Peter Gallo was discharged as a PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class]. He began life as "kind of a sick kid," who didn't start school until he was seven. During that same year, his mother left his father, and the family was "on relief." His father died in 1939 when he was 16, and his sisters went to an orphanage. Afraid that he would have to go there too, he enlisted in the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] for six months. Although the organization was not military, an Army captain ran the program. After three month's service, Gallo asked the captain if he could get into the Army, in hopes of further avoiding life in an orphanage. He was sent to West Point for two years and eight months, then went into the 111th Infantry, 28th Division [Annotator's Note: 111th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division]. Gallo said the 111th was considered a "bastard outfit" and was independent. Stationed in Fort Monroe, Virginia, Gallo patrolled the beaches, on the lookout for submarines. He was later sent to Hawaii with the 111th, and while there he transferred into the 7th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 7th Infantry Division] and went to Korea. There, his duties consisted of disarming Japanese garrisons and liberating prisoners. Gallo got into trouble in Korea for fighting with a Japanese officer, and "was broken." Gallo said he was set up as "an example," and had to go home in 1945.

Peter Gallo was in the construction division in the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] before going into the Army. At West Point [Annotator's Note: United States Military Academy at West Point, New York], "it was spit and polish," and there were inspections every Saturday. When the war broke out, Gallo was a drill instructor there, got along pretty well with the cadets, and has kept in contact with some of them. He had additional training when he transferred to the 7th Division [Annotator's Note: 7th Infantry Division] in Hawaii; "jungle training" prepared the soldiers for combat "down under," a term that was used for service in the other islands. Gallo went through the training over and over again, every time the division got replacements. Gallo recalled that he was riding in a car with two other West Point cadets when the news broke about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], and the police were motioning them through red lights, keeping the traffic moving. They stopped to ask what the matter was, and were told about the bombing. They had to report back to base immediately. He felt bad about the fact that people he knew were going off to war and he wasn't, so he asked to be sent overseas. When he joined the 7th Infantry, the veterans of the division were coming back from combat on the frozen island of Attu [Annotator's Note: Attu, Aleutian Islands, Alaska], and a lot of them were wounded. Gallo became good friends with one of them, and learned from him that the Japanese were good soldiers who had been told that if they died in combat for their emperor, they would go directly to Heaven. Gallo felt he fit in well with the men of his new division [Annotator's Note: Gallo had served in the 111th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division prior to joining the 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division].

The first move Peter Gallo made with the unit [Annotator's Note: 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] was to Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands], after which they returned to Hawaii for replacements and training. From there he participated in the invasion of Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippine Islands] in 1944. While he was there, Gallo contracted malaria, but had to tough it out because the medical facilities were overcrowded with the many battle wounded. From Leyte, the unit went to the biggest and last battle for the division: Okinawa. When Gallo landed on Kwajalein, he was a rifleman and was following orders, moving with his unit. It was expected that the division would "finish with Kwajalein in a couple of weeks," but the battle took about a month. On every landing, the troops arrived in a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP]. In describing the trip from ship to shore, Gallo said, "you can't do anything but stand up because it held the platoon." The landing on Kwajalein was unchallenged. Food was "in the can," cold. He dug a foxhole that was dry when he got into it, but during the night groundwater seeped in and puddled. When he confronted the enemy, he wanted to "dig a bigger hole so I could keep my head down." The Japanese soldiers would not give up, Gallo said, "you had to kill 'em." For the Leyte invasion, Gallo's division landed at the village of Dulag, and it seemed like the enemy were "behind gravestones," that is, unseen, and shooting. The division prevailed, however, and moved on through the mosquito infested swamps and up the mountains. Gallo was thankful for the artillery and the air corps. At that point, Gallo did not know if the Americans would win the war. He told the story of a young kid who had gotten lost on the island and was sticking by Gallo. He would share his food with the boy, and when the battle was over, Gallo asked his commander if he could take the kid back to his native village. When Gallo and another GI [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] got the child home, they were greeted by peeling church bells, and were invited to dine with the villagers. The GIs didn't know then that they were fed dog meat. Gallo said it tasted like beef and it didn't matter; it was the only hot meal he had until the war was over.

