Richard Jaccarino was born in May 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. When he was still an infant, the family moved to the Bronx, New York, and he remembers playing stickball and all sorts of pranks in the streets and being chased by the "cops." His father was a partner in a watch case business during the Great Depression, and although he could not always bring home a paycheck, he owned the apartment building in which the family lived, and the rental income, when they could collect it, helped to sustain them. When he was 11, his only sister was born and the family relocated to Tuckahoe, New York, where he lived until he entered the Army. Jaccarino vividly remembers 7 December 1941. The extended family had gathered for Sunday dinner, and afterward turned on the radio which was reporting on the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. "All hell broke loose" between his father's shop foreman, who was German and very pro-German, and Jaccarino's mother, who was Irish, and very pro-British. At 16 and a half, Jaccarino wondered aloud if the event meant war, and the adults said yes, definitely. Jaccarino had always been interested in history, and was well aware of current events. The next day at school he listened to President Roosevelt's [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] speech asking Congress to declare war. When he was 17 he asked his mother if he could join the Coast Guard, and when she screamed, he took off and didn't mention it again. But when he reached 18, he signed up for voluntary induction without telling his parents, and was immediately drafted.

Soon after being drafted into the Army, Richard Jaccarino was sent to Camp Upton at the end of Long Island, New York for a week. He was then was sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland where he did four weeks basic training, one week of field training using a Springfield rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber Model 1903, or M1903, Springfield bolt action rifle] because there were no M1 rifles [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] available, eight weeks technical training, and ten weeks of ordnance school. Jaccarino believed it was because of his work in his father's factory that he became an apprentice in the tool room. In February 1944 he got a ten day furlough, after which he reported to Camp Beale in California for two months. From there he went to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] and boarded the USS General R. L. Howze (AP-134) troop transport for parts unknown in the Pacific. After 14 days, the ship docked in New Caledonia. There he was kept busy at the replacement depot, and later shipped out on the Sea Devil heading north to Hollandia, where he transferred onto an APA {Annotator's Note: Auxiliary Personnel, Attack; attack transport vessel] with the destination of Leyte. It was not long after the initial invasion of the island, and while Jaccarino was disembarking, the ship came under aerial attack by a Japanese Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero]. His replacement unit landed on the rainy beach, which was still under air attack, with no weapons or entrenching tools. He was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division on the spot, having had very little training for the job.

For a couple of weeks, Richard Jaccarino unloaded ships and moved supplies inland. The enemy was expected to come back to Leyte, and Jaccarino and a buddy went to an ordinance outfit and requested a rifle. He was issued a rifle, but no ammunition. It wasn't long before he witnessed a Kamikaze attack by two Japanese planes. One of the planes hit and sank an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank], and another dove into a merchant vessel that burned all night. On another occasion, Jaccarino was in a slit trench when an enemy plane was struck right above him. It broke apart, and just missed a nearby gasoline supply. The pilot bailed out, but died. Then, Jaccarino was ordered across the island to Baybay where he joined the 17th Infantry. Jaccarino, now in 2nd Platoon, 2nd Squad [Annotator's Note: 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division]. He was also issued ammunition and a trenching too, and found a trench knife that he carried from then on. His unit was brought into the hills and instructed to fire their weapons twice, to get the feel of an M1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand]. Along one trail they detected the odor of decomposition and discovered a dead GI [Annotator’s Note: slang term for an American soldier] that had been bypassed, so they sent for a detail to retrieve his body. On another patrol, as they approached some native huts, someone yelled, "Japs!" [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] The platoon leader split the men into two sections, at right angles to each other so they wouldn't hit each other when they fired, and instructed them to commence firing after he fired the first shot. The enemy was surprised, and when one jumped out of a window into a bush Jaccarino shot into the bush. He presumably made his first kill there. The sergeant and platoon leader were satisfied with the new unit's performance. An estimated 3,000 Japanese soldiers were hiding in the hills on Leyte, and more and more patrols were sent up every day to hunt them down.

Richard Jaccarino cited the dedication of his platoon leader, mentioning that the man had been wounded earlier on Leyte and went AWOL [Annotator's Note: Absent Without Leave] from the hospital to rejoin his unit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division]. He remembered that they spent Christmas Eve [Annotator's Note: 24 December 1944] on duty at an outpost in the pitch dark, sleeping in foxholes. Their mission was to capture, rather than kill the enemy, and the platoon traveled with an interpreter and a Japanese prisoner of war who would try to convince the enemy soldiers to surrender. But that proved very difficult because Japanese soldiers would blow themselves up with a hand grenade rather than be taken. On one occasion, Jaccarino helped to carry two wounded enemy soldiers on a litter, when others in his unit refused to do so. On another occasion the men had to bury a fellow GI [Annotator’s Note: slang term for an American soldier] in a foxhole. Often, a shortage of water made the tropical heat worse. Jaccarino remembered a time when, after several unsuccessful attempts at taking one of the nameless hills with a frontal assault, the men all stood behind their captain in a near mutiny against a colonel who was insisting on renewing the same costly effort. Jaccarino described how the hill was eventually taken and Company F withdrew in the pouring rain. After that, the patrols continued, and Jaccarino said that nearly every day they would find Japs and kill them. He recalled one patrol during which his platoon killed 20 of the enemy in one day. On their way back to camp that evening, a Japanese soldier came out with his hands up, and they took him prisoner. Jaccarino said it seemed to him that the man was happy to be taken alive.

