[Annotator's Note: The interview starts with the crew setting up.] Selwyn Preston Gilmore, Sr. was born in Berwick, Louisiana on August 1924. He had five brothers and four sisters. His father was a Game Warden and also worked for the Department of Revenue. In World War 1, he worked in a shipyard. He died in 1958 in a car accident. Gilmore graduated from high school on 27 May 1941. Several older boys were in the National Guard and were activated in 1940. Gilmore worked at filling stations in the summers to buy his clothes. The Great Depression years were hard for a family of nine but they always had food to eat. He went work for the Army Corps of Engineers after high school on a survey crew. He worked around southern Louisiana. He was transferred to the Galveston [Annotator's Note: Galveston, Texas] District. He did not get a raise and questioned his boss as to why not. His boss told him he could not quit, and he was frozen to the job because employees were exempt from the service. He quit and went to the draft board to enlist in October 1942. They told him to wait. He applied for another job and went to work on 7 January 1943. It was freezing cold and pouring rain. He worked for them for 43 years with the exception of his service time. On 8 August 1943 he was drafted.

Selwyn Gilmore was drafted and went in on 17 August 1943. He stayed in Camp Beauregard [Annotator's Note: Pineville, Louisiana] for a few months and then went to Harlingen, Texas for gunnery training. He wanted to go into pilot training but did not pass the test. He graduated in February 1944. He was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah and then Tucson, Arizona. That was the best duty he ever had. He went into a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] outfit in Dalhart, Texas [Annotator's Note: Dalhart Army Air Base]. His permanent assignment was in Pratt, Kansas [Annotator's Note: Pratt Army Airfield] as part of the 29th Air Force, 314th Bombardment Wing, [Annotator’s Note: 29th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy)], 52nd Bombardment Squadron. The first B-29 he saw was so heavily guarded, he could not get near it. They stayed in Pratt until December 1944 then went Fort Lawton, Washington. He boarded a ship on 19 December and went to Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii] on Christmas Eve. The officers were allowed off the ship, but the GIs [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] stayed aboard. The men wanted some alcohol and got it via a line to a merchant ship. They did bring a floor show in for them with hula girls. They left there and went to Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands]. They were in the holds of the ship and had stacked bunks. Gilmore got on break-out detail which was providing food to the troops. That gave him access to good food. He would fill his shirt with cookies and Washington apples and take them down to his buddies. They were on the USS Noordam [Annotator's Note: USTS Noordam] from the Netherlands. The crew could not go home due to the Germans invading their country. One guy was very nice to them. He would feed them good food. Gilmore was in the hold when the ship practiced firing their three inch gun [Annotator's Note: three inch, 50 caliber gun]. Gilmore thought it was a submarine and ran topside.

Selwyn Gilmore and his outfit [Annotator's Note: 52nd Bombardment Squadron, 29th Bombardment Group, 314th Bombardment Wing] stopped at Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands]. They bathed in salt water with salt water soap. That was not fun at all. They got a couple of beers and loaded back onto the ship [Annotator's Note: USTS Noordam]. They reached Guam, Marianas [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] in January [Annotator's Note: 16 January 1945]. They slept in pup tents the first nights where their headquarters was being cleared in the jungle. The airplanes came in and they started their missions. They seldom got breaks. They did that until the end of the war. Everybody really put out. Their squadron did not lose many airplanes. They always took off at night. They would get to the end of the runway, go over the cliff and head down to gather speed. One night, one of them blew up. The whole island shook, and it lit the place up. They all were lost. After that, Gilmore shied away from getting to know the crews because these guys were real close friends. They were so busy and kept going around the clock. The shifts were just night and day. Gilmore was a small arms armorer. He was excellent on the .50 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun]. They would get to watch movies. They sat on logs. It rained every night. Their church services were in the jungle. They had one of the best chaplains. They finally built a little chapel. They slept in tents for a while and then got some plywood barracks.

[Annotator's Note: Selwyn Gilmore served in the United States Army Air Forces as a ground crew armorer in the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, 29th Bombardment Group, 314th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force on Guam.] The Marine Corps had cleared out most of the Japanese but there were still some around. One night, a friend of his was in the tent and was untying his shoe. Something went over his head and he saw a little fellow running out. They would steal food. They did not bother with them that much. They were well protected from air raids by the Navy. The first woman he saw was a lady from New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and she was looking for anyone from Louisiana. She wrote an article for a newspaper. There were 15 men from Gilmore's hometown [Annotator's Note: Berwick, Louisiana] there. They would get together after the war. One of Gilmore's best buddies from school was there. He was in the Marines. Gilmore was in the barracks and someone said there was a "crazy Marine out there offering 100 dollars for a bottle of whiskey." Gilmore went to see who it was, and it was this friend. He went to Iwo [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] and survived. Gilmore returned home in February 1946.

