Paris Tognoli got out of high school and decided not to go to college. He got a job in a slaughterhouse, but he did not like it. The war had started so he got a job welding ships for the war effort. He was near 19. Uncle Sam [Annotator's Note: Uncle Sam; a common national personification of the federal government of the United States] called and he was drafted. He had basic training in Monterey, California. He then went to Lompoc, California to be trained in the infantry as a replacement to go to Africa to fight Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Generalfeldmarschall, or Field Marshal, Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel]. They then decided he was needed in the South Pacific. From Lompoc, he went to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] then from there on the Esquire [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] nonstop to New Caledonia [Annotator's Note: New Caledonia, Oceania]. He was not too happy. Two meals a day and he never got a bath. He was reclassified. The Americal Division [Annotator's Note: the only United States Army Division with no number] had just finished fighting at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal Campaign, 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943; Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. They took him on, and he joined them in the Fijian Islands [Annotator's Note: Fiji Islands, Oceania, 29 March 1943] as part of the 182nd Infantry in the Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division.] They trained a bit and went to Bougainville, Solomon Islands [Annotator's Note: Bougainville Island, Solomon Islands, 28 December 1943]. That was hectic. He was 18 and in foxholes.

Paris Tognoli was born in December 1924 in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. They later moved to San Mateo [Annotator's Note: San Mateo, California], which he considers his hometown. His father was an employee of Pacific Telephone Company. During the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], his father talked to a banker about a house that was in foreclosure. They made a deal and they all moved in. The developing war in Europe was not really talked about. He spent a lot of time in San Francisco visiting his typical Italian family. The family rarely kept in touch with family in Italy. His grandfather had come from Italy and spent some time in Argentina before migrating to San Francisco. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Tognoli how the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941 was discussed in school.] His parents were inclined to the American upbringing. They spoke Italian but were strictly American. His mother was not a citizen and never became one. After Tognoli was drafted, his younger brother decided to join the Navy and was involved in the area around Korea. He could not get the clearance he wanted because there was something in their background that did not allow it.

Paris Tognoli came into Empress Augusta Bay [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papau New Guinea, 28 December 1943] and replaced the Marines [Annotator's Note: 3rd Marine Division] that were there. They got the Japanese out of the lower end because the airfield [Annotator's Note: Torokina Airfield, also called cape Torokina Airfield, Cape Torokina, Bougainville] there was important. They manned the area along Torokina River for about six to eight months. Life was hectic. They had two divisions in there. The 37th [Annotator's Note: 37th Infantry Division] was on one end and his unit [Annotator's Note: Tognoli was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division] was on the south end. They held a very small part of the island. The Japanese stayed in the north. His first night was spent in a foxhole with two other guys. It was frightening. All the guys were afraid other than some of the veterans. From there they had a lot of problems. They took the perimeter of the area and had to cross the river on patrols [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of the Perimeter, 9 March to 27 March 1944]. He got into combat right away. In front of them, the division established an outpost on a high area. They were watching the straits and protecting the airfield. They took turns manning the outpost and it became known as Hill 260. That was an important place. The Japanese were building up their forces. They did not have a lot of man-to-man combat but did a lot of patrols. They got into firefights many times and he had many close calls. On his first patrol, they crossed the river and were advancing into dense jungle. They got in a firefight, and he could see bullets going over his head. They fought back. Two or three friends got hit there. They got back across the river. The Japanese had decided they did not want them there anymore. They wanted that mound because it was the high ground. They came in with better than a regiment. He had his baptism of fire in the next month fighting out of foxholes at close range. The Japanese gained control of the high ground and then Tognoli and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division] spent a lot of time trying to regain it. The high ground became a focal point of the history of Americal. They called it "the banyan tree." At night, they were taking turns going to the high ground to relieve guys. He heard small arms fire. For the next three weeks it was murder. Tognoli was 18 or 19 and all he knew was the enemy was there and they fought over a piece of ground. You get over the fright of a situation and understand that it is either them or you. They threw everything at them including artillery and small arms fire. Artillery was coming over their heads all the time. He had knee mortars and could run a good fight.

