Philip Nelson was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey in December 1920. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his father worked as a furnace man to support his family. He grew up with two brothers. His mother stayed home to take care of the family and she also liked to can food. After graduating from high school, Nelson began attending college in Greenville, Tennessee. On 7 December 1941, Nelson learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. The attack caused even more concern for Nelson than most because his older brother was serving as a radioman in the Navy and was stationed at Pearl Harbor. The attack solidified Nelson’s determination to get into the Navy. Nelson was first turned down for enlistment into the Navy because he was underweight. He eventually took a train to Nashville, Tennessee to try to enlist there. After eating several bunches of bananas, he was accepted in April 1942, even though he was still a little shy of Navy weight regulations. Nelson volunteered for the Navy’s V-7 program [Annotator’s Note: V-7 US Navy Midshipmen Officer Candidates Program, 1940 to 1945] and was accepted. The V-7 program allowed him to finish his college education. As soon as he completed his curriculum in Greenville, he received orders to report to Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois for midshipmen’s school. Nelson went from a small school to a large university and had to compete with many other students that came from ivy league universities, but he was able to immerse himself in the program successfully because of his background in the Boy Scouts [Annotator’s Note: The Boy Scouts of America; youth organization in the United States]. The only test he failed was the swimming test. He could not receive liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] until he learned to swim. Nelson completed midshipmen’s school and was commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy Reserve. Overall, he thought his training was tough and he learned a lot in navigation. He was sent to the landing craft school in San Diego, California for training on an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank], and then sent to the Marine Camp in Oceanside [Annotator’s Note: Oceanside, California] for practical training. Nelson was pulled out midway through the course and sent to Hawaii to prepare for the invasion of Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Atoll [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands].

In January 1944, Philip Nelson was training on an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] in San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] as a midshipman when he was pulled out midway through the course and sent to Hawaii to prepare for the invasion of Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Atoll [Annotator’s Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands]. Nelson’s job was to head to the beach in his LCS(S)(2) [Annotator’s Note: Landing Craft, Support] and guide his assigned wave of landing craft, in this case LVTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT; also referred to as amtrack or alligator], to their assigned landing beach. When Nelson arrived at a predetermined distance from the shoreline, he fired the rockets that his vessel was armed with then turned away and let the LVTs make their way to the beach. For the Kwajalein landings, Nelson was assigned boat groups in the second and sixth waves. It was the only amphibious operation in the Pacific war in which LCS’s were used. He did not go ashore during combat time, but just led the troops to the shore. His vessel was not equipped to go on the beach due to the coral. During combat, there was a lot of noise. With their assigned troops ashore, Nelson’s group returned to Hawaii to prepare for their next amphibious assault, the re-conquest of Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. For the landings on Guam, Nelson would lead the charge in an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat].

After the invasion of the Kwajalein Atoll [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Kwajalein Atoll, 31 January to 3 February 1944; Kwajalein Atoll, the Marshall Islands], Philip Nelson’s group returned to Hawaii to prepare for their next amphibious assault, the re-conquest of Guam [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Guam, 21 July to 10 August 1944; Guam, Mariana Islands]. For the landings on Guam, Nelson would lead the charge in an LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. He would receive packages from his family several months later. He began to stop writing letters because it took a long time to receive responses. This was mostly because he was not assigned to a specific ship, but was always assigned temporarily to vessels. He was also commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy Reserve and was deemed “scum” by other regular Navy men. He remarked about the difference between his line of work versus those men in “company.” The biggest complaint was that he had to pay for his own food. Nelson felt he was being used in many ways. During the Guam invasion, Nelson was charged with leading in boat groups in waves two and ten. At one point during the landings, several landing craft were hit by Japanese mortar [Annotator's Note: a short smoothbore gun which fires explosive shells at high angles] fire and disabled. A call went out for volunteers to rescue the sailors and their human cargo aboard the damaged vessels. Nelson did not hesitate. He made two trips to and from the damaged landing craft and rescued several sailors and Marines. For rescuing his fellow seamen while under enemy fire that day, he was given a Navy Letter of Commendation.

After the invasion of Guam [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Guam, 21 July to 10 August 1944; Guam, Mariana Islands], Philip Nelson’s group headed back to Hawaii for additional training. The third amphibious operation was the island of Peleliu in the Palau Islands [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II; 15 September to 27 November 1944; Peleliu, Palau]. Again, his job was to guide in certain waves of landing craft with his LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. Nelson guided boat groups in the 2nd, 10th, and 16th waves. He also made countless trips from ship to ship and ship to shore delivering supplies and transporting wounded when and where needed. [Annotator’s Note: video break at 0:58:30.000.] After the landings on Peleliu, Nelson returned to Hawaii to prepare for his fourth invasion, Leyte [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Leyte, 20 October to 26 December 1944; Leyte, the Philippines]. At Leyte, his job would be different than in the previous three landings. Here, he would skipper [Annotator's Note: captain or commander of a naval vessel or aviation unit] on LCM(6) [Annotator’s Note: Landing Craft, Mechanized]. Nelson’s LCM would lead his assigned group to the beaches of Leyte, each hauling an M4 Sherman tank [Annotator's Note: M4 Sherman medium tank]. The landings went well, although the boat crews had been supplied with far less information regarding beach conditions, tidal ranges, times, and other data than they had for invasions overseen by the Navy. After the landings on Leyte, Nelson returned to Hawaii. He was assigned to an amphibious training base, ATB-900. Nelson’s job at ATB-900 was to train new sailors to operate the LCM(6) landing craft. In February of 1945, Nelson received orders to report aboard USS Casa Grande (LSD-13). He was now in command of a group of 14 LCM(6)’s which would transport M4 Sherman tanks to the invasion beaches of his next target, Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan].

After the landings on Leyte, Philip Nelson returned to Hawaii. He was assigned to an amphibious training base, ATB-900. Nelson’s job at ATB-900 was to train new sailors to operate the LCM (6) landing craft. In February of 1945 Nelson received orders to report aboard USS Casa Grande (LSD-13). He was now in command of a group of 14 LCM (6)’s which would transport M4 Sherman tanks to the invasion beaches of his next target, Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: Okinawa, Japan]. Nelson experience with the amphibious invasion on Okinawa was somewhat different than Nelson’s four previous invasions. Enemy resistance on the beaches was almost non-existent. Nelson took his LCMs [Annotator’s Note: Landing Craft, mechanized] to the beach in the 6th wave, dropped off their cargo of medium tanks, and returned to the Casa Grande. On the afternoon of 1 April 1945, after delivering their load to the beach, Nelson’s LCMs were assigned to an ammunition boat pool and were responsible for delivering ammunition from an ammo ship out to the heavy cruiser USS Portland (CA-33). Nelson and the Casa Grande moved to Kerama Retto where they assisted in the upkeep and repair of surface vessels. During his time in the Okinawa area Nelson witnessed a handful of kamikaze attacks, most of which were at night. The Casa Grande eventually returned to the United States to make repairs in San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California].

During the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan], Philip Nelson and the Casa Grande [Annotator’s Note: USS Casa Grande (LSD-13)] moved to Kerama Retto [Annotator’s Note: an island group near Okianwa] where they assisted in the upkeep and repair of surface vessels. He witnessed a few kamikaze attacks during the battle of Okinawa during the night, which was a little scary. He felt as the allies got closer to Japan, the Japanese became more vicious in their fighting. He was given liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and went home to Woodbridge, New Jersey to spend some time with friends and family. [Annotator’s Note: Video abruptly ends while the interviewee was talking.]