Richard Witaker was born in March 1926 in Saugertis, New York. Saugertis was a small town about 100 miles north of New York City on the Hudson River. Witaker lived with his mother and father there until he left for the Marine Corps. His father had a difficult time finding jobs during the Great Depression. The times were tough for the family. In 1939, things began to improve when his father found steady work at the local cement mill. His father was a happy man when he found that job. The radio was the main source of family entertainment. Witaker found out about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when his parents called him into the room to listen to the radio reports of the dastardly attack on the American facilities in Hawaii. Until then, Witaker had no idea of where those facilities were. His father expressed his hope that Witaker would not have to go into the service. His father had not served in World War 1 despite being of the right age. Witaker knew he would be deferred from service until he graduated from high school. With a large well kept billboard showing local men in service maintained in a community common, the impact of the onset of war became more and more obvious. It struck home even more when one of the young men who had his name on the billboard was killed while serving in the Merchant Marine. The community discussions were increasingly about the war so Witaker began to become more aware of world circumstances. When he reached his senior year, Witaker went to Albany, New York and attempted to enlist in the Marine Corps even though he had only turned 17 years old. His parents refused to sign the acceptance papers so Witaker agreed to graduate. Soon after graduation, Witaker received his draft notice and again went to Albany to be inducted into the Army. The same Marine recruiter recognized Witaker and signed him up for the Corps. Within a day after arrival in Albany, Witaker was on a train headed to Parris Island [Annotator's Note: the Marine Corps training facility in South Carolina].

Richard Witaker volunteered for the United States Marine Corps because he was impressed by his friends who had done so. He was ready to go following his graduation from high school. Parris Island training was hot during the summer of 1943 [Annotator's Note: 1944]. Following Parris Island, Witaker went to Camp Lejeune for infantry training. By Christmas, Witaker was on a troopship bound for Guadalcanal where the 5th Marine Division was being formed. Training at Parris Island had begun with a rude awakening. Witaker was greeted gruffly by a Marine sergeant. He quickly realized that he was in a serious situation. He trained with rifles and various other weapons. He fired the '03 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1903 rifle, also known as the '03 Springfield bolt action rifle] and Johnson rifles [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber Johnson rifle], the Reising submachine gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M50 Reising submacine gun], and the Lewis machine gun. Witaker also had hand grenade training. The training was intense, but when a Marine completed it, he felt he could take care of himself. The most important aspect of the training was the discipline it enforced. A Marine learned to follow orders.

The trip overseas for Richard Witaker was difficult because so many of his fellow Marines got seasick on the 31 day voyage. The inside sleeping areas smelled of vomit so he and a buddy slept in the open air on the fantail of the ship. The voyage included a ceremony for crossing the equator. Before arriving at Guadalcanal, Witaker spent a month on an adjacent island. He was assigned to the 29th Draft. They were unassigned but attached to the 29th Marines [Annotator's Note: 29th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division] as replacements. When he left Guadalcanal, he was sent to a staging area on Ulithi in March 1945. He had never seen so many ships. They were told that their destination would be Okinawa.

Richard Witaker landed on Red Beach 2 on Easter Sunday, April Fool's day of 1945 [Annotator's Note: 1 April 1945]. The landing was unopposed by the enemy. The Marines went inland and dug in at Yonton airfield in the dark. Digging a foxhole was difficult because they were digging on the landing strip which had been formed by using crushed coral. Witaker returned to the shore where he worked hard for three weeks unloading supplies for the two Marine and three Army divisions involved in the Okinawa invasion. After three weeks, he was assigned to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 29th Regiment, 6th Marine Division. He was assigned to a machine gun platoon. His job was to carry the ammunition for the gun. He provides a detailed description of the duties of each member of the gun crew. During the initial assignment to the gun crew, Witaker carried an M1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] and a .45 caliber automatic [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 pistol]. When his rifle was broken during the campaign, he resisted replacing it with an unreliable Reising submachine gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M50 Reising submachine gun]. When he had no choice, he took it but soon replaced it with a stolen Thompson submachine gun. As a runner later in the campaign, he also carried a bulky walkie-talkie radio.