The Japanese at that time [Annotator's Note: on Cape Torokina, Bougainville, Papau New Guinea] were Paris Tognoli's mortal enemy. He felt we had to get rid of them or they were going to be gotten rid of. It was a "no win situation." The nickname for the Japanese there were "the rapists of Nanking." They [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] thought they were tough guys. They fought for over a month or so. He fought Japanese in front of him that were just a stone's throw from each other. They had lost their bunkers. All of the Japanese troops came down on them and they fought them by the hundreds. Hill 260 became famous in that [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of the Perimeter, 9 March to 27 March 1944]. The Japanese were so entrenched that Tognoli's outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division] lost a lot of men. They lost much of Easy Company [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division], F Company [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division], and G Company [Annotator's Note: Company G, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division]. Many times, he had to take wounded men back across the Torokina River to the regular line. They finally got an edge and towards the end of the big battle, they made one last charge. They brought up flamethrowers [Annotator's Note: ranged incendiary device that projects a controllable jet of fire] and had hand-to-hand battle. Tognoli crawled up and threw phosphorous grenades [Annotator's Note: phosphorous is an element that spontaneously ignites on contact with air]. They used Bangalore torpedoes [Annotator's Note: M1A1 Bangalore torpedo]. The Japanese were tenacious. He lost friends there. Tognoli had his fill of it. Afterwards, he had respect for the Japanese. A good friend of his named Turner [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to verify identity] was in a bunker with two other guys and fighting as best he could. One of the guys wanted to give up. Turner said no. The guy tried to get out and a Japanese officer ran a Samurai sword [Annotator's Note: Katana, Japanese sword with a curved, single blade] right through him, killing him. Turner shot the Japanese officer to death. While manning the bunkers once, there were dead Japanese laying right in front of them. They could not move them. Once, he saw a Japanese crawling towards one of his own guys who was crawling to get back into the bunker. Tognoli pulled him into the bunker to safety. He survived it but does not know why. It became a kind of stalemate. They [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] realized they were isolated and recognized it was going to be a defensive battle for them. The Americans started to push forward then. Their commanders who were part of MacArthur's [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] entourage decided that enough was enough. The Japanese decided to abandon their offensive. Tognoli and the outfit came out and started across Hill 260. What had been a forest was now a no-man's land all blown to hell. They then had to pick out who were GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] and who were not [Annotator's Note: of the dead]. The wounded were taken out on stretchers. The dead had to lay there. The Japanese that were dead there were left to lay there because in the jungle you start to rot fast. They then gathered them up and burned them. That cleared the hillside. It was completely denuded.

Paris Tognoli and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division] kept pushing the Japanese north [Annotator's Note: on Bougainville, Papau New Guinea]. They never really conquered the island other than where the airfield was. Two divisions did that, the Americal Division and the 37th [Annotator's Note: 37th Infantry Division]. They tried to corner the Japanese higher on the island. They got some relief from a colored [Annotator's Note: an ethnic descriptor historically used for Black people in the United States] infantry outfit [Annotator's Note: 93rd Infantry Division] which was one of the first to have combat in the South Pacific. He was surprised that most of the colored kids had white guys for officers. They turned things over to them and returned to their rear area. They prepared to move on. They were depleted very badly. They got some replacements. He was a PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class] and was made Corporal and later became Sergeant. They got on boats to the Philippines. He made the landing on Leyte Island, Philippines [Annotator's Note: 28 January 1945]. They were supporting the 77th Infantry Division and took over some of their operation. Tognoli was standing on the shore when General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] waded ashore. He did not know it was him but knew he was upper echelon. They fought their way up Leyte. The fighting was different because it was not jungle. On Bougainville they did not know if they were fighting somebody or not. Tognoli was a Sergeant in Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182 Infantry. They pushed the Japanese north. They gained control of that part of Leyte. MacArthur announced that he had promised the Filipinos he would save their country. Tognoli lost two guys there. They ended on the other side of Leyte and cleaned it out. They were relieved and got new recruits. They loaded on ships and went up and took part of the invasion on Cebu [Annotator's Note: 26 March 1945, Cebu Island, Philippines, part of the Battle of Visayas, 18 March to 15 August 1945].

