Warren Huggins was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma in August 1926. He grew up on a farm. It was hard during the Depression era [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. They all had their chores. There were eight children that lived to adulthood. His mother had three sets of twins. He attended a one-room school. There were grades one through eight there. He had a brother who served in the Army Air Force. They knew the world was in turmoil. They were concerned for their freedom. One Sunday afternoon, they heard the news on the radio [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. It was devastating because they knew they were at war. The president came on the radio and asked Congress to declare war [Annotator's Note: Day of Infamy Speech; President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the United States Congress, 8 December 1941]. It was scary knowing that they would be a part of it. His brother Clarence was drafted into the Army Air Corps. Huggins chose the Navy because he did not want to carry a gun. The biggest adjustment for him was the food. He went to basic engineering training in Gulfport, Mississippi. It was hands-on work with motors. He was there for six months, then he went into diesel. He enjoyed his work. He was shipped to California and was going to be assigned to a destroyer. The ship was in dry dock and being repaired. Huggins was assigned as a welder. He did not get to go to sea on the destroyer. He was then assigned to the USS Barnstable (APA-93) and departed from San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] for the Pacific.

Warren Huggins left San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] and headed for Manila [Annotator’s Note: Manila, the Philippines]. They made a beach landing on Luzon [Annotator’s Note: Luzon, Philippines] to bring in reinforcements. Huggins was an engineer on the Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. They operated around the Philippines for a while. Once Manila was secured, it became their home port. When they were anchored, Huggins was supposed to keep the boat up or made fresh water. They chased a Japanese submarine for a couple of days dropping depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum]. Toward the end of the war, they went to New Guinea to pick up a MASH unit [Annotator's Note: Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals were U.S. Army field hospital units] and take them to Manila. They were there and a hospital ship was there getting ready for the invasion of Japan. Manila was trashed by the Japanese. The people said they raped the women and burned the city as they retreated. The port of Manila was full of sunken ships. The Higgins boats were the running boats. They had fresh bananas. When they got the ship loaded, they were told something big was going to happen. Then they heard about the bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. No one had ever heard of atomic bombs. It was a relief to know there would not be an invasion. They immediately took troops in a convoy to Japan. They were in a typhoon for two days and nights. When they were headed to New Guinea, they ran into a coral reef. Their ship went to Yokohama [Annotator’s Note: Yokohama, Japan] to drop off troops and supplies. They went to look at the sight of where the bombs were dropped. Huggins brought home a Japanese rifle.

Warren Huggins went back to the Philippines and then went to Kobe [Annotator’s Note: Kobe, Japan]. Then he went back to the Philippines, and returned home, arriving to San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] to bring troops home. After they made their last trip to San Francisco, they went through the Panama Canal [Annotator's Note: Manmade canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in between North and South America] and up to the Brooklyn [Annotator’s Note: Brooklyn, New York] shipyard. Huggins volunteered for the V-6 Program which is victory plus six months. He was sent to San Pedro, California and went down the west coast of Mexico. Then they went to Key West, Florida. He met his wife in Covington [Annotator’s Note: Covington, Louisiana]. They lived in New Orleans [Annotator’s Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. They were married 65 years and had two daughters. The war changed his life completely. He knew farming was not what he wanted to do. He recommends the museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. He does not think people today know what people went through during the war. It was one country with one goal to win the war.