[Annotator's Note: Selwyn Gilmore served in the United States Army Air Forces as a ground crew armorer for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombers in the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, 29th Bombardment Group, 314th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force based on Guarm, Mariana Islands.]. The B-29s had central firing units and were carrying 20mm guns [Annotator's Note: Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20mm autocannon]. Gilmore worked on the .50 caliber guns [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun] for the B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. The B-29 carried a variety of bombs. They had a 2,000 pound bomb that required a truck to load. You had to see it to believe it. They did not use them though. The bombs had fuses on each end that were hooked with a wire. The fragmentation bombs exploded in the air. They had one raid where they loaded everything they had with incendiaries. [Annotator's Note: Gilmore is referring to Operation Meetinghouse. This raid took place on the night of 9-10 March 1945.] They burned out 26 square miles of Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] in one night. One airplane got caught in the updraft was flipped upside down. The pilot recovered and the men were crippled but alive.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Selwyn Gilmore about a Medal of Honor recipient he knew.] Henry Erwin [Annotator's Note: Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr.] was a radio man. He kicked out a phosphorous flare and it came back in and exploded [Annotator's Note: 12 April 1945]. He picked it up and carried it to the cockpit to throw it out the window. After he did, they turned around and flew him back to the hospital. It is remarkable he was saved. He got the Medal of Honor [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Honor is the highest award a United States service member can receive who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor] and is in the Air Force Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs [Annotator's Note: Colorado Springs, Colorado]. He was a fine man. Gilmore saw a newspaper article where he saw that an anonymous person had donated money to keep Erwin from losing his home. Gilmore saw Erwin in Fort Worth, Texas in 1985. Gilmore met a gunner named Godfrey that he talked to all the time. He saw a man with that name at a reunion and it was him. A lot of the men do not attend the reunions anymore. Out there [Annotator's Note: on Guam, Mariana Islands], they had a service club. There was a ration for beer, and Gilmore did not drink. He would sell his ration. The men in his barracks would fill a box with beer. One guy from Colorado would drink them hot. On payday, they would sit at a table at the service club and have beer and chips for dinner. When Gilmore got overseas, he quit drinking completely.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Selwyn Gilmore about the weapons he carried.] A little short rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine]. The infantry had M1s [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] and Tommy guns [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun]. Gilmore did not have a sidearm. Gilmore drove a water truck after the war ended. He carried a weapon then. He had to go get water from a well and needed protection. A buddy from California wanted him to work in arms again. They wanted him on the skeet ranges, and he regrets that he did not do it. On his ground crew, he had three planes they took care of. The crewmen stayed together. They also had the equipment they needed. Gilmore was in the hospital once after hurting his back. While over there, Gilmore had to go to the dentist and was sent to the hospital and had to have a tooth pulled. Christmas of 1945 he was in the hospital for a problem with his arm. They got powdered milk and he would not drink it. In the hospital, they got fresh milk. Everybody wanted ice cream when they got back to the United States because they did not get any. They would have ice cream parties once in a while. He shipped back home with men from his home [Annotator's Note: Berwick, Louisiana].

When Selwyn Gilmore was in Tucson [Annotator's Note: Tucson, Arizona], there was a WAC [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] from Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts] and he would laugh at the way she talked. Gilmore says, "You meet some characters, some good ones and some bad ones." He met men from all areas of the country. His best buddy was from Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California]. When Gilmore came back from overseas, he had a layover in Los Angeles, and he called his buddy. They went out and Gilmore gave him the first vodka he ever had. The first drink Gilmore had as a G.I. [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier] was due to someone else buying it for him. He really grew up in the service. When you get out on your own with these different people, you learn. You had to work with them. That is where he grew up. There were a lot of headaches but, he says, "you learn discipline, you learn to obey orders." Gilmore says everybody should serve two years in the service. His son is First Sergeant in his company. He was in Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. It was a different war.

Selwyn Gilmore came back to the United States aboard a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship]. They went into Oakland [Annotator's Note: Oakland, California]. They came up on deck as they entered San Francisco Bay. That California fog is a hard drizzle. It even soaked everything in their duffle bags. The prettiest sight he ever saw was the Golden Gate Bridge. They went to Camp Stoneman [Annotator's Note: Pittsburg, California] for reassignment. He then went to Fort Sam Houston [Annotator's Note: San Antonio, Texas] and got his first furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] home. His mother was sick, and he got an extension. When returned, he had his leg operated on. He was discharged there. When he got home, everybody was in shirt sleeves. It was cold to him because it had been so hot over there [Annotator's Note: on Guam, Mariana Islands]. He had lost so much weight that his girlfriend did not know who he was. [Annotator's Note: There is a tape break and it starts up mid-sentence.] He drove across Ohio and it was snowing. He had never seen that. That was when the hurricane hit in 1992.