Paris Tognoli made the invasion on Cebu [Annotator's Note: 26 March 1945, Cebu Island, Philippines, part of the Battle of Visayas, 18 March to 15 August 1945] and waded ashore as a Sergeant [Annotator's Note: in Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division]. The Filipinos were not treated very well and had vacated the cities and gone into the hills to become guerrilla fighters. They were pursuing the Japanese north. They had firefights and he lost two of his best friends. One, named Fiddler [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify], took a slug in the head. At the end of that battle in northern Cebu, they started to consider what was next. Around this time, they dropped the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. They wondered what was next. The Japanese on the island surrendered. They came down out of the hills. The Japanese officers handed over their swords and arms. They then sent them home. The atomic bombs saved his life. He found out later that they were getting ready to invade Japan and his outfit was one of the first to land in Japan. His life would have been in jeopardy. He had occupation duty in Japan for three months. It was reasonably good. He had figured every Japanese person was an enemy, but he found the Japanese to be hospitable. His outfit occupied the Yokosuka military base [Annotator's Note: Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Yokosuka, Japan]. He had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to go home. He had never gotten hit in all that time. He was lucky or it was not his turn to die. His stay was interesting. They sent the guys to different schools and homes to occupy. Tognoli went to Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] on a few trips. Other divisions were doing the same. The lower point guys stayed. Tognoli got on a ship home to Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington state].

Paris Tognoli wonders how he made it. He pondered that many times in his life. He got to go home. When he landed in the town, it was his 21st birthday. From 18 to 21, he had fought his way through the South Pacific, going from Private to Platoon Sergeant. It was easy for him to not stay in the military. He is not the military type. He went home to Sacramento [Annotator's Note: Sacramento, California] and was discharged at Camp Beale [Annotator's Note: now Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, California]. He used 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]. He called his girlfriend and six months later they were married. He got a job with a phone company. He taught school for them, ran crews, and ended up as a design engineer for them. He was offered a retirement when the phone company was transitioning from analog to digital. He was 57 years old and wanted out. He had two kids. He and his first wife had a lot of fun with their lives. Tognoli's most memorable experience of the war was his first night in foxholes on Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papau New Guinea]. He knew the enemy was across the river and he did not think he was going to make it. The combat he experienced retrieving Hill 260 [Annotator's Note: part of the Bougainville Campaign; Bougainville, Papau New Guinea; November 1943 to November 1944] were tough. He feels that it is important to have the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana]. He was always close to the Americal Division after he got out of the service. He would attend the banquets and was part of the chapter [Annotator's Note: of the Americal Division Veterans Association]. He was commander for a while. They are close to his heart and will be until the day he dies. He went to the memorials in Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.]. His son was draft age then and joined the Navy. He went to Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975] as a Seabee [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions]. He wonders which way we [Annotator's Note: America] are going now in the world today. He thinks it is important to teach the war to future generations. We [Annotator's Note: America] will not survive if we do not. The political climate is such that there is so much confusion that kids do not care for it much. The men who are going in now did not have to do what Tognoli did. They came to the door and said you have to go. In those days, they just went. He wanted to kill the Japanese when he went in. Young people now have to be recruited and offered gratuities like paying for college or giving a bonus. Tognoli's incentive was he was needed. We cannot support the world with dollars like we do. It is not just cut and dry. He feels we are losing ground. We have gotten to be the custodians of a lot of countries and do not have control over it anymore. The world is entirely different than it was in his time.