Salvador Guercia was born in February 1926 in Long Beach, Mississippi. He lived on his grandfather's farm until he was about four years old, when his father got a job as a baker in New Orleans, Louisiana. When he was six, a bakery accident left his father badly burned, so Guercia shuttled back and forth between his grandparents and his family home. It was during the Great Depression and employment was hard to find, but his mother eventually found work as a seamstress, and Guercia took odd jobs during his school years in New Orleans. He was with his two cousins, on his way to the movies, when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. All three decided to join the armed forces, but they didn't stay together past enlistment. After boot camp, Guercia was trained as an electrician, eventually working his way up to EM Second Class [Annotator's Note: Electrician's Mate 2nd Class or EM2c] in the Navy. He waited for a ship to be commissioned, and went on its shakedown cruise from Washington State to San Francisco, California. There they took on armament, and loaded Marines for amphibious assault training in Hawaii.

In February 1945, Salvador Guercia's ship [Annotator's Note: USS Sandoval (APA-194)] transported Marines to Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands], then loaded equipment, supplies and ammunition bound for Iwo Jima, Japan. On the way, they encountered two submarines, but destroyers "took care of them." They landed and unloaded on Red Beach, and carried casualties back to the small clinic on the ship. After two or three weeks, they had to bring the wounded back to Saipan. They continued to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] to replace their damaged landing craft, and resumed moving men and supplies between the islands, including Tulagi and Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: both in the Solomon Islands]. In April, they headed to Espiritu Santo [Annotator's Note: Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu] where they picked up Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] headed for Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], and came under fire sailing in. When they were unloading, the attacks began again, and Guercia's ship engaged in combat. The guns hit one plane that went into the bow of a sister ship, then destroyed another. But when they hit the third plane, it crashed into the bridge, setting it afire. All hands were called to help rescue their shipmates from the wreckage, but the toll was five dead, including two of Guercia's good friends, and 29 wounded. Guercia had to repair the electrical communications equipment in the still-hot area. With control restored, the damaged ship went on to Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines]. Guercia said he saw houses full of bullet holes, and boys who had been prisoners of war, and he wondered, "How can one human treat another human that way?" After a stop in Saipan, the ship returned to the United States, where he got a welcomed leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. It was the first time he had been home in two years, and he enjoyed the change.

When his leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] was up, Salvador Guercia returned to San Francisco, California and his repaired amphibious transport ship, the USS Sandoval (APA-194). While he was on leave, the Japanese surrendered, and the ship's postwar purpose was to bring military personnel back to the United States. It made three such trips, the first one to Yokohama and Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: both in Japan], where Guercia went ashore and took pictures of the atomic bomb's devastation. Personnel on board collected samples, and took them to Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. In May 1946, the ship returned to the United States for decommissioning, and Guercia was discharged. He thought back to when he was 18 and saw the ship for the first time. As a farm boy, he hadn't realized a ship could be that big. He enjoyed going out on maneuvers during its shakedown cruise, and after they installed the ships armament, it was the first time he heard big guns go off. He often wondered why he was designated for an electrician's job, but his typical duties included repairing electrical and communications equipment on the ship and its landing craft. His position for "general quarters" was at the auxiliary switchboard. He also pitched in when other things needed to be done. He was on board ship when the flag was hoisted on Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan], and although he didn't see the raising of the flag, he could see it flying on Mount Suribachi, and thought it one of the greatest sights he had ever seen. He says that it "breaks his heart" when people burn the American flag. Guercia goes on to describe his interaction with some of the wounded that came aboard his ship, and marveled at how some of them survived. But, he claimed, the doctors were wonderful.

Asked about offloading reinforcements for the Army's 27th Division [Annotator's Note: 27th Infantry Division] at Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan], Salvador Guercia said they got as close as possible to the shore, but the battle was still raging. The USS Sandoval (APA-194) delivered the personnel and equipment while the island was being secured. Afterward they went to pick up Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] to repair the airfields. Asked to elaborate on the attack his ship suffered on their return, Guercia remembered being called to "general quarters." Destroyers were very effective in protecting the arriving troops, but at that point, Kamikazes intent on destroying the ships in the harbor got through. Guercia was one deck below when it happened. He didn't see the plane hit the bridge but he heard the crash, and could see smoke coming through the deck. He ran up to find the bridge on fire, and joined the sailors trying to get their shipmates out. It took most of the day to control the blaze, and Guercia recalls his two friends who died in the inferno. He thought for a while that the ship was going to sink. But, "all the training paid off," and everyone moved instinctively to do what had to be done.

Salvador Guercia tells the tale of how he went with friends to see a guy that made corn liquor on Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines], and said they were three sick sailors after the adventure. He considered staying in the Navy, but had his mother to worry about. He got married, had a son, and attended Tulane University [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] on the G.I. Bill. He was asked to return to service for the Korean War [Annotator's Note: 1950 to 1953], but declined the invitation. After earning his degree, he was employed by Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, where he worked his way up to assistant office manager. When the plant closed, he went to work for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company as a financial field auditor, then started his own business. An automobile accident ended his professional career. Afterward, he traveled all over the world with his wife, and he revisited the Philippines, but never returned to Japan. He feels the war changed his life "for the better." He learned to be kind to other people and to "take things in stride." He is glad he went into the service and wouldn't trade his time in the armed forces for anything. He believes it important for institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] to teach younger generations about the war, because he doesn't feel they are getting a history education in schools. Guercia asserts that if he had to, he would do it again.