Introduced to Okinawa through a rubberized topographical map, Richard Jaccarino could see where they would be landing, where the hills were, and the landing field that was to be their first day's objective. The expectation, he learned, was that it would be in American hands by the second day. Four divisions were set to go ashore at the same time. Jaccarino's battalion [Annotator's Note: Jaccarino was a rifleman in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] was going into Violet Beach in reserves, the fourth wave. For 12 days they sailed to and then circled around the Bay of Leyte, and on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945, the whole armada of ships were amassed for the invasion. The troops went out into the water on alligators [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT; also referred to as amtrack or alligator] and were passing within about 500 yards of the battleship USS Texas (BB-35) with its 14 inch guns firing point blank into the beach. Navy fighter planes were firing rockets and machine guns into the beach as well, but by the time Jaccarino reached the beach, things had gone quiet. Once collected, the unit went right into the line because the first waves moved in so quickly over the undefended beaches. Just before midday, they were crossing Kadena Airfield; there had been no resistance from the beach to the airfield, and it was deserted. During that first night, a Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] came down near where Jaccarino was bivouacked, and Jaccarino shot several rounds at him; the man went down about ten feet from Jaccarino's foxhole. With a few more incidents the night passed, and next morning they were on their way, reaching the other side of the island by evening. They had seen few of the enemy and none of the natives during their trip. After about a week, the 17th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] went into reserve, replaced by the 184th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division], who met the main defenses of the island up in the hills and started taking heavy casualties.

With the 184th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] on the line at Hill 178, Richard Jaccarino's 17th Infantry Regiment moved up about two miles behind them. His squad [Annotator's Note: 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] was in reserve at an outpost on top of an adjacent hill, and on 19 April 1944 the Americans put up heavy artillery bombardment, but didn't gain any ground, and most of the 184th was lost. Word came to Jaccarino's company that they were going to jump off next morning to take that hill "at all costs." [Annotator's Note: Jaccarino is wringing his hands as he tells this, and swallows audibly.] Jaccarino said they dug in right behind the hill, and at about nine at night enemy artillery started coming in, and it continued for about four hours. Jaccarino's squad took cover in a cave, and it rained the rest of the night. When he went back to his foxhole, it was full of water, and everything in it was wet. With a buddy, Jaccarino moved up the road, and dug in again. He and his buddy were sent out as scouts, and the rest of the squad followed. As he was moving into a cane field, Jaccarino stared into the blue face of a dead GI [Annotator’s Note: slang term for an American soldier], and in a nearby trench were the body parts of four or five dead Japanese, that had apparently been torn apart by artillery fire. His squad was the first to reach Hill 178; but there was no resistance; the enemy had withdrawn to a new position.

Richard Jaccarino and his platoon [Annotator's Note: 2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] began digging in on top of a hill when they came under Japanese artillery fire. During one 12 hour period, they underwent enemy shelling for seven hours. At one point, Jaccarino obtained a grease gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M3 submachine gun, also refered to as a grease gun], and taking a .45 caliber pistol [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] off a dead soldier. The platoon made advancements in fits and starts, losing several men to madness, including a couple to self-inflicted wounds. In a ruined village, Jaccarino helped evacuate two wounded soldiers, while dodging enemy fire. He recalls digging foxholes while lying on his belly, and describes the casualties among his own platoon. At one point there were artillery and machine gun volleys, and he recalled mortar shells "falling like raindrops." Jaccarino used his own belt as a tourniquet on one man that had a serious leg wound. When his commanding officer was hit, he had to assume command, and spent two hours lobbing grenades over what the soldiers nicknamed "Hand Grenade Hill." On his birthday, 1 May [Annotator's Note: 1 May 1945], the Americans were attacked again, and Jaccarino remembers a third man jumping into his two-man foxhole; but he and his buddy let the guy stay, and in fact held onto him, because he was near breaking. Fortunately, the Japanese withdrew, and the platoon was relieved, with only 16 of the original 48 men remaining. Replacements were sent in, and the platoon got a new lieutenant.