Richard Witaker recognized that the life expectancy of platoon leaders was not very long on Okinawa. The Japanese would allow the enlisted men to pass them by before shooting an officer. Witaker broke his rifle on Okinawa during an incident where he found two Americans behind enemy lines. Watching them calling in coordinates from a map, he determined that they were forward observers for a battleship. He watched as they provided the powerful offshore guns with coordinates for a hillside ahead where Japanese were seen. The hill was demolished along with the Japanese. Shortly after though, a short round of friendly fire fell near him and dazed him and broke his rifle. Quickly, a medic put him on an amtrack [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked, also known as an amtrack or alligator]. Witaker reached a hospital ship shortly thereafter. He received good medical attention and returned to his company before they knew he had left. The Marines had the benefit of good medical attention during the Okinawa battle. The Navy corpsman who served as the medic for the machine gun platoon was a wonderful guy.

Richard Witaker experienced much the same climate on Okinawa as he knew at home. There were pine trees and cultivated fields on the sides of hills. It was never very cold or hot. He wore fairly light clothing but he always had a poncho. He disposed of all surplus gear and only kept spare socks and underwear. Witaker did not shower for over 80 days. He only had a bath with water in his helmet a few times. Rations were bad except for beans and franks and the D bar dark chocolate. Everyone lost weight during the campaign. Flies were everywhere because there were so many unattended dead Japanese. Torrential rains bogged down men and equipment. Foxholes would fill with water during the rains. To avoid rain, men would sometimes sleep in caves. During one such sleep occurrence, a rat climbed into Whitaker’s pant leg. The experience was so traumatic that he has bad memories of it today.

Following the battle of Okinawa, Richard Witaker learned more about Japanese strategies and preparations for the Marine assault against the island. The Japanese artillery had been sighted on hills and other high ground in anticipation of the Marines attempting to capture them. After a Marine assault captured a hill, enemy artillery would catch an American officer in the open and fire on him. Witaker's machine gun platoon was part of the eleventh assault on Sugar Loaf Hill. [Annotator's Note: Sugar Loaf Hill was a strongpoint designed by the Japanese to slow down the Marine advance into the southern portion of Okinawa. The Marines suffered near 9,000 casualties, including over 1,600 dead, to capture the 50 foot tall hill.] Although not a difficult hill to climb, the advance was hard because the enemy was well hidden and used mortars against the Marines. The hill was finally taken the following day after Witaker's assault. The capture resulted from American tanks being brought in to envelop the hill. American officers were particularly targeted by the Japanese. Witaker's platoon commander was killed in the assault and posthumously received the Navy Cross for his actions. The Marines learned much beyond their training during the 82 days that they fought the Japanese on Okinawa. Although well equipped and trained, the Marines became tougher as they fought the hard fighting Japanese. Witaker learned to respect the Japanese soldiers fighting spirit. They were a tough enemy. Capturing prisoners became problematic. They could not trust the Japanese soldier, even when he attempted to surrender. The Japanese fed anti-American propaganda to the Okinawan civilians to build their fear of the Marines. Many civilians died on Okinawa through collateral damage and suicide. Witaker witnessed civilian suicides. With civilians and Japanese troops comingled in caves, the Marines used napalm dropped through air vents to burn out the inhabitants. It was a bitter campaign in which the Marines learned that if they were not moving forward, they were not winning.

Richard Witaker felt hatred for the Japanese before the assault of Okinawa. The feelings had begun with the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As a result when he went ashore, he was ready to fight and get it over with so he could return home. He had been aware of world events during his time in the Marines. He had heard about the invasion of Normandy, France and even about the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. When Okinawa ended, Witaker went to Guam in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. With the talk of hundreds of thousands of projected American casualties, Witaker felt Harry Truman was a hero for deciding to drop the atomic bombs. After Japan's surrender, there was a celebration because Witaker and his fellow Marines thought they would be going home. Instead, they were sent to Tsingtao, China where they managed the surrender and return of occupying Japanese soldiers to Japan. At first arrival in Tsingtao, the 6th Marine Division had an elaborate ceremony where the Japanese surrendered their weapons. It was at this time that Witaker learned that he was promoted to Private First Class. Life was very good for Witaker in China largely because the value of American money was so strong that many luxuries were available to the occupying Marines. He could have found many valuable items on the black market but did not. Witaker only brought a few souvenirs back home with him.

