Richard T. Russell, Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in March 1922. His father was a civil service employee. During the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], the family was living in Birmingham, Alabama. When the local steel mill closed down, 50 percent of the population was unemployed. Russell's family was lucky that his father remained employed. Russell began working when he was ten years old, selling peanuts at prize fights. When the family moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Russell sold concessions at the Alabama [Annotator's Note: University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama] football games. He also sold newspapers. Many of his friends' fathers had lost their jobs, so he felt lucky that his father did not. When Russell had completed two years of high school, his family moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Russell met and later married one of his new neighbors, Florine Curtin. They were married for 60 years until she passed. When Russell graduated high school, only five people out of 187 students from his class went to college. His wife went to college to become an executive secretary, and Russell got a job with AT&T [Annotator's Note: a telecommunications company] from 1940 until he was called up for service. When he returned from duty, his job at AT&T had been held for him, but he was recruited as a flight officer by TWA [Annotator's Note: Trans World Airlines, since purchased by American Airlines]. His first assignment was a round-trip to Karachi, India [Annotator's Note: now Karachi, Pakistan], but TWA lost the contract and many of the new hires lost their jobs. Russell was then offered a job by Panagra [Annotator's Note: Pan American-Grace Airways] as a radio navigator flying in South America, but his family and future wife asked him not to, so he returned to AT&T and made a career out of it. He has had a good life, and feels very fortunate. He is proud of his daughter, and is now 90 years old. Of the ten man crew he flew with during World War 2, who were like brothers, only three are still alive [Annotator's Note: at the time of the interview]. He is still in touch with them.

Richard T. Russell, Jr. heard that the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] had bombed Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] while living in Alexandria [Annotator's Note: Alexandria, Virginia]. His father had been a Marine during World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] and served in France. Russell's mother was a yeomanette [Annotator's Note: a woman serving as a yeoman in the United States naval reserve force during and immediately after World War I] in Algiers, New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana], which is how she met Russell's father. When he came back from France in March 1920, they met at the base in Algiers. Russell did 20 weeks of radio school, and seven weeks of gunnery school before the crew was formed. In total, he spent spent almost a year and a half in training, preparing to go overseas. The crew bonded and depended upon each other. They were deployed to the Pacific. After several stops, they arrived in Townsville, Australia with a brand new plane. They thought the plane was theirs, but they had just ferried it over for a veteran crew. In May 1944, they were sent to Port Moresby, New Guinea and assigned to the 43rd Bombardment Group, 65th Bombardment Squadron, 5th Air Force. They did a month of survival training there with an Australian veteran. They moved to Nadzab [Annotator's Note: Nadzab, Papua New Guinea]. Many of the crew came down with dysentery [Annotator's Note: a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea] and lost 25 pounds each. Some of them also got jungle rot, a skin infection. On their first mission, they pulled out of line and the tower advised them to get out of the way. They pulled into a fighter revetment [Annotator's Note: an impact-resistant barrier] and the airship with all its 800-pound bombs began to sink down. Russell considers his actual first mission as the bombing run carried out on 1 July 1944 over Noemfoor [Annotator's Note: Noemfoor, Papua New Guinea] in preparation for an invasion two days later [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Noemfoor, 2 July to 31 August 1944]. They were sent in at 9,500 feet, and another squadron was only 500 feet above them. When that squadron dropped their bombs, Russell felt lucky that his plane did not get hit. Nadzab was in the heart of the jungle, and men got sick with typhus, cholera, yellow fever, dengue, and malaria. The food was not good, and six men shared tents with mud floors. Russell did several ferry missions, transporting troops and supplies, which did not count as combat hours. In late July, they were moved to Owi in the Schouten Islands. The runways were better there than in Nadzab. They flew their first mission from there to Davao, the Philippines against Japanese airfields, oil fields, and shipping. The bombed the Celebes and Halmaheras [Annotator's Note: both in modern day Indonesia]. His 19th mission was over Balikpapan, Borneo which supplied a third of the oil used by the Japanese Navy and Army. It was very heavily defended. It was the longest raid, 1,250 nautical miles one-way, ever made in a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. The plan was not even to return to base because they did not have enough gas. They returned instead to Noemfoor. The mission before that, 11 out of 21 B-24s were lost, which was a high percentage for them. Russell's navigator was killed on that mission, and four of the gunners including Russell were wounded. They went into Morotai [Annotator's Note: Morotai, Indonesia], where fighting was still going on until December 1944. Their mission was 10 October [Annotator's Note: 10 October 1944]. The flight surgeon took care of the four wounded men, including Russell. That night, the Japanese bombed them four times. They had taken both flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] and fighter attacks. Russell had never seen fighters come so close. There was confirmation later that their squadron had taken out 13 Japanese fighters.

