Rob Roy Ratliff was born in 1923 in Webb City, Missouri. He recalled playing in the fields near the old mines as a boy, being a Boy Scout, and working for the daily newspaper. He was also active at school, being a member of the debate team, school newspaper, and in the band. He transferred to a high school in Joplin, Missouri because they had ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] and he could get pre-military training. He was active with the school radio station, editor of school newspaper, and became student body president. He graduated high school in 1943, and because he was only 17 and too young to be drafted, Ratliff attended Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. In early January 1944 and enlisted in the Marine Corps. A month later he was sent to boot camp in San Diego, California and interacted with Navajo code talkers who went through boot camp with him. He recalled boot camp as a positive experience and was glad he went through ROTC because it advanced him in training and gave him special duties. Ratcliff recalled that he was terrified of the obstacle course and had some difficulty.

Rob Roy Ratliff joined the Marine Corps and trained with some of the Navajo code talkers. He received a ten day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] after competing boot camp, but due to bad weather returned to base late and was put on restriction. Ratliff trained as a radio operator and became a Private First Class. He was sent to Camp Pendleton, California for advanced communications and combat training. He was given guard duty to guard a train because President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] was on the train. He contracted the flu but did not want to be separated from his unit, so he did not report it and continued with training and testing. He commented on how he thought the Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] Marines were treated unfairly by the military because they were given remedial duties. He was sent to Hawaii as a replacement on Christmas Day 1944. Ratliff was very upset by this, especially since the military did not give him a proper Christmas meal. [Annotator's Note: The interviewee pauses the interview to blow his nose at 0:28:45.000.]

Rob Roy Ratliff was assigned to the communications section of Headquarters, 5th Marine Division. At the time, the 5th Marine Division was fighting on Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. He recalled the feeling of knowing he was replacing a Marine who died in combat and talks about what it was like to be in his position. While waiting to be put in as a replacement, he received a detail where he had to monitor a communication transmitter in Hawaii. He was also put on a duty where he had to go through deceased Marines' seabags and pull all the personal items and put them in a box with a letter to send to families. [Annotator's Note: The interviewee pauses interview because he has a long cough from 0:33:50.000 to 0:34:32.000.] Ratliff recalled the challenge of assimilating into his unit [Annotator's Note: 2nd Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] because many of the men had just returned from Iwo Jima. In late 1945, Ratliff applied and was selected for officer's training school and arrived in San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] soon after World War 2 concluded. On his way to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina he noticed segregation signs and was disturbed that America allowed these practices to continue after a war had just been fought. In September 1945, when he arrived at camp to begin school, he was informed that the Marines had decided to slow the intake of officers. He was given a choice to continue with the program and do three years of service or be discharged immediately. Ratliff chose to be discharged.

Rob Roy Ratliff was discharged from the Marine Corps and then used the G.I. Bill to attend American University in Washington, D.C. where he studied Government and Public Administration. He married while he was in school. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer pauses the interview to change tapes at 0:49:05.000.] Ratliff applied for a position in the CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency] and was hired. He was psoted to the French Indochina [Annotator's Note: present day Vietnam] desk position, with the help of some of his friends from college. He spent his CIA career helping guide elections in the Philippines and in British Guiana.

Rob Roy Ratliff worked for the CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency] after World War 2. While working in British Guiana he helped people qualify for visas. While there, he developed Psoriasis and had to work in white gloves because people were disturbed by his skin appearance. Ratliff's most memorable experience of World War 2 is not receiving Christmas dinner on Christmas Day in 1944. He is thankful that he was protected and did not have any dramatic wartime experience. He is appreciative for his military training. He believes that the American people are losing sight of World War 2, but grateful for the memorials and institutions dedicated to American wars.