Richard Witaker was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded on Okinawa. He was leaving Sugar Loaf Hill when a buddy was wounded. Later, Witaker was hit by sniper fire. Snipers were plentiful on Okinawa but when they fired and gave away their spider hole position; they were subject to strong return fire. The Marines were armed with M1 rifles [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] which had the ability to fire eight rounds before the Japanese could fire his second bolt action round. Witaker was hit in the hand by the sniper round. The next day, he was sent to a battalion aid station where he spent two nights sleeping on a cot. That was a treat. At the aid station, a man died next to Witaker. So by the second day, he was ready to return to his company. The Japanese had elaborate defense positions with spider holes, caves and fortified positions ready for the Marines before they landed.

Richard Witaker recognizes the valuable role played by the American home front in winning the war. Without the plentiful supplies and quality products developed for the American fighting force, the war could not have been won. Industries changed from civilian to wartime products and did it efficiently so that troops were well supplied. Witaker felt the American troops always had better equipment, food and training. The workforce at home was largely responsible for that support. The production power of United States industry was awesome, and it produced good products.

Richard Witaker heard the Japanese propaganda from Tokyo Rose only once. That was when he had gone to the rear for food. He was not extremely affected by her rhetoric and insinuation. Witaker did have a run in with an Army cook while he was off the front lines. In search of food, Witaker asked a cook who was opening cans of ham if he could have one for himself and his buddy. The cook said that his supplies were low and could not spare any ham. Witaker's Marine buddy raised his BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] and told the cook that they were going to have some ham. The cook did not deny the Marines the ham. While backing out of the cook tent, Witaker noticed a Thompson submachine gun hanging from the center pole of the tent. He decided then to replace his unpredictable Reising submachine gun [Annotator's Note: M50 reising submachine gun] with the reliable Thompson. Again, the cook did not object as Witaker pulled the Thompson from the pole and took it with him. There were no Army soldiers who came to the front to express concern over the action of the two Marines in the cook tent. The Marines had learned what they could get by with and what they could not. They developed a sixth sense about combat. For instance, they knew not to stay on top of a hill as the Japanese often zeroed in their artillery on hill tops. Likewise, they learned not to trust Japanese who appeared to be surrendering. Marines made sure of the situation before accepting the surrender. Sometimes a Japanese soldier would hide a grenade and throw it at the Americans who took his surrender. Witaker and his platoon mates were Marine riflemen, not truck drivers or cooks. They were in the main action so they had to be aggressive but careful.

Richard Witaker distrusted both civilians and soldiers on the Japanese held island of Okinawa. He once had to remove a pistol from a civilian woman. He did not experience any banzai charges on Okinawa but the night time was very unsettling. The Japanese would infiltrate American lines on occasion. There would be periodic checks by their command of the status of the various positions. Whispers had to be used by the Marines in the communications so as not to have their voices carry in the night and let the Japanese know where the Marines were positioned. When a position would not respond to the check, the Marines would have to follow the interconnecting telephone wire to the next station to verify all was okay. This was perilous activity as the Marine never knew what to expect at the end of the wire. It could be Americans or it could be Japanese waiting to ambush him. It seemed to Witaker that toward the end of the campaign, with the Japanese command structure breaking down, more and more of the Japanese soldiers were becoming suicidal. With the highest ranking commanders committing suicide, the front line soldiers did not know what was expected of them. In the beginning, the Japanese had significant firepower. As the campaign came to a conclusion, it appeared that the Japanese were more and more disoriented and lacked sufficient firepower.

Richard Witaker heard about the war ending in Europe and was grateful. More supplies would be coming to the Pacific. In fact, some troops that had been in Europe also served in the Pacific. In particular, Witaker knew of a Navy Corpsman who was in the Normandy assault and eventually served in his Marine company [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 29th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division] in the Pacific. Witaker had a high regard for corpsmen. They risked their lives to save the Marines from horrible wounds. They were skilled at providing lifesaving first aid to wounded troops. Witaker knew of one of his friends who was terribly wounded on the side of the face and given up for dead and placed in a pile of dead bodies. As a corpsman walked by the dead, he heard a gasp and pulled Witaker's buddy from the pile and saved him. The corpsmen were highly regarded by the Marines as they would rush to the sound of a wounded man calling for help.

