William M. Braddock was born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1922. He was the oldest son in the family. The Braddocks had cows and lived off the land. Prior to entry of the United States into the war, there were many rumors circulating about what was going on across the oceans. Braddock's cousin had been drafted to serve in World War 1 and talked about how terrible the experience had been. His cousin stressed the importance of getting good training before going off to war. The former soldier had only been offered brief training. That reinforced the idea in Braddock of obtaining sufficient training before seeing his first combat. Originally, he wanted to join the Air Force. Being too young to sign-up, he received his mother's approval only after stressing he was enlisting to assure that, unlike his cousin, he was going to get adequate training. He set out for Monroe to find an Air Force recruiting station. Reaching there, he found the recruiter was not in his office. Likewise, Braddock did not see the Navy recruiter. When he spotted the Marine recruiter in his dress blue uniform, Braddock knew that was the service he wanted to join. He knew nothing about the Marines, but the uniform sold him on being a member of the Marine Corps.

William Braddock was sworn into the Marine Corps in New Orleans, Louisiana. He thought he would fail the physical because he had poison ivy. He passed anyway and was sent to San Diego, California. He originally slept in a barracks but was assigned to a platoon and then slept in a two-man tent on the San Diego sand. He was inside only to eat. Everything was outside for the six weeks he stayed there. He learned that as long as he paid attention to orders, he made out alright in training. He was taught discipline and how to follow orders. After San Diego, he was placed in a tank outfit and worked maintenance work for two or three months. He was then put on a troopship bound for San Francisco. He stayed on the ship while at San Francisco because he was unfamiliar with big city life. He liked the country life particularly because he was a good hunter. He sailed to Hawaii and arrived either in January or February 1941.

William Braddock reached Hawaii after his stateside Marine Corps training. Hawaii was nice. He was stationed on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor. There were about 100 Marines in the barracks. The Marines guarded the island and performed security duty verifying liberty passes. On Sunday, 7 December [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941], Braddock and some buddies were in the mess hall waiting to go on duty. He began hearing bombs and thought it might be accidental. Instead, when he went outside, ships were being bombed and Japanese planes were strafing personnel nearby. Initially unsure of what to do, NCOs [Annotator's Note: non-commissioned officers] yelled at the men to get moving. Braddock was sent to a position near the seaplane ramp. All he had was a pistol. He sought shelter in a hole. Braddock saved his pistol ammunition thinking that a Japanese invasion might be in store for Hawaii. After the Japanese raiders left, the civilians on the island were gathered together and kept in one location. Everyone was in shock. Braddock had witnessed enemy planes strafing American military personnel and dropping torpedoes aimed at the Oklahoma [Annotator's Note: USS Oklahoma (BB-37)]. He also spotted a dead Japanese pilot in a plane that had crashed near the Arizona's [Annotator's Note: USS Arizona (BB-39)] fantail. Injured men came up the seaplane ramp from the stricken ships. There was chaos following the attack. Most thought the Japanese would return and land on Hawaii. That night Braddock and other Marines manned a machine gun position with orders to fire at any returning Japanese aircraft.

William Braddock signed up for Marine paratrooper training after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He returned to San Diego for that training. He was with the 3rd Marine Paratrooper Battalion [Annotator's Note: 3rd Parachute Battalion]. The battalion was sent to Bougainville and remained there for two or three weeks. He was then sent back to the United States. The 5th Marine Division was being formed and Braddock became a member of the 28th Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Baker Company [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division]. After training in the United States, the 28th Marines was sent to Hawaii for tank support training. The men knew they were headed for battle. The regiment went aboard LSTs [Annotator's Note: landing ship, tank] which contained LVTs [Annotator's Note: landing vehicle, tracked, also referred to as amphibious tractors, amtracks, and alligators]. At sea for two or three weeks, Braddock noticed a great gathering of ships. Smoke was everywhere and the men were told they were going to the island of Iwo Jima. American planes and ships were bombarding the island. The coxswains on the landing craft reminded the anxious troops not to try to look ahead. Incoming fire was hitting the amtrack.

William Braddock landed in the first wave on Iwo Jima. Resistance was light at first. As the men advanced through the difficult beach sand, they spotted enemy troops rising from their holes. When Braddock's outfit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] moved on them, they disappeared. The rifle squad forward of Braddock killed eight or nine of them that night. Navy ships were keeping the beachhead lit that night. Braddock was squad leader for his machine gun unit. He saw an enemy bayonet come up close to him. His gunner killed the Jap soldier [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term used for Japanese]. Braddock and his squad climbed up Mount Suribachi. One of his commanders entered a cave and was wounded. The wounded man was retrieved and taken back for medical treatment. Braddock assumed command for the wounded man. Moving up on Suribachi, Braddock and his men spotted an enemy foxhole with a lid on it. The enemy would hide and occasionally pop out to fire on Marines. They usually managed to kill at least one Marine when they did so. When the Americans saw a Japanese soldier prone in the hole, they assumed he was dead. When he moved, the Marines unloaded their weapons on the potentially dangerous enemy. When the dead Japanese was turned over, he had a grenade under him. The 2nd Platoon was on Suribachi trying to find gear to raise the first flag on the top of the peak. If the assumed dead man with the grenade had not been killed, he may have thrown his grenade at the flag raisers. The Marines had been told to never leave someone they just thought was dead. Shoot him again. Braddock and his men went up the mountain to assist in the first flag raising. The flag was too small so another larger flag was raised later after Braddock had gone back down Suribachi. Braddock saw a friend who had been killed while he was making his way down. He took his men back to the big end of the island. Braddock stayed on the island for about 30 days. He had a close call on Hill 362. He could hear and see the enemy moving close to him at night. One of his friends looked over the side of the hill and the enemy shot him in the head. Braddock collected hand grenades and brought his machine guns over to take care of the enemy. Planes would assist the infantry in clearing out the enemy. Ships offshore helped light the island at night so that the Marines could pick off the Japanese. Braddock had limited sleep during his stay on the island.

William Braddock was aboard ship following his time at the front on Iwo Jima when he heard that President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt] died in April 1945. He was in Hawaii when the war ended. Braddock had a reunion with some of his friends who had been wounded. The end of the war brought a reorganization of Marine divisions. The draftees went to the 5th Marine Division. Those who had enlisted were transferred to the 2nd Marine Division and routed to Sasebo, Japan. When the ship anchored, the fog was thick. The fog delayed disembarkation of the Marines from the ship for some hours. The local populace was not seen for three days. Negative rumors had spread among the Japanese civilians about how the Marines would conduct themselves. En route to his duty station, Braddock passed through the area where the atomic bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: Sasebo is near Nagasaki where the second atomic bomb was dropped on 9 August 1945]. The windows on the train had to be closed. He saw the destruction wrought by the bomb. When his outfit reached their destination in Fukuoka, they disarmed the Japanese military personnel there. His outfit served as military police monitoring activity in the "cat houses." The outfit was transferred to another location in Japan performing the same duty. He returned to the United States and remained in the Marine Corps. Following a career in the Marine Corps, he retired as a sergeant major in 1968. He had good life as a Marine. He enjoyed being a sergeant major for his last ten years in the Corps. Braddock advises all young men and women to join the service for the training they receive. It is good for them and good for the country. If a person does not like the service, leave after completing the enlistment term. He loved his time in the Marines and would still be there if he could.