Bob Bartlett was born in April 1925 in Binghamton, New York and grew up in Johnson City, New York. He had one older brother and one older sister. He grew up during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], and his father bought a property to open a local store and worked for the Texaco company [Annotator's Note: Texaco, Incorporated, now part of Chevron Corporation]. Bartlett lived in a small neighborhood for some time and then moved to the property where the store was located. The elementary school was located right across the street from the school. He often played sports with his friends at lunch time and worked throughout his childhood at the family Texaco service station. Most people in his town worked for a shoe company or the IBM company [Annotator's Note: International Business Machines Corporation]. His father's store cashed work checks for people. Bartlett was aware of the military conflicts in Europe and Asia during the late 1930s but did not pay much attention to them. He mostly read the paper or listened to the radio to keep up with the news. As a paperboy, Bartlett found out about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] while selling newspapers. His concept of the Japanese was very different from reality at the time, and concerns about Japan were mostly reserved to those on the West Coast. He and his family were focused more on the Germans as enemies. His German neighbors shaped his early opinion of Germans as a whole as articulate and impressive. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Bartlett wanted to kill the Japanese. Because Bartlett was too young to join the service in 1941, he continued his high school education. His older brother entered the Air Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor and was later killed in a training accident in 1944. In 1943, Bartlett was accepted to early admission at Syracuse College [Annotator's Note: in Syracuse, New York] and completed one year of college when he was drafted into the Navy. He was sent to Sampson Naval Base [Annotator's Note: Naval Training Station Sampson in Seneca Lake, New York] for basic training. He was then sent to New York and boarded an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] to set sail for Scotland.

Bob Bartlett graduated from Navy boot camp and then attended corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps] school in Bainbridge, Maryland for six weeks near the end of 1943. Since he finished third in his class, he received a promotion to corpsman. He selected to go to St. Albans Hospital [Annotator's Note: now Veterans Administration New York Harbor Healthcare System] in Queens, New York so he could be close to home. He volunteered for an assignment to bring wounded men to Sampson [Annotator's Note: Naval Training Station Sampson in Seneca Lake, New York]. He then heard news that his brother died, and after the funeral, he received orders to go overseas. The death of his brother had a great effect on his mother, and she never really fully recovered. Bartlett's ship left Boston Harbor [Annotator's Note: in Boston, Massachusetts] and he turned 19 years old on the transfer across the Atlantic Ocean. Hs ship travelled in a convoy and took two weeks to cross the ocean. At the end of April 1944, he disembarked in Scotland and was assigned to the USS Barnett (APA-5). He visited different areas of Scotland while he waited to be shipped to the English Channel. He and his shipmates kept busy playing softball. Near the end of May 1944, his ship received orders to cross the English Channel with a convoy. As they crossed on the night of 5 June 1944, the ship received a welcome message from Dwight Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States]. There were about 1200 infantry men on board, including Teddy Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt III]. In advance of the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], Bartlett engaged in small talk with the soldiers assigned to the ship for transport to Utah Beach [Annotator's Note: Utah Beach, Normandy, France].

Bob Bartlett [Annotator's Note: assigned to USS Barnett (APA-5)], was up most of the night before the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He saw Utah Beach and Omaha Beach. The ship worked its way into the shore around four o'clock in the morning. Every ship around him was shooting towards the beach. It was very noisy. He did not witness much German resistance from his vantage point. He saw a destroyer get bombed near Utah Beach by German artillery from the cliffs. After the initial invasion, landing craft began returning to the ship with casualties. Bartlett worked to treat the wounded on the deck and send them to receive the appropriate medical care. He recognized a soldier from his high school while he was receiving medical care for his broken arm. The ship received an emergency call to move further into the ocean to protect themselves from shore fire. The USS Barnett returned to England at nightfall to transport the wounded and dead to hospitals, then headed towards Scotland. Bartlett did not have much interaction with the enemy during D-Day. When his ship docked in Scotland, more troops were loaded to be transferred to France. In July, the Barnett received orders to head for Naples, Italy, but spent a few days in Oran, Africa [Annotator's Note: Oran, Algeria] first. While there, the ship had a scabies [Annotator's Note: itchy skin condition caused by a burrowing mite] outbreak. Bartlett received a package from his sister and when he opened it up, he found a bunch of melted taffy. One day, the sailors were given peanut butter and they all went nuts for it. When the Barnett reached Naples, Bartlett was given leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] for a few days. He toured Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy], Rome [Annotator's Note: Rome, Italy], and Capri [Annotator's Note: Capri, Italy] even though it was still dangerous. In August 1944, the Barnett sailed to the French coast to participate in the invasion of Southern France [Annotator's Note: Operation Dragoon in Provence, Southern France, 15 August 1944].

Bob Bartlett [Annotator's Note: assigned to USS Barnett (APA-5)] participated in the invasion of Southern France [Annotator's Note: Operation Dragoon in Provence, Southern France, 15 August 1944]. There was no enemy resistance, but a French woman remained on the beach during the invasion and was badly wounded. She was brought aboard the Barnett where she died from many head wounds. After the beach was secured, Bartlett was able to walk on shore. His ship transported troops and foreign legionnaires, along with their livestock. After the passengers disembarked on the shore, the Barnett sailed to Marseilles [Annotator's Note: Marseilles, France] to spend a few nights there. Then they headed to the United States, stopping in Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy] for a few weeks first. Bartlett returned to the United States in Fall 1944 and was assigned to a naval hospital at Camp Bradford, Virginia [Annotator's Note: in Little Creek, Virginia] where he was promoted. [Annotator's Note: Video break at 0:53:18.000 until 0:53:47.000.] He was placed in charge of the pharmacy and tasked with driving ambulances. He was assigned to this station for a year and a half before being discharged in early 1946. Bartlett chose a medical avenue because he did not want to pull triggers. He had no urgency to go back to Europe and was satisfied with his station stateside. He was at Camp Bradford on VE-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945] and VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. He was elated when war ended. Bartlett had dental treatments while at Camp Bradford. After his discharge, he returned home to his parents. He attended Syracuse University [Annotator's Note: Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York] on the GI Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and graduated with a degree in Sociology on 6 June 1949.

Bob Bartlett does not have a memorable experience of World War 2. He served in the war because he was drafted. He takes what life gives him and serving was part of it. After World War 2, life was better. The war is just part of his life history. He is not big on wars, but he understands that they happen. He hopes that we never have to have another world war again. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations in order to find solutions so that it never happens again.