Richard Witaker faced many hardships on Okinawa. Troops suffered from fatigue resulting from tension and lack of sleep. They had bad food and were constantly wet and sick. The water supply was poor and the water purification tablets were not effective. Paregoric was the only treatment they had for their chronic diarrhea. The men suffered from unclean eating utensils because of lack of clean water for washing. Fleas were common. Combat fatigue was high because the campaign lasted so long. In order to cope, dark humor was often used by the men to tease each other about not making it home. Witaker was a runner. In his group of runners, the duty was scary because of the endless patrols they had to run. One particularly frightening incident happened when the Japanese had a two hour saturation bombing of the Marine position. Both Witaker and his buddy jumped into a foxhole and literally trembled during the whole bombing. Losing friends was a particularly hard situation. In order to help with the tension, Witaker received mail from home that was almost written on a daily basis. He would communicate his location to his mother through the use of a special code that they had devised. The code worked and his mother knew where Witaker was located. This was despite the censorship of the mail to prevent that information from reaching home.

Richard Witaker had a memorable experience after the campaign for Okinawa was over and the island was declared secured. He was walking with a small group of men including an officer he respected. They had let their guard down at that point. The officer was not distinguishable from the enlisted men until he pulled a map from inside his clothes. This was not something an officer would have done before the campaign was declared over. A Japanese soldier ran toward them from his hiding place in a cornfield. The enemy soldier had two grenades that he intended to use against the American officer. None of the other Marines had a clear shot at the enemy except Witaker. Witaker unloaded his Thompson submachine gun on the Japanese and the aggressor fell into a ditch and the two grenades exploded not hurting any Americans. The Marine officer knew that Witaker had saved his life. Throughout the years ahead, the officer would give credit to Witaker at reunions for that deed. Witaker never wanted any credit. The officer was intent on giving Witaker credit to the officer's dying day. Witaker was equally intent on not taking official credit for the deed. Witaker had respect for the officer as a man who had risen through the ranks to become an officer.

Richard Witaker was apprehensive about going ashore before Okinawa. He had seen his first indications of war while at the staging area before the invasion. It was there that his ship was tied up alongside the USS Franklin (CV-13) which had been hit hard by kamikazes while offshore of Japan. The invasion of Okinawa was initially unopposed until the troops got further inland. While the fighting went on, Witaker could see tracers at night from the ships defending themselves from Japanese kamikaze aircraft. After the battle, the Marines prepared for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. At that time, the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. Witaker felt Harry Truman [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman] was a hero to make the decision to drop the bombs. The Japanese had been preparing for an all out defense of the home islands. It would have been a bloody campaign which Witaker might not have survived. Witaker was grateful to Truman.

Richard Witaker spent six months in China with the 6th Marine Division after the war. He returned to the United States in May 1946 and was discharged in Bainbridge, Maryland. Upon his late night return to his hometown, he went to the only place that was open, a bar. He saw an old friend there and spent time with him before going to see his parents in the morning. As a memento of his service overseas, Witaker had saved the Thompson submachine gun that he had learned to rely upon during combat. He disassembled the gun and packed it in his sea bag with the intent of returning home with it. Before he left the Marines, a sergeant gave a very compelling lecture about the penalties of taking government property home as souvenirs. This worried Witaker to the point that he left his Thompson under his bed before he departed for home. He has subsequently felt the sergeant probably collected many valuable souvenirs from the veterans with that speech. He also wondered how many the non-commissioned officer kept for himself. Witaker attended Syracuse University using the G.I. Bill after he returned home. He graduated in three years in Journalism and Public Relations. He worked for Shell Oil then worked in university academia. Later, he worked in fund raising. He ultimately worked in Kent, Connecticut for a university for 28 years. It was an idyllic life. Adjustment to civilian life was not a problem for Witaker after service. He has no issue with PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] and feels that there is false representation in some of the cases today. Witaker remembered a buddy who experienced PTSD after a fire fight when the platoon discovered the Marine locked in a fetal position. The platoon took him for treatment but they never heard from him again. Of the six men that shared Witaker's tent on Okinawa, all were casualties. Witaker had a series of jobs before settling into his 28 year career. Witaker felt the VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] helped him through his life.

Richard Witaker fought in World War 2 out of a sense of duty to his country. He cannot understand anyone who shirks the draft. When thinking about what fighting in the war means to him, he responds that he had two children that he is very close to despite them living distant from him. Witaker applauds the efforts of The National WWII Museum in telling the story of the Second World War. After his experience in teaching young children about his personal experiences in the war, he feels it is more appropriate to teach about the war at the high school level. He has participated in telling his story in several formal interviews and even in documentaries.