Robert Lippman was born in Rome, New York in September 1923, in a small town surrounded by farmland. His father had a clothing store, and during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945] he was often paid on the barter system. Lippman graduated high school in 1941, and there was no money for him to go to college. He was proficient in sports, however, and won a hockey scholarship to Colgate University [Annotator's Note: in Hamilton, New York]. Lippman was home from college on the weekend of 7 December 1941. He heard the news about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] on the radio. At six the next morning, a bunch of his buddies were at his front door, all ready to enlist in the armed services. His father stopped him and said he could go when called. Two weeks later, Lippman was drafted. He went into the Army in February [Annotator's Note: February 1942], thinking it would be the greatest adventure of his life. Most of the time he was in the service, it was an adventure. He was never homesick, he had a great time, and he met great people. He was in the Air Corps, and attended code school at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Although he hated learning code, he was pretty good at it. He was better at mechanics. Lippman ran into trouble at Sioux Falls, and was moved to a radio school in Madison, Wisconsin. He went from there to Tomah, Wisconsin, where he went through highly specialized guidance training. He wound up in a fighter squadron in northern California. The squadron was broken up, and he was moved to a Naval air station in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. When he reported back there after a three-week leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], he was immediately shipped out to Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Norfolk, Virginia] for overseas deployment.

After an idle period of about ten days in Norfolk, Virginia, Robert Lippman was equipped with winter clothing, and guessed he would be going to North Africa. Instead, he shipped out to the Pacific, and was terrified at the prospect of fighting the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. It was a 64 day trip, and they first landed in Perth, Australia. On one of the three days he spent there, Lippman went into town and visited with the locals. The Australians disliked the Americans for coming down there and taking the girls. He was soon on his way to Bombay, India [Annotator's Note: also known as Mumbai, India. When he was getting ready to disembark, he was pulled aside and told he would be joining British soldiers who were going into paratrooper training. After 19 jumps, he shipped out with three other paratroopers on what was called the frontier mail, which turned out to be a boxcar ride that lasted two weeks and ended up in Assam [Annotator's Note: Assam, India]. There, trucks from the 51st Fighter Control [Annotator's Note: 51st Fighter Control Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, 69th Composite Wing, 14th Air Force] met Lippman and his three fellow unwashed travelers, all of whom went directly to the showers. Lippman was frozen with fear when he heard the rumble of his first bombing attack. Since he had radio training, it was decided that Lippman would set up a homing station, to pick up the signals of planes that were lost or in trouble. He was a corporal but got to be a temporary sergeant for duration of the project. On about the third day the station was in service, Lippman got an emergency call from a plane that was almost out of fuel. He brought the plane in safely, and the pilot presented Lippman with a bottle of liquor. He manned the station for about three or four weeks before being made a full time sergeant and reassigned to temporary duty with the 5307th Provisional Unit [Annotator's Note: the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) was known as Merrill's Marauders in honor of the unit's commander, US Army Brigadier General Frank Dow Merrill] at Ledo [Annotator's Note: Ledo, Assam, India]. It was an infantry outfit, for which he had no training, but they needed a radioman, and Lippman became part of that unit of veterans.