One night, as Richard Jaccarino was sleeping under his poncho, the Japanese counterattack began. Just below their position, they counted 122 Japanese soldiers moving toward their main force at the Tanabaru Escarpment. Jaccarino's platoon [Annotator's Note: 2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] had only 25 men, many of them green replacements, so they kept quiet rather than risk being wiped out within a few minutes. Jaccarino said orders came for his company to take that force out, and Company E [Annotator's Note: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] was brought over to supplement their strength. Firing began when the Japanese starting bobbing up and down at the top of the hill. With a couple of sweeps, they made some headway, but not without casualties. By this time, Jaccarino was assistant squad leader. While waiting to move up, the first mortar shell landed seven or eight feet from him. He took shrapnel in four places in his leg, and said it felt like "a horse kick." The shell had hit so close that some of his buddies thought he was dead, but when the smoke cleared and they heard him cursing they knew he had survived. He was helped down to the road where a medic decided he needed to be evacuated because some of his wounds were deep. He kept one piece of shrapnel for years until it finally worked its way out. The next morning, while he waited at the airfield in a hospital tent, he learned that the Americans had taken the hill, but some of the replacements were killed. Jaccarino was loaded onto Navy C-54 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo aircraft] four-engine plane, and when he was hooked onto the side of the fuselage, someone made a comment about his weight. Jaccarino said the soldiers shed many pounds in combat. It was Jaccarino's first plane ride, and he was amazed by the different shades of blue and yellow in the water, and how it became deep blue as they moved past the island. After seven hours he landed in Guam, and was brought to a Navy hospital where there were nurses and Red Cross girls tending the sick. Jaccarino was there for about four weeks when he asked, "When am I getting out of here?" He said, "They need me back there."

After Richard Jaccarino was released from the hospital, he was sent to a replacement depot on Saipan, and within a couple of weeks he had new equipment and weapons. He went back to Okinawa and rejoined his old unit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division]. In time he was made squad leader. On the day of his return [Annotator's Note: 22 June 1945], the island was secured, but Jaccarino said, "the place was in shambles," with not a building standing, and not a tree or even a blade of grass. Jaccarino said the soldiers of his division knew they were slated to take part in the invasion of the Japanese mainland. They were to land near the Tokyo Plain. He was a sergeant by then, but worked for a while doing inventory with the signal corps because they were short on personnel due to the enormous influx of supplies. He later made staff sergeant, and he was happy that he could show his family that he was "successful." That's when the war ended. He heard the antiaircraft guns blazing and saw searchlights moving haphazardly through the night sky, and realized the Japanese had surrendered. Instead of mainland Japan, Jaccarino went by ship to Incheon, South Korea. When he reached the docks, recently released American POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] were thrilled to welcome them. After a few days, they moved up to Seoul, and relieved Japanese MP [Annotator's Note: military police] units. The South Koreans were really happy to see their liberators, Jaccarino said, because they hated the brutal Japanese. He had enough points for discharge, and Jaccarino was sent home on the USS Collingsworth (APA-146). After 26 days at sea, and eating spaghetti every day, he landed in Tacoma, Washington about six days before Christmas. The mess hall attendants at Fort Lewis were all German prisoners of war, and Jaccarino said they all looked a lot healthier than the returning GIs [Annotator’s Note: slang term for an American soldier].

Once he was back in the United States, Richard Jaccarino traveled by train, dropping off soldiers and train cars all along the way to New Jersey. He ended up at Fort Dix for his discharge processing. He was 20 years old, carried the rank of Staff Sergeant, and as a result of his battle experiences and wounds, Jaccarino had earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his participation in taking Hand Grenade Hill. He had been written up in the local newspaper, and Jaccarino said that the family knew that he "was doing something worthwhile." He also mentioned that he, like all the infantrymen, was awarded an oak leaf cluster after the end of the war. Once he was on his home grounds, Jaccarino went into midtown Manhattan, New York, to his father's office, and when the two met, his father was brought to tears. [Annotator's Note: Jaccarino's eyes water.] Then the two of them went home for a reunion with his mother and sister.

Richard Jaccarino said the war matured him, and he got a better perspective of people from diverse backgrounds. He made very good friends during his time in the service, and has kept up with some of them. Asked what it was like to be in combat at such a young age, Jaccarino said it became almost like a game to him. The "on the job training" had more value than any other form of instruction. He thinks it is important to study the war, and to teach its history to future generations, which is why he contributed to a book on the subject of World War 2 in the Pacific that truly portrays the war as it was. He was glad to participate in an oral history interview, so that The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] can pass down an actual account from a soldier who was there.

After one patrol during which he was carrying a heavy BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle], Richard Jaccarino had to be admitted to the hospital for yellow jaundice, but not until after his company [Annotator's Note: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] executed an overnight move across the island [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines]. He was very ill when he entered the hospital and had to stay for about four weeks, while he was treated for his original complaint as well as for a hookworm infection, jungle rot, and dysentery. When he returned to his company, his commanding officer joked that he almost mistook him for a Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese], because his skin was so discolored from his illness. The unit was waiting to ship out, and in the interim Jaccarino agreed to write a letter to the mother of a fellow GI [Annotator’s Note: slang term for an American soldier] from West Virginia who could not read or write. Styling it in the way he would write his own mother, he enclosed a little embroidered handkerchief the soldier had bought for her as a present. The man rewarded him with a bottle of booze he had purchased from a Navy guy for 70 dollars, more than a month's salary. In time, all the men were loaded on LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] headed for Okinawa.