[Annotator's Note: Wendell Delavan Cole suffers from Parkinson's disease and needs the assistance of his son to remember certain events.] Cole was born on 6 October 1927 in Santa Ana, California. The oldest of four, he had two brothers and a sister. His father worked for the state of California in the Department of Employment. Before World War 2, people of Oriental [Annotator's Note: generally means "eastern"; traditional, now unfavorable, designation for anything from Asia] descent could not buy land in the United States. Cole's grandfather was loaned the money from a Japanese family, and he bought the land for them. The plan was to use this land as a goldfish farm, as goldfish were becoming more popular as pets. Dogs and cats cost too much money to maintain during The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], so goldfish were more suitable for people with little money but a will to have a pet. Cole was at his grandparents' house when he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did not know where Pearl Harbor was, but he and his friends all wanted to join the military to fight the Japanese. Cole was only 14, so he needed to wait to join the war. He had a second cousin who was a conscientious objector and was ostracized by the family. Cole had an uncle in the Navy but is unsure of where he served during World War 2.

[Annotator's Note: Wendell Delavan Cole suffers from Parkinson's disease and needs the assistance of his son to remember certain events.] Cole and five of his friends from high school all joined the United States Merchant Marine together. One of his friends, Stewart Hollingsworth [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], joined the Merchant Marine due to Cole. When they signed up the Merchant Marine, they were sent to Catalina [Annotator's Note: Santa Catalina Island, California]. The Merchant Marine formed groups every week and held training at Catalina. Cole's parents did not want him to join the military so young, but they still supported him. It was difficult for his parents to see their oldest child leave for the first time to go off to war. He traveled to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] to join the military. His mother feared for his life, and worried that entering World War 2 would result in his death. At boot camp Cole received his uniform and learned to march. During training, he was forced to jump off a 20-foot-tall pier. Cole was not excited to do this because he was not a great swimmer. He also had to swim underneath water that was on fire. He estimates his training lasted about a month.

[Annotator's Note: Wendell Delavan Cole suffers from Parkinson's disease and needs the assistance of his son to remember certain events.] Cole took a test at the US Maritime Academy [Annotator's Note: United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York] to prove his readiness to sail with the Merchant Marine. Because of the rigors of sea life and the absolute need for reliability, every would-be sailor was tested and made sure that they were ready for their assignment. Ships needed engineers, officers, and navigators. In the engine room of a Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] the wipers and oilers made sure the mechanical parts of the ship stayed lubricated and maintained. Cole has some familiarity with these processes because they kept their washing machine in the engine room. They rigged a large drum with a plunger, and it agitated soap and water to clean clothes for the crew. The deck crew navigated and piloted the ship. The radio department is where Cole worked and is the smallest group, usually only three people working four hours on and eight hours off using Morse Code [Annotator's Note: a method of telecommunication encoding characters in a system of dots and dashes]. Those operating the radio usually just listened in, as sending communications could be intercepted by the enemy. The steward department made all the beds and cooked all the meals. Cole's first departure from the United States he left out of LA [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California]. The war ended soon after he sailed out of port for the first time on the SS W.B. Ayer. Cole's aunt was the secretary for someone in the Union Oil Company [Annotator's Note: known as Unocal Corporation], which was a connection he used to become a radio operator and the purser of the crew. For the rest of his sailing career he stayed on Union Oil ships. His first trip was to Batangas Bay in the Philippines. By the time he arrived there, the war was already over. Liberty ships traveled at nine knots [Annotator's Note: a knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour], and they also sailed in a zigzag pattern [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver]. The sailors aboard were so hot that they slept on the deck at night. When they passed Eniwetok [Annotator's Note: Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands] they all stayed awake late into the night because it would be the first lights they had seen since they left.

[Annotator's Note: Wendell Delavan Cole suffers from Parkinson's disease and needs the assistance of his son to remember certain events.] Cole saw the Philippines directly after the war ended. He first went to Batangas [Annotator's Note: Batangas Bay, Philippines] and traveled to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Philippines] via train. He saw the destruction of Manila firsthand, entire buildings toppled over and destroyed, which he personally photographed. Later he also visited Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany] during the Cold War [Annotator's Note: a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies from 1945 to 1991], while the Berlin Wall [Annotator's Note: guarded concrete barrier that divided Berlin, Germany from 1961 to 1989] was still up. The first cargo he helped deliver on his Liberty ship [Annotator's Note: a class of quickly produced cargo ship] was a shipment of beer. The military attached an armed guard to it during transit. Because the crew of the ship did not unload the cargo, they were free to travel to Manila. Cole stayed in the Merchant Marine for three years, eventually leaving so he could continue his education. He did not get a G.I. 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] when he was discharged. Merchant Marines are still not eligible for the G.I. Bill. It was a trade off because he made more than double than the people doing the same job did [Annotator's Note: in the military]. When he returned home, Cole went to Santa Ana College [Annotator's Note: in Santa Ana, California] for a year. After that he applied to Pomona College [Annotator's Note: in Claremont, California]. He got his degree in business administration in 1950. Cole had a position at an insurance company lined up, but there were delays in finding him a job. This led him to working for his father, who was purchasing more land to use as a ranch for growing chickens. A house was built for Cole and his wife at the ranch. They stayed there until they needed more space for their children.

[Annotator's Note: Wendell Delavan Cole suffers from Parkinson's disease and needs the assistance of his son to remember certain events.] Cole does not think of his time spent in the Merchant Marine as lost time. His time spent abroad allowed him to see different parts of the world and how people lived. He had not seen such poverty in his life. Cole does not really understand the politics of war today. The idea of one big conflict is much easier to understand than a bunch of smaller, less large-scale wars and military occupations. There was pressure to join the military in high school. Many of his classmates had their preferences for branches to join. His time in the Merchant Marine allowed him to see and experience many different places and people he otherwise would not have.