Assigned to the 1st Battalion[Annotator's Note: the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) was known as Merrill's Marauders in honor of the unit's commander, US Army Brigadier General Frank Dow Merrill], Robert Lippman found himself among a tough bunch that had come from battle on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. They were a volunteer operation, not yet known as Merrill's Marauders, who had all trained together in India except for Lippman. An outsider, the men initially called him Jew Boy. After their first combat, however, the name never came up again. The unit was composed of mules and men. They moved out with 800 mules and skinners, but no heavy equipment. Their mission was secret. Lippman started out with a pack weighing about 100 pounds, but on about the third day the unit learned that the Nips [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] were not carrying gas, so the men threw away their gas masks. Lipmann also jettisoned one of his two blankets and any extra clothing he had, cutting his pack to about 25 pounds, the bulk of which was K rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals] and ammo. He also carried a carbine rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. Lippman likes to kid that there were 2,299 volunteers and one guy who was assigned, and that was him. They marched through a section of Burma [Annotator's Note: now Myanmar] and India that was marked on the maps as unexplored, the treacherous Naga Hills [Annotator's Note: complex mountain system on the border of Burma and India]. In some places they had to push the mules, and each other, up the hills. The natives had never seen white men before and wanted to touch the soldiers' skin. The Naga [Annotator's Note: name for the various ethnic groups in the area] they encountered were short, stocky warriors who collected the heads of their enemies. The battalion stayed away from villages, and made no fires, in order to keep their progress undetected. The men were plagued by leeches. It was supposed to be a one-mission deal, and they wound up in a place called Walawbum [Annotator's Note: Tanai, Kachin, Burma; now Myanmar] to face the crack Japanese unit that took Singapore [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Army 18th Division]. Lipmann's battalion [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)] was held out as support, while the 2nd [Annotator's Note: 2nd Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)] and 3rd Battalions [Annotator's Note: 3rd Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)] moved in. Previously, while Lippman was in jump training, he had made friends with a British officer who warned him about the fighting in Burma. When Lippman was at Walawbum [Annotator's Note: in March 1944], he knew just what he meant. It was the first time Lippman had ever been in combat, and it was an awful lot of hell. He did not feel he was ever going to go home. [Annotator's Note: Lippman pauses.] He is not even sure he fired his rifle. Bullets make an awful mess of you. Still, they didn't lose as many men to combat as they did to disease. Of the 2,300 men who went in, only 200 of the original soldiers made it out. [Annotator's Note: Lippman pauses again.]

The Battle at Walawbum [Annotator's Note: Tanai, Kachin, Burma; now Myanmar, in March 1944] was Robert Lippman's first firefight, and the first order he ever heard was fix bayonets. He had no infantry training, and the action seemed foreign and frightening. However, he was needed for something that was familiar to him. Almost immediately, he was called upon to bring in aircraft and ground support. His call sign was Stoker. Lippman was stricken with dysentery [Annotator's Note: infection of the intestines] and malaria [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite], and lost strength, but everybody was sick, and he couldn't get attention for some time. Eventually, he was airlifted to a field hospital. He does not remember how long he was there, but he lost all his hair, forever. They were lucky in having the Kachin [Annotator's Note: Kachin or Jingpho people live in the Kachin Hills, northern Burma; now Myanmar] on their side. They were bandits, robbers, thieves, and killers, but they hated the Japanese. There was another group called Detachment 101 [Annotator's Note: Kachin Rangers, OSS Detachment 101] that was OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services; pre-runner to today's Central Intelligence Agency or CIA]. When Lippman came out of the hospital he was reassigned to the Kachin and lived among them in their villages behind the lines. There were eight GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] and 50 Kachin Rangers in his unit, and they lost their lieutenant on the fourth day out. From then on, Lippman ran the operation. His medic, who smoked opium mixed with his pipe tobacco, was beheaded for playing around with one of the Kachin's wives. Lippman never got the unit decoration [Annotator's Note: Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation, 17 January 1946] because he was never officially a Marauder [Annotator's Note: the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) was known as Merrill's Marauders in honor of the unit's commander, US Army Brigadier General Frank Dow Merrill], but he did get Bronze Stars [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] and he did get the Combat Infantry Badge [Annotator's Note: Combat Infantryman Badge, military decoration awarded to infantrymen who fought in active ground combat], along with the Victory Medal [Annotator's Note: World War II Victory Medal]. He considers himself fortunate that he never got 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].

