Philip James Sciortino, Sr. was born in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] in September 1923. He spent most of his years in New Orleans. He had four brothers. All boys served in the military. His father had served as a radio operator in World War 1. He was a supervisor for the railroad during the Great Depression. Sciortino's mother was a housewife. Sciortino was a musician who played the string bass in his high school band. Al Hirt and many talented and later notable individuals were also in that band. The group played at the 1940 World's Fair. Sciortino went on to play for dance bands while he was attending college at Tulane University [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana]. On 7 December 1941, he was cruising around the park with his friends on a beautiful day. The program on the radio was interrupted with the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. He remembers vividly where he was and who he was with at the time of the announcement. It seems like it was yesterday. He was drafted in his college sophomore year even though Tulane had the V-12 program [Annotator’s Note: V-12 US Navy College Training Program, 1943 to 1946] which paid sailors to attend school. Sciortino did not anticipate being called up. He was in fact drafted in December 1943.

Philip Sciortino entered the Army and went to Camp Beauregard [Annotator's Note: in Pineville, Louisiana] for his training. He met one of his friends from New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] while being processed. That friend had played with Sciortino on the radio in New Orleans. He was in charge of camp entertainment and put Sciortino in the band. Shortly afterward, Sciortino was shipped off to Camp Lee in Virginia for basic and quartermaster training. He next went into Officer Candidate School, or OCS. In November 1943, Sciortino was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was impressed by a brigadier general who taught him before the ceremony that a person can find anything wrong in life it if he wants to find it. That was a life lesson for Sciortino. After completion of OCS, he was allowed leave to return home. When he arrived, it was raining. His family was there. His father was an old soldier. He was proud of his son being an officer and showed it emotionally. [Annotator's Note: Sciortino shows his emotion at the recollection.] Sciortino dated the girl he would eventually marry while he was at home. After leave, he traveled to California and then was deployed to Leyte and then Manila in the Philippines. He voyaged on a ship in convoy. The ship bounced like a cork in the water. The trip took 30 days because of it zig-zagging [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver] along the way. When he arrived in Manila, he was sent to a replacement camp.

Philip Sciortino was sent to work at a refrigeration unit in Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines] when he arrived there in 1945. He met a couple of WACs [Annotator's Note: members of the Women's Army Corps] who would visit him in order to get good meals. Shortly afterward, he was transferred to the mountains with the 98th Quartermaster Battalion. [Annotator's Note: Sciortino recollects that he was commissioned in 1944 so this period was early 1945 because everyone was saying "the Golden Gate in '48." The jingle meant victory and homecoming in 1948, returning under the San Francisco, California Golden Gate bridge.] It was at this time that Sciortino was promoted to first lieutenant. The final orders were expedited by the two WACs he had met and enjoyed feeding good food previously while based in Manila. The outfit moved up to the Lingayen Gulf area where preparations were being made for the invasion of Japan. When his commanding officers disappeared, Sciortino was left responsible for loading a battalion of troops on a particular ship. He was the battalion adjutant so the role fell to him. It was a laborious and detailed task. It was too much of a job for a lieutenant. Sciortino depended on his buddies for help. When the ship reached Japan, it was met by a Japanese ship and escorted into Kure.

When Philip Sciortino and his ship entered Japanese waters, the sea appeared to be completely mined. An invasion of Japan would have been murderous with all the islands mined. He entered Kure and set up facilities for the battalion [Annotator's Note: 98th Quartermaster Battalion]. Later, he and two doctors traveled by jeep to Hiroshima. Visiting the hospital there, penicillin was the most urgent need. People were in a pitiful shape. The next day, Army penicillin was brought to the hospital. Japanese doctors were shown how to administer the medication. The Americans had little need for the medicine at that point. After initially entering the islands with guns at the ready, the troops found no need for them. General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] ordered the troops to secure all weapons. While Sciortino and the Americans seldom carried weapons, the Russians always seemed to do so. MacArthur seemed to dominate the much shorter Japanese emperor Hirohito. Since the Japanese listened to the emperor, there were no problems. The two doctors and two dentists of the 98th Quartermaster Battalion administered aid and medication to the injured in Hiroshima for months. They were brave men and Sciortino respected them. While in Tokyo, Sciortino met a friend who was in charge of General MacArthur's logistics. He saw MacArthur and later General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States]. Sciortino was more impressed with Eisenhower's demeanor. Before Japan, Sciortino was in Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippines] while there were still pockets of Japanese resistance. Frozen meats were being sent to the frontline troops by his battalion. Some convoy drivers received the Purple Heart as a result of wounds from Japanese fire. During that time, Japanese cities were being systematically bombed, but there was no aerial bombardment in the Philippines. Sciortino did hear artillery fire while in the Philippines. Sciortino remembers the sunsets on the Bay of Manila as being very beautiful. Agoo was a town on the Lingayen Gulf and he was there prior to transit to Japan. Coincidentally, years after the war, while working at his job, Sciortino met a woman from Agoo in the Philippines. Sciortino recollects his birth in 1923 and his commissioning in 1944.

Philip Sciortino has a portrait in his office of him during his service in the Philippines. Sciortino recollects his birth in 1923 and his commissioning in 1944. The work the battalion doctors did at Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: Hiroshima, Japan] should always be remembered. He has brought his grandchildren to The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana]. The things that occurred during those time should be remembered. The Japanese have little in their history books about the war. Sciortino stayed in the Army and graduated from Tulane [Annotator's Note: Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana] in 1949. He stayed in the reserves and met many famous individuals from New Orleans. He was born at a good time and will probably die at a good time.