Selwyn Gilmore was drafted and was given a preference. He just missed being eligible for OCS [Annotator's Note: officer candidate school]. He had a choice then and told them he wanted to go in the Army Air Corps. He had gone to enlist but was told to wait to be drafted. He shipped to Harlingen [Annotator's Note: Harlingen, Texas]. Some guys were taken out and put in the infantry. His cousin started in the infantry but ended up a navigator. Gilmore was talking to an engineer one day after the war. The engineer had served with Gilmore's cousin. His cousin was shot down and interned in Sweden. He was called back to the service during the Korean War [Annotator's Note: 1950 to 1953]. Gilmore got discharged and signed up for the inactive Reserve. One morning, a sergeant knocked on the door and asked him if he would like to reenlist. He said no. He was glad he got out because he would have been called back. The Air Corps was better than being in the infantry. His brother told him to not go in the infantry. His brother was in an elite outfit, guarding headquarters in Europe. He was standing guard duty and General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] tried to pass. He blocked him. Patton told him who he was and tried again a couple of times, but his brother would not let him pass. Patton finally showed him his identification and told him he had done a good job. His brother was later in the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He also did guard duty for the Red Ball Express [Annotator's Note: one of several American military truck convoy systems that transported supplies from the coast of France to Allied forces advancing across Europe]. The Germans were infiltrating at the time. His brother spent five years in Company B, 156th Infantry [Annotator's Note: Company B, 156th Infantry Regiment (separate)].

Selwyn Gilmore fit back in when he got home. He did not go to work right away. He regrets not going to college when it was handed to him [Annotator's Note: Gilmore is referring to the G.I. Bill]. Later on, his job was with figures mostly and education would have helped him. He did mechanic work on pipelines. Now it is all computerized. He had over 43 years with the pipeline. Most of it was outside and when he was put in an office, it was like he was in a cage. Civilian life was not hard to get back into. Everything in the service was outside. He kept in touch with his crew. When he was in Tucson [Annotator's Note: Tucson, Arizona], he applied for every outfit going overseas. Everything happens for the best. He was one of the fortunate ones and nobody was shooting at him. He walked guard duty. A lot of funny things happened in guard duty. One guy shot his own clothes up during the night. He had a good outfit [Annotator's Note: Gilmore served as a ground crewman in the 52nd Bombardment Squadron, 29th Bombardment Group, 314th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force] and only had one bad officer. He was in Pratt, Kansas [Annotator's Note: Pratt Army Airfield] and he was going hitchhiking. He got written up for it because hitchhiking was not allowed. He had go before the CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer]. He explained the situation and got off the charge. Gilmore thinks the officer would have been shot if they had seen any kind of action. Gilmore got in trouble for being out of uniform once for loosening his tie.

[Annotator's Note: A different interviewer begins asking Selwyn Gilmore questions about his postwar career.] Selwyn Gilmore says his service had no bearing on his postwar work in oil fields. It was not connected at all. He could have gone back to his old job if he had read his G.I. Bill. They did not give it to him. He received some bonds for his service. [Annotator's Note: Gilmore talks at length about all of the different locations he worked.] In 1970, Gilmore was sent to learn construction. His job was very complicated. He eventually returned to field work. By and large, nothing carried over from the Air Force to his civilian work. [Annotator's Note: Gilmore goes into great detail about oil field operations.] Nothing he did in the service was similar to what he did after the war. He got hurt on the job many times in the oil fields. His back would go out often and he had to have back surgery for a ruptured disk.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Selwyn Gilmore if his meeting a variety of types of people in the service helped him in his civilian work.] Most of Selwyn Gilmore's work in the oil field was on the phone. [Annotator's Note: Gilmore goes into great detail on how the oil field works.] He was good at numbers for a long time, but now his checkbook is a disaster. He met a lot of people from all over. One of his best bosses was from Illinois. There were a lot of good people. A friend killed a six-foot rattlesnake in an oil field. He was really sharp. By and large, he has had a lot of ups and downs, but he still has his health and lot to be thankful for.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer attempts to tie Selwyn Gilmore's work on Guam, Mariana Islands to his work in oil fields after the war.] The planes would take off at night. While they were gone, Gilmore cleaned up and then got ready for another mission. Sleep was at a premium then. They had very little time to themselves. They started in April [Annotator's Note: 1945] and it [Annotator's Note: the war] ended in August [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] and it was around the clock. In the service was the only time he really worked with people. After the war, he worked alone mostly. He worked with five other people in the service, but in the field he used his judgement. [Annotator's Note: Gilmore gives examples of oil field work in detail.] At that time, people looked out for one another.