Robert Lippman did not lose too many men when he was in the jungle [Annotator's Note: in Burma with the Kachin Rangers, OSS Detachment 101]. His unit [Annotator's Note: 1st Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)] blew up a bridge that the Japanese had put up over a ravine. The task was accomplished just as day was breaking, and the men had to lay low in the grass, hoping to go undetected. In the morning, banging startled them, but it wasn't gunfire. The Japanese had already started to build another bridge. The men decided to wait until dark and blow up the new construction. They waited overnight, and next morning the same thing happened. The GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also, a slang term for an American soldier] decided to leave. One day, the man who was second-in-charge came and told him he had discovered where the locals were hiding young girls. Lippman and his second went there, bought two young girls and an older woman for 25 pounds of rice and brought them back to camp. It was great and every officer for miles around wanted to visit his station. The station had a cook, a demo [Annotator's Note: demolition] man, and a radio code man. The rest of the men did work in aircraft support. Allied forces on a hill had resistance in their front and rear. He called in a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft]. The aircraft came down the valley making its signature high-pitched scream and cut the bottom forces so that the beleaguered unit could get out. It was an exciting time and he had reconciled himself to the idea that he would not get home. He did some scouting for the British down in Lashio [Annotator's Note: Lashio, Burma; now Lashio, Myanmar], where the old Burma Road [Annotator's Note: a road linking Burma with southwest China built in 1937] came up from Rangoon [Annotator's Note: Rangoon, Burma; now Yangon, Myanmar]. Lippman and the Americans hated the Chinese more than they hated the Nips [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. Although they said they would support the Allies, they never did. The Chinese wanted to shell Lashio, but the Americans thought it was abandoned. Lippman and three others went to find out. It was a pretty little town, and there was nobody there. The Chinese shelled the town, anyway, destroying it. Another time, a Nisei [Annotator's Note: first generation Japanese American] sergeant with the Marauders [Annotator's Note: the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) was known as Merrill's Marauders in honor of the unit's commander, US Army Brigadier General Frank Dow Merrill] used his knowledge of the Japanese language against them. On one occasion, the distance between them and the enemy was about 50 yards of jungle. The Nisei [Annotator's Note: Lippman is most likely referring to Army Master Sergeant Roy Matsumoto; Matsumoto's oral history interview is also available on this Digital Collections website] would sneak out at night and listen to the enemy discussions. He found out that they were planning an attack. The Americans booby-trapped the area with grenades and killed a great many who came in shouting banzai [Annotator's Note: Banzai charge; Japanese human wave attacks]. When they were retreating, the Nisei shouted in Japanese for them to attack again, and it worked. The Americans got a good many more. It was scary as hell because the jungle was so dark. They stayed away from the Burmese, because they didn't like the Americans. The only ones that could be trusted were the Kachins [Annotator's Note: Kachin or Jingpho people live in the Kachin Hills, northern Burma; now Myanmar] and some of the Shan [Annotator's Note: also knowns as the Dai or Tai Yai, an ethnic group of Southeast Asia]. The Shan never taught their language to any other ethnic group.

When it came time to leave Burma [Annotator's Note: now Myanmar], Robert Lippman was told he would be part of the lead jump into Japan. They were packing when the first atomic bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, 6 August 1945]. After the second bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, 9 August 1945], they knew they would be going home. His commanding officer ordered him to take the weapons carrier out and push it over a cliff if the engine burned up. The unit's [Annotator's Note: 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)] newly arrived commanding officer countermanded the order and told him to leave it on the road. When he got to Calcutta [Annotator's Note: Calcutta or Kolkata, India], the first officer made him go back and retrieve the truck. When he got it back to base, it was blown up. Lippman had enough 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] to go home, but he did not leave for weeks. The men who were delayed decided to march to headquarters to state their position. When they arrived, they were surrounded by armed guards and told to stack their weapons. They were loaded up on trucks and brought to the Sindh Desert [Annotator's Note: in India], given tents and food, and told they would be recalled when there was a boat to take them home. Just before New Years of 1946, he sailed back to the United States and arrived in Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington]. Twenty-four hours later he was on a troop transport train heading east. Lippman arrived at Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Trenton, New Jersey] where he stayed, for the first time in his service career, in barracks. He was asked if he wanted to talk about some of his experiences and had a one-day session with a doctor. When Lippman was asked what became of his issued equipment, he said it was lost in combat. He received back pay, and got a new uniform, complete with stripes and patches. He went home, went back to college and then law school. He married and fathered four children. His immediate family now numbers 30.