Richard T. Russell, Jr. did his first missions into China and Formosa [Annotator's Note: modern day Taiwan]. They had moved up to Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, the Philippines] and Clark Field, where Russell flew his last mission, which was to Hong Kong. His crew sunk a very large merchant ship on that mission. His crew was credited with sinking four ships over all their missions. They hit the ships form low altitude. They had also participated in the Battle of the Philippines Sea [Annotator's Note: 19 to 20 June 1944] and supported the invasion of the Philippines on 20 October [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23 to 26 October 1944], which was the largest naval engagement of any war. After returning from missions, the first thing they did was go through debriefing. Their flight surgeon would meet them and give them a glass of brandy to calm them down. All of their bombing runs were photographed. The images would be used to confirm hits. It was an eerie feeling watching other aircraft being shot down. Combat is difficult to explain, as every person reacts differently and had a different feeling about it. He was scared on every mission, especially during takeoff and landing. He sees himself as a survivor, he feels very lucky. [Annotator's Note: Russell gets emotional.]

Richard T. Russell, Jr. and his crew [Annotator's Note: flying a Consolidated B-24 Liberator with the 43rd Bombardment Group, 65th Bombardment Squadron, 5th Air Force] was credited with sinking four ships and hit many oil fields and processing plants. They also did troop support when called for. They went after Japanese aircraft, shipping, oil, troops, and supplies. He felt they had one of the best crews. The B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] got all the publicity. Russell had trained on the 17, but his unit later converted to the B-24 because it could carry a heavier bomb load, had a longer range, and could fly both faster and higher. It could take a beating. Russell flew 43 missions total. The B-24 was the heaviest bomber until the B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] were brought in. American soldiers were taught to hate the Japanese. Their fighters were excellent, and had many years of training. There was no fighter better than the Zero [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero]. Russell respected the Japanese and their capabilities. They would not surrender or give up. Russell is glad he had his job rather than being an infantryman on the ground. They had it a lot tougher than airmen.

Richard T. Russell, Jr. finished his missions out of Clark Field [Annotator's Note: now Clark Air Base, a Philippine Air Force base on Luzon, the Philippines] where they moved in March 1945. They started hitting the coast of China, Hong Kong, and Formosa [Annotator's Note: modern day Taiwan]. The last missions focused on hitting shipping, airfields, and supplies. No one knew about the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] until they were dropped. This was done after Russell had gone home, arriving on VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945], and had been discharged. He was in California when he learned Germany had surrendered. He was supposed to be reassigned after a 90 day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], but he had so many points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] that he qualified for discharge. The points were based on things like how many times their aircraft had been damaged and how many combat hours were flown. Russell had flown four missions with other crews as a replacement, so he was the first in his own crew to qualify for discharge. Russell kept in touch with his crewmates after the war. Only three of them, including himself, are still alive [Annotator's Note: at the time of the interview].

Richard T. Russell, Jr. left a situation where he was tasked with destroying everything and went home to a place untouched by war. It was unreal. His father met him at Union Station in Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.] when Russell arrived from California by train. It was an adjustment for Russell, there was a tremendous difference in environments. He was still suffering from malaria [Annotator's Note: disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans] and jungle rot [Annotator's Note: a disease affecting the skin]. He had received a Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is an award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy] for a mission over Borneo, but it was just a flesh wound. The United States was just coming out of the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] when the war started, so he was concerned that it would be difficult to find a job, but did not have too many problems readjusting to civilian life despite the difference in the environment. Russell feels that it is important that younger generations study World War 2 history because it gave us the freedom that we enjoy today. The United States is the greatest country in the world and he feels fortunate to live here.