator's Note: cannot verify aircraft type], and P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightening fighter aircraft]. From there he was sent to Harvard Air Base [Annotator's Note: now Harvard State Airport, Harvard, Nebraska] and was introduced into B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] maintenance work. Not long afterward, he learned he was being sent overseas, and took a troop train to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California], where he stayed long enough to get clothing and shots. He then boarded a plane for his first flight, and was scared to death, but arrived safely in Oahu, Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii]. He toured the island with a buddy. This was his only trip to Hawaii and he distinctly remembers seeing the upside-down waterfall [Annotator's Note: Waipuhia Falls, Kanoeohe, Oahu]. From there he flew to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], stopping twice along the way, and ending up at Northwest Field, where he would be stationed.

When Orville Carroll arrived at Northwest Field on Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], the Marines had already secured the island. There were only a few Japanese stragglers remaining. They had an attack scare one night, and they were all given carbines [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine] and told to guard their B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. But nothing happened. Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] had laid out two runways on the field, set up a mess hall and built barracks out of plywood with screened openings for ventilation. There was an outdoor privy, and a Lister bag [Annotator's Note: canvas bag for storing and cooling water] system for drinking water. The GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] cleaned their mess kits in two big water-filled, fire-heated barrels outside the mess hall. There was also an outdoor theater screen. Out on the runway, each plane had an assigned maintenance crew. Carroll said his outfit was the 315th Bomb Wing, 501st Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: 501st Bombardment Group, 315th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force]. None of the planes at their base had armament, because they flew high enough to be above the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire]. The only disaster he experienced on Guam was when a pilot came in for a landing and tilted the plane too far over. The edge of the wing caught the edge of the runway and the plane rolled end-over-end, demolishing the aircraft and killing the crew. The mission was to bomb Japan and destroy the gasoline and oil fields. [Annotator's Note: Carroll describes the type of maintenance they did, and incidents he remembers about their plane, whose name was "Liberty Belle".] After every completed mission, a little bomb emblem was painted on the side of the plane. He recalls a near miss when a gas cap had not been secured, and airplane fuel spilled out over the wing and onto the ground. On another occasion he climbed into the fuselage of the plane and took a little snooze. Every day they had to run the engines up to make sure they were operational. Carroll almost always had hot food out of the mess hall, but he missed fresh vegetables. He said he had a daily choice between a can of Coca-Cola and a can of beer. Most often he chose the soda. Coca-Cola was very good about sending their products to the soldiers all over the world. Just before he left Guam, the Red Cross came and set up a big Quonset hut [Annotator's Note: prefabricated metal building] where Carroll joined in with some of their games. He would go to the beach on his days off to search for tiny shells that the soldiers used to make bracelets.

While on Guam, Orville Carroll and some men built a small bamboo chapel, where they would sing without instruments. While he was on the island, he had two visitors, one was his brother-in-law who was in the Navy, and the other was a college friend who was also in the Navy. When Carroll was in college an Army recruiter had tried to get him to sign up, but he did not. He had a summer to himself before going into the armed services. He had a year in the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] where he was in the field artillery. Carroll liked his assignment on Guam, even though it was hot and it rained a lot. After the atom bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] everything went to a skidding halt. He was in charge of a tent where shoes were being collected. The married soldiers were returned home first and were flown back to the States. The rest went by ship. Carroll had a big canvas bag that he had to get up a rope ladder when he boarded. When he was assigned a bunk, he put his canvas bag on it. He went up and stayed on deck because the quarters were just too hot. He watched the flying fish and porpoises that were always leading the ship. He sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. A small orchestra met the ship at the dock. Carroll was looking forward to eating fresh lettuce when he returned. He considers himself lucky that he never had to engage in combat.

Orville Carroll is glad he was not in combat. Two of his brothers were in the armed services as well, in Germany, but were not in any battles. All three came home safely and they never discussed the war. His bombardment group [Annotator's Note: 501st Bombardment Group, 315th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force] had their first reunion in Cocoa Beach, Florida in 1988, and the men told a lot of stories there. Carroll does not think there are enough veterans left to have a reunion. Carroll was discharged from a field across the bay from San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. He donated all his military clothing and ribbons to the Rome Historical Society [Annotator's Note: in Rome, New York]. Carroll was glad to get out of the Army. He did not like the regimentation, and he wanted to go back to school. He returned to college on the G.I. Bill and took courses in forestry at Oregon State College [Annotator's Note: Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon]. After three years, he switched his studies to architecture at the University of Oregon [Annotator's Note: in Eugene, Oregon] and graduated in 1958. He then worked at Fort McHenry in Baltimore [Annotator's Note: Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland] for the summer. He was hired by the National Park Service. Carroll would not have been able to obtain his degree without the G.I. Bill.

Orville Carroll's most memorable experience of World War 2 was going over to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. He was a very young man and flying for the first time was a little disconcerting. His decision to serve in the armed services was driven by the fact that his two brothers were serving, and he was drafted. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Carroll how the war changed his life.] He got on the G.I. Bill. Oregon also had a G.I. Bill that supplemented his income while he was in architecture school. Carroll feels that the war to end all wars worked for a while but didn't completely stop the conflicts. He worries that weapons get more dangerous as time goes on. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Carroll if he thinks there should be museums like The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.] He is surprised that they built the museum in New Orleans, but he does think they should teach future generations about the war.