Basic training for Robert Lippman was in Miami Beach, Florida. He learned to salute, and dress right. He thinks he went to the rifle range three times. He knew how to shoot since his childhood, and qualified on every American and every Japanese weapon with the exception of the .45 automatic [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol]. Ironically, the weapon he carried was a .45 automatic. He also carried a Tommy gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun] for a long time. At one point they ran out of American ammunition. Everything they had was second-rate, because everything was going to Europe. One time he was in a firefight and took ammunition from a dead Japanese soldier for his carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. Lippman had gone overseas on the Santa Maria. He was originally assigned to the 51st Fighter Control Squadron [Annotator's Note: 51st Fighter Control Squadron, 51st Fighter Group, 69th Composite Wing, 14th Air Force], which was comprised of 200 or 300 people. After he did his TDY [Annotator's Note: temporary duty assignment] with the 5307th [Annotator's Note: 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)], he went back to the 51st. He was discharged from the 51st. While he was with the Kachin [Annotator's Note: in Burma with the Kachin Rangers, OSS Detachment 101], he learned their language. On his first combat engagement, Lippman was in such a state of shock he couldn't believe it. He was scared as hell of the Japanese. They were damned good soldiers, but they were sick too. The jungle has a way of killing people. The Japanese were well equipped, and although their clothing was worn, they had uniforms appropriate to the terrain and climate. Lippman started his duty with the 5307th in February [Annotator's Note: February 1944] and was evacuated at the end of March [Annotator's Note: March 1944]. He got out before they took Myitkyina [Annotator's Note: Myitkyina, Burma; now Myitkyina, Myanmar; August 1944], where they went in with 800 mules, and came out with 80. There were 2,300 troops at the start, and at the end there were 200 and some odd. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks how Lippman celebrated the end of the war.] He thinks they got drunk.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Robert Lippman what he thinks of the time he spent with the 1st Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional).] He is glad he did it but wouldn't do it again, not for ten million dollars. As soldiers, the men of the 5307th were probably the best, but as people, they were probably some of the worst. They were tough, they were mean, and they were the low end of the stripe. They were the best Indian fighters. Lippman knew Ogburn [Annotator's Note: US Army Captain Charlton Ogburn, Jr.], Osborn [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant Colonel William L. Osborne], and Colonel Hunter [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel Charles N. Hunter], who was a great guy and ran the 1st Battalion. Lippman returned to the United States in the beginning of 1946 and was immediately discharged. After he left the service, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill to get his education. Lippman had no real trouble adjusting to civilian life. His most memorable experience of World War 2 was when he was caught in a mortar attack. He was jumping from hole to hole, and saw a prayer house, which was about the size of a phone booth. He dove into it, curled up in a fetal position, and closed his eyes. When the firing was over, the house was gone, except for one piece of wall, on which was attached a shelf that held a jade Buddha. Lippman took it and carried it for the rest of the war. As a jungle fighter, Lippman had two pieces of indispensable equipment, a machete and his carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. Lippman joined the service because he thought it would be a great adventure. He was fed all this glory stuff by the movies and he fell in with it. Not until he experienced the real thing, did he understand what it was all about. The war made him grow up. He is proud that he served. He would not want to do it again. He has no respect for those who tried to get out of everything. He lost friends, during and after the war. A friend and neighbor who couldn't make it when he got out, committed suicide. Lippman said, he just saw too much. He does not think the war means much to Americans today. There are people who thank him for his service, but he doesn't think they remember anything. It is a waste of time to try to bring the story of the war to today's population. He wishes it would resonate with them, but he does not think it does.