From Leyte, the 7th Infantry Division went to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], and Peter Gallo described landing on half-tracks [Annotator's Note: M3 half-track; a vehicle with front wheels and rear tracks]. They "cut the island right in half" on the first day, and figured there were no Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] on the island. But the enemy was waiting for them at Naha and Yonabaru. Gallo never saw a civilian while he was on the island; he said they were hiding because they had been told the Americans would torture them. After the battle was over, Gallo was on patrol duty when he heard shooting and went to investigate what was going on. He feared the enemy had broken through, but learned instead that the war was over. For Gallo, the battle on Okinawa was like all the others. As the unit [Annotator's Note: 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] advanced, if he saw or heard something, he shot. Okinawa was a bigger island, and the Navy and Air Corps were a great help. The division would put out smoke bombs to aid the airmen in knowing where their targets were. Gallo was in his foxhole one night, and woke to find an enemy soldier walking alongside it. The enemy was identifiable by the silhouette of his uniform. Gallo was scared and remained quiet, until the man, walking further on, was shot. Gallo said that the Americans were "brainwashed," and believed that the Japanese tortured our soldiers, and had an impression that the infantryman had to "save one bullet" for himself. So the soldiers developed a hatred for the enemy. Gallo said that at the end of the war, the Japanese wanted the Americans to apologize for the atomic bomb; but the American soldier's attitude was, "you started the war, so we finished it." Gallo's regiment was fighting on Okinawa at the time the atomic bombs were dropped, and knew nothing about it. After the surrender, the unit was sent to Korea. He felt good about the war being over and knowing that he was going home. Gallo was ready to walk all the way. After he got busted in Korea, there was no way he was going to re-enlist in the Army so he enlisted in the Navy Reserve.

Peter Gallo was involved in an incident that got him into trouble in Korea. A Japanese officer came in and was chasing an operator around, and Gallo "hollered." When the officer tried to take Gallo's rifle, Gallo hit him in the head with the weapon. There was a hearing, and his company commander came to Gallo's defense, but to no avail. To set an example of how the American soldiers were to treat the defeated Japanese with "respect," Gallo was "broken" and sent home. He returned to Tacoma [Annotator's Note: Tacoma, Washington], and went on to Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington] and there was no reception. That didn't matter to Gallo. While he was in the service, Gallo made friends with a couple of guys that endured until they died. He recalled one of his platoon leaders, a guy named Thurston [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], who got shot in the stomach and was never seen again. Another guy, one of Gallo's fellow squad leaders, was out on a reconnaissance patrol with him when he was machine gunned to death. After the war, Gallo visited his burial site. Gallo was also reminded of the typhoon he experienced on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. While looking for a place of refuge, three soldiers went into an ancestral burial structure, and when they came out, all their tents and equipment had been blown away. Gallo said the winds were fierce, and they just stayed inside the structure with the ancient bones. He lived through another typhoon on the ocean while on his way back to the United States. Gallo said that one ship, built of cement, was cut in half; after the storm other boats came by and picked up "whatever they could find."

Peter Gallo never got hit, but while he was on Leyte, he contracted malaria. He ran a high fever and was throwing up, when a medic tapped him on the head, and told him he would be all right. Asked to rate the training he got prior to going into combat, Gallo said, "the training was ok." Coming home was exciting, and when he saw the lights at Tacoma [Annotator's Note: Tacoma, Washington], it didn't matter that it was raining. Gallo put on a poncho, got on a truck and went to Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington]. While in the Pacific, Gallo had corresponded with his sister, who was in an orphanage, but didn't have time to write to many others. He was 22 when he came out of the Army, and had six years of service. He got a job with a painting contractor, trained on the job, and made his living that way for several years. He was hired by IBM [Annotator's Note: International Business Machines Corporation], and worked his way up until he was stymied by his lack of education. So he used the G.I. Bill to go back to school, and then, on his own money, he attended college and rose in the IBM ranks to quality engineer. Thinking back to an anecdote from his ocean journey back to the United States, Gallo talked about a night when he and a medic realized they were both hungry. The medic went into the kitchen and came back with a bologna and fresh bread. The two ate it, and got sick, but they were friends from then on. There wasn't much to do on the ship but read, and Gallo said he read a "Perry Mason" book over and over. On the battlefields, there was no downtime; a soldier was either in combat or on guard duty.

Looking back on the war, Peter Gallo said World War 2 was a "necessary evil," and he did what he had to do. He believes that every young person should "put a couple of years" in the military, then come out and go to college. It would be good for them to learn respect for their elders. The war made him grow up. He didn't know what he was getting into, but he matured quickly in the Army. He feels the Army laid a good foundation for the rest of his life. He came out a man. He said it is very important for young people to learn about the war, and he has helped high school kids to become acquainted with the history of the era. Many didn't know anything about the war beforehand. He feels institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] do a good job of telling the story of the war. Jumping back a little, Gallo explains how he earned a Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy]. He captured a Japanese officer and brought him back to base for questioning. The award didn't arrive until five or six years later, and he had to investigate why he received it; he hadn't expected to be recognized for that action, because it was "part of the job." His message to future generations who go into the military is to "keep your nose clean," you will come out a man.